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-*g;il5;' 


PRINCETON,  N.  J. 

No.  Case,/  ^''j!^^- 

^0.  Shelf,  SertioM 

No.  Book,      '    i^. 


Tfic  John  M.  Krebs  Donation. 


Mosheim,  Johann  Lorenz , 

16947-1755. 

An  ecclesiastical  history, 

ancient  and  modern 
— r^i 

see 

t      ■  V.I 


AN 


ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY, 

ANCIENT  AND  MODERN; 


THE  RISE,  PROGRESS,  AND  VARIATIONS  OF  CHURCH  POWER,  ARE  CONSIDERED  IN  THEIR 

CONNEXION  WITH  THE  STATE  OF  LEARNING  AND  PHILOSOPHY,  AND  THE 

POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  EUROPE  DURING  THAT  PERIOD  J 

BY  THE  LATE  LEARNED 

JOHN  LAURENCE  MOSHEIM,  D  D. 

CUAMCiiLLOR  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  GOTTINGEN, 

TRANSLATEO  rROM   THE  ORIGINAL  LATIN, 
AMD   ILLUSTRATED    WITH    NOTES,    CHRONOLOGICAL    TABLES,    AND    AN    APPENDIX, 

BY  ARCHIBALD  MACLAINE,  D.  D. 


A  NEW  EDITION— IN  TWO  VOLUMES, 

CONTINUED  TO  THE  YEAR  1826. 
BY  CHARLES  COOTE,  L.  L.  D. 

AHD  PCRNISHED  WITH 

A  DISSERTATION  ON  THE  STATE  OF  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCH, 

BY  THE  RIGHT  REV. 

DR.  GEORGE  GLEIG,  OF  STIRLING. 


VOL.  I. 


BALTIMORE. 

PUBLISHED  BY  PIIEONIX  N.  WOOD  &  CO. 

1832. 


THE  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 


1  CANNOT  persuade  myself,  that  the  complaints  which  we  hear  frequently 
of  the  frivolous  nature  of  the  public  taste  in  matters  of  literature,  are  so  far 
to  be  relied  on,  as  to  make  me  despair  of  a  favourable  reception  of  the  fol- 
lowing work.  A  History  of  the  Christian  Church,  composed  with  judgment, 
taste,  and  candour,  drawn  with  uncommon  discernment  and  industry  from  the 
best  sources,  enriched  with  much  useful  learning  and  several  important  dis- 
coveries, and  connected  with  the  history  of  arts,  piiilosophy,  and  civil 
government,  is  an  object  that  will  very  probably  attract  the  attention  o(  many, 
and  most  undoubtedly  excite  the  curiosity  of  the  judicious  and  the  wise.  A 
work  of  this  nature  will  be  considered  by  the  philosopher,  as  an  important 
branch  of  the  history  of  the  human  mind;  and  I  need  not  mention  a  multitude 
of  reasons  that  render  it  peculiarly  interesting  to  tiie  (Christian.  Besides, 
there  has  not  hitherto  appeared,  in  English,  any  complete  history  of  the 
church,  that  represents  its  revolutions,  its  divisions,  and  doctrines,  with  im- 
partiality and  truth,  exposes  the  delusions  of  popish  legends,  breathes  a  spirit 
of  moderation  and  freedom,  and,  keeping  perpetually  in  the  view  of  the 
reader  the  true  nature  and  design  of  the  Christian  religion,  points  out  those 
deviations  from  its  beautiful  simplicity,  which  have  been  too  frequent  among 
all  orders  of  men  and  in  all  ages  of  the  world.* 

***«■*«  * 

How  far  justice  has  been  done  to  this  excellent  work,  in  the  following 
translation,  is  a  point  that  must  be  left  to  the  decision  of  those  who  may  think 
proper  to  peruse  it  with  attention.  I  can  say,  with  the  strictest  truth,  that  I 
have  spared  no  pains  to  render  it  worthy  of  their  gracious  acceptance;  and 
this  consideration  gives  me  some  claim  to  their  candour  and  indulgence,  for 
any  defects  they  may  find  in  it.  I  have  endeavoured  to  render  my  translation 
faithful,  but  never  proposed  to  render  it  entirely  literal.  The  style  of  the 
original  is  by  no  means  a  model  to  imitate,  in  a  work  designed  for  general 
use.  Dr.  Mosheim  affected  brevity,  and  laboured  to  crowd  many  things  into 
few  words;  thus  his  diction,  though  pure  and  correct,  became  sententious  and 
harsh,  without  that  harmony  which  pleases  the  ear,  or  those  transitions 
which  make  a  narration  flow  with  ease.  This  being  the  case,  I  have  some- 
times taken  considerable  liberties  with  my  author,  and  followed  the  spirit  of 
his  narrative  without  adhering  stricUy  to  the  letter.  Where,  indeed,  the 
Latin  phrase  appeared  to  me  elegant,  expressive,  and  compatible  with  the 
English  idiom,  I  have  constantly  followed  it;  but,  in  all  other  cases,  I  have 
departed  from  it,  and  have  often  added  a  few  sentences,  to  render  an  observa- 
tion more  striking,  a  fact  more  clear,  a  portrait  more  finished.  Had  I  been 
translating  Cicero  or  Tacitus,  I  should  not  have  thought  such  freedom  par- 
donable. The  translation  of  a  classic  author,  like  the  copy  of  a  capital  pic- 
ture, must  exhibit  not  oidy  the  subject  but  also  the  manner  of  the  original: 
this  rule,  however,  is  not  applicable  to  the  work  now  uiuler  consideration. 

When  I  entered  upon  tliis  undertaking,  T  proposed  rendering  the  additional 
notes  more  numerous  and  ample,  than  the  reader  will  find  them.  I  soon 
perceived  that  the  prosecution  of  my  original  plan  would  render  this  work 
too  voluminous;  and  this  induced  me  to  alter  my  purpose.  The  notes  I  have 
given  are  not,  however,  inconsideral)le  in  number;  I  wish  I  coidd  say  as  much 
with  respect  to  their  merit  and  importance.  I  would  only  hope  that  some  of 
them  will  be  looked  upon  as  not  altogether  unnecessary. 

Hague,  Dec   4,  1764. 

*  We  omit  llie  intervpning  part  of  Dr.  Maclainc's  Preface,  berause  itt  lusertion  ia  randered 
unnecessary  bv  the  bioi?raphic-al  sketch  which  the  Editor  tias  given 


THE  EDITOR'S  PREFACE. 


In  every  civilized  country,  the  ministers  of  religion,  from  the  nature  of 
their  education,  may  be  expected  to  be  conversant  in  literature:  but  in  no 
country  do  they  appear  to  be  so  fond  of  imparting  their  thoughts  to  the  world, 
by  the  medium  of  the  press,  as  in  Germany.  The  greater  part  of  their  pro- 
ductions, indeed,  pass  silently  into  the  gulf  of  oblivion,  while  some  remain, 
and  excite  continued  attention.  To  the  latter  class  may  be  assigned  the  His- 
tory of  the  Christian  Church,  written  by  Dr.  John  Laurence  von  Mosheim. 

Academical  honours  and  ecclesiastical  dignities  have  frequently  been  ob- 
tained by  persons  who  were  born  in  the  lowest  sphere  of  life;  and  it  may 
therefore  be  supposed  that  Mosheim  might  have  obtained  such  honours  and 
rewards  by  his  abilities  and  erudition,  even  if  he  had  been  the  son  of  an 
ordinary  tradesman,  of  a  low  mechanic,  or  a  rude  peasant:  but  that  was  not 
his  fate;  for  he  was  born  (in  the  year  1695)  of  a  family  that  boasted  of  high 
rank  and  noble  blood.  Lubeck  was  the  place  of  his  birth;  but,  in  the  short 
accounts  of  him  which  have  fallen  under  our  notice,  the  scene  of  his  academi- 
cal education  is  not  mentioned.  He  gave  early  indications  of  a  promising 
capacity,  and  of  a  strong  desire  of  mental  and  literary  improvement;  and, 
when  his  parents  proposed  to  him  the  choice  of  a  profession,  the  church 
suggested  itself  to  him  as  a  proper  department  for  the  exercise  of  that  zeal 
which  disposed  him  to  be  useful  to  society. 

Being  ordained  a  minister  of  the  Lutheran  church,  he  soon  distinguished 
himself  as  a  preacher.  His  eloquence  was  impressive:  he  could  wield  with 
force  the  weapons  of  argumentation;  and  his  language  was  neat,  perspicuous, 
and  accurate.  He  did  not  bewilder  his  auditors  in  the  refinements  of  doctrine, 
or  the  profundities  of  speculation,  but  generally  contented  himself  with  stating 
the  chief  doctrinal  points  of  Christianity,  while  he  enforced  the  useful  pre- 
cepts of  practical  religion,  recommending  pious  feelings,  benevolent  affections, 
an  orderly  demeanour,  correct  morals,  and  virtuous  habits. 

His  reputation  as  a  preacher,  however  high,  was  local  and  confined:  but 
the  fame  of  his  literary  ability  diffused  itself  among  all  the  nations  of  Chris- 
tendom. The  Danish  court  invited  him  to  Copenhagen,  and  rewarded  his 
merit  by  the  grant  of  a  professorship  in  the  university  of  that  capital.  The 
duke  of  Brunswick-Wolffenbuttel  afterwards  patronised  him;  and,  having 
solicited  his  return  to  Germany,  not  only  procured  for  him  the  theological 
chair  at  Helmstadt,  but  appointed  him  counsellor  to  the  court  in  the  affairs  of 
the  church,  and  invested  him  with  authority  over  all  the  seminaries  of  learn- 
ing in  the  duchy.  Even  king  George  the  Second,  who,  though  a  respectable 
prince,  was  not  distinguished  as  an  encourager  of  literary  merit,  entertained 
a  high  opinion  of  the  character  of  Dr.  Mosheim,  and  selected  him  for  the 
dignified  office  of  chancellor  or  president  of  the  university  of  Gottingen.  He 
discharged  the  duties  of  that  station  with  zeal  and  propriety,  and  his  conduct 
gave  general  satisfaction.  His  death,  therefore,  was  sincerely  lamented  by 
all  ranks  of  people,  ])articularly  as  it  did  not  occur  in  the  extremity  of  age; 
for  he  had  not  completed  his  sixty-first  year. 

His  literary  labours  were  principally  connected  with  his  theological  profes- 
sion. He  wrote,  in  the  language  of  ancient  Rome,  an  account  of  the  affairs 
and  state  of  the  Chrir.tians  before  ihe  reign  of  Constantine  the  Great; — a  vin- 
dication of  the  early  discipline  ol  those  votaries  of  pure  religion; — a  narrative 
of  the  chief  incidents  of  the  life  of  the  unfortunate  Servetus,  the  martyr  of 


THE  EDITOR'S  PREFACE.  ^ 

Calvinistic  bigotry; — dissertations  on  various  subjects  of  a  sacred  nature; 

and  a  translation  of  the  celebrated  work  of  Dr.  Ralph  Cudworth  upon  the 
intellectual  system  of  the  universe,  accompanied  with  erudite  remarks  and 
judicious  illustrations. 

His  history  of  the  church  was  at  first  a  small  work,  which  appeared  under 
the  title  of  Institutiones  Ilistoria;  Christianic,  and  passed  through  several 
editions.  He  was  repeatedly  urged  by  his  learned  friends  to  extend  a  work 
which  they  represented  as  too  meagre  for  the  importance  of  tiie  subject.  He 
acknowledged  the  applicability  of  the  objection;  but  alleged  various  avoca- 
tions, as  an  excuse  for  non-compliance.  To  the  wish  of  the  public  he  at 
length  acceded;  and,  having  employed  two  years  in  the  augmentation  and  im- 
provement of  his  history,  he  published  it  in  tlie  year  1755,  with  a  dedication 
to  Burchard  Christian  baron  Behr,  one  of  the  counsellors  of  regency  to  his- 
Britanic  majesty  for  the  electorate  of  Hanover.  In  the  preface,  he  solemnly 
thanked  God  for  having  given  him  strength  and  ability  to  finish  a  difTicult  and 
tedious  work  (optts  difficile,  non  una  de  causa,  e.t.  tredii  plenum.)  He,  at  the 
same  time,  lamented  that  he  was  almost  worn  out  witli  labours  and  cares. 
Thus  did  he  seemingly  predict  his  speedy  dissolution;  and,  before  the  end  of 
that  year,  his  honourable  and  useful  life  was  closed  by  the  will  of  Providence, 

Being  desirous  of  procuring,  for  a  work  so  replete  with  information,  a  more 
general  perusal  than  its  Latin  dress  would  allow,  Dr.  Madaine,  a  learned 
minister  of  the  English  church  in  Holland,  undertook  the  task  of  translating 
it;  and  the  attempt  was  by  no  means  unsuccessful.  For  his  translation  there 
is  a  permanent  demand;  and  a  new  edition  is  therefore  submitted  to  the  public 
eye,  after  that  revision  and  correction  which  appeared  to  be  necessary.  A 
continuation  is  subjoined,  that  the  reader  might  not  regret  the  want  of  a  re- 
ligious and  ecclesiastical  history  of  recent  times;  and  the  translator's  appendix 
has  been  enriched  with  a  judicious  essay,  the  offspring  of  the  spontaneous 
zeal  of  a  distinguished  divine  of  the  Episcopal  church  in  Scotland. 

C.  COOTE. 

May\5,  1826. 


THE  AUTHOR'S  PREFACE. 


The  different  editions  of  my  Elements  of  the  Christian  History  met  with 
such  a  favourable  reception,  and  so  great  was  the  demand  for  them,  that  they 
were  soon  out  of  print.  On  this  occasion,  the  worthy  person,  at  whose  ex- 
pense they  had  been  presented  to  the  public,  advised  that  a  new  edition  should 
be  given  of  the  same  work,  improved  and  enlarged.  The  other  occupations  in 
which  I  was  engaged,  and  a  prudent  consideration  of  the  labour  I  must  undergo 
in  the  correction  and  augmentation  of  a  work  in  which  I  myself  perceived 
so  many  imperfections,  prevented  my  yielding,  for  a  long  time,  to  his  earnest 
solicitations.  But  the  importunities  of  my  friends  at  length  prevailed  upon 
me  to  undertake  the  difficult  task;  and  I  have  assiduously  employed  my  hours 
of  leisure,  during  two  years,  in  bringing  tlie  work  to  as  high  a  degree  of  per- 
fection as  I  am  capable  of  giving  to  it;  so  that  now  tliese  Elements  of  Eccle- 
siastical History  appear  under  a  new  form,  and  the  changes  they  have  under- 
gone are  certainly  advantageous  in  every  respect.  I  have  still  retained  the 
division  of  the  whole  into  certain  periods;  for,  though  a  continued  narration 
would  have  been  more  agreeable  to  my  own  taste,  and  had  also  several  cir- 
cumstances to  recommend  it,  yet  the  counsels  of  some  learned  men  who  have 
experienced  the  great  advantages  of  this  division,  engaged  me  to  prefer  the 
former  to  every  other  method;  and  indeed,  when  we  examine  this  matter  with 
due  attention,  we  shall  be  disposed  to  allow,  that  the  author,  who  proposes 
comprehending  in  one  work  all  the  observations  and  facts  which  are  necessary 
to  an  acquaintance  with  the  state  of  Christianity  in  the  different  ages  of  the 
church,  will  find  it  impossible  to  execute  this  design,  without  adopting  cer- 
tain general  divisions  of  time,  and  others  of  a  more  particular  kind,  naturally 
pointed  out  by  the  variety  of  objects  that  demand  a  place  in  his  history.  And, 
as  this  was  my  design  in  the  following  work,  I  have  left  its  primitive  form 
entire,  and  made  it  my  principal  business  to  correct,  improve,  and  augmeiU  it 
in  such  a  manner,  as  to  render  it  more  instructive  and  entertaining  to  the  reader. 

My  principal  care  has  been  employed  in  establishing  upon  the  most  solid 
foundations,  and  confirming  by  the  most  respectable  authority,  the  credit  of 
the  facts  related  in  this  history.  For  this  purpose,  1  have  drawn  from  the 
fountain-head,  and  have  gone  to  those  genuine  sources  from  which  the  pure 
and  uncorrupted  streams  of  evidence  flow.  I  have  consulted  the  best  authors 
of  every  age,  and  chiefly  those  who  were  contemporary  with  the  events 
which  they  record,  or  lived  near  the  periods  in  which  they  happened;  and 
I  have  endeavoured  to  report  their  contents  with  brevity,  perspicuity,  and 
precision.  Abbreviators,  generally  speaking,  do  little  more  than  reduce  to  a 
short  and  narrow  compass  those  large  bodies  of  history,  which  have  been 
compiled  from  original  authors.  This  method  may  be,  in  some  measure, 
justified  by  several  reasons,  and  therefore  is  not  to  be  entirely  disapproved: 
hence,  nevertheless,  it  happens,  that  the  errors,  which  almost  always  abound 
in  large  and  voluminous  productions,  are  propagated  with  facility,  and,  pass- 
ing from  one  book  into  many,  are  unhappily  handed  down  from  age  to  age. 
This  I  had  formerly  observed  in  several  abridgements:  and  I  had  lately  the 
mortification  to  find  some  instances  of  this  in  my  work,  when  I  examined  it 
by  the  pure  lamps  of  antiquity,  and  compared  it  with  those  original  records 
which  are  considered  as  the  genuine  sources  of  sacred  history.  It  was  then 
that  I  perceived  the  danger  of  confiding  implicitly  even  in  those  who  are  the 
most  generally  esteemed  on   account  of   their  fidelity,  penetration,  and  dili- 


THE  AUTHOR'S  PREFACE.  vii 

gence;  and  it  was  then  also  that  I  became  sensible  of  the  necessity  of  adding, 
suppressing,  changing,  and  correcting  several  tilings  in  the  small  work  (al- 
ready mentioned)  which  I  formerly  published.  In  the  execution  of  this 
necessary  task,  I  can  afllnn  with  truth,  that  I  have  not  been  deficient  in  per- 
severance, industry,  or  attention;  and  yet,  with  all  tiiese,  it  is  exceedingly 
difficult  to  avoid  mistakes  of  every  kind,  as  tliose  who  are  acquainted  with 
the  nature  of  historical  researches  abundantly  know.  IIovv  far  I  have  ap- 
proached to  that  inaccessible  degree  of  exactness,  which  is  chargeable  with 
no  error,  must  be  left  to  the  decision  of  those  wliose  extensive  knowledge  of 
the  Christian  history  entitles  them  to  pronounce  judgment  in  this  matter. 
That  such  may  judge  with  the  greater  facility,  I  have  mentioned  the  aivlhors 
who  have  been  my  guides;  and,  if  I  have  in  any  respect  misrepresented  their 
accounts  or  their  sentiments,  I  must  confess  that  I  am  much  more  inexcusable 
than  some  other  historians,  who  have  met  with  and  deserved  the  same  re- 
proach, since  I  have  attentively  perused  and  compared  the  various  authors  to 
whose  testimony  I  appeal,  having  formed  a  resolution  of  trusting  to  no  au- 
thority inferior  to  that  of  the  original  sources  of  historical  truth.  In  order 
to  execute,  with  some  degree  of  success,  the  design  I  formed  of  rendering 
my  abridgement  more  perfect,  and  of  giving  the  history  of  the  church  as  it 
stands  in  the  most  authentic  records,  and  in  the  writings  of  those  whose 
authority  is  most  respectable,  I  found  myself  obliged  to  make  many  changes 
and  additions.  These  will  be  visible  through  the  whole  of  the  following 
work,  but  more  especially  in  the  third  book,  which  comprehends  the  history 
of  the  Christian,  and  particularly  of  the  Latin  or  western  church,  from 
Charlemagne  to  the  rise  of  Luther  and  the  commencement  of  the  Reforma- 
tion. This  period  of  history,  though  it  abound  with  shining  examples, 
though  it  be  unspeakably  useful  as  a  key  to  the  knowledge  of  the  political  as 
well  as  religious  state  of  Europe,  though  it  be  singularly  adapted  to  unfold  the 
origin  and  explain  the  reasons  of  many  modern  transactions,  has  nevertheless 
been  hitherto  treated  with  less  perspicuity,  solidity,  and  elegance,  than  any 
other  branch  of  the  history  of  the  church.  Many  writers  have  attempted  to 
throw  light  upon  this  interesting  period;  but  the  barbarous  style  of  one  part 
of  the  number,  the  profound  ignorance  of  some,  and  the  partial  and  factious 
spirit  of  others,  are  such  as  render  them  by  no  means  inviting;  and  the  enor- 
mous bulk  and  excessive  price  of  the  productions  of  some  of  the  best  of  these 
writers  must  necessarily  make  them  scarce.  It  is  farther  to  be  observed,  that 
some  of  the  most  valuable  records  that  belong  to  the  period  now  under  con- 
sideration, remain  yet  in  manuscript  in  the  collections  of  the  curious  (or  the 
opulent,  who  are  willing  to  pass  for  such,)  and  are  thus  concealed  from  public 
view.  Those  who  consider  these  circumstances  will  no  longer  be  surprised, 
that,  in  this  part  of  the  subject,  the  most  learned  and  laborious  writers  have 
omitted  many  things  of  consequence,  and  treated  others  without  success. 
Amongst  these,  the  analists  and  other  historians,  so  highly  celebrated  by  the 
church  of  Rome,  such  as  Baronius,  Raynaldus,  Bzovius,  Manriques,  and 
Wadding,  though  they  were  amply  furnished  with  ancient  manuscripts  and 
records,  have  nevertheless  committed  more  faults,  and  fallen  into  errors  of 
greater  consequence,  than  other  writers,  who  were  far  inferior  to  Iheni  in 
learning  and  credit,  and  had  much  less  access  to  original  records  than  they 
were  favoured  with. 

These  considerations  induce  me  to  hope,  that  tiie  work  which  I  now  pre- 
sent to  the  public  will  neither  appear  superfluous  nor  be  found  useless.  For, 
as  I  have  employed  many  years  in  the  most  laborious  researches,  in  order  to 
acquire  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  history  of  Christianity  from  the 
eighth  century  downwards,  and  as  I  flatter  myself  that,  by  the  aid  both  of 
printed  works  and  manuscripts  too  little  consulted,  I  have  arrived  at  a  more 
certain  and  satisfactory  knowledge  of  that  period  than  is  to  be  found  m  the 


viii  THE  AUTHOR'S  PREFACE. 

generality  of  writers,  I  cannot  bnt  think  that  it  will  be  doing  real  service  to 
this  branch  of  history  to  produce  some  of  these  discoveries,  as  this  may  en- 
courage the  learned  and  industrious  to  pursue  the  plan  that  I  have  thus  begun, 
and  to  complete  the  history  of  the  Latin  church,  by  dispelling  the  darkness 
of  what  is  called  the  Middle  Age.  And  indeed  I  may  venture  to  affirm,  that 
I  have  brought  to  liglit  several  things  hitherto  unknown;  corrected  from 
records  of  undoubted  authority  accounts  of  other  things  imperfectly  known, 
and  expressed  with  perplexity  and  confusion;  and  exposed  the  fabulous  nature 
of  many  pretended  events  that  deform  the  annals  of  sacred  history.  I  here 
perhaps  carry  too  far  that  self-praise,  which  the  candour  and  indulgence  of  the 
public  are  disposed  either  to  overlook  as  the  infirmity,  or  to  regard  as  the 
privilege  of  old  age.  Those,  however,  who  are  curious  to  know  how  far 
this  self-applause  is  just  and  well  grounded,  have  only  to  cast  an  eye  on  the 
illustrations  I  have  given  on  the  subject  of  Constantine's  donation,  as  also 
with  respect  to  the  Cathari  and  Albigenscs,  the  Beghards  and  Beguines,  the 
Brethren  and  Sisters  of  the  Free  Spirit  (whose  pestilential  fanaticism  was  a 
public  nuisance  to  many  countries  in  Europe  during  a  period  of  four  hundred 
years,)  the  Fratricelli  or  Little  Brethren,  the  controversies  between  the  Fran- 
ciscans and  the  Roman  pontifls,  the  history  of  Berenger  and  the  Lollards,  and 
other  matters.  When  my  illustrations  of  these  subjects  and  points  of  history 
are  compared  with  what  we  find  concerning  them  in  other  writers,  it  will 
perhaps  appear,  that  ray  pretensions  to  the  merit  of  some  interesting  dis- 
coveries are  not  entirely  without  foundation. 

The  accessions  to  ecclesiastical  history  could  not  be  exhibited  with  the 
same  brevity  that  I  have  observed  in  treating  other  subjects,  which  had  been 
amply  enlarged  upon  by  others;  for  this  would  have  been  incompatible  with 
the  information  of  the  curious,  who  would  have  received  imperfect  and  con- 
fused notions  of  these  subjects,  and  would  have  made  me,  perhaps,  pass  for  a 
fabulous  writer,  who  advanced  novelties,  without  mentioning  cither  my  guides 
or  my  authorities.  I  have,  therefore,  not  only  explained  all  those  points  of 
history  which  carry  with  them  an  air  of  novelty  or  recede  considerably  from 
the  notions  commonly  received,  but  have  also  confirmed  them  by  a  sufficient 
number  of  observations  and  icstimonies,  so  as  to  establish  their  credibility  on 
a  solid  foundation.  The  illustrations  and  enlargements,  which,  generally 
speaking,  have  an  appearance  of  disproportion  and  superfiuity  in  an  historical 
abridgement,  were  absolutely  necessary  in  the  present  case. 

These  reasons  engaged  me  to  change  the  plan  laid  down  in  my  former 
work,  and  one  peculiar  consideration  induced  me  to  render  the  present  history 
more  ample  and  voluminous.  The  elements  before  mentioned,  were  princi- 
pally intended  for  the  use  of  those  who  are  appointed  to  instruct  the  studious 
youth  in  the  history  and  vicissitudes  of  the  Christian  Church,  and  who  stand 
in  need  of  a  compendious  text  to  give  a  certain  order  and  method  to  their 
prelections.  In  this  view  I  treated  each  subject  with  the  utmost  brevity,  and 
left,  as  was  natural  and  fitting,  much  to  the  learning  and  abilities  of  those 
who  might  think  proper  to  make  use  of  these  elements  in  their  course  of 
instruction.  But,  in  reviewing  this  compendious  work  with  an  intention  of 
presenting  it  anew  to  the  public,  I  imagined  it  might  be  rendered  more  ac- 
ceptable to  many,  by  such  improvements  and  enlargements  as  might  adapt  it 
not  only  to  the  use  of  those  who  teach  others,  but  also  of  those  who  are  de- 
sirous of  acquiring,  by  their  own  application,  a  general  knowledge  of  eccle- 
siastical history.  It  was  with  this  view  that  I  made  considerable  additions 
to  my  former  work,  illustrated  many  things  that  had  been  there  obscurely  ex- 
pressed for  the  sake  of  brevity,  and  reduced  to  a  regular  and  perspicuous 
order  a  variety  of  facts,  the  recital  of  which  had  been  more  or  less  attended 
with  perplexity  and  confusion.  Hence  it  is,  that,  in  the  following  work,  the 
history  of  the  calamities,  in  which  the  Christians  of  the  first  ages  were  in 


THE  AUTHOR'S  PREFACE.  i^^ 

volved,  and  the  origin  and  progress  of  the  sects  and  heresies  which  troubled 
the  church,  are  exhibited  with  an  uncommon  degree  of  accuracy  and 
precision. 

Hence  the  various  forms  of  religion,  which  have  sprung  from  the  excessive 
love  of  novelty,  are  represented  without  prejudice  or  partiality,  and  with  all 
possible  perspicuity  and  truth.  It  is  also  in  consequence  of  this  change  of 
my  original  design,  that  I  have  taken  the  utmost  pains  to  state  more  clearly 
religious  controversies,  to  estimate  tlieir  rcspeclivo  moment  and  importance, 
and  to  exhibit  the  arguments  alleged  on  both  sides;  nor  must  I  omit  mention- 
ing the  care  and  labour  I  have  employed  in  giving  an  exact  narration  of  the 
transactions,  wars,  and  enterprising  measures,  of  the  Roman  pontiffs,  from 
the  reign  of  Charlemagne  to  the  present  time. 

Those,  therefore,  who  are  prevented  from  applying  themselves  to  a  regu- 
lar study  of  ecclesiastical  history  through  want  of  leisure,  or  by  not  having 
at  hand  the  sources  of  instruction,  and  are  nevertheless  desirous  of  acquiring 
a  distinct  knowledge  of  certain  events,  doctrines,  or  ceremonies,  may  consult 
the  following  work,  in  which  they  will  find  the  information  they  want;  and 
those  who  are  inclined  to  push  their  inquiries  still  farther,  will  see  the  course 
they  must  pursue,  and  find  the  authors  mentioned  whom  it  will  be  proper  for 
them  to  consult. 

It  would  betray  an  unpardonable  presumption  in  me  to  imagine,  that  in  a 
work,  whose  plan  is  so  extensive,  and  whose  contents  are  so  various,  I  have 
never  fallen  into  any  mistakes.  But,  as  I  am  conscious  to  myself  of  having 
conducted  this  undertaking  with  the  most  upright  intentions,  and  of  having 
employed  all  those  means  which  are  generally  looked  upon  as  the  best  pre- 
servatives against  the  seductions  of  error,  I  would  hope  that  the  mistakes  I 
may  have  committed  are  neither  so  frequent  nor  so  momentous  as  to  be  pro- 
ductive of  any  pernicious  effects. 

I  might  add  more;  but  nothing  more 'is  necessary  to  enable  those  to  judge 
of  this  work,  who  judge  with  knowledge,  impartiality,  and  candour.  I  there- 
fore conclude,  by  offering  the  just  tribute  of  my  gratitude  to  Almighty  God, 
who,  amidst  the  infirmities  of  my  advanced  years  and  other  pressures  under 
which  I  have  laboured,  has  supplied  me  with  strength  to  bring  this  difficult 
work  to  a  conclusion. 

Gottingen,  March  23,  1755. 


Vol.  1.— 2 


INTRODUCTION. 


I.  The  Ecclesiastical  History  of  the  New  Testament  is  a  clear  and  faithful  narration  of  the 
transactions,  revolutions,  and  events,  tliat  relate  to  tliat  large  community,  which  bears  the  name 
of  Jesus  Christ,  and  is  commonly  known  under  the  denomination  of  the  Church.  It  com- 
prehends both  the  external  and  internal  condition  of  this  community,  and  so  coimects  each 
event  with  the  causes  from  which  it  proceeds,  and  the  instruments  wliich  have  been  concerned 
in  its  production,  that  the  attentive  reader  may  be  led  to  observe  tlie  displays  of  providential 
wisdom  and  goodness  in  the  presei-vation  of  the  church,  and  thus  find  his  piety  improved,  as 
well  as  his  knowledge. 

II-  The  cliurch,  founded  by  the  ministry  and  deatli  of  Christ,  cannot  be  represented  with 
grea.ter  perspicuity  and  propriety  than  under  the  notion  of  a  society  subjected  to  a  lawful  do- 
minion, and  governed  by  certain  laws  and  institutions,  mostly  of  a  moral  and  spiritual  ten- 
dency. To  such  a  society  many  external  events  must  liappen,  which  will  advance  or  oppose 
its  interests,  and  accelerate  or  retard  its  progress  toward  perfection,  in  consequence  of  its  un- 
avoidable connexion  with  the  course  and  revolutions  of  human  affairs.  Moreover,  as  nothing 
is  stable  and  uuifonn  where  the  imperfections  of  humanity  take  place,  this  religious  society^ 
besides  the  vicissitudes  to  wliich  it  must  be  exposed  from  tlie  influence  of  external  events,  mast 
be  liable  to  various  changes  in  its  internal  constitution.  In  tliis  view  of  things,  then,  it  ap- 
pears, that  the  history  of  the  churcli,  like  that  of  the  state,  maybe  divided  with  propriety  into 
two  general  branches,  which  we  may  call  its  External  and  Internal  History. 

III.  The  External  Histm-y  of  the  Cliurch  comprehends  all  the  changes,  vicissitudes,  and 
events,  that  have  diversified  the  external  state  and  condition  of  this  sacred  community.  And 
as  all  public  societies  have  tjieir  periods  of  lustre  and  decay,  and  are  exposed  to  revolutions 
both  of  a  happy  and  calamitous  nature,  so  this  fii-st  branch  of  Ecclesiastical  History  may  be 
subdivided  into  two,  comprehending,  respectively,  the  prosperous  and  calamitous  events  thtt 
have  happened  to  the  church. 

IV.  The  prosperous  events  that  have  contributed  to  extend  the  limits,  or  to  augment  the  in- 
fluence, of  the  Christian  church,  have  proceeded  either  from  its  rulers  and  leaders,  or  from  the 
subordinate  members  of  this  great  community.  Vndjer  tlie  former  class,  we  rank  its  public 
rulers,  such  as  princes,  magistrates,  and  pontiifs,  who,  by  their  autliority  and  laws,  their  liber- 
ality, and  even  tiieir  arms,  have  maintained  its  cause  and  extended  its  borders;  as  also,  its 
more  private  leaders,  its  learned  and  pious  doctors,  whose  wise  counsels,  pious  exploits,  emi- 
nent examples,  and  distinguislied  abilities,  have  contributed  most  to  promote  its  true  prosperity 
and  lustre.  Under  tlie  latter  class,  we  may  compreliend  the  advantages  which  the  cause  of 
Christianity  has  derived  from  the  active  faith,  the  invincible  constancy,  the  fervent  piety,  and 
extensive  charity,  of  its  genuine  professors,  who,  by  the  attractive  fuslre  of  these  amiable  vir- 
tues, have  led  many  into  the  way  of  trutii,  and  engaged  them  to  submit  themselves  to  the  em- 
pire of  the  Messiah. 

V.  Under  the  calamitous  events  that  have  liappened  to  the  church,  may  he  comprehended 
the  injuries  it  has  received  from  the  vices  and  passions  of  its  friends,  and  the  bitter  opposition 
and  insidious  stratagems  of  its  enemies.  The  professors  of  Christianity,  and  more  especially 
the  doctors  and  rulers  of  the  cliurch,  have  done  unspeakable  detriment  to  the  cause  of  religion, 
by  their  ignorance  and  sloth,  their  luxury  and  ambition,  their  uncharitable  zea.l,.  saiimosities 
and  contentions,  of  which  many  shocking  examples  will  be  exliibited  in  tlie  course  of  this  liis- 
tory.  Christianity  had  public  enemies  to  encounter,  even  princes  and  magistrates,  who  oppos- 
ed its  progress  by  penal  laws,  and  blood-thirsty  persecution;  it  had  also  private  and  inveterate 
adversaries  in  a  certain  set  of  philosophers,  or  rather  sophists,  who,  enslaved  by  superstition,, 
or  abandoned  to  atlieism,  endeavoured  to  blast  the  rising  church  by  their  perfidious  accusa- 
tions, and  their  virulent  writings. 

VI.  Such  then  are  the  events  that  are  exhibited  to  our  vie^v  in  the  external  history  of  the 
church.  Its  Internal  History  comprejiends  the  changes  and  vicissitudes  that  have  happened  in 
its  inward  constitution,  in  that  system  of  disciphne  and  doctrine  by  which  it  stands  distinguish- 
ed from  all  other  religious  societies.  Tliis  branch  may  be  properly  termed  the  History  of  the 
Christian  Religion.  The  causes  of  these  internal  changes  are  to  be  sought  principally  in  the 
conduct  and  measures  of  those  Who  have  presided  and  borne  rule  in  the  church.  It  has  been 
too  frequently  their  practice  to  interpret  the  truths  and  precepts  of  religion  in  a  manner  ac- 
commodated to  their  particular  systems,  or  even  to  their  private  interests;  and,  while  they  have 
found,  in  some,  implicit  obedience,  tliey  have  met  with  warm  opposition  from  others.  Hence 
have  proceeded  theological  broils  and  civil  commotions,  in  wliich  the  cause  of  religion  has 
often  been  defended  at  tlie  expense  both  of  justice  and  humanity.  All  these  things  must  be 
observed  with  the  strictest  attention  by  an  ecclesiastical  historian. 


INTRODUCTION.  1 1 

VII.  The  first  Uiing,  therefore,  that  should  be  natiira] I}' treated  in  t)ie  Internal  History  oC the 
church,  is  the  history  of  its  ministers,  rulers,  and  form  ol"  ^ovemiiiont.  When  we  loolc  back 
to  the  coiTimencement  of  the  Christian  church,  we  find  its  government  administered  jointly 
by  the  pastors  and  tlie  people.  But,  in  process  of  time,  the  scene  changes,  and  we  see  these 
pastors  affecting  an  air  of  pre-eminence  and  superiority,  trampling  upon  the  rights  and  privi- 
leges of  the  community,  and  assuming  to  them.selves  a  supreme  authority,  both  in  civil  and 
religious  matters.  This  invasion  of  the  rights  of  the  peoj)le  was  at  lenfftli  carried  to  such  a 
height,  that  a  single  man  administered,  or  at  least  claimed  a  right  to  administer,  the  affairs 
of  the  whole  church  with  an  unlimited  sway.  Among  the  doctors  of  these  early  times,  there 
were  some  who  acquired,  by  their  learned  labours,  a  shining  reputation  and  an  universal  in- 
fluence; they  were  regarded  as  oracles;  their  decisions  were  handed  down  to  posterity  as  sacred 
rules  of  faith  and  practice;  and  they  thus  deserve  to  be  mentioned,  with  particular  distinction 
among  the  governors  of  the  church,  though  no  part  of  its  public  administration  was  actually 
in  their  hands.* 

VIII.  After  giving  an  account  of  the  rulers  and  doctors  of  the  church,  the  ecclesiastical 
historian  proceeds  to  exhibit  a  view  of  the  laws  tliat  are  peculiar  to  this  sacred  community 
which  form,  as  it  were,  its  centre  of  miion,  and  distinguish  it  from  all  other  religious  societies. 
These  laws  are  of  two  kinds.  The  first  arc  properly  called  dicliie,  because  they  are  immedi- 
ately enacted  by  God  himself,  and  are  contained  in  tlioso  sacred  books,  which  carry  the  most 
striking  marks  of  a  divine  origin.  They  consist  of  those  doctrines  that  are  the  objects  of  faith 
and  reason,  and  those  precepts  which  are  addressed  to  the  heart  and  the  affections.  To  the 
second  kind  belong  tiiose  laws  which  are  merely  of  human  institution,  and  derive  their  au- 
thority only  from  the  injunctions  of  tlie  rulers  of  the  church. 

IX.  In  that  part  of  the  sacred  history  wiiich  relates  to  the  doctrines  of  Christianity,  it  is 
necessary,  above  all  things,  to  inquire  particularly  into  the  degree  of  authority  that  has  been 
attributed  to  the  sacred  writings  in  the  different  periods  of  the  church,  and  also  into  the  man- 
ner in  which  tlie  divine  doctrines  they  contain,  have  been  explained  and  illustrated.  For  the 
true  state  of  religion  in  every  age  can  only  be  learned  from  the  point  of  view  in  which  these 
celestial  oracles  were  considered,  and  from  the  manner  in  which  they  were  expounded  to  the 
people.  As  long  as  they  were  the  only  rule  of  faith,  religion  preserved  its  native  purity;  and, 
in  proportion  as  their  decisions  were  either  neglected  or  ])ostponed  to  the  inventions  of  men, 
it  degenerated  from  its  primitive  and  divine  sinliplicity.  It  is  farther  necessary  to  show,  under 
this  head,  what  was  the  fate  of  the  pure  laws  and  doctrines  of  Christianity — how  they  were 
interpreted  and  explained — how  they  were  defended  against  the  enemies  of  the  Gospel — how 
they  were  corrupted  and  adulterated  by  the  ignorance  and  licentiousness  of  men.  And,  finally, 
it  will  be  proper  to  inquire  here,  how  far  tlie  lives  and  manners  of  Christians  have  been  con- 
formable to  the  dictates  of  these  sacred  laws,  and  to  tlie  inlluence  that  these  sublime  uoctrines 
ought  to  have  upon  the  hearts  of  men;  as  also  to  examine  the  rules  of  discipline  prescribed  by 
the  spiritual  governors  of  the  church,  in  order  to  correct  and  restrain  the  vices  and  irregulari- 
ties of  its  members. 

X.  The  Human  Laws,  that  constitute  a  part  of  ecclesiastical  government,  consist  in  pre- 
cepts concerning  the  external  worship  of  the  Deity,  and  in  certain  rites,  either  confirmed  by 
custom,  or  introduced  by  positive  and  express  authority.  Riles  and  ceremonies  regard  religion 
either  directly  or  indirectly;  by  the  former,  we  understand  those  which  are  used  in  the  imuie- 
diate  worship  of  the  Supreme  Being,  whether  in  public  or  in  private;  by  the  latter,  such  pious 
and  decent  institutions  as,  beside  direct  acts  of  worship,  have  prevailed  in  the  church.  This 
part  of  sacred  history  is  of  a  vast  extent,  both  on  account  of  the  great  diversity  of  these  cere- 
monies, and  the  frequent  changes  and  modifications  through  which  they  have  passed.  This 
consideration  will  justify  our  treating  them  with  brevity,  in  a  work  which  is  only  intended  for 
a  compendious  view  of  ecclesiastical  hi.story. 

XI.  As  bodies  j)olitic  are  sometimes  distracted  with  wars  and  seditions,  so  has  the  Christian 
church,  though  designed  to  be  the  mansion  of  charity  and  concord,  been  unhappily  perplexed 
by  intestine  divisions,  occasioned  sometimes  by  points  of  doctrine,  at  others  by  a  variety  of 
sentiments  about  certain  rites  and  ceremonies.  The  principal  authors  of  these  divisions  have 
been  stigmatized  with  the  title  of  Heretics,  and  their  jieculiar  opinions  of  consequence  distin- 
guished by  the  appellation  of  Heresies.]  The  nature  therefore  and  progressx)f  these  intestine 
divisions  or  heresies  are  to  be  carefully  unfolded;  f.nd,  if  tliis  be  done  with  judgment  and  im- 
partiality, it  must  prove  useful  and  interesting  in  the  highest  degree,  though  at  the  same  time 
it  must  be  observed,  that  no  branch  of  ecclesia».tical  history  is  so  painful  and  difficult,  on  ac- 
count of  the  sagacity,  candour,  and  api)Ucalion  that  it  requires,  in  order  to  its  being  treated  in  a 
satisfactory  manner.  The  dilliculty  of  arriving  at  the  truth,  in  researches  of  this  nature,  is 
extreme,  on  account  of  the  injurious  treatment  that  has  been  shown  to  the  heads  of  religious 
sects,  and  the  unfair  representations  that  have  been  made  of  their  tenets  and  opinions;  and  thisi 
difficulty  has  been  considerably  augmented  by  this  particular  circumstance,  that  the  greatest 
part  of  the  writings  of  those  who  were  branded  with  the  name  of  heretics  have  not  reached 

*  By  these  our  author  means  the  Fathers,  whose  writings  form  still  a  rule  of  faith  in  the  Romish  church,  while, 
in  the  Proteslaiit  churches,  their  authority  dimiuishes  from  day  to  day. 

t  A  term  innocent  in  its  primitive  signification,  though  become  odious  by  the  enormity  of  some  errors,  to  whicli 
it  has  been  applitd,  and  also  by  the  use  that  has  been  made  of  it,  to  give  vent  to  the  malignity  of  CDlhusiaiti  aud 
hiffots. 


12  INTRODUCTION. 

our  times.  It  is  therefore  tlie  duty  of  a  candid  historian  to  avoid  attaching  to  this  temi  the 
invidious  sense  in  wliich  it  is  too  often  used,  since  it  is  the  invective  of  all  contending  parties, 
and  is  employed  against  truth  as  frequently  as  against  error.  The  wisest  method  is  to  take 
the  word  Heretic  in  its  general  signihcation,  as  denoting  a  person,  who,  either  directly  or  in- 
directly, has  been  the  occasion  of  exciting  divisions  and  dissensions  among  Christians. 

XII.  After  thus  considering  what  constitutes  the  matter  of  Ecclesiastical  History,  it  will  be 
proper  to  bestow  a  few  thoughts  on  the  manner  of  treating  it,  as  this  is  a  point  of  too  much 
importance  not  to  deserve  some  attention.  And  here  we  may  observe,  that,  in  order  to  ren- 
der both  the  External  and  Internal  History  of  the  Church  truly  interesting  and  useful,  it  is 
absolutely  necessary  to  trace  etfects  to  their  causes,  and  to  connect  events  with  the  circum- 
stances, views,  principles,  and  instruments  that  have  contributed  to  their  existence.  A  bare 
recital  of  facts  can  at  best  but  enrich  the  memory,  and  fnrnislia  certain  degree  of  amusement; 
but  the  liistorian  who  enters  into  the  secret  springs  that  direct  the  course  of  outward  events, 
and  views  things  in  their  various  relations,  connexions,  and  tendencies,  gives  thus  a  proper  ex- 
ercise to  the  judgment  of  the  reader,  and  administers,  on  many  occasions,  the  most  useful  les- 
sons of  wisdom  and  prudence.  It  is  true,  a  high  degree  of  caution  is  to  be  observed  here,  lest, 
in  disclosing  the  secret  springs  of  public  events,  we  substitute  imaginary  causes  in  the  place  of 
real,  and  attribute  the  actions  of  men  to  principles  they  never  professed. 

XIII.  In  order  to  discover  the  secret  causes  of  public  events,  some  general  succours  are  to 
be  derived  from  the  History  of  the  Times  in  which  they  happened,  and  the  Testimonies  of  the 
Authors  by  whom  they  are  recorded.  But,  beside  these,  a  considerable  acquaintance  with  hu- 
man nature,  founded  on  long  observation  and  experience,  is  extremely  useful  in  researches  of 
this  kind.  Tlie  liistorian,  who  has  acquired  a  competent  knowledge  of  the  views  that  occupy 
the  generality  of  men,  who  has  studied  a  great  vaiiety  of  cliaracters, and  attentively  observed 
the  force  and  violence  of  human  passions,  together  witli  the  infirmities  and  contradictions  they 
produce  in  the  conduct  of  life,  will  find,  in  tiiis  knowledge,  a  key  to  the  secret  reasons  and 
motives  which  gave  rise  to  many  of  the  most  important  events  of  ancient  times.  An  acquaint- 
ance also  with  the  manners  and  opj)no7is  of  tiie  persons  concerned  in  the  events  that  are  related, 
will  contribute  much  to  lead  us  to  the  true  origin  of  things. 

XIV.  There  are,  however,  beside  these  general  views,  particular  considerations,  which  will 
assist  us  still  farther  in  tracing  up  to  their  true  causes  the  various  events  of  sacred  history. 
We  must,  for  example,  in  the  external  history  of  the  church,  attend  carefully  to  two  things; 
first,  to  the  political  state  of  those  kingdoms  and  nations  in  which  the  Christian  religion  has 
been  embraced  or  rejected;  and,  secondly,  to  their  religious  state,  i.  e.  the  opinions  they  have 
entertained  concerning  the  divine  nature,  and  the  worship  that  is  to  be  addressed  to  God.  For 
we  shall  then  perceive,  with  greater  certainty  and  less  ditRculty,  the  reasons  of  the  different 
reception  Christianity  has  met  with  in  different  nations,  when  we  are  acquainted  with  the  re- 
spective forms  of  civil  government,  the  political  maxims,  and  the  public  forms  of  religion  that 
prevailed  in  those  comitries  and  at  those  periods  in  which  the  Gospel  received  encouragement, 
or  met  with  opposition. 

XV.  With  respect  to  the  Internal  History  of  the  Church,  nothing  is  more  adapted  to  lay  open 
to  view  the  hidden  springs  of  its  various  changes,  than  an  acquaintance  with  the  History  of 
Learning  and  Philosophy  in  ancient  times.  For  it  is  certain,  that  human  learning  and  philo- 
sophy have,  in  all  times,  pretended  to  modify  the  doctrines  of  Christianity;  and  that  these  pro- 
tensions  have  extended  farther  than  belongs  to  the  province  of  philosophy  on  the  one  hand,  or 
is  consistent  with  the  purity  and  simplicity  of  the  Gospel  on  tlie  other.  It  may  also  be  ob- 
served, that  a  knowledge  of  the  forms  of  civil  government,  and  of  the  superstitious  rites  and 
institutions  of  ancient  times,  is  not  only  useful,  as  we  remarked  above,  to  illustrate  several 
things  in  the  external  history  of  the  church,  but  also  to  render  a  satisfactory  account  of  its  in- 
ternal variations,  both  in  point  of  doctrine  and  worship.  For  the  genius  of  human  lawse,  and 
the  maxims  of  civil  rulers,  have  undoubtedly  had  a  great  influence  in  forming  the  constitution 
of  the  church;  and  even  its  spiritual  leaders  have,  in  too  many  instances,  from  an  ill-judged 
prudence,  modelled  its  discipline  and  worship  after  the  ancient  superstitions. 

XVI.  We  cannot  be  at  any  loss  to  know  the  sources  fiom  which  this  important  knowledge 
is  to  be  derived.  The  best  writers  of  every  age,  who  make  mention  of  ecclesiastical  afVairs, 
and  particularly  those  who  were  contemporary  witii  the  events  they  relate,  are  to  be  carefully 
consulted,  since  it  is  from  credible  testimonies  and  respectable  authorities  that  history  derives 
a  solid  and  permanent  foundation.  Our  esteem  for  those  writers,  who  may  be  considered  as 
the  sources  of  historical  knowledge,  ouglit  not  however  to  lead  us  to  treat  with  neglect  the 
historians  and  annalists,  who  have  already  made  use  of  these  original  records,  since  it  betrays 
a  foolish  sort  of  vanity  to  reject  the  advantages  that  may  be  derived  from  the  succours  and 
labours  of  those  who  have  preceded  us  in  their  endeavours  to  cast  light  upon  points  that  have 
been  for  many  ages  covered  with  obscurity.* 

XVII.  From  all  this  we  shall  easily  discern  the  qualifications  that  are  essential  to  a  good 
writer  of  ecclesiastical  history.  His  knowledge  of  human  afiairs  iiuist  be  considerable,  and 
his  learning  extensive.  He  must  be  endowed  with  a  spirit  of  observation  and  sagacity;  a  habit 
of  reasoning  with  evidence  and  fixcility;  a  faithful  memory;  and  a  judgment  matured  by  ex- 

*  The  various  writers  of  ecclesiastical  history  are  enumerated  by  Sever.  Walt.  Sluterus,  in  his  Propylaeum  His- 
toric Christiana?,  published  at  Lunenburg,  in  4lo.,  in  the  year  1696;  and  by  Gasp.  Sagittarius,  in  his  lutroductio  ad 
Historian!  Ecclcsiasticani,  singulasque  ejus  partes. 


INTRODUCTION.  1 3 

perience,  and"  strenfftliened  by  exercise.  Such  are  flie  intellectual  eiidownienl.-^  that  are  re- 
quired in  the  character  of  a  wood  historian;  and  llie  moral  qualities  necessary  to  complete  it, 
are,  a  persevering  and  inflexible  attachment  to  truth  anrl  virtue,  a  freedom  from  the  servitude 
of  prejudice  and  passion,  and  a  laborious  and  patient  turn  of  mind. 

XVIII.  Those  who  undertake  to  write  the  history  of  the  Christian  church  are  exposed  to 
the  reception  of  a  bias  from  three  dilVerent  sources;  from  times,  persoiis,  and  (yplnions.  7'he 
tiinrs,  in  which  we  live,  have  often  so  great  an  influence  on  our  manner  of  judging,  as  to  make 
us  consider  the  events  which  happen  in  our  days,  as  a  rule  by  which  we  arc  to  estimate  the 
probability  or  evidence  of  tliose  tliat  are  recorded  in  tlie  history  of  past  ages.  The  persons,  on 
whose  testimonies  we  think  we  have  reason  to  depend,  acquire  an  imperceptible  authority  over 
our  sentiments,  that  too  frequently  seduces  us  to  adopt  their  errors,  especially  if  these  persons 
have  been  distinguislied  by  eminent  degrees  of  sanctity  and  virtue.  And  an  attachment  to 
fii vourite  iipinimis,  leads  autliors  sometimes  to  pervert,  or,  at  lea*;t,  to  modify,  facts  in  favour  of 
those  who  have  embraced  tlicse  opinions,  or  to  the  disadvantage  of  such  as  have  opposed 
them.  These  kinds  of  seduction  arc  so  much  the  more  dangerous,  as  those  whom  they  de- 
ceive are,  in  innumerable  cases,  insensible  of  their  delusion,  and  of  the  false  rei)resentations 
of  things  to  which  it  leads  them.  It  is  not  necessary  to  observe  the  solemn  obligations  that 
bind  an  historian  to  guard  against  these  three  sources  of  error  with  the  most  delicate  circum- 
spection, and  the  most  scrupulous  attention. 

XIX.  It  is  well  known,  nevertheless,  how  far  ecclesiastical  historians,  in  all  ages,  have  de- 
parted from  these  rules,  and  from  others  of  equal  evidence  and  importance.  For,  not  to  men- 
tion those  who  lay  claim  to  a  high  rank  among  the  writers  of  history  in  consequence  of  a 
happy  memory,  loaded  with  an  ample  heap  of  materials,  or  those  whose  ])ens  are  rather  guided 
by  sordid  views  of  interest  than  by  a  generous  love  of  truth,  it  is  too  evident,  how  few  in  num- 
ber the  unprejudiced  and  impartial  historians  are,  whom  neither  the  influence  of  the  sect  fo 
which  they  belong,  nor  the  venerable  and  imposing  names  of  antiquity,  nor  the  spirit  of  the 
times  and  the  torrent  of  prevailing  opinion,  can  turn  aside  from  the  rigid  pursuit  of  truth 
alone.  In  the  present  age,  more  especially,  the  spirit  of  the  times,  and  tlie  influence  of  pre- 
dominant ojjinions,  have  gained  with  many  an  incredible  ascendenc}'.  Hence  we  find  fre- 
quently in  the  writings,  even  of  learned  men,  such  wretched  arguments  as  these: — Such  an 
opinion  is  true;  therefore  it  mnst  of  necessity  have  he.en  adopted  by  the  primitive.  Christians. — Christ 
has  commanded  us  to  live  in  such  a  manner;  therefore  it  is  uniloxihtedly  certain,  that  the  Christian.<! 
of  ancient  times  lived  so. — Jl  certain  custom  does  not  laUe  place  now;  therefore  it  did  not  prevail  in 
former  times. 

XX.  If  those  who  apply  themselves  to  the  composition  of  Ecclesiastical  History  be  careful 
to  avoid  the  sources  of  error  mentioned  above,  their  labours  will  be  eminently  useful  to  man- 
kind, and  more  especially  to  those  who  are  called  to  the  important  office  of  instructing  others 
in  the  sacred  truths  and  duties  of  Christianity.  The  history  of  the  church  presents  to  our 
view  a  variety  of  objects  that  are  every  way  adapted  to  confirm  our  fiith.  When  we  con- 
template here  tlie  discouraging  obstacles,  united  efforts  of  kingdoms  and  cnqiires,  and  the 
dreadful  calamities  which  Christianity,  in  its  very  infmcy,  was  oljliged  to  encounter,  and  over 
which  it  gained  an  immortal  victory,  this  will  be  sutlicient  to  fortify  its  true  and  zealous  pro- 
fessors against  all  the  threats,  cavils,  and  stratagems,  of  profane  and  impious  men.  The  great 
and  shining  examples  also,  vvhicli  display  their  lustre,  more  or  less,  in  every  period  of  the 
Christian  history,  must  have  an  admirable  tendency  to  inflame  our  piety,  and  to  excite,  even 
in  the  coldest  and  most  insensible  hearts,  the  love  of  God  and  virtue.  Those  amazing  revo- 
lutions and  events  that  distinguished  every  age  of  the  church,  and  often  seemed  to  arise  from 
small  beginnings,  and  causes  of  little  consequence,  proclaim,  with  a  solenni  and  respectable 
voice,  the  emi)ire  of  Providence,  and  also  the  inconstancy  .and  vanity  of  human  all'airs.  And, 
among  the  many  advantages  that  arise  from  the  study  of  Ecclesiastical  History,  it  is  none  of 
tiie  least,  that  we  shall  see  therein  the  origin  and  occasions  of  those  ridiculous  rites,  absurd 
opinions,  foolish  sujierstitions,  and  pernicious  errors,  with  which  Christianity  is  yet  disfigured 
in  too  many  parts  of  the  world.  This  knowledge  will  naturally  lead  us  to  a  view  of  the  truth 
in  its  beautiful  simplicity,  will  engage  us  to  love  it,  and  render  us  zealous  in  its  defence;  not 
to  mention  the  i)leasure  and  satisfaction  that  we  must  feci  in  researches  and  discoveries  of  such 
an  interesting  kind. 

XXI.  They,  more  especially,  who  are  appointed  to  instruct  the  youth  in  the  public  univer- 
sities, and  also  such  as  are  professionally  devoted  to  the  service  of  the  churcii,  will  derive  froni 
this  study  the  most  useful  lessons  of  wisdom  and  prudence,  to  direct  them  in  tlie  discharge  of 
their  resjjective  olfices.  On  tlie  one  hand,  the  inconsiderate  zeal  and  temerity  of  others,  and 
tlic  pernicipus  consequences  witli  which  they  have  been  attended,  will  teach  circumspection; 
and  in  the  mistakes  into  which  even  men  of  eininent  merit  and  abilities  have  fallen,  they  will 
often  see  the  things  they  are  obliged  to  avoid,  and  the  sacrifices  it  will  be  prudent  to  make,  in 
order  to  maintain  peace  and  concord  in  tlie  chinch.  On  the  other  hand,  illustrious  exanijiles 
and  salutary  measures  will  hold  forth  to  tiiem  a  rule  of  conduct,  a  lamp  to  show  tli(>in  the 
paths  they  must  pursue.  It  may  be  farther  observed,  that,  if  we  except  the  arms  whicli  Scrip- 
ture and  reason  furnish  against  superstition  and  error,  there  is  nothing  that  will  enable  us  to 
combat  them  with  more  elllcacy  tlian  the  view  of  their  deplorable  eflects,  as  they  are  repre- 
sented to  us  in  the  history  of  tiie  church.  It  would  be  endless  to  enumerate  all  the  advanta- 
ges that  result  from  the  study  of  Hcclesiastical  History;  experience  alone  can  display  these  in 


14  INTRODUCTION. 

all  their  extent;  nor  shall  we  mention  the  benefits  that  may  be  derived  from  it  by  those  who 
have  turned  their  views  to  other  sciences  than  that  of  theology,  and  its  more  peculiar  utility 
to  such  as  are  en^ao-ed  in  the  study  of  the  civil  law.  All  this  would  lead  us  too  far  from  our 
present  design. 

XXII.  As  the  history  of  tlie  church  is  External  or  Internal,  so  the  manner  of  treating  it  must 
be  suited  to  that  division.  As  to  the  first,  when  the  narration  is  long,  and  the  thread  of  the 
history  runs  through  a  great  number  of  ages,  it  is  proper  to  divide  it  into  certam  periods,  which 
will  onve  tlie  reader  time  to  breathe,  assist  memory,  and  also  introduce  a  certain  method  and 
order  into  the  worli.  In  the  following  liistory  the  usual  division  into  centuries  is  adopted  in 
preference  to  all  otliers,  because  most  generally  approved,  though  it  may  be  attended  with  dif- 
ficulties and  inconveniences. 

XXIII.  A  considerable  part  of  these  inconveniences  will  be  however  removed,  if,  beside  this 
smaller  division  into  centuries,  we  adopt  a  larger  one,  and  divide  the  space  of  timetlaat  elapsed 
between  the  birth  of  Clirist  and  our  days  into  certain  grand  periods,  which  were  distinguished 
by  signal  revolutions  or  remarkable  events.  It  is  on  tliis  account  that  we  have  judged  it  ex- 
pedient to  comprehend  the  following  History  in  Four  Books,  which  will  embrace  four  remark- 
able periods.  The  First  will  be  employed  in  exhibiting  the  state  and  vicissitudes  of  the  Chris- 
tian church,  from  its  commenceme)\t  to  the  time  of  Constantine  the  Great.  The  Second  will 
compreliend  the  period  that  extends  from  the  reign  of  Constantine  to  that  of  Charlemagne, 
which  produced  such  a  remarkable  change  in  the  face  of  Europe.  The  Third  will  contain  the 
History  of  the  Cluirch,  from  the  time  of  Charlemagne  to  the  memorable  period  wiien  Luther 
arose  in  Germany,  to  oppose  the  tyranny  of  Rome,  and  to  deliver  divine  truth  from  the  dark- 
ness that  covered  it.  And  the  Fourth  will  carry  down  the  same  history,  from  the  rise  of  Lu- 
ther to  the  present  times. 

XXIV.  We  have  seen  above,  that  the  sphere  of  Ecclesiastical  History  is  extensive,  that  it 
comprehends  a  great  variety  of  objects,  and  embraces  political  as  well  as  religious  matters,  so 
far  as  the  former  are  related  to  the  latter,  either  as  causes  or  effects.  But,  however  great  the 
diversity  of  these  objects  may  be,  they  are  closely  connected;  and  it  is  the  particular  business 
of  an  ecclesiastical  historian  to  obsen'^e  a  method  that  will  sliow  this  connexion  in  the  most 
conspicuous  point  of  view,  and  form  into  one  regular  ichole  a  variety  of  parts  that  seem  hete- 
rogeneous and  discordant.  Difterent  writers  on  this  subject  have  followed  difterent  methods, 
according  to  the  diversity  of  their  views  and  their  peculiar  manner  of  thinking.  The  order  I 
have  observed  will  be  seen  above  in  that  part  of  this  Introduction,  which  treats  of  the  subject- 
matter  of  Ecclesiastical  History;  the  mention  of  it  is  therefore  omitted  here,  to  avoid  imne- 
ces.sary  repetitions.  • 


"^  p  T  T"^  n  ■"  "- 


)i:«!Ci:i!!8lliS^ICAL  HISTORY. 


r\  '~\  J  n 


BOOK  I. 

CONTAINING  THE   HISTORY  OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH,  FROM  ITS 
ORIGIN,  TO  THE  TIME  OF  CONSTANTINE  THE  GREAT. 


PART  I. 


COMPREHENDING  THE  EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Cmtcernin^  the  Civil  and  ReUgioii,s  State  of  the 
World  at  the  Birth  of  Christ. 

I.  A  GREAT  part  of  the  world  was  subject 
to  the  Roman  empire,  when  Jesus  Christ 
made  his  appearance  upon  earth.  The  re- 
moter nations  which  liad  submitted  totlie  yoke 
of  this  mighty  empire,  were  ruled  either  by 
Roman  governors  invested  vvitli  temporary 
commissions,  or  by  their  own  princes  and  laws, 
m  subordination  to  the  republic,  whose  sove- 
reignty was  to  be  acknowledged,  and  from 
which  the  conquered  kings,  who  were  continued 
in  their  dominions,  derived  their  borrowed 
majesty.  At  the  same  time,  the  Roman  j)eo- 
ple  and  tlieir  venerable  senate,  though  tlicy 
had  not  lost  all  shadow  of  liberty,  were  in 
reality  reduced  to  a  state  of  servile  submis- 
sion to  Augustus  Cfesar,  who,  by  artifice,  per- 
fidy, and  bloodshed,  had  ac(iuired  an  enor- 
mous degree  of  power,  and  united  in  his  own 
person  the  pompous  titles  of  emperor,  sove- 
reign pontiff,  censor,  tribune  of  tiie  people, 
proconsul;  in  a  word,  all  the  great  offices  of 
tiie  state.* 

II.  The  Roman  government,  considered  both 
with  respect  to  its  form  and  its  laws,  was 
certainly  mild  and  equitable.}  But  the  in- 
justice and  avarice  of  tiie  pra;tors  and  pro- 
consuls, and  the  ambitious  lust  of  conquest 
and  dominion,  wliich  was  the  predominant 
passion  of  the  Roman  peoi)le,  together  witli 
the  rapacious  proceedings  of  the  publicans,  by 
whom  the  taxes  of  the  empire  were  levied, 
were  the  occasions  of  perpetual  tumults  and  in- 
supportable grievances;  and  among  the  many 


*  See  for  this  purpose  the  learned  work  of  Augnstiii 
Campiaiius,  entitled,  De  Oflieio  et  Potestate  Magistratuum 
Roinanorum  et  Jurisdictiaue,  lib.  i.  cap.  i.  p.  3,  4,  &c. 
Geueyae,  1725. 

t  See  Moylc's  Essay  on  the  Constitution  of  the  Roman 
Government,  in  the  poslhumoui  works  of  that  author, 
vol.  i.  as  also  Scip.  Maffei  Verona  illustrata,  lib.  ii. 


evils  which  thence  arose  we  may  justly  reckon 
the  formidable  armies,  that  were  necessary  to 
support  these  extortions  in  tlie  provinces,  and 
the  civil  wars  which  frequently  broke  out  be- 
tween the  oppressed  nations  anil  their  haughty 
conquerors. 

III.  It  must,  at  the  same  time,  be  acknow- 
ledged, that  tliis  supreme  dominion  of  one 
people,  or  ratlior  of  one  man,  over  so  many 
kingdoms,  was  attended  witli  many  considera- 
ble advantages  to  mankind  in  general,  and  to 
the  propagation  and  advancement  of  Christi- 
anity in  particular;  for,  by  the  means  of  this 
almost  universal  empire,  many  nations,  differ- 
ent in  tlieir  languages  and  their  manners,  were 
more  intimately  united  in  social  intercourse. 
Hence  a  passage  was  opened  to  the  remotest 
countries,  by  tlic  communications  wliich  the 
Romans  formed  between  the  conquered  pro- 
vinces.* Hence  also  the  nations,  whose  man- 
ners were  savage  and  barbarous,  were  civilized 
by  the  laws  and  commerce  of  tiic  Romans. 
And  by  this,  in  short,  tiie  benign  influence  of 
letters  and  p]nloso])liy  was  spread  abroad  in 
countries  which  had  lain  before  under  the 
darkest  ignorance.  All  tliis  contributed,  no 
doubt,  in  a  singular  manner,  to  facilitate  the 
progress  of  tiie  Gos]iel,  and  to  crown  tiie  la- 
bours of  its  first  ministers  and  heralds  witli 
success,  t 

IV.  The  Roman  empire,  at  the  birth  of 
Christ,  was  less  agitated  by  wars  and  tumults, 
tiian  it  liad  been  for  many  years  before;  for, 
thoiigli  I  cannot  assent  to  the  oiiinion  of  tiiosc 
who,  followinir  the  account  of  Orosius,  main- 
tain tiiat  tlio  temple  of  Janus  was  tiien  shut, 
and  tiiat  wars  and  discords  absolutely  ceased 


*  See,  for  an  illustration  of  this  point,  Histoirc  its 
grands  Cheniius  de  I'Empire  Roinairi,  par  IVicol.  Ber- 
gicr,  printed  in  the  year  I7'28.  See  also  the  very  learned 
Everard  Otto,  De  tutela  Viaruin  publicarum,part  li. 

j  Origcn,  among  others,  makes  particular  mention  of 
this,  in  the  tccoud  book  of  his  anstrer  to  CeUiu. 


16 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  I. 


throughout  tlie  world,*  yet  it  is  certain,  that 
the  period,  in  which  our  Saviour  descended 
upon  eartli,  may  be  justly  styled  the  Pacific 
.  %e,  if  we  compare  it  with  the  preceding  times; 
and  indeed  the  trani(nillity  that  then  reigned, 
was  necessary  to  enable  the  ministers  of  Christ 
to  execute,  with  success,  their  sublime  com- 
mission to  the  human  race. 

V.  The  want  of  ancient  records  renders  it 
nnpossiblo  to  say  any  thing  satisfactory  or  cer- 
tain concerning  the  state  of  those  nations, 
who  did  not  receive  the  Roman  yoke;  nor,  in- 
deed, is  tiieir  history  essential  to  our  present 
purpose.  It  is  sufficient  to  observe,  witli  re- 
spect to  them,  that  those  who  inhabited  the 
eastern  regions  were  strangers  to  the  sweets 
of  liberty,  and  groaned  under  the  burthen  of 
an  oppressive  yoke.  Their  softness  and  effemi- 
nacy, both  in  point  of  manners  and  bodily 
constitution,  contributed  to  make  tiiem  sup- 
port their  slavery  with  an  unmanly  patience; 
and  even  the  religion  they  professed  riveted 
their  chains.  On  the  contrar}--,  the  northern 
nations  enjoyed,  in  their  frozen  dwellings,  the 
blessings  of  sacred  freedom,  whicli  their  go- 
vernment, their  religion,  a  robust  and  vigorous 
frame  of  body  and  spirit,  derived  from  the  in- 
clemency and  severity  of  their  climate,  all 
united  to  preserve  and  maintain. f 

VI.  All  these  nations  lived  in  the  practice 
of  the  most  abominable  superstitions;  for, 
though  the  notion  of  one  Supreme  Being  was 
not  entirely  effaced  in  the  human  mind,  but 
sliowed  itself  frequently,  even  through  the 
darkness  of  the  grossest  idolatry;  yet  all  na- 
tions, except  that  of  the  Jews,  acknowledged 
a  number  of  governing  powers,  whom  they 
called  gods,  and  one  or  more  of  which  they 
supposed  to  pTeside  over  each  particular  pro- 
vince or  people.  They  worshipped  these  ficti- 
tious deities  with  various  rites;  they  considered 
them  as  widely  difterent  from  each  other  in 
sex   and   power,  in  their  nature,  and  also  in 

^  their  respective  offices;  and  they  appeased 
^them  by  a  multiplicity  of  ceremonies  and  of- 
ferings, in  order  to  obtain  their  protection  and 
favour;  so  that,  however  diflerent  the  degrees 
of  enormity  miglit  be,  with  which  this  absurd 
and  impious  tlieology  appeared  in  diiferent 
countries,  yet  there  was  no  nation,  whose  sa- 
cred rite§  and  religious  worship  did  not  dis- 
cover a  manifest  abuse  of  reason,  and  very 
striking  marks  of  extravagance  and  folly. 

VII.  Every  nation  then  had  its  respective 
gods,  over  which  presided  one  more  excellent 
than  the  rest,  yet  in  such  a  mamier  that  this 
supreme  deity  was  himself  controlled  by  the 
rigid  empire  of  the  fates,  or  what  the  philoso- 
ohers  called  Eternal  J^''cct'ssity.     The  gods  of 

Vy/M^he   East  were   dilfercnt   from  those  of   the 
^   xGauls,  the  GermaiLS,  and  other  northern  na- 
tions.    The  Grecian  divinities  differed  widely 
from  those  of  the  Egyptians,  who  deified  plants, 
animals,  and  a  great  variety  of  the  produc- 


*  Sec  Jo.  Massoni  Tcmphim  Jaui,  Christo  nascente, 
rescratutn,  Roterodami,  1706. 

t  "  Fere  itaque  imperia  (says  Seneca)  penes  eos  fuere 
populos,  qui  mitiore  coelo  utuiitur:  in  frigora  septeintri- 
onemqiie  veri;entibu3  immansueta  ingeuia  sunt,  ut  ait 
poeta.  suoque  simiUima  coelo."  Seneca  de  Ira,  lib.  i' 
cap.  x?i. 


tions  both  of  nature  and  art  *  Each  people 
also  had  a  particular  manner  of  worshipping 
and  appeasing  their  respective  deities,  entirely 
different  from  the  sacred  rites  of  other  coun- 
tries. In  process  of  time,  however,  the  Greeks 
and  Romans  became  as  ambitious  in  their  re- 
ligious pretensions,  as  in  their  political  claims. 
They  maintained  that  tlieir  gods,  though  un- 
der ditferent  names,  were  the  objects  of  reli- 
gious worship  in  all  nations,  and  tlierefore  they 
gave  the  names  of  their  deities  to  those  of 
other  countries.!  This  pretension,  whether 
supported  by  ignorance  or  other  means,  intro- 
duced inexpressible  darkness  and  perplexity 
into  tlie  history  of  the  ancient  superstitions, 
and  has  been  also  the  occasion  of  innumera- 
ble errors  in  the  writings  of  the  learned. 

VIII.  One.  thing,  indeed,  which,  at  first 
sight,  appears  very  remarkable,  is,  that  this 
variety  of  religions  and  of  gods  neither  pro- 
duced wars  nor  dissensions  among  the  different 
nations,  the  Egyptians  excepted.];  Nor  is  it, 
perhaps,  necessary  to  except  even  them,  since 
their  wars  undertaken  for  their  gods  cannot, 
with  propriety,  be  considered  as  wholly  of  a 
religious  nature. §  Eacli  nation  suffered  its 
neighbours  to  follow  their  own  method  of  wor- 
ship, to  adore  their  own  gods,  to  enjoy  their 
own  rites  and  ceremonies;  and  discovered  no  dis- 
pleasure at  their  diversity  of  sentiments  in  re- 
ligious matters.  There  is,  however,  little 
wonderful  in  this  spirit  of  mutual  toleration, 
when  we  consider,  that  they  all  looked  upon 
the  world  as  one  great  empire,  divided  into 
various  provinces,  over  every  one  of  which  a 


See  the  discourse  of  Atlianasius,  entitled,  Oratio 
contra  Gcutes,  in  tlie  first  volume  of  his  works. 

f  This  fact  affords  a  satisfactory  account  of  the  vast 
number  of  gods  who  bore  the  name  of  Jupiter,  and  the 
multitudes  that  passed  under  those  of  Mercury,  Ve- 
nus, Hercules,  Juno,  &c.  The  Greeks,  when  they  found, 
ill  other  countries,  deities  that  resembled  their  own, 
persuaded  the  worshippers  of  these  foreign  gods,  that 
their  deities  were  the  same  with  those  who  were  honour- 
ed in  Greece,  and  were,  indeed,  themselves  convinced 
that  this  was  the  case.  In  consequence  of  this,  they  gave 
the  names  of  their  gods  to  those  of  other  nations,  and 
the  Romans  in  this  followed  their  example.  Hence  we 
find  the  names  of  Jupiter,  Mars,  Mercury,  Venus,  &c. 
frequently  mentioned  in  the  more  recent  monuments  and 
inscriptions  which  liave  been  found  among  the  Gauls  and 
Germans,  though  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  those  coun- 
tries worshipped  no  gods  under  such  denominations.  I 
cannot  think  that  this  method  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans 
has  introduced  so  much  confusion  into  mythology  as  Dr. 
Mosheim  here  imagines.  If  indeed  there  had  been  no 
resemblance  between  tlie  Greek  and  Roman  deities,  and 
those  of  other  nations,  and  if  the  names  of  the  deities  of 
the  former  had  been  given  to  those  of  the  latter  in  an 
arbitrary  and  undistinguishing  manner,  the  reflection  of 
our  historian  would  be  undeniably  true.  But  it  has  been 
alleged  by  many  learned  men,  with  a  high  degree  of 
probability,  that  the  principal  deities  of  all  nations  resem- 
bled each  other  extremely  in  their  essential  characters; 
and  if  so,  their  receiving  the  same  names  could  not  in- 
troduce much  confusion  into  mythology,  since  they  were 
probably  derived  from  one  common  source.  If  the  Thor 
of  the  ancient  Celts  was  the  same  in  dignity,  character, 
and  attributes,  with  the  Jupiter  of  the  Greeks  and  Ro- 
mans, where  was  the  impropriety  of  giving  the  same 
name? 

\  Ingenious  observations  are  to  be  found  upon  this  head 
iu  the  Expositio  Mensa;  Isiaeas  of  Piguorius. 

^  The  religious  wars  of  the  Egyptians  were  not  under- 
taken to  compel  others  to  adopt  their  worship,  but  to 
avenge  the  slaughter  that  was  made  of  their  gods,  such 
as  crocodiles,  &c.,  by  the  neighbouring  nations.  They 
were  not  offended  at  their  neighbours  for  serving  other 
divinities,  but  could  not  bear  that  they  should  put  theirs 
lo  death. 


Chap.  I. 


THE  STATE  OF  THE  WORLD. 


IT 


certain  order  of  divinities  presided;  and  that, 
therefore,  none  could  behold  with  contempt  the 
gods  of  other  nations,  or  force  strangers  to  pay 
homage  to  theirs.  The  Romans  exercised  this 
toleration  in  the  aini)lest  manner;  for,  though 
they  would  not  allow  any  changes  to  be  made 
in  the  religions  that  were  publicly  professed  in 
the  empire,  nor  any  new  form  of  worship  to 
be  openly  introduced,  yet  they  granted  to  their 
citizens  a  full  liberty  of  observing,  in  private, 
the  sacred  rites  of  other  nations,  and  of 
honouring  foreign  deities  (whose  worship  con- 
tained notiiing  inconsistent  witli  the  interests 
and  laws  of  the  republic)  with  feasts,  temples, 
consecrated  groves,  and  the  like  testimonies 
of  homage  and  respect.* 

IX.  The  deities  of  almost  all  nations  were 
either  ancient  heroes,  renowned  for  noble  ex- 
ploits and  beneficent  deeds,  or  kings  and  gene- 
rals who  had  founded  empires,  or  women 
rendered  illustrious  by  remarkable  actions  or 
useful  inventions.  The  merit  of  these  distin 
guished  and  eminent  persons,  contemplated  by 
their  posterity  witii  an  enthusiastic  gratitude, 
was  the  reason  of  their  being  exalted  to  ce- 
lestial honours.  The  natural  world  furnished 
another  kind  of  deities,  who  were  added  to 
these  by  some  nations;  and  as  the  sun,  moon, 
and  stars,  shine  forth  with  a  lustre  superior  to 
that  of  all  other  material  beings,  so  it  is  cer- 
tain, that  they  particularly  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  mankind,  and  received  religious  hom- 
age from  almost  all  the  nations  of  the  world. f 
From  these  beings  of  a  nobler  kind,  idolatry 
descended  into  an  enormous  multiplication  of 
inferior  powers;  so  that,  in  many  countries, 
mountains,  trees,  and  rivers,  the  earth,  the  sea, 
and  the  winds,  and  even  virtues,  vices,  and 
diseases,  had  their  shrines  attended  by  devout 
and  zealous  worshippers.]; 

X.  These  deities  were  honoured  with  rites 
and  sacrifices  of  various  kinds,  according  to 
their  respective  nature  and  otiiccs.§  The  rites 
used  in  their  worship  were  absurd  and  ridicu- 


*  Seeconceniing  this  interesting  subject,  a  very  curious 
and  learned  treatise  of  the  famous  Bynkershoek,  entitled, 
Dissertatio  de  cuitu  pcrcgrinae  religionis  apud  Romaiios. 
This  dissertation  is  to  be  found  in  the  Opuscula  of  that 
excellent  author,  which  were  published  at  Leyden  in  the 
year  1719. 

t  The  ingenious  editor  of  the  Ruins  of  Balbec  has 
given  us,  in  the  preface  to  that  noble  work,  a  very  curi- 
ous account  of  the  origin  of  the  religious  worship  that 
was  offered  to  the  heavenly  bodies  by  the  Syrians  and 
Arabians.  In  those  uncomfortable  deserts,  where  the 
rfat/ presents  nothing  to  the  view,  but  the  uniform,  tedi- 
ous, and  melancholy  prospect  of  barren  sands,  the  ri/ijA< 
discloses  a  most  delightful  and  magnificent  spectacle,  and 
appears  arrayed  with  charms  of  the  most  attractive  kind; 
for  the  most  part  unclouded  and  serene,  it  exhibits  to 
the  wondering  eye  the  host  of  heaven,  in  all  their  amaz- 
ing variety  and  glory.  In  the  view  of  this  stupendous 
scene,  the  transition  from  admiration  to  idolatry  was  too 
easy  to  uninstructcd  minds;  and  a  people,  whose  climate 
offered  no  beauties  to  contemplate  but  those  of  the 
firmament,  would  naturally  be  disposed  to  look  thither 
for  the  objects  of  their  worship.  The  form  of  idolatry, 
in  Greece,  was  different  from  that  of  the  Syrians;  and 
Mr.  Wood  ingeniously  attributes  this  to  that  smiling  and 
variegated  scene  of  mountains,  valleys,  rivers,  groves, 
woods, and  fount,Tins,  which  the  transiiorted  imagination, 
in  the  midst  of  its  pleasing  astonishment,  supposed  to  be 
the  seats  of  invisible  deities.  See  a  farther  account  of 
this  matter  in  the  elegant  work  above  mentioned. 

{  See  the  learned  work  of  .J.  G.  Vossius,  de  idololalria. 

^  See  .1.  Saubertus,  de  sacrificiis  velerum.  Lug.  Bat. 
1699. 

Vol.  I.— 3 


Ions,  and  frequently  cruel  and  obscene.  Most 
nations  offered  animals,  and  some  proceeded 
to  the  enormity  of  human  sacrifices.  As  to 
their  prayers,  they  were  void  of  piety  and 
sense,  both  with  respect  to  their  matter  and 
their  form.*  Pontitls,  priests,  and  ministers, 
distributed  into  several  classes,  presided  in  this 
strange  worship,  and  were  appointed  to  pre- 
vent disorder  in  the  performance  of  the  sacred 
rites;  but,  pretending  to  be  distinguished  by 
an  immediate  intercourse  and  friendship  with 
the  gods,  they  abused  th.eir  authority  in  the 
basest  manner,  to  deceive  an  ignorant  and 
wretched  people. 

XI.  The  religious  worship  we  have  now 
been  considering,  was  confined  to  stated  times 
and  places.  Tlie  statues  and  other  represen- 
tations of  the  gods  were  placed  in  the  temples,! 
and  supposed  to  be  animated  in  an  incompre- 
hensible manner;  for  the  votaries  of  these 
fictitious  deities,  however  destitute  they  might 
be  of  reason  in  other  respects,  avoided  carcftilly 
the  imputation  of  worshipping  inanimate  be- 
ings, such  as  brass,  wood,  and  stone,  and 
therefore  pretended  that  the  divinity,  repre- 
sented by  the  statue,  was  really  present  in  it, 
if  the  dedication  was  duly  and  properly  made.| 

XII.  But,  besides  the  public  worsliip  of  the 
gods,  to  which  all  without  exception  were  ad- 
mitted, certain  rites  were  practised  in  secret  by 
the  Greeks  and  several  eastern  nations,  to 
which  a  very  small  number  had  access.  These 
were  commonly  called  imjxteries ;  and  the  per- 
sons who  desired  to  be  initiated  therein,  were 
obliged  previously  to  exhibit  satisfactoiy  proofs 
of  their  fidelity  and  patience,  by  passing 
through  various  trials  and  ceremonies  of  the 
most  disagreeable  kind.  These  secrets  were 
kept  in  the  strictest  manner,  as  the  initi- 
ated could  not  reveal  any  thing  that  passed  on 
those  occasions,  without  exposing  their  lives 
to  the  most  imminent  danger;§  and  that  is  the 
reason  why,  at  this  time,  we  are  so  little  ac- 
quainted with  the  true  nature,  and  the  real 
design  of  these  hidden  rites.  It  is,  however, 
well  known,  that  in  some  of  those  mysleries, 
many  things  were  transacted  which  were  con- 
trary both  to  real  modesty  and  outward  de- 
cency, .^nd,  indeed,  from  the  whole  of  the 
pagan  rites,  the  intelligent  few  might  easily 
learn,  that  the  divinities  generally  worshi|)ped 
were  rather  men  famous  for  their  vices,  than 
distinguislied  by  virtuous  and  worthy  deeds. || 

XIll.  It  is,  at  least,  certain,  tiiat  this  reli- 
gion had  not  the  least  influence  towards  ex- 
citing or  nourishing  solid  and  true  virtue  in 
the  minds  of  men.  For  the  gods  and  goddesses, 
to  whom  public  homage  was  paid,  exhibited  to 
their  worshippers  rather  examples  of  egregious 
crimes,   than   of   useful   and   illustrious    vir- 


*  Sec  M.  Brouerius  a  Niedeck,  de  adorationibus  vete- 
rum  Populorum,  printed  at  Utrecht  in  1711. 

t  Some  nations  were  without  temples,  such  as  the  Per- 
sians, Gauls,  Germans,  and  Britons,  who  performed  their 
religious  worship  in  the  open  air,  or  in  the  shadowy  re- 
treats of  consecrated  groves. 

}  See  Arnobius  adv.  Gentes,  lib.  vi.— Augustin  de  civi- 
tate  Dei,  lib.  vii.  cap.  xxxiii.  and  the  Misopogon  of  the 
Emperor  Julian. 

i  SeeClarkson  on  the  Liturgies,  sect.  iv.  andMeursius 
de  Mysleriis  Eleusiniis. 

II  Sec  Cicero,  Disput.  Tusculan.  lib.  ii.  cap.  xiii 


18 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  I. 


tues.*  The  gods,  moreover,  were  esteemed 
superior  to  men  in  power  and  immortality; 
but,  in  every  thing  else,  they  were  considered 
as  their  equals. — The  priests  were  little  solicit- 
ous to  animate  the  people  to  a  virtuous  con- 
duct, either  by  their  precepts  or  their  exam- 
ple. They  plainly  enough  declared,  that 
whatever  was  essential  to  the  true  worship  of 
the  gods,  was  contained  only  in  the  rites  and 
institutions  which  the  people  had  received  by 
tradition  from  their  ancestors.!  And  as  to 
what  regarded  the  rewards  of  virtue  and  the 
punishment  of  vice  after  the  present  life,  the 
general  notions  were  partly  uncertain,  partly 
licentious,  and  often  more  calculated  to  ad- 
minister indulgence  to  vice,  tlian  eiicourage- 
ment  to  virtue.  Hence,  the  wiser  part  of 
mankind,  about  the  time  of  Christ's  birth, 
looked  upon  this  whole  system  of  religion  as  a 
just  object  of  ridicule  and  contempt. 

XIV.  The  consequences  of  this  wretched 
theology  were  a  universal  corruption  and  de- 
pravity of  manners,  which  appeared  in  the 
impunity  of  the  most  flagitious  crimes.  +  Ju- 
venal and  Persius  among  the  Latins,  and  Lu- 
cian  among  the  Greeks,  bear  testimony  to  the 
justice  of  this  heavy  accusation.  It  is  also 
well  known,  that  no  public  law  prohibited  the 
sports  of  the  gladiators,  the  exercise  of  un- 
natural lusts,  the  licentiousness  of  divorce, 
the  custom  of  exposing  infants,  and  of  pro- 
curing abortions,  or  the  frontless  atrocity  of 
publicly  consecrating  ste\vs  and  brothels  to 
certain  divinities. § 

XV.  Such  as  were  not  sunk  in  an  unac- 
countable and  brutish  stupidity,  perceived  the 
deformity  of  these  religious  systems.  To 
these,  the  crafty  priests  addressed  two  conside- 
rations, to  prevent  their  incredulity,  and  to 
dispel  their  doubts.  The  first  was  drawn  from 
the  miracles  and  prodigies  which  they  pre- 
tended were  daily  wrought  in  the  temples,  be- 
fore the  statues  of  the  gods  and  heroes  that 
were  placed  there;  and  the  second  was  de- 
duced from  oracles  and  divination,  by  which 
they  maintained,  that  the  secrets  of  futurity 
were  unfolded  through  the  interposition  of 
the  gods.  In  both  these  points  the  cunning 
of  the  priests  imposed  miserably  upon  the 
ignorance  of  the  people;  and,  if  the  discerning 


*  There  is  a  very  remarkable  passage  to  this  purpose 
in  the  Tristia  of  Ovid,  lib.  ii. 

"  Quis  locus  est  templis  august>or?  haec  quoque  vitet, 
In  culpain  si  qua:  est  iiigeniosa  suam. 

Cum  stelerit  Jovis  a;de,  Jovis  succurret  in  sede, 
Q,uam  multas  raatrcs  fecerit  ille  Deus. 

Proxima  adoranti  Junonia  templa  subibit, 
Fellicibus  multis  hane  doluisse  Dcam. 

Pallade  eoiispecta,  natum  de  crimine  virgo 
Sustulerit  quare  quxret  Erichthonium." 

f  See  Barbcjrac's  Preface  to  his  French  translation  of 
Puffendorf 's  System  of  the  Law  of  Nature  and  Nations, 
sect.  vi. 

}  The  corrupt  manners  of  those  who  then  lay  in  the 
darkness  of  idolatry  are  described  in  an  ample  and  af- 
fecting manner,  in  the  first  of  Cyprian's  epistles.  See 
also,  on  this  subject,  Cornel.  Adaini  Exereitatio  de  malis 
Romanorum  ante  praedicationem  Evangelii  moribus.  This 
rs  the  fifth  discourse  of  a  collection  published  by  that 
learned  writer  at  Groningen,  in  1710. 

^  See  Dr.  John  Leland's  excellent  account  of  the  re- 
hcious  sentiments,  moral  conduct,  and  Inlure  prospects 
of  the  pagans,  in  his  large  work  entitled,  The  Advantage 
and  IVteessity  of  the  Christian  Revelation. 


few  saw  the  cheat,  they  were  obliged,  from  a 
regard  to  their  own  safety,  to  laugh  with  cau- 
tion, since  the  priests  were  ever  ready  to  ac- 
cuse, before  a  raging  and  superstitious  multi- 
tude, those  who  discovered  their  religious 
frauds,  as  rebels  against  the  majesty  of  the 
immortal  gods. 

XVI.  At  the  time  of  Christ's  appearance 
upon  earth,  the  religion  of  the  Romans,  as 
j  well  as  their  arms,  had  extended  itself  over  a 
I  great  part  of  the  world.  This  religion  must 
be  known  to  those  who  are  acquainted  with 
the  Grecian  superstitions.*  In  some  things, 
indeed,  it  differs  from  them;  for  the  Romans, 
beside  the  institutions  which  Nunia  and  others 
had  invented  with  political  views,  added  seve- 
ral Italian  fictions  to  the  Grecian  fables,  and 
gave  also  to  the  Egyptian  deities  a  place 
among  their  own.f 

XVII.  In  tlie  provinces  subjected  to  the  Ro- 
man government,  there  arose  a  new  kind  of 
religion,  formed  by  a  mixture  of  the  ancient 
rites  of  the  conquered  nations  with  those  of 
the  Romans.  These  nations,  who,  before  their 
subjection,  had  their  own  gods,  and  their  own 
particular  religious  institutions,  were  persuad- 
ed, by  degrees,  to  admit  into  their  worship  a 
great  number  of  the  sacred  rites  and  customs 
of  their  conquerors.  The  view  of  the  Romans, 
in  this  change,  was  not  only  to  confirm  their 
authority  by  the  powerful  aid  of  religion,  but 
also  to  abolish  the  inhuman  rites  which  were 
performed  by  many  of  the  barbarous  nations 
who  had  received  their  yoke;  and  this  change 
was  effected  partly  by  the  prudence  of  the 
victors,  partly  by  the  levity  of  the  vanquished, 
and  by  their  ambition  to  please  their  new 
masters. 

XVIII.  When,  from  the  sacred  rites  of  the 
ancient  Romans,  we  pass  to  a  review  of  the 
other  religions  that  prevailed  in  the  world,  we 
shall  find,  that  the  most  remarkable  may  be 
properly  divided  into  two  classes.  One  of 
these  will  comprehend  the  religious  systems 
that  owed  their  existence  to  political  views; 
and  the  other,  those  which  seem  to  have  been 
formed  for  mUitary  purposes. — In  the  former 
class  may  be  ranked  the  religions  of  most  of 
the  eastern  nations,  especially  of  the  Persians, 
Egyptians,  and  Indians,  which  appear  to  have 
been  solely  calculated  for  the  preservation  of 
the  state,  the  support  of  tlie  royal  authority 
and  grandeur,  the  maintenance  of  public  peace, 
and  the  advancement  of  civil  virtues.  Under 
the  military  class  may  be  comprehended  the 
religious  system  of  the  northern  nations,  since 
all  the  traditions  that  we  find  among  the  Ger- 
mans, the  Britons,  the  Celts,  and  the  Goths, 
concerning  their  divinities,  have  a  manifest 
tendency  to  excite  and  nourish  fortitude  and 
ferocity,  an  insensibility  of  danger,  and  a 
contempt  of  life.  An  attentive  inquiry  into 
the  religions  of  these  respective  nations,  will 
abundantly  verify  what  is  here  asserted. 

XIX.  None  of  these  nations,  indeed,  ever 
arrived  at  such  a  universal  excess  of  barbarism 
and  ignorance,  as  not  to  have  some  discerning 


*  See  Dionysius  Halicarn.     Antiq.  Rom.  lib.  vit.  cap. 
Ixxii. 

\  See  Petit  ad  leges  Alticas,  Lb.  i.  tit.  >. 


Chap.  I. 


THE  STATE  OF  THE  WORLD. 


19 


men  among  them,  who  were  sensible  of  tlie 
extravagance  of  all  these  religions.  But,  of 
these  sagacious  observers,  some  were  destitute 
of  the  weight  and  authority  that  were  neces- 
sary to  remedy  tiioso  overgrown  evils;  and 
others  wanted  the  will  to  exert  themselves  in 
such  a  glorious  cause.  And  the  truth  is,  none 
of  them  had  wisdom  equal  to  such  a  solemn 
and  arduous  enterprise.  This  appears  mani- 
festly from  the  laborious  but  useless  efforts  of 
some  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  philosophers 
against  the  vulgar  superstitions.  Tliese  venera- 
ble sages  delivered,  in  their  writings,  many 
sublime  things  concerning  the  nature  of  God, 
and  the  duties  incumbent  upon  men;  they  dis- 
puted with  sagacity  against  the  popular  reli- 
gion; but  to  all  this  they  added  such  chimeri- 
cal notions  and  such  absurd  subtilties  of  their 
own,  as  may  serve  to  convince  us  that  it  be- 
longs to  God  alone,  and  not  to  man,  to  reveal 
the  truth  without  any  mixture  of  impurity  or 
error. 

XX.  About  the  time  of  Christ's  appearance 
upon  earth,  there  were  two  kinds  of  philoso- 
phy which  prevailed  among  the  civilized  na- 
tions. One  was  the  philosophy  of  the  Greeks, 
adopted  also  by  the  Romans;  and  the  other, 
that  of  the  orientals,  which  had  a  great  num- 
ber of  votaries  in  Persia,  Syria,  Chaldea, 
Egypt,  and  even  among  the  Jews.  The  for- 
mer was  distinguished  by  tlie  simple  title  of 
philosophy.  The  latter  was  honoured  with  the 
more  pompous  appellation  of  science  or  know- 
ledge,* since  those  who  embraced  the  latter 
sect  pretended  to  be  the  restorers  of  the  know- 
ledge of  God,  which  was  lost  in  the  world. f 
The  followers  of  both  these  systems,  in  conse- 
quence of  vehement  disputes  and  dissentions 
about  several  points,  subdivided  themselves 
into  a  variety  of  sects.  It  is,  however,  to  be 
observed,  that  all  the  sects  of  the  oriental  phi- 
losophy deduced  their  various  tenets  from  one 
fundamental  principle,  which  they  held  in  com- 
mon; whereas  the  Greeks  were  much  divided 
even  about  the  first  principles  of  science. 

As  we  shall  have  occasion  hereafter  to  speak 
of  the  oriental  philosoph)',  we  shall  confine 
ourselves  here  to  the  doctrines  taugiit  by  the 
Grecian  sages,  and  shall  give  some  account 
of  the  various  sects  into  which  they  were 
divided. 

XXI.  Of  the  Grecian  sects,  some  declared 
openly  against  all  religion;  and  otliers,  though 
they  acknowledged  a  deity,  and  admitted  a  re- 
ligion, yet  cast  a  cloud  over  tlie  truth,  in.stead 
of  exhibiting  it  in  its  genuine  beauty  and 
lustre. 

Of  the  former  kind  were  the  Epicureans 
and  Academics.  The  Epicureans  maintained, 
"  That  the  world  arose  from  chance;  that  tlie 
gods  (whose  existence  they  did  not  dare  to 
deny)  neitber  did  nor  could  e.xtend  their  provi- 
dential care  to   human   affairs;  that   the  soul 


*  Tvj«<ri;  (gnosis)  in  the  Greek  signifies  science  or 
knowledge;  and  hence  came  the  title  of  Gnostics,  which 
this  presumptuous  sect  claimed  as  due  to  their  superior 
light  and  penetration  in  divine  things. 

t  St.  Paul  mentions  and  condemns  both  these  kinds  of 
philosophy;  the  Greek,  in  the  F.pistle  to  the  Colossians, 
ii.  8.,  and  the  Oriental,  or  Gnosis,  iu  the  First  Kpislle  to 
Timothy,  vi.  30. 


was  mortal;  that  pleasure*  was  to  be  reorarded 
as  the  ultimate  end  of  man;  and  that  virtue 
was  neitlier  worthy  of  esteem  nor  of  choice, 
but  with  a  view  to  its  attainment."  The 
Academics  asserted  the  impossibility  of  arriving 
at  truth,  and  held  it  uncertain,  "  whetlier 
the  gods  existed  or  not;  whether  the  soul  was 
mortal  or  innnorlal;  whether  virtue  ought  to 
be  preferred  to  vice,  or  vice  to  virtue."  These 
two  sects,  thougli  they  struck  at  the  founda- 
tions of  all  religion,  were  the  most  numerous 
of  all  at  tlie  birtii  of  Christ,  and  were  particu- 
larly en  corn-aged  by  the  liberality  of  the  rich, 
and  the  protection  of  those  who  were  in 
power. t 

XXII.  We  observed  in  the  preceding  section, 
that  there  was  another  kind  of  philosophy,  in 
which  leligion  was  admitted,  but  whicii  was, 
at  the  same  time,  deficient  by  the  obscurity  it 
cast  upon  truth.  Under  the  philosophers  of 
this  class,  may  be  reckoned  the  Platonists,  the 
Stoics,  and  the  followers  of  Aristotle,  whose 
subtile  disputations  concerning  God,  religion, 
and  the  social  duties,  were  of  little  solid  use 
to  mankind.  The  nature  of  God,  as  it  is  ex- 
plained by  Aristotle,  resembles  the  principle 
that  gives  motion  to  a  machine;  it  is  a  nature 
hap[)y  in  the  contemplation  of  itself,  and  en- 
tirely regardless  of  human  affairs;  and  such  a 
divinity,  who  differs  but  little  from  the  god  of 
Epicurus,  cannot  reasonably  be  the  object 
cither  of  love  or  fear.  With  respect  to  the 
doctrine  of  this  philosopher  concerning  the 
human  soul,  it  is  uncertain,  to  say  no  more, 
whether  he  believed  its  immortality  or  not.+ 
What  then  could  be  expected  from  such  a 
philosophy?  could  any  thing  solid  and  satisfac- 
tory, in  favour  of  piety  and  virtue,  be  hoped 
for  from  a  system  which  excluded  from  the 
universe  a  divine  Providence,  and  insinuated 
the  mortality  of  the  human  soul? 

XXIII.  The  god  of  the  Stoics  has  some- 
what more  majesty  than  the  divinity  of  Aris- 
totle; nor  is  he  represented  by  tliose  philoso- 
phers as  sitting  above  the  starry  heavens  in  a 
supine  indolence,  and  a  perfect  inattention  to 
the  affairs  of  the  universe.  Yet  he  is  described 
as  a  corporeal  being,  united  to  matter  by  a 
necessary  connexion,  and  subject  to  the  de- 
tenninations  of  an  immutable  fate,  so  that 
neither  rewards  nor  pujiishments  can  properly 


*  The  ambiguity  of  this  word  has  produced  many  dis- 
putes in  the  explication  of  the  Epicurean  system.  If 
by  jileusiirc  be  understood  only  sensual  gralilications,  the 
tenet  here  advanced  is  indisj>utably  monstrous.  But  if 
it  be  taken  in  a  larger  sense,  and  extended  to  intellectual 
and  moral  objects,  in  what  does  the  scheme  of  Epicurus, 
with  respect  to  virtue,  difl'er  from  the  opinions  of  those 
Christian  philosophers,  who  maintain  that  self-love  is  the 
ordij  spring  of  all  human  aft'ccliims  and  actions.' 

+  Tl»€  Epicurean  sect  was,  however,  the  more  numerous 
of  the  two,  as  appears  from  the  testimony  of  Cicero  de 
Finibus,  &cc.  lib.  i.  cap.  vii.  lib.  ii.  cap.  xiv.  Disput.  Tus- 
culan.  lib.  v.  cap.  x.  Hence  the  complaint  which  Juvenal 
makes  in  his  xiiith  Satire,  of  the  atheism  that  prevailed  at 
Rome,  in  those  excellent  words: 

"  Sunt  in  fortuua;  qui  casibus  omnia  ponant, 
Et  nullo  credant  mundum  rectore  moveri, 
Natura  volvente  vices  et  lucisetanni; 
Atque  ideo  intrepidi  quiecunque  altaria  laneunl." 

}  See  the  Notes  upon  Cud  worth's  Intellectual  System 
of  the  Universe,  which  Dr.  Mosheim  subjoined  to  hii 
Latin  translation  of  that  learned  work,  vol.  i.  p.  66,  500; 
vol.  ii.  p.  1171.  .Sec  also,  upon  the  same  subject,  Mour- 
guc\  Plan  Theologique  du  Pythagorisme,  toui.  i. 


20 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  I. 


proceed  from  him.*  The  learned  also  know 
that,  in  the  philosophy  of  this  sect,  the  exist- 
ence of  the  soul  was  confined  to  a  certain  pe- 
riod. Now  it  is  manifest,  that  these  tenets  re- 
move, at  once,  the  strongest  motives  to  virtue, 
and  the  most  powerful  restraints  upon  vice; 
and,  therefore,  the  Stoical  system  may  be  con- 
sidered as  a  body  of  specious  and  pompous  doc- 
trine, but,  at  the  same  time,  as  a  body  without 
nerves,  or  any  principles  of  consistency  and 
vigour. 

XXIV.  Plato  is  generally  looked  upon  as 
superior  to  all  the  other  philosophers  in  wis- 
dom; and  this  eminent  rank  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  undeservedly  conferred  upon  him. 
He  taught  that  the  universe  was  governed  by 
a  Being,  glorious  in  power  and  wisdom,  and 
possessing  perfect  liberty  and  independence. 
He  extended  also  the  views  of  mortals  beyond 
the  grave,  and  showed  them,  in  futurity,  pros- 
pects adapted  to  excite  their  hopes,  and  to 
work  upon  their  fears.  His  doctrine,  however, 
besides  the  weakness  of  tiie  foundations  on 
which  it  rests,  and  the  obscurity  with  which  it 
is  often  expressed,  has  other  considerable  de- 
fects. It  represents  the  Supreme  Creator  of 
the  world  as  destitute  of  many  perfections,! 
and  confined  to  a  certain  determinate  portion 
of  space.  Its  decisions,  with  respect  to  the 
soul  and  daemons,  seem  calculated  to  beget  and 
nourish  superstition.  Nor  will  the  moral  phi- 
losophy of  Plato  appear  worthy  of  such  a  high 
degree  of  admiration,  if  we  attentively  exam- 
ine and  compare  its  various  parts,  and  reduce 
them  to  their  i)rinciples.J 

XXV.  As  then,  by  these  difl'erent  sects,  tliere 
were  many  things  maintained  tiiat  were  highly 
unreasonable  and  absurd,  and  as  a  contentious 
spirit  of  opposition  and  dispute  prevailed  among 
them  all,  some  men  of  true  discernment,  and 
of  moderate  characters,  were  of  opinion,  that 
none  of  these  sects  ought  to  be  adhered  to  in 
all  points,  but  that  it  was  rather  wise  to  choose 
and  extract  out  of  each  of  them  such  tenets 
and  doctrines  as  were  good  and  reasonable,  and 


*Thus  is  the  Sloical  doctrine  o[  futc  geneially  repre- 
sented, but  not  more  (generally  than  unjustly.  TheiryVr- 
turn,  when  carefully  and  attentively  examined,  seems  to 
have  signified  no  more  in  tlie  intention  of  tlie  wisest  of 
that  sect,  than  the  plan  of  government  formed  originally 
in  the  divine  mind,  a  plan  all-wise  and  perfect,  and  from 
which,  of  consequence,  the  Supreme  Being,  morally  speak- 
ing, can  never  depart;  so  that,  when  Jupiter  is  said  by  the 
Stoics  to  be  subject  to  immutableyute,tiiis  means  no  more 
than  that  he  is  subject  to  the  wisdom  of  his  own  counsels, 
and  ever  acts  in  conformity  with  his  supreme  perfections. 
The  following  remarkable  passage  of  Seneca,  drawn  from 
the  .5th  chapter  of  his  book  de  Providentia,  is  sulficient  to 
confirm  the  explication  we  have  here  given  of  the  Stoical 
Jate.  "  llle  ipse  omnium  conditor  et  rector  scri]>sit  qui- 
dem  fata,  sed  sequitur.     Semper  parct,  semel  jussit." 

fThis  accusation  seems  to  be  carried  too  far  by  Dr. 
Mosheim.  It  is  not  strictly  true,  that  the  doctrine  of 
Plato  represents  the  Supreme  Being  as  destitute  of  inaiiy 
perfections.  On  the  contrary,  all  the  divine  perfections 
are  frequently  acknowledged  by  that  jihilosophcr.  What 
probably  gave  occasion  to  this  aniinadversion  of  our  learn- 
ed author,  was  the  erroneous  notion  of  Plato,  concerning 
the  invincible  malisvify  and  corruption  of  matter,  vihich 
the  divine  power  had  not  been  sufficient  to  reduce  entirely 
to  order.  Though  this  notion  is,  indeed,  injurious  to  the 
omnipotence  of  God,  it  is  not  sufficient  to  justify  the  cen 
sure  now  under  consideration. 

}  There  is  an  ample  account  of  the  defects  of  the  Pla 
tonic  philosophy  in  a  work  entitled  Defense  des  Peres  ac 
fuses  de  Platonismi ,  par  Franc.  Baltus;  but  there  is  more 
learnin^j  than  accuracy  in  tliat  pcrformanci; 


to  abandon  and  reject  the  rest.  Tliis  gave  rise 
to  a  new  form  of  philosophy  in  Egypt,  and 
principally  at  Alexandria,  which  was  called 
the  Eclectic,  whose  founder,  according  to  some, 
was  Potamon,  an  Alexandrian,  though  this 
opinion  is  not  without  its  difficulties.  It  ma- 
nitestly  appears  from  the  testimony  of  Philo, 
the  Jew,  who  was  himself  one  of  this  sect,  that 
this  philosophy  was  in  a  flourishing  state  at 
Alexandria,  when  our  Saviour  was  upon  the 
earth.  The  Eclectics  held  Plato  in  the  highest 
esteem,  though  they  made  no  scruple  to  join, 
with  his  doctrines,  whatever  they  thought  con- 
formable to  reason  in  the  tenets  and  opinions 
of  the  other  philosophers.* 

XXVI.  The  attentive  reader  will  easily  con- 
clude, from  the  short  view  which  we  have  here 
given  of  the  miserable  state  of  the  world  at  the 
birth  of  Christ,  that  mankind,  in  this  period  of 
darkness  and  corruption,  stood  highly  in  need 
of  some  divine  teacher  to  convey  to  the  mind 
true  and  certain  principles  of  religion  and  wis- 
dom, and  to  recall  wandering  mortals  to  the 
sublime  paths  of  piety  and  virtue.  The  con- 
sideration of  this  wretched  condition  of  man- 
kind will  be  also  singularly  useful  to  those  who 
are  not  sufficiently  acquainted  with  the  advan- 
tages, the  comforts,  and  the  support  which  the 
sublime  doctrines  of  Christianity  are  so  proper 
to  administer  in  every  state,  relation,  and  cir- 
cumstance of  life.  A  set  of  miserable  and  un- 
thinking creatures  treat  with  negligence,  and 
sometimes  with  contempt,  the  religion  of  Jesus, 
not  considering  that  they  are  indebted  to  it  for 
all  the  good  things  which  they  so  ungratefully 
enjoy. 


A 


CHAPTER  II. 

Concerning  the  Civil  and  Religious  State  of  the 
Jewish  J^alion  at  the  Birth  of  Christ. 

I.  The  state  of  the  Jews  was  not  much  bet- 
ter than  that  of  the  other  nations  at  the  time 
of  Christ ''s  appearance  in  the  world.  They 
were  governed  by  Herod,  who  was  himself  a 
tributary  to  the  Roman  people.  This  prince 
was  surnamed  the  Great,  surely  from  no  other 
circumstance  than  the  greatness  of  his  vices; 
and  his  government  was  a  yoke  of  the  most 
vexatious  and  oppressive  kind.  By  a  cruel,  sus- 
picious, and  overbearing  temper,  he  drew  upon 
himself  the  aversion  of  all,  not  excepting  those 
who  lived  upon  his  bounty.  By  a  mad  luxury 
and  an  ati'ectatioa  of  magnificence  far  above 
his  fortune,  together  with  tlie  most  profuse  and 
immoderate  largesses,  he  exhausted  the  trea- 
sures of  that  miserable  nation.  Under  his  ad- 
ministration, iind  by  his  means,  the  Roman 
luxury  was  received  in  Palestine,  accompanied 
with  the  worst  vices  of  that  licentious  people.f 
In  a  word,  Judea,  governed  by  Herod,  groaned 
under  all  that  corruption,  which  might  be  ex- 
pected from  the  authority  and  the  example  of 


*  See  Godof.  Olearius  de  Philosophia  Eclectica,  Jac. 
Bruckcr,  and  others. 

f  See,  on  this  subject,  Christ.  Noldii  Historia  Idumjea, 
which  is  anfiexed  to  Havercamp's  edition  of  Josephus, 
vol.  ii.  p.  333.  Sec  also  Basnage,  Histoire  Des  Juifs,  torn, 
i.  part  i. — Noris,  Cenotaph.  Pisan. — PrideauY,  History 
of  the  Jews. — Cellarius,  Historia  Herodum,  in  the  first 
part  of  his  Academical  Dissertations,  and,  above  all,  Jo- 
sephus the  Jewish  historian. 


Chap.  II. 


THE  STATE  OF  THE  JEWS. 


21 


a  prince,  who,  though  a  Jew  in  outward  pro- 
fession, was  in  point  of  morals  and  practice,  a 
contemner  of  all  laws,  divine  and  liuman. 

II.  After  the  death  of  tiiis  tyrant,  the  Ro- 
mans divided  the  government  of  Palestine 
among  his  sons.  In  this  division,  one  half  of 
Judea  was  given  to  Arclielaus,  witli  the  title  of 
exarch;  and  the  other  was  divided  between  his 
brotiiers,  Anti])as  and  Philip.  Arclielaus  was 
a  corrupt  and  wicked  prince,  and  followed  the 
example  of  his  father's  crimes  in  such  a  man- 
ner, that  the  Jews,  weary  of  his  iniquitous  ad- 
ministration, laid  their  complaints  and  griev- 
ances before  Augustus,  who  delivered  them 
from  their  oppressor,  by  banishing  him  from  his 
donnnions,  about  ten  years  after  the  death  of 
Herod  the  Great.  Tiie  kingdom  of  this  de- 
tiiroued  prince  was  reduced  to  the  form  of  a 
province,  and  added  to  tlie  jurisdiction  of  the  j 
governor  of  Syria,  to  the  great  detriment  of 
the  Jews,  whose  heaviest  calamities  arose  from 
this  change,  and  whose  final  destruction  was 
its  undoubted  effect  in  the  appointment  of  Pro- 
vidence. 

III.  However  severe  was  the  authority  which 
the  Romans  exercised  oVer  the  Jews,  it  did  not 
extend  to  the  entire  suppression  of  their  civil 
and  religious  privileges. — The  Jews  were,  in 
some  measure,  governed  by  their  own  laws; 
and  they  were  tolerated  in  the  enjoyment  of 
the  religion  they  had  received  from  the  glori- 
ous founder  of  their  church  and  state.  The 
administration  of  religious  ceremonies  was  com- 
mitted, as  before,  to  the  high  priest,  and  to  the 
sanhedrim,  to  the  former  of  whom  tlie  priests  j 
and  Levites  were  in  the  usual  subordination; 
and  the  form  of  outward  worship,  except  in  a 
very  few  points,  had  suffered  no  visible  change. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  impossible  to  ex- 
press the  inquietude  and  disgust,  the  calamities 
and  vexations,  which  this  unhappy  nation  suf- 
fered from  the  presence  of  the  Romans,  whom 
their  religion  obliged  them  to  loolv  ujjon  as  a 
polluted  and  idoltitrous  people,  and  in  a  more 
particular  manner,  from  the  avarice  and  cruel- 
ty of  the  priEtorsand  the  frauds  and  extortions 
of  the  ])ublicans;  so  thut,  all  things  considered, 
the  condition  of  those  who  lived  under  the  go- 
verimient  of  the  other  sons  of  Herod,  was  much 
moie  supportable  than  the  state  of  those  who 
were  immediately  subject  to  the  Roman  juris- 
diction. 

IV.  It  was  not,  however,  from  the  Romans 
alone,  that  the  calamities  of  this  miserable  peo- 
()le  i)roceoded.  Their  own  rulers  multiplied 
their  vexations,  and  hindered  them  from  enjoy- 
ing any  little  comforts  that  were  left  to  tliem 
by  the  Roman  ma<ristrates.  Tlie  leaders  of  the 
people,  and  the  chief  priests,  were,  according 
to  the  account  of  Josephus,  prolligate  wretches, 
who  had  ]nircliased  their  places  by  bribes,  or  by 
acts  of  ini(]uity,  and  who  maintained  tiieir  ill 
acquired  authority  by  the  most  flagitious  and 
abominable  crimes.  The  subordinate  and  in- 
ferior meuibers  were  infected  with  the  corrup- 
tion of  the  head;  the  [iriests,  and  those  who 
possessed  any  shadow  of  authority,  were  disso- 
hite  and  abandoned  to  the  highest  degree; 
while  the  people,  seduced  by  these  corrupt  ex- 
amples, ran  headlong  into  every  sort  of  iniqui- 
ty, and  by  their  endless  seditions,  robberies,  and 


I  extortions,  armed  against  them  both  the  jus- 
tice of  God  and  the  vengeance  of  men. 

V.  Two  religions  flourished  at  this  time  in 
Palestine,  viz.  the  Jewish  and  the  Samaritan, 
whose  respective  followers  beheld  those  of  the 
opposite  sect  with  the  utmost  aversion.  The 
Jewisii  religion  stands  exposed  to  our  view  in 
the  books  of  the  Old  Testament;  but,  at  the 
time  of  Christ's  apjiearancc,  it  had  lost  much 
of  its  original  nature  and  of  its  primitive  as- 
pect. Errors  of  a  very  pernicious  kind  had  in- 
fected the  whole  body  of  the  people,  and  the 
more  learned  part  of  the  nation  were  divided 
upon  points  of  the  highest  consequence.  All 
looked  for  a  deliverer,  but  not  for  such  a  one 
as  God  had  promised.  Instead  of  a  meek  and 
spiritual  Saviour,  they  expected  a  formidable 
and  warlike  prince,  to  break  off  their  chains, 
and  set  them  at  liberty  from  the  Roman  yoke. 
All  regarded  the  whole  of  religion,  as  consisting 
in  the  rites  appointed  by  Moses,  and  in  the  per- 
formance of  some  external  acts  of  duty  to- 
wards the  Gentiles.  They  were  all  horribly 
unanimous  in  excluding  from  the  hopes  of 
eternal  life  all  the  other  nations  of  the  world; 
and,  as  a  consequence  of  this  odious  S3'stem, 
they  treated  them  with  the  utmost  rigour  and 
inhumanity,  when  any  occasion  was  offered. 
And,  besides  these  corrupt  and  vicious  princi- 
ples, there  prevailed  among  them  several  ab- 
surd and  superstitious  notions  concerning  the 
divine  nature,  invisible  powers,  magic,  &c. 
which  they  had  partly  brought  with  them  from 
the  liabj-lonian  captivity,  and  partly  derived 
fi'om  the  Egyptians,  Syrians,  and  Arabians, 
who  hved  in  their  neighbourhood. 

VI.  Religion  had  not  a  better  fate  among 
tlie  learned  than  among  the  multitude.  The 
supercilious  doctors,  who  vaunted  tiieir  pro- 
found knowledge  of  tlie  law,  and  their  deep 
science  in  spiritual  and  divine  things,  were  con- 
stantly siiowiug  tlicir  fallibility  and  their  igno- 
rance by  their  religious  dill'erences,  and  were 
divided  into  a  great  variety  of  sects.  Of  these 
sects,  three  in  a  great  measure  eclipsed  the 
rest,  both  by  the  umnber  of  their  adherents, 
and  also  by  the  weight  and  authority  which 
tiiey  acquired.  These  were  the  Pharisees,  the 
Sadducees,  and  the  Esscnes.*  There  is  fre- 
(juent  mention  made  of  the  two  former  in  the 
sacred  writings;  but  the  knowledge  of  the  rites 
and  doctrines  of  the  last,  is  to  be  derived  from 
Josephus,  Philo,  and  other  historians.  Those 
three  illustrious  sects  agreed  in  the  fundamen- 
tal j)rinciples  of  the  Jewish  religion,  and,  at 
the  same  time,  were  involved  in  endless  dis- 
putes upon  points  of  tlie  highest  importance, 
and  about  matters  in  whicii  the  salvation  of 
mankind  was  directly  concerned;  and  their 
controversies  could  not  but  !)C  highly  detri- 
mental to  the  rude  and  illiterate  multitude,  as 
every  one  must  easily  perceive. 

VII.  It  may  not  be  improper  to  mention 
here  some  of  the  principal  matters  that  were 


\ 


*  Besides  these  more  illustrious  seets,  there  were  seve- 
ral of  inferior  note,  \vlii«li  (irrvailed  among  the  Jews  at 
the  time  of  Christ's  appearance.  The  Herodiaiis  are 
mentioned  by  the  sacred  writers,  the  (laiilonitis  by  Jose- 
phus, and  others  by  Epipliaiiius  and  Hepesippiis  in  Euse- 
biuD;  and  we  cannot  reasonably  look  upon  all  these  sects 
as  fictitious. 


22 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  I. 


debated  amoiig  these  famous  sects.  A  main 
point  of  controversy  was,  whether  the  written 
laio  alone  was  of  divine  authority.  The 
Pharisees  added  to  this  law  another,  which  had 
been  received  by  oral  tradition.  This  the 
Sadducees  and  Essenes  rejected  as  of  no  au- 
thority, and  adhered  to  the  written  law  as  the 
only  divine  rule  of  obedience.  They  differed 
also  in  their  opinions  concernincr  the  true  sense 
of  the  law.  For,  while  the  Pharisees  attributed  | 
to  the  sacred  text  a  double  sense,  one  of  which 
was  obvious,  regarding  only  the  rcords,  and 
another  mysterious,  relating  to  the  intimate 
nature  of  the  tilings  e.xprcssed;  and  while  the 
Sadducees  maintained  that  nothing  farther  was 
delivered  by  the  law,  than  that  which  was  con- 
tained in  the  signification  of  the  words;  the 
Essenes,  at  least  the  greatest  part  of  that  sect, 
entertained  an  opinion  diiferent  from  both  of 
these.  They  asserted,  in  their  jargon,  that 
the  words  of  the  law  were  absolutely  void  of 
all  power,  and  that  the  things  expressed  by 
them,  were  the  images  of  holy  and  celestial 
objects.  These  litigious  subtilties  and  unin- 
telligible wranglings,  about  the  nature  and 
sense  of  the  divine  word,  were  succeeded  by  a 
controversy  of  the  greatest  moment,  concern- 
ing the  rewards  and  punishments  of  the  law, 
particularly  with  respect  to  their  extent.  The 
Pharisees  were  of  opinion,  that  these  rewards 
and  punishments  extended  both  to  the  soul  and 
body,  and  that  their  duration  was  prolonged 
beyond  the  limits  of  this  transitory  state.  The 
Sadducees  assigned  to  them  the  same  period 
that  concludes  this  mortal  life.  The  Essenes 
differed  from  both,  and  maintained  that  future 
rewards  and  punishments  extended  to  the  soul 
alone,  and  not  to  the  body,  which  they  con- 
sidered as  a  niass  of  malignant  matter,  and  as 
the  prison  of  tlie  immortal  spirit. 

VIII.  These  differences,  in  matters  of  such 
high  importance,  among  the  three  famous 
sects  above  mentioned,  produced  none  of  those 
injurious  and  malignant  effects  which  are  too 
often  seen  to  arise  from  religious  controver- 
sies.— But  such  as  have  any  acquaintance  with 
the  history  of  tliese  times,  will  not  be  so  far 
deceived  by  this  specious  appearance  of  mode- 
ration, as  to  attribute  it  to  noble  or  generous 
principles.  They  will  look  tlirough  the  fair 
outside,  and  see  that  mutual  fears  were  the 
latent  cause  of  this  apparent  cliarity  and  re- 
ciprocal forbearance.  The  Sadducees  enjoyed 
the  favour  and  protection  of  tlie  great:  the 
Pharisees,  on  the  otlier  hand,  were  exceedingly 
high  in  the  esteem  of  the  multitude;  and  hence 
they  were  both  secured  against  the  attempts 
of  each  other,  and  lived  in  peace,  notwith- 
standing the  diversity  of  their  religious  senti- 
ments. The  government  of  the  Romans  con- 
tributed also  to  tlie  maintenance  of  this  mutual 
toleration  and  tranquillity,  as  they  were  ever 
ready  to  suppress  and  punish  whatever  had 
the  appearance  of  tumult  and  sedition.  We 
may  add  to  all  this,  that  the  Sadducean  prin- 
ciples rendered  that  sect  naturally  averse  to 
altercation  and  tumult.  Libertinism  has  for 
Its  objects  ease  and  pleasure,  and  chooses 
rather  to  slumber  in  the  arms  of  a  fallacious 
secuiity,  than  to  expose  itself  to  the  painful 


activity,  which  is  required  both  in  the  search 
and  in  the  defence  of  truth. 

IX.  The  Essenes  had  little  occasion  to  quar- 
rel with  the  other  sects,  as  they  dwelt  gene- 
rally in  rural  solitude,  far  removed  from  the 
view  and  commerce  of  men. — This  singular 
sect,  which  was  spread  abroad  thiough  Syria, 
Egypt,  and  the  neighbouring  countries,  main- 
tained, that  religion  consisted  wholly  in  con- 
templation and  silence. — By  a  rigorous  absti- 
nence also,  and  a  variety  of  penitential  exer- 
cises and  mortifications,  which  they  seem  to 
have  borrowed  from  tlie  Egyptians,*  they  en- 
deavoured to  arrive  at  still  higher  degrees  of 
e.xcellence  in  virtue.  There  prevailed,  how- 
ever, among  the  members  of  this  sect,  a  con- 
siderable ditfereiice  both  in  point  of  opinion 
and  discipline. — Some  passed  their  lives  in  a 
state  of  celibacy,  and  employed  their  time  in 
educating  the  children  of  others.  Some  em- 
braced the  state  of  matrimony,  which  they 
considered  as  lawful;  when  contracted  with 
the  sole  view  of  propagating  the  species,  and 
not  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  lust.  Those  of 
the  Essenes  who  dwelt  in  Syria,  held  the  pos- 
sibility of  appeasing  the  Deity  by  sacrifices, 
though  in  a  manner  quite  different  from  that 
of  the  Jews;  by  which,  however,  it  appears 
that  they  had  not  utterly  rejected  the  literal 
sense  of  the  Mosaic  law.  But  those  who 
wandered  in  the  deserts  of  Egypt  were  of 
very  different  sentiments;  they  maintained, 
that  no  offering  was  acceptable  to  God  but 
that  of  a  serene  and  composed  mind,  intent 
on  the  contemplation  of  divine  things;  and 
hence  it  is  manifest  that  they  looked  upon  the 
law  of  Moses  as  an  allegorical  system  of 
spiritual  and  mysterious  truths,  and  renounced 
in  its  e.xplication  all  regard  to  the  outward 
letter.! 

X.  The  Therapeutse,  of  whom  Philo  the 
Jew  makes  particular  mention  in  his  treatise 
concerning  contemplative  life,  are  supposed  to 
have  been  a  branch  of  this  sect.  From  this 
notion  arose  the  division  of  the  Essenes  into 
theoretical  and  practical.  The  former  of  these 
were  wholly  devoted  to  contemplation,  and 
are  the  same  with  the  Therapeutae,  while  tiie 
latter  employed  a  part  of  their  time  in  the  per- 
formance of  the  duties  of  active  life.  Whether 
tliis  division  be  accurate  or  not,  is  a  point 
wiiich  I  will  not  pretend  to  determine.  But  I 
see  nothing  in  the  laws  or  manners  of  the 
Therapeutae,  that  should  lead  us  to  consider 
them  as  a  branch  of  the  Essenes;  nor,  indeed, 
has  Philo  asserted  any  such  thing.  There  may 
have  been,  surely,  many  other  fanatical  tribes 
among  the  Jews,  besides  that  of  the  Essenes; 
nor  should  a  resemblance  of  principles  always 
induce  us  to  make  a  coalition  of  sects.  It  is, 
however,  certain,  that  the  Therapeutae  were 
neither  Christians  nor  Egyptians,  as  some 
have  erroneously  imagined.  Tliey  were  un- 
doubtedly Jews:  they  gloried  in  that  title,  and 
styled  themselves,  with  particular  affectation, 


*  See  the  Annotations  of  Holstenius  upon  Porphyry's 
Life  of  Pythagoras,  p.  11.  of  Kuster's  edition. 

f  See  MosheiTn's  observations  on  a  small  treatise,  writ- 
ten by  the  learned  Cudworth,  concerning  the  true  notion 
of  the  Lord's  Supper. 


Chap.  II. 


THE  STATE  OF  THE  JEWS. 


23 


the  true  disciples  of  Moses,  thongli  their  man- 
ner of  hfe  was  equally  repugnant  to  the  insti- 
tutions of  that  great  lawgiver  and  to  the  dic- 
tates of  right  reason,  and  showed  tliem  to  be 
a  tribe  of  melancholy  and  wrong-headed  en- 
thusiasts.* 

XI.  None  of  these  sect.<!,  indeed,  seemed  to 
have  the  interests  of  real  and  true  piety  at 
heart;  nor  were  their  principles  and  discipline 
at  all  adapted  to  the  advancement  of  pure  and 
substantial  virtue.  The  Pjiarisees  courted 
popular  applause  by  a  vain  ostentation  of  pre- 
tended sanctity,  and  an  austere  metiiod  of 
living,  while,  in  reality,  they  were  strangers 
to  true  holiness,  and  vi^ere  inwardly  defiled 
with  the  most  criminal  dispositions,  with  which 
our  Saviour  frequently  reproaches  them.  They 
also  treated  with  greater  veneration  the  com- 
mandments and  traditions  of  men,  than  the 
sacred  precepts  and  laws  of  God.f  The  Sad- 
ducees,  by  denying  a  future  state  of  rewards 
and  punishments,  removed,  at  once,  tlie  most 
powerful  incentives  to  virtue,  and  the  most 
effectual  restraints  upon  vice,  and  thus  gave 
new  vigour  to  every  sinful  passion,  and  a  full 
encouragement  to  the  indulgence  of  every  ir- 
regular desire.  As  to  the  Essenes,  they  were 
a  fanatical  and  superstitious  tribe,  who  placed 
religion  in  a  certain  sort  of  seraphic  indolence, 
and  looking  upon  piety  to  God  as  incompati- 
ble with  any  social  attachment  to  men,  dis- 
solved, by  this  pernicious  doctrine,  all  the 
great  bonds  of  human  society. 

XII.  While  such  darkness,  such  errors  and 
dissensions,  prevailed  among  those  who  as- 
sumed the  character  and  authority  of  persons 
distinguished  by  their  superior  .sanctity  and 
wisdom,  it  will  not  be  difficult  to  imagine,  how 
totally  corrupt  the  religion  and  morals  of  the 
multitude  must  have  been.  They  were,  ac- 
cordingly, sunk  in  the  most  deplorable  igno- 
rance of  God  and  of  divine  things,  and  had 
no  notion  of  any  other  way  of  rendering  them- 
selves acceptable  to  the  Supreme  Being,  than 
by  sacrifices,  ablutions,  and  the  other  external 
ceremonies  of  the  Mosiac  law.  Hence  pro- 
ceeded that  laxity  of  manners,  and  that  profli- 
gate wickedness,  which  prevailed  among  the 
Jews  during  Christ's  ministry  upon  eartli;  and 
hence  the  Divine  Saviour  compares  that  peo- 
ple to  a  flock  of  sheep  which  wandered  with- 
out a  shepherd,  and  their  doctors  to  men  who, 
though  deprived  of  sight,  yet  pretended  to 
show  the  wa}^  to  others.! 

XIII.  To  all  these  corruptions,  both  in  point 
of  doctrine  and  practice,  which  reigned  among 
the  Jews  at  the  time  of  Clirist's  coming,  we 
may  add  the  attachment  which  many  of  them 
discovered  to  the  tenets  of  the  oriental  philoso- 
phy concerning  the  origin  of  the  world,  and 
to  the  doctrine  of  the  Cabiiala,  which  was  im- 
doubtedly  derived  from  that  system.  That 
considerable  numbers  of  the  Jews  had  imbibed 
the  errors  of  this  fantastic  theory,  evidently 
appears  both  from  the  books  of  the  New  Tes- 


*  The  principal  writers,  who  have  given  accounts  of 
the  Therapcuta:,  are  mentioned  by  Jo.  Albert  Fabricius, 
in  the  fourth  chapter  of  his  Lux  Salutaris  Evangelii 
toto  orbe  exoriens. 

♦  Matt,  xxiii.  1.3—30. 

i  Mall.  X.  6;  xv.  -24.  John  ix.  39. 


tament,  and  from  the  ancient  history  of  the 
I  Christian  church,*  and  it  is  also  certain,  that 
j  many  of  tlie  Gnostic  sects  were  founded  by 
Jews.  Those  among  tliat  degenerate  people, 
who  adopted  tiiis  chimerical  philosophy,  jnust 
I  have  widely  differed  from  the  rest  in  their 
I  opinions  concerning  the  tJod  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, the  origin  of  the  world,  tlie  character 
and  doctrine  of  Moses,  and  the  nature  and 
ministr}'  of  tlie  Messiah,  sinc'c  they  maintained 
that  the  creator  of  this  world  was  a  being  dif- 
ferent from  the  Supreme  God,  and  that  iiis 
I  dominion  over  the  human  race  was  to  be  de- 
stro\-ed  by  the  Messiah.  Every  one  must  see 
that  this  enormous  system  was  fruitful  of  er- 
rors, destructive  of  the  very  foundations  of 
I  Judaism. 

XIV.  If  any  ])art  of  the  Jewish  religion  was 
less  disfigured  and  corrupted  than  tlie  rest,  it 
was,  certainly,  the  form  of  external  worsliip, 
which  was  established  by  the  law  of  INIoses. 
And  yet  many  learned  men  have  observed,  that 
a  great  variety  of  rites  were  introduced  into 
the  service  of  the  temple,  of  which  no  traces 
are  to  be  found  in  the  sacred  writings.  These 
additional  ceremonies  manifestly  proceeded 
from  those  changes  and  revolutions  which  ren- 
dered the  Jews  more  conversant  witli  the 
neiglibouring  nations,  than  they  had  fomierly 
been;  for,  when  they  saw  t!ie  sacred  rites  of 
the  Greeks  and  Romans,  they  were  pleased 
with  several  of  the  ceremonies  that  were  used 
in  the  worship  of  the  heathen  deities,  and  did 
not  hesitate  to  adopt  them  in  the  service  of 
the  true  God,  and  add  them  as  ornaments  to 
the  rites  which  they  had  received  by  divine  ap- 
pointment, f 

XV.  But  whence  arose  such  enormous  de- 
grees of  corruption  in  that  very  nation  which 
God  had,  in  a  peculiar  manner,  separated  from 
an  idolatrous  world  to  be  tlie  depository  of  di- 
vine trutW  Various  causes  may  be  assigned, 
in  order  to  give  a  satisfactory  account  of  this 
matter.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  certain,  tliat 
the  ancestors  of  those  Jews,  who  lived  in  the 
time  of  our  Saviour,  had  brought,  from  Chal- 
dea  and  the  neighbouring  countries,  many  ex- 
travagant and  idle  fancies,  which  were  utterly 
unknown  to  the  original  founders  of  the  na- 
tion.]; The  conquest  of  Asia  by  Alexander 
the  Great,  was  also  an  event  from  which  we 
may  date  a  new  accession  of  errors  to  the 
Jewish  system,  since,  in  consequence  of  that 
revolution,  the  manners  and  opinions  of  the 
Greeks  began  to  spread  themselves  among  the 
Persians,  S3Tians,  Arabians,  and  likewise 
among  the  Jews,  who  before  tliat  period,  were 
entirely  unacquainted  with  letters  and  piiiloso- 
phy.  We  may,  farther,  rank  among  the 
causes  that  contributed  to  corrupt  the  religion 
and  ma,nners  of  the  Jews,  their  voyages  into 
tiie  adjacent  countries,  especially  Egypt  and 


*  See  Joli.  Chr.  Wolf.  Biblioth.  Ebraica,  vol.  ii.  lib. 
vii.  cap.  i.  sect.  ix. 

t  See  the  learned  work  of  Spencer,  De  Lrgibus  Heb- 
rieorum,  in  the  fourth  book  of  which  he  treats  expressly 
of  those  Hebrew  riles  which  were  borrowed  from  the 
Gentile  worship. 

\  See  Gale's  observations  on  Jamblichus,  de  Myjteriij 
^gyptiorum,  p.  206.  Josephus  acknowledges  the  same 
thing  in  his  Jewish  Antiquities,  book  iii.chap.  vii.  sect.  2. 


24 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  I. 


Phcenicia,  in  pursuit  of  wealth;  for,  with  the 
treasures  of  those  corrupt  and  superstitious 
nations,  they  brouglit  home  also  tlieir  pernici- 
ous errors,  and  their  idle  fictions,  wliich  were 
imperceptibly  blended  witli  their  religious  sys- 
tem. Nor  ouglit  we  to  omit,  in  tliis  enumera- 
tion, the  pestilential  influence  of  the  wicked 
reig-ns  of  Herod  and  his  sons,  and  the  enor- 
mous instances  of  idolatry,  error,  and  licen- 
tiousness, whicli  this  unhappy  people  liad  con- 
stantly before  tlieir  eyes  in  tlie  religion  and 
manners  of  the  Roman  governors  and  soldiers, 
whicli,  no  doubt,  contributed  much  to  tiie  pro- 
gress of  their  national  superstition  and  corrup- 
tion of  manners.  We  might  add  here  many 
other  facts  and  circumstances,  to  illustrate  more 
full}'  the  matter  under  consideration;  but  these 
will  be  readily  suggested  to  such  as  have  the 
least  acquaintance  with  tlie  Jewish  history  from 
the  time  of  the  Maccabees. 

XVI.  It  is  indeed  worthy  of  observation, 
that,  corrupted  as  the  .Tews  were  with  the  er- 
rors and  superstitions  of  the  neighbouring  na- 
tions, they  still  preserved  a  zealous  attachment 
to  the  law  of  Moses,  and  were  exceedingly 
careful  that  it  sliould  not  suffer  any  diminution 
of  its  credit,  or  lose  the  least  degree  of  the  ve- 
neration due  to  its  divine  authority.  Hence 
synagogues  were  erected  througliout  the  pro- 
vince of  Judea,  in  wliich  the  people  assembled 
for  the  purposes  of  divine  worsliip,  and  to  hear 
their  doctors  interpret  and  explain  the  holy 
scriptures.  There  wore  besides,  in  the  more 
populous  towns,  public  scliools,  in  which  learn- 
ed men  were  appointed  to  instruct  the  youth  in 
the  knowledge  of  divine  tilings,  and  also  in 
other  branches  of  science.*  And  it  is  beyond 
all  doubt,  that  these  institutions  contributed  to 
maintain  the  law  in  its  primitive  authority,  and 
to  stem  the  torrent  of  abounding  iniquity. 

XVII.  The  Samaritans,  who  celebrated  di- 
vine worship  in  the  temple  that  \va.s  built  on 
mount  Gerizim,  lay  under  the  burthen  of  the 
same  evils  that  oppressed  the  Jews,  with  whom 
they  lived  in  the  bitterest  enmity,  and  were 
also,  like  them,  higlily  instrumental  in  increas- 
ing their  own  calamities.  We  learn  from  the 
most  authentic  histories  of  those  times,  that  the 
Samaritans  suffered  as  much  as  the  Jews,  from 
troubles  and  divisions  fomented  by  the  intrigues 
of  factious  spirits,  though  their  religious  sects 
were  yet  less  numerous  than  those  of  the  latter. 
Their  religion,  also,  was  much  more  corrupted 
than  that  of  the  Jews,  as  Christ  himself  de- 
clares in  his  conversation  with  the  woman  of 
Samaria,  thougli  it  appears,  at  the  same  time, 
that  their  notions  concerning  the  offices  and 
ministry  of  tlie  Messiah,  were  much  more  just 
and  conformable  to  truth,  than  those  which 
were   entertained   at  Jerusalem.!     Upon  tlie 


*  See  Camp.  Vitrinca.  de  Synagoga  vetere,  lib.  iii.  cap. 
V.  and  lib.  i.  cap.  v.  vii. 

f  Christ  insinuates,  on  the  contrary,  in  the  strongest 
manner,  the  superiority  of  the  Jewish  worship  to  that  of 
the  Samaritans,  John  iv.  22.  See  also,  on  this  head,  2 
Kings  xvii.  29.  The  passage  to  which  Dr.  Mosheim  re- 
fers, as  a  proof  that  the  Samaritans  had  juster  notions  of 
the  Messiah  than  the  Jews,  is  the  2olh  verse  of  the  chap- 
ter of  St.  John  already  cited,  where  the  woman  of  Sama- 
ria says  to  Jesus,  "I  know  that  Messiah  cometh,  which 
is  called  Christ;  when  he  is  come,  he  will  tell  us  all 
things."  But  this  passage  seems  much  too  vague  to  jus- 
tify the  conclusion  of  our  learned  historian.     Besides  the 


whole,  it  is  certain  that  the  Samaritans  mixed 
the  profane  errors  of  the  Gentiles  with  the  sa- 
cred doctrines  of  the  Jews,  and  were  excessive- 
ly corrupted  by  the  idolatrous  customs  of  the 
pagan  nations.* 

XVIII.  The  Jews  multiplied  so  prodigiously, 
that  the  narrow  bounds  of  Palestine  were  no 
longer  sufficient  to  contain  them.  They  pour- 
ed, tlierefore,  their  increasing  numbers  into  the 
neighbouring  countries  with  such  rapidity,  that, 
at  the  time  of  Christ's  birth,  there  was  scarcely 
a  province  in  the  empire,  where  they  were  not 
found  carrying  on  commerce  and  exercising 
other  lucrative  arts.  They  were  maintained, 
in  foreign  countries,  against  injurious  treatment 
and  violence,  by  the  special  edicts  and  protec- 
tion of  the  magistrates;!  and  this,  indeed,  was 
absolutely  necessary,  since,  in  most  places,  the 
remarkable  difference  in  their  religion  and  man- 
ners, from  those  of  the  other  nations,  exposed 
them  to  the  hatred  and  indignation  of  the  ig- 
norant and  bigoted  multitude.  All  this  ap- 
jiears  to  have  been  most  singularly  and  wisely 
directed  by  the  adorable  liand  of  an  interposing 
Providence,  to  the  end  that  this  people,  which 
was  the  sole  depository  of  the  true  religion,  and 
of  the  knowledge  of  one  Supreme  God,  being 
spread  abroad  through  the  vi'hole  earth,  might 
be  every  where,  by  the  force  of  e-\ainple,  a  re- 
proach to  superstition,  might  contribute  in  some 
measure  to  check  it,  and  thus  prepare  the  way 
for  that  yet  fuller  discovery  of  divine  truth, 
which  was  to  shine  upon  the  world  from  the 
ministry  and  Gospel  of  the  Son  of  God. 


CHAPTER  m. 

Concerning;   the    Life   and    .Actions    of  Jesus 
Christ. 

I.  The  errors  and  disorders  that  we  have 
now  been  considering,  required  something  far 
above  human  vi'isdoin  and  power  to  dispel  and 
remove  tliem,  and  to  deliver  mankind  from  the 
miserable  state  to  which  they  were  reduced  by 
them.  Therefore,  towards  the  conclusion  of 
the  reign  of  Herod  the  Great,  the  Son  of  God 
descended  upon  earth,  and,  assuming  the  hu- 
man nature,  appeared  to  men  under  the  sublime 
characters  of  an  infallible  teacher,  an  all-suffi- 
cient mediator,  and  a  spiritual  and  immortal 
king.  The  place  of  his  birth  was  Rethlehem, 
in  Palestine.  The  year  in  which  it  happened, 
has  not  hitherto  been  ascertained,  notwitli- 
standing  the  deep  and  laborious  researches  of 
the  learned.  There  is  nothing  surprising  in 
this,  when  we  consider  that  the  first  Christians 
laboured  under  the  same  difficulties,  and  were 
divided  in  their  opinions  concerning  the  time 


confession  of  one  person  who  may  possibly  have  had  some 
singular  and  extraordinary  advantages,  is  not  a  proof  that 
the  nation  in  general  entertained  the  same  sentiments,  es- 
pecially since  we  know  that  tlie  Samaritans  had  corrupted 
the  service  of  God  by  a  profane  mixture  of  the  grossest 
idolatries. 

*  Those  who  desire  an  exact  account  of  the  principal 
authors  who  have  writteai  concerning  the  Samaritans,  will 
find  it  in  the  learned  work  of  Jo.  Gottlob  Carpzovius,  en- 
titled, Critica  S.  Vet.  Testam.  part  ii.  cap.  iv. 

f  See  the  account  published  at  Leyden,  in  1712,  by 
James  Gronovius,  of  the  Roman  and  Asiatic  edicts  in  fa- 
vour of  the  Jews,  allowing  them  the  free  and  secure  ex- 
ercise of  their  religion  in  all  the  eitirt  of  Asia  Minor 


t!HAP.  in. 


THE  STATE  OF  THE  JEWS. 


35 


of  Christ's  birth.*  That  which  appears  most 
probable,  is,  that  it  happened  about  a  year  and 
six  months  before  the  death  of  Herod,  in  the 
year  of  Rome  748  or  749. f  The  uncertainty, 
however,  of  this  point,  is  of  no  great  conse- 
quence. We  know  that  vthe  Sun  of  Riglite- 
ousness  has  shined  upon  the's^vorld;  and  though 
we  cannot  fix  the  precise  period  in  which  he 
arose,  this  will  not  preclude  us  from  enjoying- 
the  direction  and  influence  of  his  vital  and  sa- 
lutary beams. 

n.  Four  inspired  writers,  who  have  trans- 
mitted to  us  an  account  of  the  life  and  actioits 
of  Jesus  Christ,  mention  particularly  his  birth, 
lineage,  family,  and  parents;  bat  they  say  very 
little  respecting  his  infancy  and  his  early  youth. 
Not  long  after  his  birth,  he  was  conducted  by 
his  parents  into  Egypt,  that  he  might  be  out  of 
the  reach  of  Herod's  cruelty.  J;  At  the  age  of 
twelve  years,  he  disputed  in  the  temple,  with 
the  most  learned  of  the  Jewish  doctors,  con- 
cerning the  sublime  truths  of  religion;  and  the 
rest  of  his  life,  until  the  thirtieth  year  of  his 
age,  was  spent  in  the  obscurity  of  a  private 
condition,  and  consecrated  to  the  duties  of  filial 
obedience. §  This  is  all  that  the  wisdom  of  God 
hatli  permitted  us  to  know,  with  certainty,  of 
Christ,  before  he  entered  upon  his  public  minis- 
try; nor  is  the  story  of  his  having  followed  the 
trade  of  his  adoptive  father  Joseph  built  upon 
any  sure  foundation.  There  have  been,  indeed, 
several  writers,  who,  either  througli  the  levity 
of  a  wanton  imagination,  or  with  a  view  of  ex- 
citing the  admiration  of  the  multitude,  have 
invented  a  series  of  the  most  extravagant  and 
ridiculous  fables,  in  order  to  give  an  account 
of  tliis  obscure  part  of  the  Saviour's  life.|| 

III.  Jesus  began  his  public  ministry  in  the 
thirtieth  year  of  his  age;  and,  to  render  it  more 
solemn  and  aflfecting  to  the  Jews,  a  man,  whose 
name  was  John,  the  son  of  a  Jewish  priest,  a 
person  of  great  gravity  also,  and  much  respect- 
ed on  account  of  the  austere  dignity  of  his  life 
and  manners,  was  commanded  by  God  to  pro- 
claim to  the  people  the  coming  of  the  long  pro- 
mised Messiah,  of  whom  this  extraordinary 
man  called  himself  the  forerunner.  Filled 
with  a  holy  zeal  and  a  divine  fervour,  he  cried 
aloud  to  the  Jews,  exliorting  them  to  depart 
from  their  transgressions,  and  to  purify  their 
hearts,  that  they  might  thus  partake  of  tlie 
blessings  which  the  Son  of  God  was  now  come 
to  offer  to  the  world.  The  exhortations  of  this 
respectable  messenger  were  not  witliout  effect; 
and  those  who,  moved  by  his  solemn  admoni- 
tions, had  formed  the  resolution  of  correcting 
their  evil  dispositions,  and  amending  their  lives, 
were  initiated  into  the  kingdom  of  the  Re- 
deemer by  the  ceremony  of  immersion,  or  bap- 
tism.H  Clirist  himself,  before  he  began  his  mi- 
nistry, desired  to  be  solemnly  baptized  by  John 
in  the  waters  of  Jordan,  that  he  might  not,  in 

*  The  learned  John  Albert  Fabricius  has  collected  all 
the  opinions  of  the  learned,  concerning  the  year  of  Christ's 
birth,  iu  his  Bibliograph.     Antiqnar.  cap.  vii.  sect.  x. 

t  Matt.  iii.  2,  &,c.  John  i.  22,  Stc. 

j  Matt.  ii.  13. 

§  Luke  ii.  51,52. 

II  See  the  account  which  the  above  mentioned  Albert 
Fabricius  has  given  of  these  romantic  triflers,  in  his  Co- 
dex Apocryphus  Novi  Testaraenli,  torn.  i. 

IT  Matt.  iii.  6.     John  i.  22. 

Vol.  I.— 4 


any  point,  neglect  to  answer  the  demands  of 
the  Jewish  law. 

IV.  It  is  not  necessary  to  enter  here  into  a 
detail  of  the  life  and  actions  of  Jesus  Christ. 
All  Christians  must  be  perfectly  acquainted 
with  thein.  They  must  know,  that,  during  the 
space  of  tiiree  years,  and  amidst  the  deepest 
trials  of  affliction  and  distress,  he  instructed  the 
.Tcwish  nation  in  the  will  find  counsels  of  the 
iMost  High,  and  omitted  nothing  in  the  course 
of  his  ministry,  that  could  contribute  either  to 
gain  the  multitude  or  to  charm  tJie  wise.  Every 
one  knows,  that  his  life  was  a  continued  scene 
of  perfect  sanctity,  of  the  purest  and  most  ac- 
tive virtue;  not  only  without  spot,  but  also  be- 
yond the  reach  of  sus{)icion;  and  it  is  also  well 
known,  that  by  miracles  of  the  most  stupen- 
dous kind,  and  not  more  stupendous  than  salu- 
tary and  beneficent,  he  displayed  to  the  uni- 
verse the  truth  of  that  religion  which  he 
brougjit  with  him  from  above,  and  demonstrat-. 
ed  in  the  most  illustrious  manner  the  reality  of 
his  divine  commission. 

V.  As  this  system  of  religion  was  to  be  pro- 
pagated to  the  extremities  of  the  eartli,  it  was 
necessary  that  Clirist  should  choose  a  certain 
number  of  persons  to  accompany  him  constant- 
ly through  the  whole  course  of  his  ministry; 
that  thus  they  might  be  faitliful  and  respecta- 
ble witnesses  of  the  sanctity  of  his  life,  and  the 
grandeur  of  his  miracles,  to  the  remotest  na- 
tions; and  also  transmit  to  the  latest  posterity 
a  genuine  account  of  his  sublime  doctrines, 
and  of  the  nature  and  end  of  the  Gospel  dis- 
pensation. Therefore  Jesus  chose,  out  of  the 
multitude  that  attcn<led  his  discourses,  twelve 
persons  whom  he  separated  from  the  rest  by 
the  name  of  ^ipostles.  These  men  were  illite- 
rate, poor,  and  of  mean  extraction;  and  such 
alone  were  truly  proper  to  answer  his  views. 
He  avoided  making  use  of  the  ministry  of  per- 
sons endowed  with  tlic  advantages  of  fortune 
and  birth,  or  enriched  with  the  treasures  of  elo- 
quence and  learning,  lest  the  fruits  of  this  em- 
bassy, and  the  progress  of  the  Gospel,  should 
be  attributed  to  human  and  natiu-al  causes.* 
These  apostles  were  sent  but  once  to  preach  to 
the  Jews  during  the  life  of  Christ. f  He  chose 
to  keep  them  about  his  own  person,  that  they 
might  be  thoroughly  instructed  in  the  affairs  of 
his  kingdom.  That  tlie  multitude,  however, 
might  not  be  destitute  of  teachers  to  enlighten 
them  with  the  knowledge  of  the  truth,  Clirist 
appointed  seventy  disciples  to  preach  tlie  glad 
tidings  of  eternal  life  throughout  the  whole 
province  of  Judca.J 

VI.  The  researches  of  the  learned  have  been 
employed  to  find  out  the  reason  of  Christ's  fLx- 
ing  the  number  of  the  apostles  to  twelve,  and 
that  of  the  disciples  to  seventy;  and  various 
conjectures  have  been  applied  to  the  solution 
of  this  question.  But  since  it  is  manifest  from 
his  own  words,§  that  he  intended  tlie  number 
of  the  twelve  apostles  as  an  allusion  to  that  of 
the  tribes  of  Israel,  it  can  scarcely  be  doubted, 
that  he  was  willing  to  insinuate  by  this  ap- 
pointment that  he  was  the  supreme  lord  and 
high-priest  of  the  twelve  tribes  into  which  the 


*lCor.  i.  21.  fMatt.  X.  7. 

5  Matt.  xii.  2S.  Luke  xxii.  30. 


(Lukex.  i. 


26 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  I. 


Jewish  nation  was  divided;  and,  as  the  num- 
ber of  disciples  answers  evidently  to  that  of  the 
senators,  of  whom  the  council  of  the  people 
(or  the  sanhedrim)  was  composed,  there  is  a 
high  degree  of  probability  in  the  conjecture  of 
those,  who  think  that  Christ,  by  the  choice  of 
the  seventy,  designed  to  admonish  the  Jews 
that  the  authority  of  their  sanhedrim  was  now 
at  an  end,  and  that  all  power,  with  respect  to 
religious  matters,  was  vested  in  him  alone. 

VII.  The  ministry  of  Jesus  was  confined  to 
the  Jews;  nor,  while  he  remained  upon  earth 
did  he  permit  his  apostles  or  disciples  to  ex- 
tend their  labours  beyond  this  distinguished  na- 
tion.* At  the  same  time,  if  we  consider  the 
illustrious  acts  of  mercy  and  omnipotence  that 
were  performed  by  Christ,  it  will  be  natural  to 
conclude  that  his  fame  must  have  been  very 
soon  spread  abroad  in  other  countries.  We 
learn  from  writers  of  no  small  note,  that  Ab- 
gajus,  king  of  Edessa,  being  seized  with  a  se- 
verfe  and  dangerous  illness,  wrote  to  our  bless- 
ed Lord  to  implore  his  assistance;  and  that  Je- 
sus not  only  sent  him  a  gracious  answer,  but 
also  accompanied  it  with  his  picture,  as  a  mark 
of  his  esteem  for  that  pious  prince. f  These 
letters,  it  is  said,  are  still  extant.  But  they  are 
justly  looked  upon  as  fictitious  by  most  writers, 
who  also  go  yet  farther,  and  treat  the  whole 
story  of  Abgarus  as  entirely  fabulous,  and  im- 
worthy  of  credit. J  I  will  not  pretend  to  as- 
sert the  genuineness  of  these  letters;  but  I  see 
no  reason  of  sufficient  weight  to  destroy  the 
credibility  of  that  story  which  is  supposed  to 
have  given  occasion  to  them.§ 

VIII.  A  great  number  of  the  Jews,  influ- 
enced by  those  illustrious  marks  of  a  divine 
authority  and  power,  which  shone  forth  in  the 
ministry  and  actions  of  Christ,  regarded  him  as 
the  Son  of  God,  the  true  Messiah.  The  rulers 
of  the  people,  and  more  especially  the  chief 
priests  and  Pharisees,  whose  licentiousness  and 


*  Matt.  X.  5,  6;  xv.  24. 

f  Euseb.  Hist.  Eccl.  lib.  i.  xiii. — Jo.  Albert  Fabric.  Co- 
dex Apocryphus  N.  T.  torn.  i.  p.  317. 

J  See  Basnage,  Histoire  des  Juifs,  vol.  i.  cap.  xviii. — 
also  Theoph.  Sigef.  Bayerus,  Historia  Edessena  et  Osroe- 
na,  lib.  iii.— Jos.  Simon  Assemanus,  Biblioth.  Oriental. 
Clement.  Vatican,  torn.  i. 

^  There  is  no  author  who  has  discussed  this  question 
(concerning  the  authenticity  of  the  letters  of  Christ  and 
Abgarus,  and  the  truth  of  the  whole  story)  with  such 
learning  and  judgment,  as  the  late  Mr.  Jones,  in  the  se- 
cond volume  of  his  excellent  work,  entitled,  A  New  and 
FuU  Method  of  settling  the  Canonical  Authority  of  the 
New  Testament.  Notwithstanding  the  opinions  of  such 
celebrated  names,  as  Parker,  Cave,  and  Grabe,  in  favour 
of  these  letters,  and  the  history  to  which  they  relate, 
Mr.  Jones  has  offered  reasons  to  prove  the  whole  ficti- 
tious, which  seem  unanswerable,  independent  of  the 
authorities  of  Rivet,  Chemnitius,  Walther,  Simon,  Du- 
Pin,  Wake,  Spanheim,  Fabricius,  and  Le  Clerc,  which 
lie  opposes  to  the  three  above  mentioned.  It  is  remarka- 
ble that  the  story  is  not  mentioned  by  any  writer  before 
Eusebius;  that  it  is  little  noticed  by  succeeding  authors; 
that  the  whole  affair  was  unknown  to  Christ's  apostles, 
and  to  the  Christians,  their  contemporaries,  as  is  mani- 
fest from  the  early  disputes  about  the  method  of  receiving 
Gentile  converts  into  the  church,  which  this  story,  had 
it  been  true,  must  have  entirely  decided.  As  to  the  let- 
ters, no  doubt  can  be  made  of  their  spuriousness,  since, 
jf  Christ  had  written  a  letter  to  Abgarus,  it  would  have 
been  a  part  of  sacred  Scripture,  and  would  have  been 
placed  at  the  head  of  all  the  books  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. See  Lardner's  Collection  of  Ancient  Jewish  and 
Heathen  Testimonies,  vol.  i.  p.  297,  &c.  It  must  be  ob- 
served in  behalf  of  Eusebius,  that  he  relates  this  story  as 
dravfn  from  the  archives  of  Edessa. 


hypocrisy  he  censured  with  a  noble  and  gene- 
rous freedom,  laboured  with  success,  by  the 
help  of  their  passions,  to  extinguish  in  their 
breasts  the  conviction  of  his  celestial  mission; 
or  at  least,  to  suppress  the  effects  it  vi'as  adapt- 
ed to  produce  upon  their  conduct.  Fearing 
also  that  his  ministry  might  tend  to  diminish 
their  credit,  and  to  deprive  them  of  the  advan- 
tages they  derived  from  the  impious  abuse  of 
their  authority  iai  religious  matters,  they  laid 
snares  for  his  life,  which,  for  a  considerable 
time,  were  without  effect.  They  succeeded, 
at  length,  by  the  infernal  treason  of  an  apos- 
tate disciple,  by  the  treachery  of  Judas,  who 
discovering  the  retreat  which  his  divine  master 
had  chosen  for  the  purposes  of  meditation  and 
repose,  delivered  him  into  the  merciless  hands 
of  a  brutal  soldiery. 

IX.  In  consequence  of  this,  Jesus  was  pro- 
duced as  a  criminal  before  the  Jewish  high- 
priest  and  sanhedrim,  being  accused  of  having 
violated  the  law,  and  blasphemed  the  majesty 
of  God.  Dragged  thence  to  the  tribunal  of 
Pilate  the  Roman  praetor,  he  was  charged  witi\ 
seditious  enterprises,  and  with  treason  against 
Caesar.  Both  these  accusations  were  so  evi- 
dently false,  and  destitute  even  of  every  ap- 
pearance of  truth,  that  they  must  have  been 
rejected  by  any  judge,  who  acted  upon  the  prin- 
ciples of  common  equity.  But  the  clamours 
of  an  enraged  populace,  inflamed  by  the  impi- 
ous instigations  of  their  priests  and  rulers,  in- 
timidated Pilate,  and  engaged  him,  though 
with  the  utmost  reluctance,  and  in  opposition 
to  the  dictates  of  his  conscience,  to  pronounce 
a  capital  sentence  against  Christ.  The  Re- 
deemer of  mankind  behaved  with  inexpressi- 
ble dignity  under  this  heavy  trial.  As  the  end 
of  his  mission  was  to  make  expiation  for  the 
sins  of  men,  so  when  all  things  were  ready, 
and  when  he  had  finished  the  work  of  his  glo- 
rious ministry,  he  placidly  submitted  to  the 
death  of  the  cross,  and,  with  a  serene  and  vo- 
hmtary  resignation,  committed  his  spirit  into 
the  hands  of  the  Father. 

X.  After  Jesus  had  remained  three  days  in 
the  sepulchre,  he  resumed  that  life  which  he 
had  volimtarily  laid  down;  and,  rising  from  the 
dead,  declared  to  the  universe,  by  that  trium- 
phant act,  that  the  divine  justice  was  satisfied, 
and  the  paths  of  salvation  and  immortality 
were  rendered  accessible  to  the  hiunan  race. 
He  conversed  with  his  disciples  during  forty 
days  after  his  resurrection,  and  employed  that 
time  in  instructing- them  more  fully  with  regard 
to  the  nature  of  liis  kingdom.  Many  wise  and 
important  reasons  prevented  his  showing  him- 
self publicly  at  Jerusalem,  to  confoimd  the  ma- 
lignity and  unbelief  of  his  enemies.  He  con- 
tented himself  with  manifesting  the  certainty 
of  his  glorious  resurrection  to  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  faithful  and  credible  witnesses,  being 
aware  that,  if  he  should  appear  in  public,  those 
malicious  unbelievers,  who  had  formerly  attri- 
buted his  miracles  to  the  power  of  magic,  would 
represent  his  resurrection  as  a  phantom,  or  vi- 
sion, produced  by  the  influence  of  infernal 
powers.  After  having  remained  upon  earth 
during  the  space  of  time  above  mentioned,  and 
given  to  his  disciples  a  divine  conmiission  to 
preach  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation  and  im 


Chap.  IV. 


PROSPEROUS  EVENTS. 


27 


mortality  to  the  human  race,  he  ascended  into 
heaven,  in  their  presence,  and  resumed  tlie  en- 
joyment of  that  glory  which  he  liad  posses.sed 
before  the  worlds  were  created. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Concerning  the  prosperoii,s  Events  that  luippcned 
to  the  Church  during  this  Centw-y. 

I.  Jesus,  having  ascended  into  heaven,  soon 
showed  the  afflicted  disciples,  that,  tliough  in- 
visible to  mortal  e3'es,  he  was  still  their  om- 
nipotent protector,  and  their  benevolent  guide. 
About  fifty  days  after  his  departure  from  them 
he  gave  them  the  first  proof  of  that  majesty 
and  power  to  which  he  was  exalted,  by  the  ef- 
fusion of  the  Holy  Ghost  upon  them  according 
to  his  promise.*  The  consequences  of  this 
grand  event  were  surprising  and  gloriovis,  in- 
finitely honourable  to  the  Cluistian  religion, 
and  the  divine  mi.ssion  of  its  triumphant  au- 
thor. For  no  sooner  had  the  apostles  received 
this  precious  gift,  this  celestial  guide,  than 
their  ignorance  was  turned  into  light,  their 
doubts  into  certainty,  tlieir  fears  into  a  firm 
and  invincible  fortitude,  and  their  former  back- 
wardness into  an  ardent  and  inextinguishable 
zeal,  which  led  them  to  undertake  their  sacred 
office  with  the  utmost  intrepidity  and  alacrity 
of  mind.  This  marvellous  event  was  attended 
with  a  variety  of  gifts;  particularly  the  gift  of 
tongues,  so  indispensably  necessary  to  qualify 
the  apostles  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  tlie  dif- 
ferent nations.  These  holy  apostles  were  also 
filled  with  a  perfect  persuasion,  founded  on 
Ciirist's  express  promise,  that  the  Divine  pre- 
sence would  perpetually  accompany  them,  and 
show  itself  by  miraculous  interpositions,  as  of- 
ten as  the  state  of  tlieir  ministry  should  ren- 
der this  necessary. 

II.  Relying  upon  these  celestial  succours,  the 
apostles  began  their  glorious  ministry,  by 
preaching  the  Gospel,  according  to  Christ's 
positive  command,  first  to  the  Jews,  and  by 
endeavouring  to  bring  that  deluded  people  to 
the  knowledge  of  the  truth. f  Nor  were  their 
labours  unsuccessful,  since,  in  a  very  short  time, 
many  thousands.were  converted,  by  the  influ- 
ence of  their  ministry,  to  the  Christian  faith. J; 
From  the  Jews,  they  passed  to  the  Samaritans, 
to  whom  they  preached  with  such  ofiicacy,  that 
great  numbers  of  that  nation  acknowledged 
the  Messiah. §  And,  when  they  liad  exercised 
their  ministry,  during  several  years,  at  Jerusa- 
lem, and  brought  to  a  sufficient  degree  of  con- 
sistence and  maturity  tlie  Cliristian  churches 
which  were  founded  in  Palestine  and  the  adja- 
cent countries,  they  extended  tlieir  views,  car- 
ried the  divine  lamp  of  the  Gospel  to  all  the 
nations  of  the  world,  and  saw  their  labours 
crowned  almost  every  where,  with  the  most 
abundant  fniits. 

III.  No  sooner  was  Christ  exalted  in  the 
heavens,  than  the  apostles  determined  to  ren- 
der their  number  complete,  as  it  had  been  fixed 
by  their  divine  Master,  and  accordingly  to 
choose  in  the  place  of  Judas,  who  had  dcspe- 


*  Acu  ii.  1,  &c. 

f  Luke  xxiv.  47.  Acts  i.  8;  xiii.  46. 

t  AcU  ii.  41;  ir.  4.        ^  AcU  i.  8;  riii.  14. 


rately  perished  by  his  own  liands,  a  man  en- 
dowed witli  such  degrees  of  sanctity  and  wis- 
dom, as  were  necessary  in  a  station  of  such 
high  importance.  When  therefore  they  had 
assembled  the  Christians  who  were  then  at 
Jerusalem,  two  men  remarkable  for  their  piety 
and  faith,  were  proposed  as  the  most  worthy 
to  stand  candidates  for  this  sacred  office. 
These  men  were  Matthias  and  Barnabas,  the 
former  of  whom  was,  either  by  lot,  (which  is 
the  most  general  opinion,)  or  by  a  plurality  of 
voices  of  the  assembly  there  present,  chosen 
to  the  dignity  of  an  apostle.* 

IV.  All  these  apostles  were  men  without 
education,  and  absolutely  ignorant  of  letters 
and  philosophy;  and  yet  in  the  infancy  of  the 
Christian  church,  it  was  necessary  that  there 
sliould  be  at  least,  some  one  defender  of  the 
Gospel,  who,  versed  in  the  learned  arts,  might 
be  able  to  combat  tlie  Jewish  doctors  and  the 
pagan  philosophers  with  their  own  arms.  For 
this  purpose,  Jesus  himself,  by  an  extraordinary 
voice  from  heaven,  called  to  his  service  a 
thirteenth  apostle,  wiibse  name  was  Saul  (af- 
terwards Paul,)  and  whose  acquaintance  both 
with  Jewish  and  Grecian  learning  was  very 
considerable.!  This  extraordinary  man,  who 
had  been  one  of  the  most  virulent  enemies  of 
the  Christians,  became  their  most  glorious 
and  triumpliant  defender.  Independently  of 
the  miraculous  gifts  with  which  he  was  en- 
riched, he  possessed  an  invincible  courage,  an 
amazing  force  of  genius,  and  a  spirit  of  pa- 
tience, which  no  fatigue  could  overcome,  and 
which  no  sufferings  or  trials  could  exhaust. 
To  these  the  cause  of  the  Gospel,  under  the 
divine  appointment,  owed  a  considerable  part 
of  its  rapid  progress  and  surprising  success,  as 
the  acts  of  the  Apostles,  and  the  Epistles  of  St. 
Paul,  abundantly  testify. 

V.  The  first  Christian  church,  founded  by 
tlie  apostles,  was  that  of  Jerusalem,  the  minlel 
of  all  those  which  were  afterwards  erected 
during  the  first  century.  This  church  was, 
indeed,  governed  by  the  apostles  themselves, 
to  whom  both  the  elders,  and  those  who  were 
entrusted  with  the  care  of  the  poor,  even  the 
deacons,  were  subject.  The  people,  though 
they  had  not  abandoned  the  Jewish  worship, 
held,  however,  separate  assemblies,  in  which 
they  were  instructed  by  the  apostles  and  elders, 
prayed  together,  celebrated  the  holy  Supper  in 
remembrance  of  Christ,  of  his  death  and  suf- 
ferings, and  the  salvation  offered  to  mankind 
through  him;  and  at  the  conclusion  of  these 
meetings,  they  testified  their  mutual  love, 
partly  by  their  liberality  to  the  poor,  and  partly 
by  sober  and  friendly  repasts,],  which  thence 
were  called  feasts  of  charity.  Among  the 
virtues  which  distinguished  the  rising  church 
in  this  its  infancy,  that  of  charity  to  the  poor 
and  needy  shone  in  the  first  rank,  and  with 
the  brightest  lustre.  The  rich  supplied  tlio 
wants  of  their  indigent  brethren  with  such 
liberality  and  readiness,  that,  as  St.  Luke  telL? 
us,  among  the  primitive  disciples  of  Christ,  all 
things  were  in  common.^  This  expression  has, 
however,  been  greatly  abused,  and   has   been 


*  Acts  i.  26. 
t  Actij  ii.  42. 


\  Acts  ix.  1. 

^  Act»  ii.  44;  iv.  ."H. 


28 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part.  1 


made  to  signify  a  community  of  rights,  goods, 
or  possessions,  than  wliicli  interpretation  nothing 
is  more  groundless  or  more  false;  for,  from  a 
multitude  of  reasons,  as  well  as  from  the  ex- 
press words  of  St.  Peter,*  it  is  abundantly 
manifest  that  the  community,  which  is  im- 
plied in  mutual  xise  and  mutual  liberality,  is 
the  only  thing  intended  in  this  passage. i 

VI.  The  apostles,  having  finished  their  work 
at  Jerusalem,  went  to  diffuse  their  labours 
among  other  nations,  visi^d  with  that  intent  a 
great  part  of  the  known  world,  and  in  a  short 
time  planted  a  vast  number  of  churches  among 
the  Gentiles.  Several  of  these  are  mentioned 
in  the  sacred  writings,  particularly  in  the  Acts 
of  the  Jipostles;\  though  these  are,  midoubtedly, 
only  a  small  part  of  the  churches  which  were 
founded,  either  by  the  apostles  themselves,  or 
by  their  disciples  under  their  immediate  direc- 
tion. The  distance  of  time,  and  the  want  of 
records,  leave  us  at  a  loss  with  respect  to  many 
interesting  circumstances  of  the  peregrinations 
of  the  apostles;  nor  have  we  any  certain  or 
precise  accounts  of  the  limits  of  their  voyages, 
of  the  particular  countries  where  they  so- 
journed, or  of  the  times  and  places  in  which 
they  finished  their  glorious  course.  The  stories 
that  are  told  concerning  their  arrival  and  ex- 
ploits among  the  Gauls,  Britons,  Spaniards, 
Germans,  Americans,  Chinese,  Indians,  and 
Russians,  are  too  romantic  in  their  nature,  and 
of  too  recent  a  date,  to  be  received  by  an  im- 
partial inquirer  after  truth.  The  greatest 
part  of  these  fables  were  forged  after  the  time 
of  Charlemagne,  when  most  of  the  Christian 
churches  contended  about  the  antiquity  of  their 
origin  with  as  much  vehemence  as  the  Arcadi- 
ans, Egyptians,  Greeks,  and  other  nations,  dis- 
puted formerly  about  their  seniority  and  pre- 
cedence. 

VII.  At  the  same  time,  the  beauty  and  ex- 
cellence of  the  Cliristian  religion  excited  the 
admiration  of  the  reflecting  part  of  mankind, 
wherevej  the  apostles  directed  their  course. 
Many,  who  were  not  willing  to  adopt  the 
whole  of  its  doctrines,  were,  nevertheless,  as 
appears  from  undoubted  records,  so  struck  with 
the  accoimt  of  Christ's  life  and  actions,  and  so 
charmed  with  the  sublime  purity  of  his  pre- 
cepts, that  they  ranked  him  in  the  number  of 
the  greatest  heroes,  or  even  among  the  gods 
themselves.  Great  numbers  kept  with  the  ut- 
most care,  in  their  houses,  pictures  or  images 
of  the  divine  Redeemer  and  his  apostles, 
which  they  treated  with  the  highest  marks  of 
veneration  and  respect. §  And  so  illustrious 
was  the  fame  of  his  power  after  his  resurrec- 
tion, and   of  the  miraculous  gifts  shed  upon 


*  Acts  V.  4. 

f  This  is  proved  with  the  strongest  evidence  by  Dr. 
Mosheim,  in  a  dissertation  concerning  the  true  nature  of 
that  community  of  goods,  which  is  said  to  have  taken 
place  in  the  church  of  Jerusalem.  This  learned  dis- 
course is  to  be  found  in  the  second  volume  of  our  author's 
incomparable  work,  entitled,  Dissertationes ad  Historiam 
Ecclesiasticam  pertinentes. 

I  The  names  of  the  churches  planted  by  the  apostles 
in  different  countries,  are  specified  in  a  work  of  Phil. 
James  Hartman,de  rebus  gestis  Christianorum  sub  Apos- 
tolis,  cap.  vii.  and  also  in  that  of  F.  Albert  Fabricius,  en- 
titled, Lux  Evangelii  toti  orbi  exoriens,  cap.  v. 

§  This  is  particularly  mentioned  by  Eusebius,  Hist. 
JJscl.  lit,  vii,  cap.  xviii.  and  by  Irenaeus  lib  i.  c,  xxv. 


his  apostles,  that  the  emperor  Tiberius  is  said 
to  have  proposed  his  being  enrolled  among  the 
gods  of  Rome,  which  the  opposition  of  the 
senate  prevented  from  taking  effect.  Many 
have  doubted  of  the  truth  of  this  story:  there 
are,  however,  several  authors  of  the  first  note 
who  have  declared,  that  the  reasons  alleged 
for  its  truth  are  such  as  have  removed  their 
doubts,  and  appeared  to  them  satisfactory  and 
conclusive.* 

VIII.  When  we  consider  the  rapid  progress 
of  Christianity  among  the  Gentile  nations, 
and  the  poor  and  feeble  instrmnents  by  which 
this  great  and  amazing  event  was  inmiediately 
effected,  we  must  naturally  have  recourse  to 
an  omnipotent  and  invisible  hand,  as  its  true 
and  proper  cause.  For,  unless  we  suppose 
here  a  divine  interposition,  how  was  it  possible 
that  men,  destitute  of  all  human  aid,  without 
credit  or  riches,  learning  or  eloquence,  could, 
in  so  short  a  time,  persuade  a  considerable  part 
of  mankind  to  abandon  the  religion  of  their 
ancestors?  How  was  it  possible,  that  a  hand- 
ful of  apostles,  who,  as  fishermen  and  publi- 
cans, must  have  been  contemned  by  their  own 
nation,  and  as  Jews,  must  have  been  odious  to 
all  others,  could  engage  the  learned  and  the 
mighty,  as  well  as  the  simple  and  those  of 
low  degree,  to  forsake  their  favourite  preju- 
dices, and  to  embrace  a  new  religion  which 
was  an  enemy  to  their  corrupt  passions  ?  And, 
indeed,  there  were  undoubted  marks  of  a  ce- 
lestial power  perpetually  attending  their  mi- 
nistry. Their  very  language  possessed  an  in- 
credible energy,  an  amazing  power  of  sending 
light  into  tlie  understanding  and  conviction 
into  the  heart.  To  this  were  added,  the  com- 
manding influence  of  stupenduous  miracles, 
tlia  foretelling  of  future  events,  the  power  of 
discerning  the  secret  thoughts  and  intentions 
of  the  heart,  a  magnanimity  superior  to  all 
difficulties,  a  contempt  of  riches  and  honours, 
a  serene  tranquillity  in  the  face  of  death,  and 
an  invincible  patience  imder  torments  still 
more  dreadful  than  death  itself;  and  all  this 
accompanied  with  lives  free  from  stain,  and 
adorned  with  the  constant  practice  of  sublime 


*  See  Thcod.  Hasaeus,  de  decreto  Tiberii,  quo  Chris- 
tum referre  voluit  in  numerum  Deorum;  as  also  a  very 
learned  letter,  written  in  defence  of  the  truth  of  this 
fact,  by  the  celebrated  Christopher  lelius,  and  published 
in  the  Bibliotheque  Germanique,  torn,  xxxii.  [We  may 
add  to  this  note  of  Dr.  Mosheim,  that  tlie  late  learned 
professor  Altmann  published  at  Bern,  in  1755,  an  ingeni- 
ous pamphlet  on  this  subject,  entitled,  Disquisito  Histori- 
co-critjca  de  Epistola  Pontii  Pilati  ad  Tiberium,  qua 
Christi  Miracula,  Mors,  et  Resurrectio,  recensebantur. 
This  author  makes  it  appear,  that  though  the  letter, 
which  some  have  attributed  to  Pilate,  and  which  is  extant 
in  several  authors,  be  manifestly  spurious,  yet  it  is  no 
less  certain,  that  Pilate  sent  to  Tiberius  an  account  of  the 
death  and  resurrection  of  Christ.  See  the  Biblioth.  des 
Sciences  et  des  beaux  Arts,  published  at  the  Hague,  tome 
vi.  This  matter  has  been  examined  with  his  usual  dili- 
gence and  accuracy  by  the  learned  Dr.  Lardner,  in  the 
third  volume  of  his  Collection  of  Jewish  and  Heathen 
Testimonies  to  the  truth  of  the  Christian  Religion.  He 
thinks  that  the  testimonies  of  Justin  Martyr  and  Tertul- 
lian,  who,  in  apologies  for  Christianity,  presented  or  at 
least  addressed  to  the  emperor  and  senate  of  Rome,  or 
to  magistrates  of  high  authority  in  the  empire,  af5rm, 
that  Pilate  sent  to  Tiberius  an  account  of  the  death  and 
resurrection  of  Christ,  deserve  some  regard;  though 
some  writers,  and  particularly  Orosius,  have  made  such 
alterations  and  additions  in  the  original  narration  of  Ter- 
tullian,  as  tend  to  diminish  the  credibility  of  the  whole.  J 


Chap.  V. 


CALAMITOUS  EVENTS. 


29 


virtue.  Thus  were  the  messengers  of  Christ, 
the  heralds  of  his  spiritual  and  immortal  king- 
dom, furnished  for  their  glorious  work,  as  the 
vuianimous  voice  of  ancient  liistory  so  loudly 
testifies.  The  event  sufficiently  declares  tliis; 
for,  without  these  remarkable  and  extraordi- 
nary circumstances  no  rational  account  can  be 
given  of  the  rapid  propagation  of  the  Gospel 
throughout  the  world. 

IX.  What  indeed  contributed  still  farther  to 
this  glorious  event,  was  the  power  vested  in 
the  apostles  of  transmitting  to  their  discij)les 
these  miraculous  gifts;  for  many  of  the  first 
Christians  were  no  sooner  baptized  according 
to  Christ's  appointment,  and  dedicated  to  the 
service  of  God  by  solemn  prayer  and  the  im- 
position of  hands,  than  they  spoke  languages 
which  they  had  never  known  or  learned  before, 
foretold  future  events,  healed  the  sick  by  pro- 
nouncing the  name  of  Jesus,  restored  the  dead 
to  life,  and  performed  many  things  above  the 
reach  of  hmnan  power.*  And  it  is  no  wonder 
if  men,  who  had  the  power  of  communicating 
to  others  these  marvellous  gifts,  appeared  great 
and  respectable,  wherever  they  exercised  their 
glorious  ministry. 

X.  Such  then  were  the  true  causes  of  that 
amazing  rapidity  with  which  the  Christian  re- 
ligion spread  itself  upon  the  earth;  and  those 
who  pretend  to  assign  other  reasons  of  this 
surprising  event,  indulge  themselves  in  idle 
fictions,  which  must  disgust  every  attentive 
observer  of  men  and  things.  In  vain,  there- 
fore, have  some  imagined,  that  the  extraordi- 
nary liberality  of  the  Christians  to  their  poor, 
was  a  temptation  to  the  more  indolent  and 
corrupt  part  of  the  multitude  to  embrace  the 
Gospel.  Such  malignant  and  superficial  rea- 
soners  do  not  consider,  that  those  who  em- 
braced this  divine  religion  exposed  their  lives 
to  great  danger;  nor  have  they  attention 
enough  to  recollect,  that  neither  lazy  nor  vi- 
cious members  were  suffered  to  remain  in  the 
society  of  Christians.  Equally  vain  is  the 
fancy  of  those,  who  imagine,  that  the  profli- 
gate lives  of  the  Heathen  priests  occasioned 
the  conversion  of  many  to  Christianity;  for, 
though  this  might  indeed  give  them  a  disgust 
to  the  religion  of  those  unworthy  ministers, 
yet  it  could  not,  alone,  attach  them  to  that  of 
Jesus,  which  offered  them  from  the  world  no 
other  prospects  than  those  of  poverty,  infamy, 
and  death.  The  person  who  could  embrace 
the  Gospel,  solely  from  the  motive  now  men- 
tioned, must  have  reasoned  in  this  senseless  and 
extravagant  manner:  "  The  ministers  of  that 
religion  which  I  have  professed  from  my  in- 
fancy, lead  profligate  lives:  therefore,  I  will 
become  a  Christian,  join  myself  to  that  body 
of  men  who  are  condemned  by  the  laws  of 
the  state,  and  thus  expose  my  life  and  fortune 
to  the  most  imniinent  danger." 

CHAPTER  V. 
Concerning  the  Calamitous  Extents  that  happened 
to  the  Church. 
I.    The    innocence    and    virtue   that   dis- 
tinguished so   eminently  the   lives  of  Christ's 


*  See  Pfanner's  learned  treatise,  De  Cbarismatibus 
sive  Donis  miracuJosis  antiquse  Ecclesix,  published  at 
prancfort,  1683. 


servants,  and  the  spotless  purity  of  the  doc- 
trine they  taught,  were  not  sufficient  to  defend 
them  against  tlie  virulence  and  malignity  of 
the  Jews.  The  priests  and  rulers  of  tliat 
abandoned  peo])Ic,  not  only  loaded  with  inju- 
ries and  reproaches  the  apostles  of  Jesus,  and 
their  disciples,  but  condemned  as  many  of 
them  as  tiiey  could  to  death,  and  executed  in 
the  most  irregular  and  barbarous  manner  their 
sanguinary  decrees.  The  murder  of  Stephen, 
of  James  tlie  son  of  Zebedee,  and  of  James, 
surnamed  the  Just,  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  fur- 
nish dreadful  examples  of  the  truth  of  what 
we  here  advance.*  This  odious  malignity  of 
the  Jewish  doctors,  against  tlie  heralds  of  the 
Gospel,  undoubtedly  originated  in  a  secret  ap- 
prehension that  the  progress  of  Christianity 
would  destroy  the  credit  of  Judaism,  and  lead 
to  the  abolition  of  tlieir  pompous  ceremonies. 

II.  The  Jews  who  lived  out  of  Palestine, 
in  the  Roman  provinces,  did  not  yield  to  those 
of  Jerusalem  in  point  of  cruelty  to  the  inno- 
cent disciples  of  Christ.  We  learn  from  the 
history  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  and  other 
records  of  unquestionable  authority,  that  they 
spared  no  labour,  but  zealously  seized  every 
occasion  of  animating  the  magistrates  against 
the  Christians,  and  instigating  the  multitude 
to  demand  their  destruction.  The  high  priest 
of  the  nation,  and  the  Jews  who  dwelt  in 
Palestine,  were  instrumental  in  exciting  the 
rage  of  these  foreign  Jews  against  the  infant 
church,  by  sending  messengers  to  exhort  them, 
not  only  to  avoid  all  intercourse  with  the 
Christians,  but  also  to  persecute  them  in  the 
most  vehement  manner. f  For  this  inhuman 
order,  they  endeavoured  to  find  out  the  most 
plausible  pretexts;  and,  therefore,  they  gave 
out,  that  the  Christians  were  enemies  to  the 
Roman  emperor,  since  they  acknowledged  the 
authority  of  a  certain  person  whose  name  was 
Jesus,  whom  Pilate  had  punished  capitally  as 
a  malefactor  by  a  most  righteous  sentence,  and 
on  whom,  nevertheless,  they  conferred  the 
royal  dignity.  These  perfidious  insinuatioru? 
had  the  intended  effect,  and  the  rage  of  the 
Jews  against  the  Christians  was  conveyed 
from  father  to  son,  from  age  to  age;  so  that 
the  church  of  Christ  had,  in  no  period,  more 
bitter  and  desperate  enemies  than  the  very 
people,  to  whom  the  immortal  Saviour  was 
more  especially  sent. 

III.  The  Supreme  Judge  of  the  world  did 
not  suffer  the  barbarous  conduct  of  this  perfi- 
dious nation  to  go  unpunished.  The  most  sig- 
nal marks  of  divine  justice  pursued  them;  and 
the  cruelties  which  they  had  exercised  upon 
Christ  and  his  disciples,  were  dreadfully  aveng- 
ed. The  God,  who  had  for  so  many  ages  pro- 
tected the  Jews  with  an  outstretched  arm, 
withdrew  his  aid.  He  permitted  Jerusalem, 
with  its  famous  temple,  to  be  destroyed  by  Ves- 
pasian and  his  son  Titus,  an  innumerable  mul- 
titude of  this  devoted  people  to  perish  by  the 


*  Tbe  martyrdom  of  Stephen  is  recorded  in  the  acts  of 
the  Apostles,  vii.  55;  and  that  of  James  the  son  of  Zebe- 
dee, Acts  xii.  1,  9;  that  of  James  the  Just  is  mentioned 
by  Joscphus  iu  his  Jewish  Antiquities,  book  \x.  chap.  viii. 
and  by  Eusebius,  in  his  Ecclcs.  History,  book  ii.  chap, 
xxiii. 

\  Sec  the  Dialogue  of  Justin  Martyr,  with  Trypho 
the  Jew. 


30 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  I. 


sword,  and  the  greatest  part  of  those  that  re- 
mained to  groan  under  the  yoke  of  a  severe 
bondage.  Nothing  can  be  more  affecting  than 
the  account  of  this  terrible  event,  and  the  cir- 
cumstantial description  of  the  tremendous  ca- 
lamities which  attended  it,  as  they  are  given  by 
Josephus,  himself  a  Jew,  and  also  a  spectator 
of  this  horrid  scene.  From  this  period  the 
Jews  experienced,  in  every  place,  the  hatred 
and  contempt  of  the  Gentile  nations,  still  more 
than  they  had  formerly  done;  and  in  these 
their  calamities,  the  predictions  of  Christ  were 
amply  fulfilled,  and  his  divine  mission  farther 
illustrated. 

IV.  However  virulent  the  Jews  were  against 
the  Christians,  yet,  on  many  occasions,  they 
wanted  power  to  execute  their  cruel  purposes. 
This  was  not  the  case  with  the  heathen  na- 
tions; and,  therefore,  from  them  the  Christians 
suffered  the  severest  calamities.  The  Romans 
are  said  to  have  pursued  the  Christians  with 
the  utmost  violence  in  ten  persecutions;*  but 
this  number  is  not  verified  by  the  ancient  his- 
tory of  the  church;  for  if,  by  these  persecutions, 
such  only  are  meant  as  were  extremely  severe 
and  universal  throughout  the  empire,  then  it  is 
certain,  that  these  amount  not  to  the  number 
above  mentioned;  and,  if  we  take  the  provin- 
cial and  less  remarkable  persecutions  into  the 
account,  they  far  exceed  it.  In  the  fifth  cen- 
tury, certain  Christians  were  led  by  some  pas- 
sages of  the  Scriptures,  and  by  one  especially 
in  the  Revelations,!  to  imagine  that  the  church 
was  to  suffer  ten  calamities  of  a  most  grievous 
nature.  To  this  notion,  therefore,  they  en- 
deavoured, though  not  all  in  the  same  way,  to 
accommodate  the  language  of  history,  even 
against  the  testimony  of  those  ancient  records, 
from  which  alone  liistory  can  speak  with  au- 
thority.j: 

V.  Nero  was  the  first  emperor  who  enacted 
laws  against  the  Christians.  In  this  he  was 
followed  by  Domitian,  Marcus  Antoninus  the 
philosopher,  Severus,  and  the  other  emperors 
who  indulged  the  prejudices  they  had  imbibed 
against  the  disciples  of  Jesus.  All  the  edicts 
of  these  different  princes  were  not,  however, 
equally  unjust,  nor  framed  with  the  same  views, 
or  for  the  same  reasons.  Were  they  now  ex- 
tant as  they  were  collected  by  the  celebrated 
lawyer  Domitius,  in  his  book  concerning  the 
duty  of  a  proconsul,  they  would  undoubtedly 
cast  a  great  light  upon  the  history  of  the 
church,  under  the  persecuting  emperors. §  At 
present,  we  must,  in  many  cases,  be  satisfied 
with  probable  conjectures,  for  want  of  certain, 
evidence. 

VI.  Before  we  proceed  in  this  part  of  our 
history,  a  very  natural  curiosity  calls  us  to  in- 


*  The  learned  J.  Albert  Fabricius  has  given  us  a  list  of 
the  authors  who  have  written  concerniDg  these  persecu- 
tions, in  his  Lux  Evangelii  toti  Orbi  exoriens,  cap.  vii. 

f  Rev.  xvii.  14. 

t  See  Sulpitius  Severus,  book  ii.  ch.  xxxiii.  as  also  Au- 
gustin,  de  Civitate  Dei,  book  xviii.  ch.  lii. 

§  The  collection  of  the  imperial  edicts  against  the 
Christians,  made  by  Domitius,  and  now  lost,  is  mentioned 
by  Lactantius,  in  his  Divine  Institutes,  book  v.  chap.  xi. 
Such  of  these  edicts  as  have  escaped  the  ruins  of  time,  are 
learnedly  illustrated  by  Franc.  Balduinus,  in  his  Com- 
ment, ad  Edicta  veterum  Frincipum  Romanorum  de 
Cbriitianis. 


quire,  how  it  happened  that  the  Romans,  who 
were  troublesome  to  no  nation  on  account  of 
its  religion,  and  who  suffered  even  the  Jews  to 
live  under  their  own  laws,  and  follow  their  own 
method  of  worship,  treated  the  Christians  alone 
with  such  severity.  This  important  question 
seems  still  more  difficult  to  be  solved,  when  we 
consider,  that  the  excellent  nature  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  and  its  admirable  tendency  to  pro- 
mote both  the  public  welfare  of  the  state,  and 
the  private  felicity  of  the  individual,  entitled 
it,  in  a  singular  manner,  to  the  favour  and  pro- 
tection of  the  reigning  powers.  A  principal 
reason  of  the  severity  with  which  the  Romans 
persecuted  the  Christians,  notwithstanding 
these  considerations,  seems  to  have  been  the 
abhorrence  and  contempt  felt  by  the  latter  for 
the  religion  of  the  empire,  which  was  so  inti- 
mately comiected  with  the  form,  and  indeed, 
:  with  the  very  essence  of  its  political  consti- 
I  tution;  for,  though  the  Romans  gave  an  un- 
limited toleration  to  all  religions  which  had 
nothing  in  their  tenets  dangerous  to  the  com- 
monwealth, yet  they  would  not  permit  that  of 
their  ancestors,  which  was  established  by  the 
laws  of  the  state,  to  be  turned  into  derision, 
nor  the  people  to  be  drawn  away  from  their  at- 
tachment to  it.  These,  however,  were  the  two 
things  wliich  the  Christians  were  charged  with, 
and  that  justly,  though  to  their  honour.  They 
dared  to  ridicule  the  absurdities  of  the  pagan 
superstition,  and  they  were  ardent  and  assidu- 
ous in  gaining  proselytes  to  the  truth.  Nor 
did  they  only  attack  the  religion  of  Rome,  but 
also  all  the  different  shapes  and  forms  under 
;  which  superstition  appeared  in  the  various 
countries  where  they  exercised  their  ministry. 
Hence  the  Romans  concluded,  that  the  Chris- 
tian sect  was  not  only  insupportably  daring 
and  arrogant,  but,  moreover,  an  enemy  to  the 
public  tranquillity,  and  ever  ready  to  excite 
civil  wars  and  commotions  in  the  empire.  It 
is  probably  on  this  accoimt,  that  Tacitus  re- 
proaches them  with  the  odious  character  of 
haters  of  mankind,*  and  styles  the  religion  of 
Jesus  a  destructive  superstition;  and  that  Sueto- 
nius speaks  of  the  Christians,  and  their  doc- 
trine, in  terms  of  the  same  kind.f 

VII.  Another  circumstance  that  irritated  the 
Romans  against  the  Christians,  was  the  simpli- 
city of  their  worship,  which  resembled  in  no- 
thing the  sacred  rites  of  any  other  people. 
They  had  no  sacrifices,  temples,  images,  ora- 
cles, or  sacerdotal  orders;  and  this  was  suffi- 
cient to  bring  upon  them  the  reproaches  of  an 
ignorant  multitude,  who  imagined  that  there 
could  be  no  religion  without  these.  Thus  they 
were  looked  upon  as  a  sort  of  atheists;  and,  by 
the  Roman  laws,  those  who  were  chargeable 
with  atheism  were  declared  the  pests  of  human 
society.     But  this  was  not  all:  the  sordid  in- 


*  Annal.  lib.  xv.  cap.  xliv, 

f  In  Nerone,  cap.  xvi.  These  odious  epithets,  which 
Tacitus  gives  to  the  Christians  and  their  religion,  as  like- 
wise the  language  of  Suetonius,  who  calls  Christianity  a 
poisonous  or  malignant  superstition  (malcfica  supersti- 
tio,)  are  founded  upon  the  same  reasons.  A  sect,  which 
could  not  endure,  and  even  laboured  to  abolish,  the  reli- 
gious practices  of  the  Romans,  and  also  those  of  all  the 
other  nations  of  the  universe,  appeared  to  the  short-sight- 
ed and  superficial  observers  of  religious  matters,  as  the 
determined  enemies  of  mankind. 


Chap.  V. 


CALAMITOUS  EVENTS. 


31 


terests  of  a  multitude  of  lazy  and  selfish  priests 
were  immediately  connected  with  the  ruin  and 
oppression  of  the  Christian  cause.  Tlie  public 
worship  of  such  an  immense  number  of  deities 
was  a  source  of  subsistence,  and  even  of  riches, 
to  the  whole  rabble  of  priests  and  augurs,  and 
also  to  a  multitude  of  merchants  and  artists. 
And,  as  the  progress  of  the  gospel  tlireatencd 
the  ruin  of  that  religious  traffic,  this  consider- 
ation raised  up  new  enemies  to  the  Christians, 
and  armed  the  rage  of  mercenary  superstition 
against  their  lives  and  tlieir  cause.* 

VIII.  To  accomplish  more  speedily  the  ruin 
of  the  Christians,  all  those  persons  whose  in- 
terests were  incompatible  with  the  progress  of 
the  gospel,  loaded  them  with  the  most  oppro- 
brious calumnies,  which  were  too  easily  re- 
ceived as  truth,  by  the  credulous  and  unthinfc 
ing  multitude,  among  whom  they  were  dis- 
persed'with  the  utmost  industry.  We  find  a 
sufficient  account  of  these  perfidious  and  ill- 
grounded  reproaches  in  the  writings  of  the  first 
defenders  of  the  Christian  cause. |  And  these, 
indeed,  were  the  only  arms  the  assailants  had 
to  oppose  the  truth,  since  the  excellence  of  the 
Gospel,  and  the  virtue  of  its  ministers  and  fol- 
lowers, left  to  its  enemies  no  resources  but  ca- 
lumny and  persecution.  Nothing  can  be  ima- 
gined, in  point  of  virulence  and  fury,  that  they 
did  not  employ  for  the  ruin  of  the  Christians. 
They  even  went  so  far  as  to  persuade  the  mul- 
titude, that  all  the  calamities,  wars,  tempests, 
and  diseases  that  afflicted  mankind,  were  judg- 
ments sent  down  by  the  angry  gods,  because 
the  Christians,  who  contemned  their  authority, 
were  suffered  in  the  empire.  J 

IX.  The  various  kinds  of  punishment,  both 
capital  and  corrective,  which  were  employed 
against  the  Christians,  are  particularly  describ- 
ed by  learned  men  who  have  written  profess- 
edly on  that  subject. §  The  forms  of  proceed- 
ing, used  in  their  condemnation,  may  be  seen 
in  the  Jlds  of  the  Martyrs,  in  the  letters  of 
Pliny  and  Trajan,  and  other  ancient  monu- 
ments. ||  These  judicial  forms  were  very  dif- 
ferent at  different  times,  and  changed,  natu- 
rally, according  to  the  mildness  or  severity  of 
the  laws  enacted  by  the  different  emperors 
against  the  Christians.  Thus,  at  one  time,  we 
observe  appearances-of  the  most  diligent  search 
after  the  followers  of  Christ;  at  another,  we 
find  all  perquisition  suspended,  and  positive  ac- 
cusation and  information  only  allowed.  Under 
one  reign  we  see  them,  on  their  being  proved 
Chnstians,  or  their  confessing  themselves  such, 
immediately  dragged  away  to  execution,  miless 


*  This  observation  is  verified  by  the  story  of  Demetrius 
Ihe  silversmith,  Acta  xix.  25,  and  by  the  following  pas- 
sage in  the  97th  letter  of  the  xth  book  of  Pliny's  epistles; 
"  The  temples,  which  were  almost  deserted,  begin  to  be 
frequented  again;  and  the  sacred  rites,  which  have  been 
long  neglected,  are  again  performed.  The  victims,  which 
have  had  hitherto /ei«/)urc/iasers,  begin  to  come  again  to 
the  market,"  &c. 

f  See  the  laborious  work  of  Christ.  Kortholt,  entitled, 
Paganus  Obtrectator,  seu  de  Calumniis  Gentilium  in 
Christianos;  to  which  may  be  added,  Jo.  Jac.  Hnldricus, 
de  Calumniis  Gentilium  in  Christianos,  published  at  Zu- 
rich in  1744. 

}  Sec  Arnobius  contra  Gentes. 

II  See  for  this  purpose  Ant.  Gallonius  and  Gasp.  Sagit- 
tarius, de  Cruciatibus  Martyrum. 

(j  See  Bohmer,  Juris  Eccles,  Protestant,  torn.  iv.  lit.  v. 
Decretal,  tit.  1.  sec.  32. 


they  prevent  their  punishment  by  apostacy; 
under  another,  \vc  see  inhuman  magistrates 
endeavouring  to  compel  them,  by  all  sorts  of 
tortures,  to  renounce  ihcir  religious  profession. 
X.  All  who,  in  the  perilous  times  of  the 
church,  fell  by  the  hand  of  bloody  persecution, 
and  expired  in  the  cause  of  the  divine  Saviour, 
were  called  martyrs;  a  term  borrowed  from  the 
sacred  writings,  signifying  icitnesses,  and  thus 
expressing  the  glorious  testimony  wjiicli  these 
magnanimous  believers  bore  to  the  truth.  The 
title  of  confessor  was  given  to  such,  as,  in  the 
face  of  death,  and  at  the  expense  of  honours, 
fortune,  and  all  the  other  advantages  of  the 
world,  had  confessed  with  fortitude,  before  the 
Roman  tribunals,  their  firm  attachment  to  the 
religion  of  Jesus.  Great  was  the  veneration 
that  was  paid  both  to  martyrs  and  confessors; 
and  there  was,  no  doubt,  as  much  wisdom  as 
justice  in  treating  with  profound  respect  these 
Christian  heroes,  since  nothing  was  more  adapt- 
ed to  encourage  otiiers  to  suffer  with  cheerful- 
ness in  the  cause  of  Christ.  But,  as  the  best 
and  wisest  institutions  are  generally  perverted, 
by  the  weakness  or  corruption  of  men,  from 
their  original  purposes,  so  the  authority  and 
privileges  granted,  in  the  beginning,  to  mar- 
tyrs and  confessors,  became  in  process  of  time, 
a  support  to  superstition,  an  incentive  to  en- 
thusiasm, and  a  source  of  innumerable  evils 
and  abuses. 

XI.  The  first  three  orfouragesof  thechurcb 
were  stained  with  the  blood  of  martjTS,  who 
suffered  for  the  name  of  Jesus.  The  greatness 
of  their  num.ber  is  acknowledged  by  all  who 
have  a  competent  acquaintance  with  ancient 
history,  and  who  have  examined  that  matter 
with  any  degree  of  impartiality.  It  is  true^ 
the  learned  Dodwell  has  endeavoured  to  inva- 
lidate this  unanimous  decision  of  the  ancient 
historians,*  and  to  diminish  considerably  the 
number  of  those  who  suffered  death  for  the 
gospel;  and,  after  him,  several  writers  have 
maintained  his  opinion,  and  a.sserted,  that 
whatever  may  have  been  the  calamities  which 
the  Christians,  in  general,  suffered  for  their 
attachment  to  the  Gospel,  very  few  were  put 
to  death  on  that  account.  This  hypothesis 
has  been  warmly  opposed,  as  derogating  from 
that  divine  power  which  enabled  Christians  to 
be  faithful  even  unto  death,  and  a  contrary  one 
embraced,  which  augments  prodigiously  the 
nimiber  of  these  heroic  sufferers.  It  will  be 
wise  to  avoid  both  these  extremes,  and  to  hold' 
the  middle  path,  wliich  certainly  leads  nearest 
to  the  truth.  The  martyrs  were  less  in  num- 
ber than  several  of  the  ancient  modern  writers 
have  supposed  them  to  be,  but  much  more  nu- 
merous than  Dodwell  and  his  followers  are 
willing  to  believe;  and  this  medium  will  be 
easily  admitted  by  such  as  have  learned  from 
the  ancient  writers,  that,  in  the  darkest  and 
most  calamitous  times  of  the  church,  all  Chris- 
tians were  not  equally  or  promiscuously  dis- 
turbed, or  called  before  the  public  tribunals. 
Those  who  were  of  the  lowest  rank  of  the  peo- 
ple, escaped  the  best;  their  obscurity,  in  some 
measure,  screened  them  from  the  fury  of  per- 


•See  Dodwell's  Dissertation,  de  Paucitate  Martyrum^ 
in  his  DissertatiouesCyprianic3e. 


32 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Paut  I. 


Becution.  Tlie  learned  and  eloquent,  the  doc- 
tors and  ministers,  and  chiefly  the  rich,  for  the 
confiscation  of  whose  fortunes  tlie  rapacious 
magistrates  were  perpetually  gaping,  were  the 
persons  most  exposed  to  the  dangers  of  tlie 
times. 

XII.  The  actions  and  sayings  of  these  holy 
martyrs,  from  the  moment  of  tlieir  imprison- 
ment to  tlieir  last  gasp,  were  carefully  recorded, 
in  order  to  be  read  on  certain  days,  and  thus 
proposed  as  models  to  future  ages.  Few, 
however,  of  these  ancient  acts  have  reached 
our  times;*  the  greatest  part  of  them  having 
been  destroyed  during  that  dreadful  persecu- 
tion which  Diocletian  carried  on  ten  years 
witli  such  fury  against  the  Christians:  for  a 
most  diligent  search  was  then  made  after  all 
their  books  and  papers;  and  all  of  them  that 
were  found  were  committed  to  the  flames. 
From  the  eighth  century  downwards,  several 
Greek  and  Latin  writers  endeavoured  to  make 
up  this  loss,  by  compiling,  with  vast  labour, 
accounts  of  the  lives  and  actions  of  the  an- 
cient martyrs.  But  most  of  them  have  given 
us  scarcely  any  thing  more  than  a  series  of 
fables,  adorned  with  a  profusion  of  rhetorical 
flowers  and  striking  images,  as  the  wiser,  even 
among  the  Romisli  doctors,  frankly  acknow- 
ledge. Nor  are  those  records,  which  pass  mi- 
der  the  name  of  martyi'ology,  worthy  of  supe- 
rior credit,  since  tliey  bear  the  most  evident 
marks  both  of  ignorance  and  falsehood;  so 
that,  upon  the  whole,  this  part  of  ecclesiastical 
liistory,  for  want  of  ancient  and  authentic 
monuments,  is  extremely  imperfect,  and  neces- 
sarily attended  with  much  obscurity. 

XIII.  It  would  have  been  surprising,  if,  un- 
der such  a  monster  of  cruelty  as  Nero,  the 
Christians  had  enjoyed  the  sweets  of  tranquil- 
lity and  freedom.  This,  indeed,  was  far  from 
being  the  case;  for  the  perfidious  tyrant  ac- 
cused them  of  having  set  fire  to  the  city  of 
Rome,  that  horrid  crime  which  he  himself  had 
committed  vs^ith  a  barbarous  pleasure.  In 
avenging  this  crime  upon  the  innocent  Chris- 
tians, he  ordered  matters  so,  that  the  punish- 
}nent  should  bear  some  resemblance  to  the 
offence.  He  therefore  wrapped  up  some  of 
them  in  combustible  garments,  and  ordered 
fire  to  be  set  to  them  when  the  darkness  came 
on,  that  thus,  like  torches,  they  might  dispel 
the  obscurity  of  the  night:  while  others  were 
fastened  to  crosses,  or  torn  to  pieces  by  wild 
beasts,  or  put  to  death  in  some  such  dreadful 
manner.  This  horrid  persecution  was  set  on 
foot  in  the  month  of  November,!  in  the  64th 
year  of  Christ:  and  in  it,  according  to  some 
ancient  accounts,  St.  Paul  and  St.  Peter  suf- 
fered martyrdom,  tliough  the  latter  assertion  is 
contested  by  many,  as  being  absolutely  irrecon- 


*  .Such  of  those  acts  as  are  worthy  of  credit  have  been 
collected  by  the  learned  Ruiiiart,  into  one  volume  in 
folio,  of  a  moderate  size,  entitled,  Selectaet  sincera  Mar- 
tyrum  Acta,  Amstelod.  1713.  The  hypothesis  of  Dod- 
well  is  amply  refuted  in  tlie  author's  preface. 

f  See  for  a  farther  illustration  of  this  point  of  chrono- 
logy, two  French  Dissertations  of  the  very  learned  Al- 
phouse  de  Vignoles,  concerning  the  cause  and  the  com- 
mencement of  the  persecution  under  Nero,  which  are 
printed  in  Massou's  llislcire  critique  de  la  Republique 
des  Lcttres,  torn.  viii.  p.  74 — 117;  torn.  ix.  p.  172 — 186. 
See  also  Toiuard  ad  Lactantium  de  Mortibus  Persenuut 
p.  398. 


cilable  with  chronology.*  The  death  of  Nero, 
who  perished  miserably  in  the  year  68,  put  an 
end  to  the  calamities  of  tliis  first  persecution, 
under  which,  dtu'ing  the  space  of  four  years,  the 
Christians  suffered  every  sort  of  torment  and 
affliction,  which  the  ingenious  cruelty  of  their 
enemies  could  invent. 

XIV.  Learned  men  are  not  entirely  agreed 
with  regard  to  the  extent  of  this  persecution 
under  Nero.  Some  confine  it  to  the  city  of 
Rome,  while  others  represent  it  as  having 
raged  through  the  whole  empire.  The  latter 
opinion,  which  is  also  the  more  ancient, f  is 
undoubtedly  to  be  preferred,  as  it  is  certain, 
that  the  laws  enacted  against  the  Christians 
were  enacted  against  the  whole  body,  and  not 
against  particular  churches,  and  were  conse- 
quently in  force  in  the  remotest  provinces. 
The  authority  of  Tertullian  confirms  this,, 
who  tells  us,  that  Nero  and  Domitian  had  en- 
acted laws  against  the  Christians,  of  which 
Trajan  had,  in  part,  taken  away  the  force,  and 
rendered  them,  in  some  measure,  without  ef- 
fect.j  We  shall  not  have  recourse  for  a  con- 
firmation of  this  opinion,  to  that  famous  Por- 
tuguese or  Spanish  inscription,  in  which  Nero 
is  praised  for  having  purged  that  provinqe  fi-om 
the  new  superstition;  since  that  inscription  is 
justly  suspected  to  be  a  mere  forgery,  and  the 
best  Spanish  authors  consider  it  as  such.§  We 
may,  however,  make  one  observation,  which 
will  tend  to  illustrate  the  point  in  question, 
namely,  that  since  the  Christians  were  con- 
demned by  Nero,  not  so  much  on  accomit  of 
their  religion,  as  for  the  falsely-imputed  crime 
of  burning  the  city, ||  it  is  scarcely  .to  be  im- 
agined, that  he  would  leave  unmolested,  even 
beyond  the  bounds  of  Rome,  a  sect  whose 
members  were  accused  of  such  an  abominable 
deed. 

XV.  Though,  immediately  after  the  death- 
of  Nero,  the  rage  of  tliis  first  persecution 
against  the  Cliristians  ceased,  yet  the  flamo 
broke  out  anew  in  the  year  93  or  94,  imder 
Domitian,  a  prince   little   inferior  to  Nero  in 


*  See  Tillemont,  Histoire  des  Empereurs,  torn.  i.  p. 
504. — Baratier,  de  Successione  Romanor.  Pontif.  cap.  v. 

t  This  opinion  was  first  defended  by  Franc.  Balduin, 
in  his  Comm.  ad  Edicta  Imperatorum  in  Christianos. 
After  him  Launoy  maintained  the  same  opinion  in  his 
Dissert,  qua  Sulpitii  Sevcri  locus  dc  prima  Martyrum 
Gallise  Epocha  vindicatur,  sect.  i.  p.  139,  140;  torn.  ii. 
part  i.  oper.  This  opinion  is  still  more  acutely  and  learn- 
edly defended  by  Dodwell,  in  the  xith  of  his  Disser- 
tationes  Cyprianicse. 

I  Apologet.  cap.  iv. 

(>  This  celebrated  inscription  is  published  by  the  learn- 
ed Gruter,  in  the  first  volume  of  his  Inscriptions.  It 
must,  however,  be  observed,  that  the  best  Spanish  wri- 
ters do  not  venture  to  defend  the  genuineness  and  au- 
thority of  this  inscription,  as  it  was  never  seen  by  any 
of  them,  and  was  first  produced  by  Cyriac  of  Ancona,  a 
person  universally  known  to  be  utterly  unworthy  of  the 
least  credit.  We  shall  add  here  the  judgment  which  the 
excellent  historian  of  Spain,  Jo.  de  Ferreras,  has  given 
of  this  inscription;  "Je  ne  puis  m'empecher  (says  he) 
d'observer  que  Cyriac  d'Ancone  fut  le  premier  qui  pub- 
lia  cette  inscription,  et  que  c'est  de  lui  que  les  autres  I'ont 
tiree;  mais  eommc  la  foi  de  cet  ecrivain  est  suspecte  au 
jugement  de  tons  les  scavans,  que  d'ailleurs  il  n'y  a  ni 
vestige  ni  souvenir  de  cette  inscription  dans  les  places  ou 
I'on  dit  qu'elle  s'cst  trouvee,  et  qu'on  ne  scait  ou  !a 
prendre  a  present,  chacun  peut  en  porter  le  jugement 
qu'ii  voudra." 

II  See  Thcod.  Ruinart,  VixC.  ad  Acta  Martyrum  sin- 
cera et  selecia,  f.  31,  ftc, 


Chap.  I. 


STATE  OF  LEARNING  AND  PHILOSOPHY. 


33 


wickedness.*  This  persecution  was  occasioned, 
if  we  may  give  credit  to  Hegesijjpus,  by  Do- 
rnitian's  fear  of  losing  the  einpirc;t  for  he  had 
been  informed,  that,  among  the  relatives  of 
Christ,  a  man  should  arise,  wlio,  possessing  a 
turbulent  and  ambitious  spirit,  was  to  excite 
commotions  in  the  state,  and  aim  at  supreme 
dominion.  However  that  may  have  been,  the 
persecution  renewed  by  this  unworthy  prince 
u'as  extremely  violent,  though  his  untimely 
death  soon  put  a  stop  to  it.     Flavins  Clemens, 


*  Prsef.  ad  Acta   Martyrum,  &c.  f.  33— Thorn.  Ittigii 
Select.  Ilistor.  Eccl.  Capit.  sa;c.  i.  cap.  vi.  sect.  ]1. 
t  Euseb.  Hist.  Eccl.  lib.  iii.  cap.  six.  xx. 


a  man  of  consular  dignity,  and  Flavia  Domi- 
tilla,  his  niece,  or,  as  some  say,  his  wife,  were 
the  principal  martyi's  that  "suffered  in  this 
per.secution,  in  which  also  the  apostle  John 
was  banished  to  the  isle  of  Patmos.  TertuUian 
and  otlier  writers  infonn  us,  that,  before  his 
banishment,  he  was  thrown  into  a  caldron  of 
boiling  oil,  from  which  he  came  forth,  not  only 
living,  but  even  unhurt.  This  story,  however, 
is  not  attested  in  such  a  manner  as  to  preclude 
all  doubt.* 


■   Sec  Moshcim's    Syntagma  Dissert,  ad    Historiam 
Eccles.  pertinentium,  p.  497 — 54fj. 


PART  II. 


THE  INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Containing  an  Jlcanml  of  the  Stale  of  Learning 
and  Plulosopluj. 

I.  If  we  had  any  certain  or  satisfactory  ac- 
comit  of  the  doctrines  which  were  received 
among  the  wiser  of  the  eastern  nations,  when 
the  light  of  the  Gospel  first  rose  upon  the 
world,  this  would  contribute  to  illustrate  many 
importiint  points  in  the  ancient  history  of  the 
church.  But  the  case  is  quite  otherwise:  the 
fragments  of  the  ancient  oriental  philosophy 
that  have  come  down  to  us,  are,  as  every  one 
knows,  few  in  number,  and,  such  as  they  are, 
they  yet  require  the  diligence,  erudition,  and 
sagacity  of  some  learned  man,  to  collect  them 
into  a  body,  arrange  them  with  method,  and 
explain  them  with  perspicuity.* 

II.  The  doctrine  of  the  magi,  who  believed 
the  universe  to  be  governed  by  two  principles, 
the  one  good,  and  the  other  evil,  flourished  in 
Persia.  Their  followers,  however,  did  not  ail 
agree  with  respect  to  the  nature  of  these  prin- 
ciples;t  but  this  did  not  prevent  the  propaga- 
tion of  the  main  doctrine,  which  was  received 
throughout  a  considerable  part  of  Asia  and 
Africa,  especially  among  the  Chaldeans,  As- 
syrians, Syrians,  and  Egyptians,  though  witli 
dift'erent  modifications,  and  had  even  infected 
the  Jews  themselves.j  I'he  Arabians  at  that 
tiige,  and  even  afterwards,  were  more  remarka- 
ble for  strength  and  courage,  than  for  genius 
and  sagacity;  nor  do  they  seem,  according  to 
their  own  coniession,§  to  have  acquired  any 
great  reputation  for  wisdom  and  philosophy 
before  the  time  of  Mohammed. 


*  The  history  of  the  oriental  philosophy  by  Mr.  Stan- 
ley, though  it  is  not  void  of  all  kind  of  merit,  is  yet  ex- 
tremely defective.  That  learned  author  is  so  far  from 
having  exhausted  his  subject,  that  he  has  left  it,  on  the 
contrary,  in  many  places,  wlioUy  untouched.  The  liistory 
of  philosophy,  published  iu  Germany  by  the  very  learned 
Mr.  Brucker,  is  vastly  preferable  to  Mr.  Stanley's  work; 
and  the  German  author,  indeed,  much  superior  to  the 
English  one,  both  in  point  of  genius  and  of  erudition. 

f  See  Hyde's  History  of  tlie  Religion  of  tlic  Ancient 
Persians,  a  work  full  of  erudition,  but  indigested  and  in- 
terspersed with  conjectures  of  the  most  improbable  kind. 

{  Sec  Wolf's  Mauichaeismus  ante  Manichseos. 

^  See  Abulpharagius  de  Moribui  Aiabum,  published 
bj  Pocoek. 

Vol.  I.— 5 


III.  From  the  earliest  times,  the  Indiana 
were  distinguished  by  their  taste  for  sublime 
knowledge  and  wisdom.  We  might,  perhaps, 
be  able  to  form  a  judgment  of  their  pliilosoplii- 
cal  tenets,  if  tliat  most  ancient  book,  which 
they  deemed  particularly  sacred,  and  which 
they  called  veda,  or  the  law,  should  be  brought 
to  light,  and  translated  into  some  known  lan- 
guago.  But  the  accounts  which  are  given  of 
this  remarkable  book,  by  those  who  have  been 
in  the  Indies,  arc  so  various  and  irreconcilable 
with  each  other,  that  we  must  yet  wait  for 
satisfaction  on  tliis  head.*  As  to  the  Egyp- 
tians, they  were  divided,  as  every  one  luiows, 
into  a  multitude  of  sects  and  opinions. f — 
Fruitless,  therefore,  are  the  labours  of  those 
who  endeavour  to  roilucc  the  philosophy  of 
this  people  to  one  system. 

IV.  But  of  afl  the  systems  of  philosophy 
that  were  received  in  Asia  and  Africa  about 
the  time  of  our  Saviom-,  no  one  was  so  detri- 
mental to  the  Clu'istian  religion,  as  that  whicji 
was  styled  gnosis,  or  science,  i.  e.  the  way  to 
the  true  knowledge  of  the  Deity,  and  wiiicli 
we  have  above  called  the  oriental  doctrine,  in 
order  to  distinguish  it  from  the  Grecian  phi- 
losophy. It  was  from  the  bosom  of  this  pre- 
tended oriental  wisdom,  that  the  chiefs  of 
those  sects,  which,  in  the  three  first  centuries 
perplexed  and  afflicted  the  Christian  church 
originally  issued.  These  supercilious  doctors, 
endeavouring  to  accommodate  to  the  tenets  of 
their  fantastic  philosophy,  the  pure,  simple, 
and  sublime  doctrines  of  tlie  Son  of  God, 
brought  forth,  as  the  result  of  this  jarring 
composition,  a  nmltitude  of  idle  dreams  and 
fictions,  and  imposed  upon  their  followers  a 
sj'stcm  of  opinions  which  were  partly  ludi- 
crous and  partly  perplexed  with  intricate  sub- 
tilties,  and  covered  with  impenetrable  obscuri- 
ty.     The  ancient  doctors,  both   Greek  and 


Some  parts  of  the  Veda  have  been  published;  or,  it 
may  rather  be  said  that  pretended  portions  of  it  have  ap- 
peared; but,  whatever  may  be  alleged  by  oriental  en- 
thusiasts, these  Brahminical  remains  do  not  evince  the 
"sublime  knowledge  or  wisdom"  which  many  writers 
attribute  to  the  ancient  inliabitanls  of  India. — tjlU. 

t  See   Dr.   Moshcim's   Observations  on    Cudwortli't 
Systtm 


34 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


Latin,  who  opposed  these  sects,  considered 
them  as  bo  many  branches  that  derived  their 
origin  from  the  Platonic  philosophy.  But  this 
was  mere  illusion.  An  apparent  resemblance 
between  certain  opinions  of  Plato,  and  some 
of  the  tenets  of  the  eastern  schools,  deceived 
these  good  men,  who  had  no  knowledge  but 
of  the  Grecian  philosophy,  and  were  absolute- 
ly ignorant  of  the  oriental  doctrines.  Who- 
ever compares  the  Platonic  with  the  Gnostic 
philosophy,  will  easily  perceive  the  wide  dif- 
ference that  exists  between  them. 

V.  The  first  principles  of  the  oriental  philo- 
sophy seem  to  be  perfectly  consistent  with  the 
dictates  of  reason;  for  its  founder  must  un- 
doubtedly have  argued  in  the  following  man- 
ner: "  There  are  many  evils  in  this  world,  and 
men  seem  impelled  by  a  natural  instinct  to  the 
practice  of  those  things  which  reason  con- 
demns; but  that  eternal  mind,  from  which  all 
spirits  derive  their  existence,  must  be  inacces^ 
sible  to  all  kinds  of  evil,  and  also  of  a  most 
perfect  and  beneficent  nature;  therefore  the 
origin  of  those  evils,  with  which  the  imiverse 
abounds,  must  be  sought  somewhere  else  than 
in  the  Deity.  It  camiot  reside  in  him  who  is 
all  perfection;  and  therefore  it  must  be  loithoul 
him.  Now,  there  is  notliing  loithout  or  beijond 
the  Deity,  but  matter;  therefore  matter  is  the 
centre  and  source  of  all  evil,  of  all  vice." 
Having  taken  for  granted  these  principles,  they 
proceeded  to  affirm  that  matter  was  eternal, 
and  derived  its  present  form,  not  from  the  will 
of  the  Supreme  God,  but  from  tlie  creating 
power  of  some  inferior  intelligence,  to  whom 
the  world  and  its  inhabitants  owed  their  exist- 
ence. As  a  proof  of  this  assertion  they  alleg- 
ed, that  it  was  incredible,  that  the  Supreme 
Deity,  perfectly  good,  and  infinitely  removed 
from  all  evil,  should  eithtr  create  or  modify 
matter,  which  is  essentially  nialignant  and  cor- 
rupt, or  bestow  upon  it,  in  any  degree,  the 
riches  of  his  wisdom  and  libeiality.  They 
were,  however,  aware  of  the  insuperable  dif- 
ficulties that  lay  against  their  system;  for,  when 
they  were  called  to  explain  in  an  accurate  and 
satisfactory  manner,  how  this  rude  and  corrupt 
matter  came  to  be  arranged  into  such  a  regu- 
lar and  hannonious  frame  as  that  of  the  uni- 
verse, and,  particularly,  how  celestial  spirits 
were  joined  to  bodies  formed  out  of  its  malig- 
nant mass,  they  were  sadly  embarrassed,  and 
found,  that  the  plainest  dictates  of  reason  de- 
clared their  system  incapable  of  defence.  Li 
this  perplexity  they  had  recourse  to  wild  fic- 
tions and  romantic  fables,  in  order  to  give  an 
account  of  the  formation  of  the  world  and  the 
origin  of  mankind. 

VI.  Those  who,  by  mere  dint  of  fancy  and 
invention,  endeavour  to  cast  a  light  upon  ob- 
scure points,  or  to  solve  great  and  intricate  dif- 
ficulties, are  seldom  agi-eed  abont  tlie  methods 
of  proceeding;  and,  by  a  necessary  consequence, 
separate  into  diiferent  sects.  Such  was  the 
case  of  the  oriental  philosophers,  when  they 
set  themselves  to  explain  tlie  difficulties  men- 
tioned above.  Some  imagined  two  eternal 
princi])les  from  which  all  things  proceeded,  one 
presiding  over  light  and  the  other  over  matter; 
and,  by  their  perpetual  conflict,  explained  the 
mixture  of  good  and  evil,  apparent  in  the  uni- 


verse. Others  maintained,  that  the  being 
which  presided  over  matter  was  not  an  eter- 
nal principle,  but  a  subordinate  intelligence, 
one  of  those  whom  the  Supreme  God  produced 
from  himself  They  supposed  that  this  being 
was  moved  by  a  sudden  impulse  to  reduce  to 
order  the  rude  mass  of  matter  which  lay  ex- 
cluded from  the  mansions  of  tlie  Deity,  and 
also  to  create  the  human  race.  A  third  sort 
devised  a  system  different  from  the  two  pre- 
ceding, and  formed  to  themselves  the  notion  of 
a  triumvirate  of  beings,  in  which  the  Supreme 
Deity  was  distinguished  both  from  the  mate- 
rial evil  principle,  and  from  the  creator  of  this 
sublunary  world.  Tliese,  then,  were  the  three 
leading  sects  of  the  oriental  philosophy,  which 
were  subdivided  into  various  factions,  by  the 
disputes  that  arose  when  they  came  to  explain 
more  fully  their  respective  opinions,  and  to 
pursue  them  into  all  their  monstrous  conse- 
quences. These  multiplied  divisions  were  the 
natural  and  necessary  consequences  of  a  sys- 
tem whicli  had  no  solid  foundation,  and  was  no 
more,  indeed,  than  an  airy  phantom,  blown  up 
by  the  wanton  fancies  of  self-sufficient  men. 
And  that  tliese  divisions  did  really  subsist,  the 
history  of  the  Christian  sects  that  embraced 
this  philosophy  abundantly  testifies. 

VII.  It  is,  however,  to  be  observed,  that,  as 
all  these  sects  were  fomided  upon  one  connnon 
principle,  their  divisions  did  not  prevent  their 
holding,  in  common,  certain  opinions  concern- 
ing the  Deity,  the  universe,  the  human  race, 
and  several  other  subjects.  They  were  all, 
therefore,  mianimous  in  acknowledging  the  ex- 
istence of  a  higli  and  eternal  nature,  in  whom 
dwelt  the  fulness  of  wisdom,  goodness,  and  all 
other  perfections,  and  of  whom  no  mortal  was 
able  to  form  a  complete  idea.  This  great  be- 
ing was  considered  by  them  as  a  most  pure  and 
radiant  light,  diff"used  through  the  immensity 
of  space,  which  they  called  pleroma,  a  Greek 
word  tJiat  signifies  fulness;  and  they  taught  the 
following  particulars  concerning  him,  and  his 
operations:  "  The  eternal  natme,  infinitely  per- 
fect, and  infinitely  happy,  having  dwelt  from 
everlasting  in  a  profomid  solitude,  and  in  a 
blessed  tranquillit}%  produced,  at  length,  from 
itself,  two  minds  of  a  diflTerent  sex,  which  re- 
sembled their  supreme  parent  in  the  most,  per- 
fect manner.  From  the  prolific  union  of  tliese 
two  beings  others  arose,  which  were  also  i^ 
lowed  by  different  generations;  so  that,  in  pjp- 
cess  of  time,  a  celestial  family  was  formed*in 
the  pleroma.*  This  divme  progeny,  being  im- 
mutable in  its  nature,  and  above  the  power  of 
mortality,  was  called  by  the  philosophers  (Eon,"t 


*  It  appears  highly  probable  that  the  apostle  Paul  had 
an  eye  to  this  fantastic  mythology,  when,  in  his  First 
Epistle  to  Timothy, he  exhorts  him  not  to  "give  heed  to 
fables  and  endless  genealogies,  which  minister  questions," 
&c. 

fThe  word  aitoi/,  or  <ron,  is  commonly  used  by  the 
Greek  writers,  but  in  different  senses.  Its  signification 
in  the  Gnostic  system  is  not  very  evident,  and  several 
learned  men  have  despaired  of  finding  out  its  true  mean- 
ing. Aituv,  or  <£0?i,  among  the  ancients,  was  used  to  sig- 
nily  the  age  of  man,  or  the  duration  of  human  life.  In 
after-times,  it  was  employed  by  philosophers  to  express 
the  duration  of  spiritual  and  invisible  beings.  These  phi- 
losophers used  the  word  xp^^'?,  as  the  measure  of  corpo- 
real and  changing  objects;  and  aiicv,  as  the  measure  of 
such  as  were  immutable  and  eternal;  and,  as  God  is  the 
chief  of  those  immutable  beings  which  are  spiritual,  and. 


Chap.  I. 


STATE  OF  LEARNING  AND  PHILOSOPHY. 


35 


a  term  wliich  signifies,  in  tlie  Greek  language, 
an  eternal  nature.  How  many  in  number 
these  (tons  were,  was  a  point  much  controvert- 
ed among  the  oriental  sages. 

VIII.  "  Beyond  the  mansions  of  light,  where 
dwells  the  Deity  with  his  celestial  offspring, 
there  lies  a  rude  and  unwi(^ldy  mass  of  matter, 
agitated  by  innate,  turbulent,  and  irregular 
motions.  One  of  tlic  celestial  natures  de- 
scending from  the  pleroma,  cither  by  a  fortui- 
tous impulse,  or  in  consequence  of  a  divine 
commission,  reduced  to  order  tliis  unseemly 
mass,  adorned  it  with  a  rich  variety  of  gifts, 
created  men,  and  inferior  animals  of  different 
kinds,  to  store  it  with  inhabitants,  and  correct- 
ed its  malignity  by  mixing  with  it  a  certain 
portion  of  light,  and  also  of  a  matter  celestial 
and  divine.  This  creator  of  tlie  world  is  dis- 
tinguished from  the  Supreme  Deity  by  the 
name  of  demiurge.  His  character  is  a  com- 
pound of  shining  qualities  and  insupportable 
arrogance;  and  his  excessive  lust  of  empire 
effaces  his  talents  and  his  virtues.  He  claims 
dominion  over  the  new  world  which  he  has 
formed,  as  his  sovereign  right;  and,  excluding 
totally  the  Supreme  Deity  from  all  concern  in 
it,  he  demands  from  mankind,  for  himself  and 
his  associates,  divine  honours." 

IX.  "  Man  is  a  compound  of  a  terrestrial 
and  corrupt  body,  and  a  soul  which  is  of  celes- 
tial origin,  and,  in  some  measure,  an  emana- 
tion from  the  divinity.  This  nobler  part  is 
miserably  weighed  down  and  encumbered  by 
the  body,  which  is  the  seat  of  all  irregular 
lusts  and  impure  desires.  It  is  this  body  that 
seduces  the  soul  from  the  pursuit  of  truth,  and 
not  only  turns  it  from  the  contemplation  and 
worship  of  God,  so  as  to  confine  its  homage 
and  veneration  to  the  creator  of  this  world, 
but  also  attaches  it  to  terrestrial  objects,  and 
to  the  immoderate  pursuit  of  sensual  pleasures, 
by  which  its  nature  is  totally  polluted.  The 
sovereign  mind  employs  various  means  to  de- 
liver his  offspring  from  this  deplorable  servi- 
tude, especially  the  ministry  of  divine  messen- 
gers, whom  he  sends  to  enlighten,  to  admonish, 
and  to  reform  the  human  race.  In  the  mean- 
time, tlie  imperious  demiurge  exerts  his  power 
in  opposition  to  the  merciful  purpose  of  the 


consequently,  not  to  be  perceived  by  our  outward  senses, 
his  infinite  and  eternal  duration  was  expressed  by  tlie 
term  aoii;  and  that  is  the  sense  in  which  this  word  is  now 
commonly  understood.  It  was,  liowever,  afterwards  at- 
tributed to  other  spiritual  and  invisible  beings;  and  llie 
oriental  philosophers,  who  lived  about  the  time  ofChrist's 
appearance  upon  earth,  and  made  use  of  the  Greek  lan- 
guage, undf  rstood  by  it  the  duratioii  of  eternal  and  im- 
mutable things,  or  the  period  of  time  in  which  they  exist. 
Nor  did  the  variations,  through  which  this  word  passed, 
end  here;  from  expressing  only  the  duration  of  beings,  it 
was,  by  a  metonymy,  employed  to  signify  the  beings  them- 
selves. Thus  (Jiid  was  called  <ron,  and  the  angels  were 
distinguished  also  by  the  title  of  <ron$.  All  this  will  lead 
us  to  the  true  meaning  of  that  word  among  the  Gnostics. 
They  had  formed  to  themselves  the  notion  of  an  invisible 
and  spiritual  world,  composed  of  entities  or  virtues,  pro- 
ceeding from  the  Supreme  Being,  and  succeeding  each 
other  at  certain  intervals  of  time,  so  as  to  form  an  eternal 
cAai'ii,  of  which  our  world  was  the  terminating  link;  a 
notion  of  eternity  very  different  from  that  of  the  Platon- 
ists,  who  represented  it  as  stable,  permanent,  and  void  of 
succession.  To  the  beings  that  formed  thiseternal chain, 
the  Gnostics  assigued  a  certain  term  of  duration,  and  a 
certain  sphere  of  action.  Their  terms  of  duralion  were 
first  called  trons,  and  they  themselves  were  aflerwards 
metonymically  distinguished  by  that  title. 


Supreme  Being,  resists  the  influence  of  those 
solemn  invitations  by  which  he  exhorts  man- 
kind to  return  to  him,  and  labours  to  efface  the 
knowledge  of  God  in  the  minds  of  intelligent 
beings.  In  this  conflict,  such  souls  as,  throw- 
ing off  the  yoke  of  the  creators  and  rulers  of 
tliis  world,  rise  to  their  Supreme  Parent,  and 
subdue  the  turbulent  and  siiiful  motions  which 
corrupt  matter  excites  within  tliem,  shall,  at  the 
dissolution  of  their  mortal  bodies,  ascend  di- 
rectly to  the  pleroma.  Those,  on  the  contrary, 
who  remain  in  the  bondage  of  servile  supersti- 
tion and  corrupt  matter,  shall,  at  the  end  of 
this  life,  pass  into  new  bodies,  until  they  awake 
from  their  sinful  lethargy.  In  the  end,  how- 
ever, God  shall  come  forth  victorious,  triumph 
over  all  opposition,  and,  having  delivered  from, 
their  servitude  the  greatest  part  of  those  souls 
that  are  imprisoned  in  mortal  bodies,  shall  dis- 
solve the  frame  of  this  visible  world,  and  in- 
volve it  in  a  general  ruin.  After  this  solemn 
period,  primitive  tranquillity  shall  be  restored 
in  the  universe,  and  God  shall  reign  with  happy 
spirits,  in  undisturbed  felicity,  through  ever- 
lasting ages." 

X.  Such  were  the  principal  tenets  of  the 
oriental  philosophy.  The  state  of  letters  and 
of  pliilosophy  among  the  Jews  comes  next  un- 
der consideration;  and  of  this  we  may  form 
some  idea  from  what  has  been  already  said  con- 
cerning that  nation.  It  is  chiefly  to  be  observ- 
ed, that  the  dark  and  hidden  science  which 
they  called  the  kabbala,  was  at  this  time  taught 
and  inculcated  by  many  among  that  supersti- 
tious people.*  This  science,  in  many  points, 
bears  a  strong  resemblance  to  the  oriental  phi- 
losophy; or,  to  speak  more  accurately,  it  is  in- 
deed that  same  philosophy  accommodated  to 
the  Jewish  religion,  and  tempered  with  a  cer- 
tain mixture  of  truth.  Nor  were  the  doctrines 
of  the  Grecian  sages  imknown  to  the  Jews  at 
the  period  now  before  us;  since,  from  the  time 
of  Alexander  the  Great,  some  of  them  had 
been  admitted,  even  into  the  Mosaic  religion. 
We  shall  say  nothing  concerning  the  opinions 
which  they  adopted  from  the  pliilosophical  and 
theological  sj'stcms  of  the  Chaldeans,  Egyp- 
tians, and  Sj'rians.f 

XI.  The  Greeks,  in  the  opinion  of  most 
I  writers,  were  yet  in  possession  of  the  first  rank 
(among  the  nations  that  cultivated  letters  and 
1  philosophy.     In  many  places,  and  especially  at 

•  Athens,  there  were  a  considerable  number  of 
'men  distinguished  by  their  learning,  acuteness, 
'  and  eloquence;  philosophers  of  all  sects,  who 
I  taught  the  doctrines  of  Plato,  Aristotle,  Zeno, 
i  and  Epicurus;  rhetoricians  also,  and  men  of 
I  genius,  who  instructed  the  youth  in  the  rules 
;  of  eloquence,  and  formed  their  taste  for  the 
'■  liberal  arts;  so  tliat  those  who  had  a  passion  for 
!  the  study  of  oratory,  resorted  in  multitudes  to 
i  the  Grecian  schools,  in  order  1o  perfect  tliem- 
'  selves  in  that  noble  science.  Alexandria,  in 
I  Egypt,  was  also  much  frequented  for  the  same 
i  purpose,  as  a  great  number  of  the  Grecian  phi- 
losophers and  rhetoricians  dwelt  in  that  city. 

■      *  See   Jo.  Franc.    Buddei    Intrmluctio   in   Historiam 
I  Philos.  Hcbra:orum;  and  also  the  works  which  13.  Wolf 
'  mentions,  with  encomiums,  in  his  Bibliotheca  Hebraic*, 
I  torn.  iii. 
I      \  See  the  same  publicatious. 


36 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


XII.  The  Romans  also,  at  this  time,  made  a 
shining  figure  among  the  pohshed  and  learned 
nations.  All  the  sciences  flourished  at  Rome. 
The  youth  of  a  higlier  rank  were  early  instruct- 
ed in  the  Greek  language  and  eloquence.  From 
those  pursuits  they  proceeded  to  the  study  of 
philosophy,  and  the  laws  of  their  country;  and 
they  finished  their  education  by  a  voyage  into 
Greece,  where  tliey  not  only  gave  the  last  de- 
gree of  perfection  to  their  philosophical  studies, 
but  also  acquired  that  refined  wit  and  elegance 
of  taste,  which  served  to  set  off  their  more 
solid  attainments  in  the  most  advantageous 
manner.*  None  of  the  philosophical  sects 
were  more  in  vogue  among  the  Romans  than 
the  Epicureans  and  the  Academics,  which  were 
peculiarly  favoured  by  the  great,  who,  soothed 
by  their  doctrines  into  a  false  security,  indulg- 
ed their  passions  without  remorse,  and  continu- 
ed in  their  vicious  pursuits  without  terror. 
During  the  reign  of  Augustus,  the  culture  of 
polite  learning,  and  of  the  fine  arts,  was  holden 
in  great  honour,  and  those  who  contributed 
with  zeal  and  success  to  this,  were  eminently 
distinguished  by  that  prince.  But  after  his 
death,  learning  languished  without  encourage- 
ment, and  was  neglected,  because  the  succeed- 
ing emperors  were  more  intent  upon  the  arts 
of  war  and  rapine,  than  those  more  amiable 
arts  and  inventions  which  are  the  fruits  of  lei- 
sure and  peace. 

XIII.  With  respect  to  the  other  nations,  such 
as  the  Germans,  Celts,  and  Britons,  it  is  cer- 
tain, that  they  were  not  destitute  of  learned 
and  ingenious  men.  Among  the  Gauls,  the 
people  of  Marseilles  had  long  acquired  a  shi- 
ning reputation  for  their  progress  in  the  scien- 
ces;! ii-nd  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  neighbour- 
ing countries  received  the  benefit  of  tlieir  in- 
structions. Among  the  Celts,  the  Druids,  who 
were  priests,  philosophers,  and  legislators,  were 
highly  remarkable  for  their  wisdom;  but  tlieir 
writings,  at  least  sucli  as  are  yet  extant,  are  not 
sufficient  to  inform  us  of  the  nature  of  their 
philosophy.  J  The  Romans,  indeed,  introduced 
letters  and  philosophy  into  all  the  provinces 
which  submitted  to  their  victorious  arms,  in 
order  to  soften  the  rough  maimers  of  the  sa- 
vage nations,  and  form  in  them,  imperceptibly, 
the  sentiments  and  feelings  of  humanity.  § 

CHAPTER  n. 

Concerning  the  Doctors  ami  Ministers  of  the 
Church,  and  its  Form  of  Government. 

I.  The  great  end  of  Christ's  mission  was  to 
form  an  universal  church,  gathered  out  of  all 
the  nations  of  the  world,  and  to  extend  the 
limits  of  this  great  society  from  age  to  age. 
But,  in  order  to  this,  it  was  necessary,  first,  to 
appoint  extraordinary  teachers,  who,  convert- 


*  See  Paganini  Gaudentii  Liber  de  Philosopliiae  apud 
Romanes  initio  et  progressu,  in  tertio  fascieulo  Nova; 
CoUectionis  Variorum  Seriptorum.     Halae  1717. 

■t  See  the  Histoire  Literairc  de  la  France  par  des  Reli- 
gieux  Benedictins.  Dissert.  Prelim,  p.  42,  &c. 

\  Martin,  Religion  des  Gaulois. 

^Juvenal,  Sat.  xv.  ver.  110. 

"  Nunc  totus  Graias  nostrasque  habet  orbis  Atheuas: 
Gallia  caussidicos  docuit  facunda  Britannos: 
De  conducendo  loquitur  jam  rhetore  Thule." 


ing  the  Jews  and  Gentiles  to  the  truth,  should 
erect,  every  where.  Christian  assemblies;  and 
then,  to  establish  ordinary  ministers,  and  in- 
terpreters of  the  divine  will,  who  should  repeat 
and  enforce  the  doctrines  delivered  by  the  for- 
mer, and  maintain  the  people  in  tlieir  holy  pro- 
fession, and  in  the  practice  of  the  Christian 
virtues;  for  the  best  system  of  religion  must 
necessarily  either  dwindle  to  notliing,  or  be 
egregiously  corrupted,  if  it  be  not  perpetually 
inculcated  and  explained  by  a  regiilar  and 
standing  ministry. 

II.  The  extraordinaiy  teachers  whom  Christ 
employed  to  lay  the  foundations  of  his  ever- 
lasting kingdom,  were  the  twelve  apostles,  and 
the  seventy  disciples,  of  whom  mention  has 
been  made  above.  To  these  the  Evangelists 
are  to  be  added,  by  which  title  those  were  dis- 
tinguished whom  the  apostles  sent  to  instruct 
the  nations,  or  who,  of  their  own  accord,  aban- 
doned every  worldly  attachment,  and  conse- 
crated themselves  to  the  sacred  office  of  propa- 
gating the  Gospel.*  In  this  rank,  also,  we 
must  place  those  to  whom,  in  the  infancy  of 
tlie  church,  the  marvellous  power  of  speaking 
in  foreign  languages  which  they  had  never 
learned,  was  communicated  from  above;  for  the 
person  to  whom  the  divine  omnipotence  and 
hberality  had  imparted  the  gift  of  tongues, 
might  conclude,  with  the  utmost  assm-ance, 
from  the  gift  itself,  (which  a  wise  being  would 
not  bestow  in  vain,)  that  he  was  appouited  by 
God  to  propagate  the  truth,  and  employ  his 
talents  in  the  service  of  Christianity.! 

III.  Many  have  undertaken  to  write  the  his- 
tory of  the  apostles;^  a  history  which  we  find 
loaded  with  fables,  doubts,  and  difficulties, 
when  we  pursue  it  fartlier  than  the  books  of 
the  New  Testament,  and  the  most  ancient  wri- 
ters in  the  Cliristian  church.  In  order  to  have 
a  just  idea  of  the  nature,  privileges,  and  au- 
thority of  the  ajiostolic  function,  we  must  con- 
sider an  apostle  as  a  person  who  was  honoured 
with  a  divine  commission,  invested  with  the 
power  of  making  laws,  of  restraining  the  wick- 
ed, when  that  was  expedient,  and  of  working 
miracles,  when  necessary;  and  sent  to  mankind, 
to  unfold  to  them  the  divine  will,  to  open  to 
them  the  paths  of  salvation  and  immortali- 
ty, and  to  separate  from  the  multitude,  and 
unite  in  the  bonds  of  one  sacred  society,  those 
who  were  attentive  and  obedient  to  the  voice 
of  God,  addressed  to  men  by  their  ministry.§ 

IV.  The  accounts  we  have  of  the  seventy 
disciples  are  still  more  obscure  than  those  of 
the  apostles,  since  the  former  are  only  once 
mentioned  in  the  New  Testament,  Luke,  x.  1 . 
Tlie  illustrations  that  we  have  yet  remaining, 


*  See  St.  Paul-s  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  iv.  11;  and 
also  Euseb.  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  iii.  cap.  xxxvii. 

1 1  Cor.  xiv.  22. 

\  The  authors  who  have  given  accounts  of  the  apostles, 
are  enumerated  by  Sagittarius  in  his  Introduction  to  Ec- 
clesiastical History,  and  by  Buddeus  in  his  treatise  de  Ec- 
clesia  Apostolica. 

§  See  Fred.  Spanlieim,  de  Apostolis  et  Apostolatu,  torn, 
ii.  op.  p.  289.  It  is  not  without  weighty  reasons,  and 
without  having  considered  the  matter  attentively,  that  I 
have  supposed  the  apostles  invested  with  the  power  of 
enacting  laws.  I  am  sensible  that  some  very  learned  men 
among  the  moderns  have  denied  this  power;  but  I  appre- 
hend they  differ  from  me  rather  in  words  than  in  any  in*- 
terial  point, 


Chap.  H. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


37 


relative  to  their  cliaracter  and  office,  were  cer- 
tainly composed  by  tJie  more  modern  Greeks, 
and,  tlierotbre,  can  have  little  autliority  or 
credit.*  Tlicir  commission  extended  no  far- 
ther than  the  Jewisji  nation,  as  appears  from 
the  express  words  of  St.  LidvC,  though  it  is 
highly  probable,  that,  after  Christ's  ascension, 
they  performed  the  function  of  Evangeli.sts, 
and  declared  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation,  and 
the  means  of  obtaining  it,  through  ditforent 
nations  and  provinces. 

V.  Neither  Clirist  himself,  nor  his  lioly  apos- 
tles, have  commanded  any  thing  clearly  or  ex- 
pressly concerning  tlie  external  form  of  the 
church,  or  the  precise  method  according  to 
which  it  should  be  governed.!     Hence  we  may 


*  These  accounts  are  to  be  seen  at  the  end  of  three 
books  concerning  the  life  and  dfath  of  Moses,  which  were 
discovered  and  illustrated  by  Gilb.  Gaulminus,  and  re- 
published by  Kabricius  in  his  Biblioth.  Grasc. 

f  Those  who  imagine,  that  Christ  himself,  or  the 
apostles  by  his  direction  and  authority,  appointed  a  cer- 
tain fixed  form  of  church  government,  have  not  deter- 
mined what  that  form  was.  The  principal  opinions  that 
have  been  adopted  upon  this  head  may  be  reduced  to  the 
four  following:  The  first  is  that  of  the  Roman  Catholics, 
■who  maintain,  "  That  Christ's  declared  intention  was, 
that  his  followers  should  be  collected  into  one  sacred  em- 
pire, subjected  to  the  government  of  St.  Peter  and  his 
successors,  and  divided,  like  the  kingdoms  of  this  world, 
into  several  provinces;  that,  in  consequence  thereof, 
Peter  fixed  the  seat  of  ecclesiastical  dominion  at  Rome, 
but  afterwards,  to  alleviate  the  burthen  of  his  office,  di- 
vided the  church  into  three  great  provinces,  according  to 
the  division  of  the  world  at  that  time,  and  appointed  a 
person  to  preside  in  each,  who  was  dignified  with  the 
title  of  ■patriarch;  that  tlie  European  patriarch  resided 
at  Rome,  the  Asiatic  at  Antioch,and  the  African  at  Alex- 
andria; that  the  bishops  of  each  province,  among  whom 
also  there  were  various  ranks,  were  to  reverence  the  au- 
thority of  their  respective  patriarchs,  and  that  both 
bishops  and  patriarchs  were  to  be  passively  subject  to 
the  supreme  dominion  of  the  Roman  pontiff."  [*J  This 
romantic  account  scarcely  deserves  a  serious  refutation. 
The  second  opinion  concerning  the  government  of  the 
church,  makes  no  mention  of  a  supreme  head,  or  of 
patriarchs,  constituted  by  divine  authority,  but  supposes 
that  the  apostles  divided  the  Roman  empire  into  as  many 
ecclesiastical  provinces  as  there  were  secular  or  civil  ones; 
that  the  metropolitan  bishop,  i.  e.  the  prelate  who  re- 
sided in  the  capital  city  of  each  province,  presided  over 
the  clergy  of  tliat  province,  and  that  the  other  bishops 
were  subject  to  his  authority.  This  opinion  has  been 
adopted  by  some  of  the  most  learned  of  the  Romish 
church,  [t]  and  has  also  been  favoured  by  some  of  the 
most  eminent  British  divines.  [{]  Some  Protestant  wri- 
ters of  note  have  endeavoured  to  prove  that  it  is  not  sup- 
ported by  sufficieut  evidence.  [^]  The  third  opinion  is  that 
of  those  who  acknowledge,  that,  when  the  Cliristians  be- 
gan to  multiply  exceedingly,  metropolitans,  patriarchs, 
and  archbishops,  were  indeed  created,  but  only  by  human 
appointment  and  authority,  though  they  confess,  at  the 
same  time,  that  it  is  consonant  to  the  orders  and  intentions 
of  Christ  and  his  apostles,  that,  in  every  Christian  church 
there  should  be  one  person  invested  with  the  highest  au- 
thority, and  clothed  with  certain  rights  and  privileges 
above  the  other  doctors  of  that  assembly.  This  opinion 
has  been  embraced  by  many  English  divines  of  the  first 
rank  in  the  learned  world,  and  also  by  many  in  other 
countries  and  communions.  The  fourth  or  last  opinion 
is  that  of  the  Presbyterians,  who  affirm,  that  Christ's  in- 
tention was,  that  the  Christian  doctors  and  ministers 
should  all  enjoy  the  same  rank  and  authority,  without 


[*]  See  Leo  Allatius,  de  perpetua  conseus.  Eccles.  Ori- 
ent, et  Occident,  lib.  i.  cap.  ii. — Morinus,  Exercitat.  Ec- 
clesiast.  lib.  i.  exer.  i. 

[f]  Petrus  de  Mai'ca,  de  concord,  saccrdot.  et  imperii, 
lib.  vi.  cap.  i. — Morinus,  Exerc.  Eccl.  lib.  i.  ex.  xviii. — 
Pagi  Critica  in  annal.  Baronii  ad  an.  xxxvii. 

[}]  Hammond,  Diss,  de  Episcop. — Bevercgii  Cod. 
Canon.  Vet.  Eccles.  Vindic.  lib.  ii.  cap.  v.  torn.  ii.  Patr. 
Apost. — Usser.  de  Origine  Episcop.  ct  Metropol. 

[i]  Basnage,  Hist,  de  I'Eglise,  tome  i.  liv.  i.  cap.  viii. — 
Bohmer.  Aiiuot.  ad  Felruni  de  Marca  de  coucordia sacerd. 
«t  imperii. 


infer,  that  the  regulation  of  this  was,  in  some 
measure,  to  be  acconmiodated  to  the  time,  and 
left  to  the  wisdom  and  prudence  of  the  chief 
rulers,  botli  of  the  state  and  of  tlie  clmrch.  If, 
however,  it  be  true,  that  the  apostles  acted  by 
divine  inspiration,  and  in  conformity  with  the 
commands  of  their  blessed  Master,  (and  this  no 
Christian  can  call  in  question,)  it  follows,  that 
the  forin  of  govcrmneiit  which  tlie  primitive 
clnu-ches  borrovvcd  from  tliat  of  .Jerusalem, 
the  fust  Cliristian  assembly  establislied  by  tlie 
apostles  themselves,  must  be  esteemed  as  of 
divine  institution.  But  from  this  it  would  be 
wrong  to  conclude  tliat  such  a  form  is  immu- 
table, and  ought  to  be  invariably  observed;  for 
this  a  great  variety  of  events  may  render  im- 
possible. In  those  early  times,  every  Christian 
church  consisted  of  the  people,  their  leaders, 
and  the  ministers  or  deacons;  and  these,  in- 
deed, beloirg  essentially  to  every  religious 
society.  Tlie  people  were,  undoubtedly,  the 
first  in  authority;  for  the  apostles  showed,  by 
their  own  example,  that  nothing  of  moment 
was  to  be  earned  on  or  detcnnined  witliout  the 
consent  of  tlie  assembly;*  and  such  a  method 
of  proceeding  was  both  prudent  and  nccessaiy 
in  those  critical  times. 

VI.  It  was,  therefore,  the  assembly  of  the 
people,  which  chose  rulers  and  teachers,  or 
received  them  by  a  free  and  authoritative  con- 
sent, when  recommended  by  others.  The  same 
people  rejected  or  confirmed,  by  their  suffrages, 
the  laws  tliat  were  proposed  by  their  rulers  to 
the  assembly;  excommunicated  profligate  and 
unworthy  members  of  the  church;  restored  the 
penitent  to  their  forfeited  privileges;  passed 
judgment  upon  the  dift'erent  subjects  of  con- 
troversy and  dissension,  that  arose  in  their 
community;  examined  and  decided  the  dis- 
putes which  happened  between  the  elders  and 
deacons;  and,  in  a  word,  exercised  all  that  au- 
thority which  belongs  to  such  as  are  invested 
with  sovereign  power.  The  people,  indeed, 
had  in  some  measure  purchased  these  privi- 
leges, by  administering  to  the  support  of  their 


any  sort  of  pre-eminence  or  subordination,  any  distinction 
of  rights  and  privileges.  The  reader  will  find  an  am- 
ple account  of  these  opinions  with  respect  to  church 
government  in  Dr.  Mosheim's  Larger  History  of  tlie 
first  Century.  This  learned  and  impartial  writer,  who 
condemns  with  reason  the  fourth  opinion,  as  it  is  ex- 
plained by  those  bigoted  Puritans,  who  look  upon  all 
subordination  and  variety  of  rank  among  the  doctors  of 
the  church  as  condemnable  and  antichristian,  observes, 
however,  with  equal  reason,  that  this  opinion  may  be  ex- 
plained and  modified  so  as  to  reconcile  the  moderate  ad- 
vocates of  the  episcopal  discipline  with  the  less  rigid 
Presbyterians.  The  opinion,  modified  by  Dr.  Mosheim, 
amounts  to  this:  "  That  the  Christian  doctors  arc  equal 
in  this  sense:  that  Christ  has  left  no  positive  and  special 
decree  which  constitutes  a  distinction  among  them,  nor 
any  rfii'tne  commandment  by  which  those  who,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  appointments  of  human  wisdom,  are  in  the 
higher  ranks,  can  demand  by  divine  right  the  obedience 
and  submission  of  the  inferior  doctors  or  ministers,  their 
abstaining  from  the  exercise  of  certain  functions,"  &c. 

The  truth  is,  that,  Christ,  by  leaving  this  matter  un- 
determined, has  left  to  Christian  societies  a  discretionary 
power  of  modelling  the  government  of  the  church  in  such 
a  manner,  as  the  circumstantial  reasons  of  limes,  places, 
&c.  may  require;  and,  therefore,  the  wisest  govcrnmeut 
of  the  church  is  the  best  and  most  divine;  and  every 
Christian  society  has  a  right  to  make  laws  for  itself,  pro- 
vided that  these  laws  be  consistent  with  charity  and  peac^ 
and  with  the  fundamental  doctrines  and  principle*  ci 
Christianity. 

*  Acts  i.  15;  vi.  3;  xv.  4;  xxi.  22. 


38 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


rulers,  ministers,  and  poor,  and  by  offering  large 
and  generous  contributions,  wlien  the  safety 
or  interests  of  tlie  community  rendered  them 
necessary.  In  tliese  supplies,  each  bore  a  part 
proportioned  to  his  circumstances;  and  the 
various  gifts  which  were  tluis  brought  into  the 
public  assemblies,  were  called  oblations. 

VII.  There  reigned  among  the  members  of 
the  Christian  church,  however  distinguished 
they  were  by  worldly  rank  and  titles,  not  only 
an  amiable  harmony,  but  also  a  perfect  equality. 
This  appeared  by  the  feast  of  charity,  in  which 
all  were  indiscriminately  assembled;  by  the 
names  of  hrdhrtn  and  sisters,  with  wliich  they 
saluted  each  other;  and  by  several  circum- 
stances of  a  like  nature.  Nor,  in  this  first 
century,  was  the  distinction  made  between 
Christians,  of  a  more  or  less  perfect  order, 
which  took  place  afterwards.  Whoever  ac- 
knowledged Christ  as  the  Saviour  of  mankind, 
and  made  a  solemn  profession  of  his  confi- 
dence in  him,  was  immediately  baptized  and 
received  into  the  church.  But,  when  the 
church  began  to  flourish,  and  its  members  to 
increase,  it  wJls  thought  prudent  and  necessary 
to  divide  Christians  into  two  orders,  dis- 
tinguished by  the  names  of  believers  and  cate- 
clmmens.  The  former  were  those  who  had 
been  solemnly  admitted  into  the  church  by 
baptism,  and,  in  consequence  thereof,  were 
instructed  in  all  the  mysteries  of  religion,  had 
access  to  all  tlie  parts  of  divine  worship,  and 
were  authorized  to  vote  in  the  ecclesiastical 
assemblies.  The  latter  were  such  as  had  not 
yet  been  dedicated  to  God  and  Christ  by  bap- 
tism, and  were,  therefore,  neither  admitted  to 
the  public  prayers  nor  to  the  holy  communion, 
nor  to  the  ecclesiastical  assemblies. 

The  rulers  of  the  church  were  called  either 
presbyters,*  or  bishops, — titles  which,  in  the  new 
Testament,  are  undoubtedly  applied  to  the 
same  order  of  men.f  These  were  persons  of 
eminent  gravity,  and  such  as  had  distinguished 
themselves  by  their  superior  sanctity  and 
merit.J:  Their  particular  functions  were  not 
always  the  same;  for,  while  some  of  them 
confined  their  labours  to  the  instruction  of  the 
people,  others  contributed  in  difi^erent  ways  to 
the  edification  of  the  church.  Hence  the  dis- 
tinction between  teacliing  and  ruling  presby- 
ters has  been  adopted  by  certain  learned  men. 
But  if  ever  this  distinction  existed,  which  I 
neither  affirm  nor  deny,  it  certainly  did  not 
continue  long,  since  it  is  manifest  that  St. 
Paul  requires,  that  all  bishops  or  presbyters  be 
qualified,  and  ready  to  teach  and  instruct.^ 

IX.  Among  the  first  professors  of  Chris- 
tianity, there  were  few  men  of  learning;  few. 


*  The  word  Presbyter,  or  elder,  is  taken  from  the  Jew- 
ish institution,  and  signifies  rather  the  venerable  pru- 
dence and  wisdom  of  old  age,  than  age  itself. 

t  Acts  XX.  17,  28.  Phil.  i.  1.  Tit.  i.  5,  7.  1  Tim.  iii.  1. 

jlTim.  iii.  1.     Tit.  1.  5. 

§  1  Tim.  iii.  2,  &c.  See,  concerning  the  word  Pres- 
byter, the  illustrations  given  by  the  learned  Vitringa,  de 
Syiiagoga  vetere,  lib.  iii.  cap.  i.  p.  609;  and  by  the  vene- 
rable Jo.  Bened.  Carpzovius,  in  his  Exerc.  in  Epist.  ad 
Hebraeos  ex  Philonc,  p.  499.  As  to  the  presbyters 
themselves,  and  the  nature  of  their  office,  the  reader  will 
receive  much  satisfaction  from  the  accounts  given  of  that 
order  by  Buddeus,  de  Ecclesia  Apostoliea,  cap.  vi.  p.  719, 
and  by  the  most  learued  Ffaffius  de  Origiuibus  Juris 
Eccles.  p.  49. 


who  had  capacity  enough  to  insinuate,  into  the 
minds  of  a  gross  and  ignorant  multitude,  the 
knowledge  of  divine  things.  God,  tlierefore, 
in  his  infinite  wisdom,  judged  it  necessary  to 
raise  up,  in  many  clmrches,  extraordinary 
teachers,  who  were  to  discourse  in  the  public 
assemblies,  upon  the  various  points  of  the 
Christian  doctrine,  and  to  treat  with  the  peo- 
ple, in  his  name,  as  guided  by  liis  direction, 
and  clothed  with  his  authority.  Such  were 
the  prophets  of  the  New  Testament,*  an  or- 
der of  men,  whose  commission  is  too  much 
limited  by  the  writers  who  confine  it  to  the 
interpretation  of  the  books  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, and  especially  the  prophecies;!  for  it  is 
certain,  that  they,  who  claimed  the  rank  of 
propliets,  were  invested  with  the  power  of 
censuring  publicly  such  as  had  been  guilty  of 
any  irregularity:  but,  to  prevent  the  abuses 
that  designing  men  might  make  of  this  insti- 
tution, by  pretending  to  this  extraordinary 
character,  in  order  to  execute  miwortliy  ends, 
there  were  always  present,  in  the  public  audi- 
tories, judges  divinely  appointed,  who,  by  cer- 
tain and  infallible  marks,  were  able  to  distin- 
guish the  false  prophets  from  the  true.  The 
order  of  prophets  ceased,  when  the  want  of 
teachers,  which  gave  rise  to  it  was  abundantly 
supplied. 

X.  The  church  was,  undoubtedly,  provided 
from  the  beginning  with  inferior  ministers  or 
deacons.  No  society  can  be  without  its  ser- 
vants, and  still  less  such  societies  as  those  of 
the  first  Christians  were.  And  it  appears  not 
only  probable  but  evident,  that  the  young  men, 
who  carried  away  the  dead  bodies  of  Ananias 
and  Sapphira,  were  the  subordinate  ministers, 
or  deacons,  of  the  church  of  Jerusalem,  who 
attended  the  apostles  to  execute  their  orders.J 


*Rom.  xiii.6.    1  Cor.  xii.  28;  xiv.  3,  29.    Eph.  iv.  11. 

f  See  Mosheim's  Dissertation  de  illis  qui  Prophetse 
vocantur  in  Novo  Fcedere,  whicli  is  to  be  found  in  the 
second  volume  of  his  Syntagma  Dissertationum  ad  Histo- 
riam  Eccles.  pertinentium. 

t  Acts  v.  6,  10. 

Those  who  may  be  surprised  at  my  affirming  that  the 
young  men,  mentioned  in  the  passage  here  referred  to, 
were  the  deacons  or  ministers  of  the  church  of  Jerusa- 
lem, are  desired  to  consider  that  the  words  vna-rspoi, 
viKvio-y.oi,  i.  e.  young  men,  are  not  always  used  to  deter- 
mine the  ages  of  the  persons  to  whom  tliey  are  applied, 
but  are  frequently  employed  to  point  out  their  offices,  or 
functions,  both  by  the  Greek  and  Latin  writers.  The 
same  rule  of  interpretation,  that  diversifies  the  sense  of 
the  word  presbyter  (which,  as  all  know,  signifies  some- 
times the  age  oi^  a  person,  and,  at  other  times  his  func- 
tion,) is  manifestly  applicable  to  the  words  before  us.  As, 
therefore,  by  the  title  of  presbyters,  the  rulers  of  a  so- 
ciety are  pointed  out,  without  any  regard  to  their  ages 
so,  by  the  expression  young  men,  we  are  often  to  under- 
stand ministers,  or  servants,  because  such  are  generally 
in  the  flower  of  youth.  This  interpretation  may  be  con- 
firmed by  examples  taken  from  the  New  Testament. 
Christ  himself  seems  to  attribute  this  sense  to  the  word 
vtaiTE^oc,  Luke  xxii.  26.  S  /xsi^uiv  tv  vfiiv,yti'>i<r$u>  <»■;  o 
vsiuTtfOs.  He  explains  the  term  fcai^-xiv,  by  the  word 
tiyt'fiivos,  and  it  therefore  signifies  a  presbyter,  or  ruler; 
he  also  substitutes,  a  little  after,  o  Siaxova,!/ in  the  place 
of  v£ooT£f  5;,  which  confirms  our  interpretation  in  the 
most  unanswerable  manner:  so  that  ft't^ov  and  i'smtejo; 
are  not  here  indications  of  certain  ages,  but  of  certain 
functions,  and  the  precept  of  Christ  amounts  to  this: 
"Let  not  him  wlio  performs  the  office  of  a  presbyter  or 
elder  among  you,  think  himself  superior  to  the  ministers 
or  deacons."  The  passage  of  1  Pet.  v.  5.  is  still  more  ex- 
press to  our  purpose:  'O^uoac,  I'soirs^oi,  v-tnxyifTt 
Toif  H-fir^luTSfoi;.  It  is  evident  from  the  preceding 
verses,  that  presbyter  here  is  the  name  of  an  office,  and 
points  out  a  ruler  or  teacher  of  the  church;  and  that  the 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNxMENT,  &c. 


39 


These  first  deacons,  being  cliosen  from  among 
the  Jews  who  were  born  in  Palestine,  were 
suspected  by  the  foreign  Jews  of  partiahty  in 
distributing  the  offerings  which  were  jjresentcd 
for  the  support  of  the  poor.*  To  remedy  this 
disorder,  seven  other  deacons  were  chosen,  by 
order  of  the  apostles,  and  eniploj'ed  in  the  ser- 
vice of  that  part  of  the  church  at  Jerusalem, 
which  was  composed  of  the  foreign  Jews  con- 
verted into  Christianity.  Of  these  new  minis- 
ters six  were  foreigners,  as  appears  by  their 
names;  the  seventh  was  chosen  out  of  the  pro- 
selytes, of  whom  there  were  a  certain  nmnber 
among  the  first  Qiristians  at  Jerusalem,  and  to 
whom  it  was  reasonable  that  some  regard 
should  be  shown,  in  the  election  of  the  dea- 
cons, as  well  as  to  the  foreign  Jews.  All  the 
other  Christian  churches  followed  the  example 
of  that  of  Jerusalem,  in  whatever  related  to 
the  choice  and  office  of  the  deacons.  Some, 
particularly  the  eastern  churches,  elected  dea- 
conesses, and  chose  for  that  purpose  matrons  or 
widows  of  eminent  sanctity,  who  also  minis- 
tered to  the  necessities  of  the  poor,  and  per- 
formed several  other  offices,  that  tended  to  the 
maintenance  of  order  and  decency  in  the 
church,  t 

XI.  Such  was  the  constitution  of  the  Chris- 
tian church  in  its  infancy,  when  its  assemblies 
were  neither  nmnerous  nor  splendid.  Tlu-ee 
or  four  presbyters,  men  of  remarkable  piety 
and  wisdom,  ruled  these  small  congregations  in 
perfect  harmony;  nor  did  they  stand  in  need  of 
any  president  or  superior  to  maintain  concord 
and  order  where  no  dissensions  were  known. 
But  the  nimiber  of  the  presbyters  and  deacons 
increasing  with  that  of  the  churches,  and  the 
sacred  work  of  the  ministry  growing  more 
painful  and  weighty,  by  a  numlx;r  of  additional 
duties,  these  new  circumstances  required  new 
regulations.  It  was  then  judged  necessary, 
that  one  man  of  distinguished  gravity  and  wis- 
dom should  preside  in  the  comicil  of  presby- 
ters, in  order  to  distribute  among  his  colleagues 
their  several  tasks,  and  to  be  a  centre  of  union 
to  the  whole  society.  This  person  was,  at 
first,  styled  the  angell  of  the  church  to  which 
he  belonged,  but  was  afterwards  distinguished 
by  the  name  of  bishop,  or  inspector;  a  name 
borrowed  from  the  Greek  language,  and  ex- 
pressing the  principal  part  of  the  episcopal 
function,  which  was  to  inspect  and  superintend 


term  vsuirsf  o;  is  also  to  be  interpreted,  not  a  i/oimg  man 
in  point  of  age,  but  a  minister  or  servant  of  llie  church. 
St.  Peter,  having  solemnly  exhorted  the  presbyters  not  to 
abuse  the  power  that  was  committed  to  them,  addresses 
his  discourse  to  the  ministers:  "  But  likewise,  ye  younger, 
i.  e.  deacons,  despise  not  the  orders  of  the  presbyters  or 
elders,  but  perform  cheerfully  whatsoever  they  command 
you."  In  the  same  sense  St.  Luke  employs  this  term. 
Acts  V.6, 10.  and  his  isciTSfoi  and  vixvic-y.'^i  arc  undoubt- 
edly the  deacons  of  the  church  of  Jerusalem,  of  whom 
the  Greek  Jews  complain  afterwards  to  the  apostles,  (Acts 
vi.  1,  &c.)  on  account  of  the  partial  distribution  of  the 
alms.  I  might  confirm  this  sense  of  the  words  youn^  men, 
by  numberless  citations  from  Greek  and  Roman  writers, 
and  a  variety  of  authors,  sacred  and  profane;  but  this  is 
not  the  proper  place  for  dcmouslralions  of  this  nature. 

*  Acts  vi.  1,  &c. 

t  For  an  ample  account  of  the  deacons  and  deaconesses 
of  the  primitive  church,  see  Zcigler,  dc  Diaconis  et  Dia- 
conissis,  cap.  xix.  p.  347.— Basnagii  Annal.  Polit.  EccKs. 
ad  an.  xxxv.  torn.  i.  p.  450.— Bingham,  Orig.  Ecclcs.  lib. 
ii.  cap.  XX. 

}  Rev.  ii.  3. 


the  affairs  of  the  chin-ch.  It  is  liighly  proba- 
ble that  the  church  of  Jerusalem,  grown  con- 
siderably numerous,  and  deprived  of  the  minis- 
try of  the  apostles,  who  were  gone  to  instruct 
tJie  otiier  nations,  was  the  first  which  chose  a 
president  or  bishop;  and  it  is  no  less  probable, 
that  the  other  churches  followed  by  degrees 
such  a  respectable  example. 

XII.  Let  none,  however,  confoimd  the  bish- 
ops of  this  primitive  and  golden  period  of  the 
church  with  those  of  wliom  we  read  in  the  fol- 
lowing ages;  for,  though  they  were  both  dis- 
tinguished by  the  same  name,  yet  they  differed 
in  many  respects.  A  bishop  during  the  first 
and  second  century,  was  a  person  who  liad  the 
care  of  one  Clu"istian  assembly,  which,  at  that 
time  was,  generally  speaking,  small  enough  to 
be  contained  in  a  private  house.  In  this  as- 
sembly he  acted,  not  so  much  with  the  author- 
ity of  a  master,  as  with  the  zeal  and  diligence 
of  a  faithful  servant.  He  instructed  the  people, 
performed  the  several  parts  of  divine  worship, 
attended  the  sick,  and  inspected  the  circum- 
stances and  supplies  of  the  poor.  He  charged, 
indeed,  the  presbyters  with  the  performance  of 
those  duties  and  services,  which  the  multipli- 
city of  his  engagements  rendered  it  impossible 
for  him  to  fulfil;  but  he  had  not  the  power  to 
decide  or  enact  any  thing  without  the  consent 
of  the  presbyters  and  people;  and,  though  the 
episcopal  office  was  both  laborious  and  singu- 
larly dangerous,  yet  its  revenues  were  extreme- 
ly small,  since  the  church  had  no  certain  in- 
come, but  depended  on  the  gifts  or  oblations  of 
the  multitude,  which  were,  no  doubt,  inconsi- 
derable, and  were  moreover  to  be  divided 
among  the  bishops,  presbyters,  deacons,  and 
poor. 

XIII.  The  power  and  jurisdiction  of  the 
bishops  were  not  long  confined  to  these  narrow 
limits,  but  were  soon  extended  by  the  follow- 
ing means.  The  bishops,  who  lived  in  the 
cities,  had,  either  by  their  own  ministry,  or 
that  of  their  presbyters,  erected  new  churches 
in  the  neighbouring  towns  and  villages.  These 
churches,  continuing  under  the  inspection  and 
rpinistry  of  the  bishops,  by  whose  labours  and 
counsels  they  had  been  engaged  to  embrace  the 
Gospel,  grew  imperceptibly  into  ecclesiastical 
provinces,  which  the  Greeks  afterwards  called 
dioceses.  But,  as  the  bishop  of  the  city  could 
not  extend  his  labours  and  inspection  to  all 
these  churches  in  tlie  country  and  in  the  villa- 
ges, he  appointed  certain  suffragans  or  deputies 
to  govern  and  to  instruct  these  new  societies; 
and  they  were  distinguished  by  the  title  of 
chm-episcopi,  i.  c.  country  bishops.  This  order 
held  the  middle  rank  between  bishops  and 
presbyters. 

XIV.  The  churches,  in  those  early  times, 
were  entirely  independent,  none  of  them  being 
subject  to  any  foreig-n  jurisdiction,  but  each  go- 
verned by  its  own  rulers  and  its  own  laws;  for, 
though  the  churches  founded  by  the  apostles 
had  this  pai-ticular  deference  sliown  to  them, 
that  they  were  consulted  in  difficult  and  doubt- 
ful cases,  yet  they  had  no  jtn-idiral  authority, 
no  sort  of  supremacy  over  the  others,  nor  the 
least  right  to  enact  laws  for  them;  Nothing, 
on  the  contrary,  is  more  evident  than  the  per- 
I  feet  equality  that  reigned  among  the  primitive 


40 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


churches;  nor  does  there  even  appear,  in  this 
first  century,  the  smallest  trace  of  that  associa- 
tion of  provincial  churches,  from  which  coun- 
cils and  metropolitans  derive  their  origin.  It 
was  only  in  the  second  century  that  the  custom 
of  holding  coimcils  commenced  in  Greece, 
whence  it  soon  spread  through  the  other  pro- 
vinces.* 

XV.  The  principal  place  among  the  Chris- 
tian Doctors,  and  among  those  also,  who  by 
their  writings  were  instrumental  in  the  pro- 
gress of  the  truth,  is  due  to  the  apostles  and 
some  of  their  disciples,  who  were  set  apart  and 
inspired  by  God,  to  record  the  actions  of  Christ 
and  his  apostles.  The  writings  of  these  holy 
men,  which  are  comprehended  in  tlie  books  of 
tlie  New  Testament,  are  in  the  hands  of  all 
who  profess  themselves  Christians.  Those 
who  are  desirous  of  particular  information  with 
respect  to  the  history  of  these  sacred  books, 
and  the  arguments  which  prove  their  divine 
authority,  their  genuineness,  and  purity,  must 
consult  the  learned  authors  who  have  written 
professedly  upon  that  head.f 

XVI.  The  opinioixs,  or  rather  the  conjec- 
tures of  the  learned,  concerning  the  time  when 
the  books  of  the  New  Testament  were  col- 
lected into  one  volume,  as  also  about  the  au- 
thors of  that  collection,  are  extremely  differ- 
ent. This  important  question  is  attended  with 
great  and  almost  insuperable  difficulties  to  us 
in  these  latter  times.|  It  is,  however,  suffi- 
cient for  us  to  know,  tliat,  before  the  middle  of 
the  second  century,  the  greatest  part  of  the 
books  of  the  New  Testament  were  read  in 
every  Christian  society  throughout  the  world, 
and  received  as  a  divine  rule  of  faith  and  man- 
ners. Hence  it  appears,  that  these  sacred 
writings  were  carefully  separated  from  several 
human  compositions  upon  the  same  subject, 
eitlier  by  some  of  the  apostles  themselves,  who 
lived  so  long,  or  by  their  disciples  and  succes- 
sors.§  We  are  well  assured, ||  that  the  four 
Gospels  were  formed  into  a  volume  diu-ing  the 
life  of  St.  Jolm,  and  that  the  three  first  receiv- 
ed the  approbation  of  this  divine  apostle.  And 
why  may  we  not  suppose  that  the  other  boolts 
of  the  New  Testament  were  collected  at  the 
same  time? 


*  The  meeting  of  the  church  of  Jerusalem,  mentioned 
in  the  xvth  chapter  of  the  Acts,  is  commonly  considered 
as  the  first  Christian  council.  But  this  notion  arises  from 
■1  manifest  abuse  of  tlie  word  council.  That  meeting  was 
only  of  one  cliurch;  and,  if  such  a  meeting  be  called  a 
council,  it  will  follow  that  there  were  innumerable  coun- 
cils in  the  primitive  times.  But,  every  one  knows,  that  a 
council  is  an  assembly  of  deputies,  or  commissioners,  sent 
from  several  churches  associated  by  certain  bonds  in  a  ge- 
neral body,  and  therefore  the  supposition  above  mention- 
ed falls  to  the  ground. 

I  For  the  history  of  the  books  of  the  New  Testament, 
see  particularly  Jo.  Alb.  Fabricius,  Biblioth.  Gra;c.  lib. 
iv.  cap.  V.  p.  122 — 227.  The  same  learned  author  has 
given  an  accurate  list  of  the  writers,  who  have  defended 
the  divinity  of  these  sacred  books,  in  his  Delectus  Argu- 
raentorum  ct  Syllabus  Scriptorum  pro  verit.  relig.  Chris- 
tiana;, cap.  xxvi.  p.  509. 

\  See  Jo,  Ens,  Bibliotheca  S.  seu  Diatriba  de  librorum 
N.  T.  Canone,  published  at  Amsterdam  in  1710;  as  also 
Jo.  iVIill.  Prolegomen.  ad  Nov.  Test.  sect.  1. 

§  See  Fricklus,  de  Cura  Veteris  Ecclesiae  circa  Canon, 
cap.  iii. 

II  This  is  expressly  affirmed  by  Eusebius,  in  the  xxivih 
chapter  of  the  third  book  of  his  Eeclesiaitical  Histoiy. 


XVII.  What  renders  this  highly  probable  is, 
that  the  most  urgent  necessity  required  its  be- 
ing done;  for,  not  long  after  Ciirist's  ascension 
into  heaven,  several  histories  of  his  life  and 
doctrines,  full  of  pious  frauds  and  fabulous 
wonders,  were  composed  by  persons,  whose  in- 
tentions, perhaps,  were  not  bad,  but  whose 
writings  discovered  the  greatest  superstition 
and  ignorance.  Nor  was  tliis  all:  productions 
appeared  which  were  imposed  upon  the  world 
by  fraudulent  men,  as  the  writings  of  the  holy 
apostles.*  These  apocryphal  and  spurious 
writings  must  have  produced  a  sad  confusion, 
and  rendered  both  the  history  and  the  doctrine 
of  Christ  micertain,  had  not  the  rulers  of  the 
church  used  all  possible  care  and  diligence  in 
separating  the  books  that  were  truly  apostoli- 
cal and  divine  from  all  that  sj)urious  trash,  and 
conveying  them  down  to  posterity  in  one  vo- 
lume. 

XVIII.  The  writer,  whose  fame  surpassed 
that  of  all  others  in  this  century,  the  apostles 
excepted,  was  Clemens,  bishop  of  Rome.  The 
accounts  which  remain  of  his  life,  actions,  and 
deatli,  are  for  the  most  part  micertain. f  Two 
Epistles  to  the  Corinthians,^  written  in  Greek, 
have  been  attributed  to  him,  of  which  the  se- 
cond is  deemed  spurious,  and  the  first  genuine, 
by  many  learned  writers.  §  But  even  this 
seems  to  have  been  corrupted  and  interpolated 
by  some  ignorant  and  presumptuous  author, 
who  appears  to  have  been  displeased  at  ob- 
serving a  defect  of  learning  and  genius  in  the 
writings  of  so  great  a  man  as  Clemens.  || 

XIX.  The  learned  are  now  unanimous  in 
regarding  the  otlier  writings  which  bear  the 
name  of  Clemens,  viz.  the  Apostolic  Canons, 
the  Apostolic  Constitutions,  the  Recognitions 
of  Clemens  and  Clementina,§  as  spurious  pro- 


*  Such  of  these  writings  as  are  yet  extant  have  been 
carefully  collected  by  Fabricius,  in  his  Codex  Apocry- 
phus  Novi  Testainenti.  Many  ingenious  and  learned  ob- 
servations have  been  made  on  these  spurious  books  by  the 
celebrated  Beausobre,  in  his  Histoire  Critique  des  Dog- 
mes  de  Manichee. 

f  After  TiUemont,  Cotelerius  and  Grabe  have  given 
some  accounts  of  this  great  man;  and  all  that  has  been 
said  concerning  him  by  the  best  and  most  credible  writers, 
has  been  collected  by  Rondinini,  in  the  former  of  two 
books  publisl  ed  at  Rome,  in  1706,  under  the  following 
title,  Libri  Duo  de  S.  Clemente,  Papa,  et  Martyre,  ejus- 
que  Basilica  in  urbe  Roma. 

I  J.  A.  Fabricius,  in  the  fourth  book  of  his  Bibliotheca 
Graeca,  mentions  the  editions  that  have  been  given  of  St. 
Clements'  epistles.  To  this  account  we  must  add  the  edi- 
tion published  at  Cambridge,  in  1718,  which  is  prefera- 
ble to  the  preceding  ones  in  many  respects. 

(J(p»  6  See  the  ample  account  that  is  given  of  these  two 
Greek  epistles  of  Clemens,  by  Dr.  Lardner,  in  the  first 
volume  of  the  second  part  of  his  valuable  work,  entitled, 
the  Credibility  of  the  Gospel  History. 

II  See  J.  Bapt.  Cotelerii  Fatres  Apost,  tom.  i.;  and  Ber- 
uardi  Adnotatiunculse  in  Clementem,  in  the  last  edition 
of  these  fathers  of  the  church,  published  by  Le  Clerc. 
The  learned  Wotton  has  endeavoured,  though  without 
success,  in  his  observations  on  the  epistles  of  Clemens,  to 
refute  the  annotations  above  mentioned. 

OU"  IT  Beside  these  writings  attributed  to  Clemens,  we 
may  reckon  two  epistles  which  the  learned  Wetstein 
found  in  a  Syriac  version  of  the  New  Testament,  which 
he  took  the  pains  to  translate  from  Syriac  into  Latin.  He 
has  subjoined  both  the  original  and  the  translation  to  his 
famous  edition  of  the  Greek  Testament,  published  in 
1752;  and  the  title  is  as  follows:  "  Dnx  EpistolK  S.  de- 
mentis Romani,  Discipuli  Petri  Apostoli,  quas  ex  Codice 
Manuscripto  Novi  Test.  Syriaci  nunc  primum  erutas,cum 
veisione  Latinaadposita,edidit  Jo.  Jacobus  Wctstenius." 
The  manuscript  of  the  Syriac  version,  whence  these  cpis 


Chap.  II. 


Doctors,  church  government,  &c. 


41 


ductions  ascribed  by  some  impostor  to  this  ve- 
nerable prelate,  in  order  to  procure  tiicm  a  high 
degree  of  authority.*  The  Apostolical  Canons, 
which  consist  of  eighty-five  ecclesiastical  laws, 
contain  a  view  of  the  church  government  and 
discipline  received  among  the  Greek  and  ori- 
ental Christians  in  the  second  and  third  centu- 
ries. The  eight  books  of  Apostolical  Consti- 
tutions are  the  work  of  some  austere  and  me- 
lancholy author,  who,  having  taken  it  into  his 
head  to  reform  the  Clu'istian  worship,  which 
he  looked  upon  as  degenerated  from  its  original 
purity,  made  no  scruple  to  prefix  to  his  rules 
the  names  of  the  apostles,  that  thus  they  might 
be  more  speedily  and  favourably  received.] 
The  Recognitions  of  Clemens,  which  differ 
very  little  from  the  Clementina,  are  the  witty 
and  agreeable  productions  of  an  Alexandrian 
Jew,  well  versed  in  philosophy.  They  were 
written  in  the  third  century,  with  a  view  of  an- 
swering, in  a  new  mamier,  the  objections  of 
the  Jews,  philosophers,  and  Gnostics,  against 
the  Christian  religion;  and  tlie  careful  perusal 
of  them  will  be  exceedingly  useful  to  such  as 
are  desirous  of  infonnation  with  respect  to  the 
state  of  the  Christian  chmxh  in  tiie  primitive 
times.  + 

XX.  Ignatius,  bishop  of  Antioch,  succeeds 
Clemens  in  the  list  of  the  apostolic  fathers, 
among  whom  were  placed  such  Ctiristian  doC' 
tors  as  had  conversed  with  the  apostles  them- 
selves, or  their  disciples.  This  pious  and  ve- 
nerable man,  who  was  the  disciple  and  familiar 
friend  of  the  apostles,  was,  by  the  order  of  Tra- 
jan, exposed  to  wild  beasts  in  the  public  tliea- 
tre  at  Rome,  where  he  suffered  martyrdom 
with  the  utmost  fortitude. §  There  are  yet  ex- 
tant several  epistles,  attributed  to  him,  con- 
cerning the  authenticity  of  which  there  Iiave 
been,  however,  tedious  and  warm  disputes 
among  the  learned.  Of  these  epistles,  seven 
are  said  to  have  been  written  by  this  eminent 
martyr,  during  his  journey  from  Antioch  to 
Rome;  and  these  the  majority  of  learned  men 
acknowledge  to  be  genuine,  as  they  stand  in 
the  edition  that  was  published  in  the  seven- 
teenth century,  from  a  manuscript  in  the  Me- 


tleswere  taken,  was  procured  by  the  good  offices  of  Sir 
James  Porter,  a  judicious  patron  of  literature,  who,  at 
that  time,  was  British  ambassador  at  Coiistantino]>le. 
Their  authenticily  is  boldly  maintained  by  Wctstein,  and 
learnedly  opposed  by  Dr.  Lardiier.  The  celebrated  pro- 
fessor Venema,  of  Franeker,  also  considered  them  as 
spurious.  See  an  account  of  his  controversy  willi  Wtt- 
stein  on  that  subject,  in  the  Bibliothcque  des  Sciences  ct 
des  Beaux  Arts,  torn.  ii. 

*  For  an  account  of  the  fate  of  these  writings,  and  the 
editions  that  have  been  given  of  them,  it  will  be  proper 
to  consult  two  dissertations  of  the  learned  Ittigius;  one 
de  Patribus  Apostolicis,  which  he  has  prefixed  to  his 
Bibliothfca  Patrum  Apostolicorum;  and  the  other,  d 
Pseudepigraphis  Apostolicis,  which  he  has  subjoined  to 
the  Appendix  of  his  book  de  Hacresiarchis  JEvi  Apos- 
tolici.  See  also  Fabrieius,  Bibliotheca  Graeca,  lib.  v. 
cap.  i.,  and  lib.  vi.  cap.  i. 

f  Buddeus  has  collected  the  various  opinions  of  the 
learned  concerning  the  Apostolical  Canons  and  Constitu- 
tions, in  his  Isagoge  in  Thcologiam. 

t  See,  for  a  full  account  of  this  work,  Mosheim's  Dis. 
serlation,  de  turbata  per  recentiores  Platonicos  Ecclesia, 
sect.  34.  {}(7^This  Disssertation  is  in  the  first  volume  of 
that  learned  work  which  our  author  published  under  the 
title  of  Syntagma  Dissertationum  ad  Historiam  Ecclesias- 
ticam  pertinenlium. 

^  See  Tillemont's  Memoires  pour  scrvir  a  I'Histcirc 
de  I'Eglise,  torn.  ii. 

Vol.  I.— 6 


dicean  library.  The  others  are  generally  re- 
jected as  spurious.  As  to  my  own  sentiments 
of  this  matter,  though  I  am  willing  to  adopt 
this  opinion  as  preferable  to  any  other,  I  can- 
not help  looking  upon  the  authenticity  of  tiie 
Epistle  to  Polycarp  as  extremely  dubious,  on 
account  of  the  difi'erence  of  style;  and  indeed, 
the  whole  question  relating  to  the  epistles  of 
St.  Ignatius  in  general,  seems  to  me  to  labour 
under  much  obscurity,  and  to  be  embarrassed 
with  many  diinculties.* 

XXI.  The  Epistle  to  the  Philippians,  which 
is  ascribed  to  Polycarp  bishop  of  Smyrna,  who, 
in  the  middle  of  the  second  century,  suffered 
martyrdom  in  a  venerable  and  advanced  ao-e, 
is  considered  by  some  as  genuine;  by  others,  as 
spurious;  and  it  is  no  easy  matter  to  determine 
this  question.f  The  Epistle  of  Barnabas  was 
the  production  of  some  Jew,  who,  most  pro- 
bably, lived  in  this  century,  and  whose  mean 
abilities  and  superstitious  attachment  to  Jewish 
fables,  show,  notwitlistanding  the  uprightness 
of  his  intentions,  that  he  nmst  have  been  a 
very  different  person  from  the  true  Barnabas, 
who  was  St.  Paul's  companion. J  The  work 
which  is  entitled  the  Shepherd  of  Ilermas,  be- 
cause the  angel,  who  bears  the  principal  part 
in  it,  is  represented  in  the  form  and  habit  of  a 
shepherd,  was  composed  in  the  second  century 
by  Hernias,  who  was  brother  to  Pius,  bishop  of 
Rome.§  This  whimsical  and  visionary  writer 
has  taken  the  liberty  of  inventing  several  dia- 
logues or  conversations  between  God  and  the 
angels,  in  order  to  insinuate,  in  a  more  easy 
and  agreeable  manner,  the  precepts  which  he 
thought  useful  and  salutary,  into  the  minds  of 
his  readers.  But  indeed,  the  discourse,  which 
he  puts  into  the  mouths  of  those  celestial  be- 
ings, is  more  insipid  and  senseless,  than  what 
we  commonly  hear  among  the  meanest  of  the 
multitude.  II 

XXII.  We  may  here  remark  in  general, 
that  these  apostolic  fathers,  and  the  other  wri- 
ters, who,  in  the  infancy  of  the  churcli,  em- 
ployed their  pens  in  the  cause  of  Christianity, 
were  neither  remarkable  for  their  learning  nor 
for  their  eloquence.  On  the  contrary,  they 
express  the  most  pious  and  admirable  senti- 
ments in  the  plainest  and  most  illiterate  style.U 
This,  indeed,  is  rather  a  matter  of  honour  than 


*  For  an  account  of  this  controversy,  it  will  be  proper 
to  consult  the  Bibliotheca  Gra;ca  of  Fabrieius,  lib.  v.  cap.  i. 

t  Fur  an  account  of  this  martyr,  and  of  the  epistle  at- 
tributed to  him,  sec  Tillemont's  Memoires,  torn,  ii.,  and 
Fabricii  Bibtioth.  Grieca,  lib.  y. 

J  See  Tillemont's  Memoires,  and  Ittigius'  Select.  Hist. 
Eccles.  Capita,  s^c.  i. 

§  This  now  appears  with  the  utmost  evidence  from  a 
very  ancient  fragment  of  a  small  book,  concerning  the 
canon  of  the  Scriptures,  which  the  learned  Luil.  Aotoo. 
Muratori  published  from  an  ancient  manuscript  in  the 
library  at  Milan,  and  which  is  to  be  found  in  tlic  Autiq. 
Italic,  medii  JF^vi,  torn.  iii.  diss,  xliii. 

II  We  are  indebted  for  the  best  edition  of  the  Shepherd 
of  Hermas,  to  Fabrieius,  who  has  added  it  to  the  third 
volume  of  his  Codex  Apocryphus  N.  Teslamenti.  We 
find  also  some  account  of  this  writer  in  the  Biblioth. 
Grsca  of  the  same  learned  author,  book  v.  chap.  ix.,and 
also  iu  Ittigius'  dissertation  de  Patribus  AiMstolicis, 
sect.  .5.5. 

ir  All  the  writers  mentioned  in  this  chapter  are  usually 
called  apostolic  fulhers.  Of  the  works  of  these  authors, 
Jo.  Bap.  Cotclerius,  and  after  him  Le  CIcrc,  have  pub- 
lished a  collection  in  two  volumes,  accompanied  with 
their  own  auuolations,  and  the  remarks  of  other  learned 
men. 


42 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


of  reproach  to  the  Christian  cause,  since  we 
see,  from  the  conversion  of  a  great  part  of 
mankind  by  the  ministry  of  weak  and  ilhtc- 
rate  men,  that  the  progress  of  Christianity  is 
not  to  be  attributed  to  human  means  but  to  a 
divine  power. 

CHAPTER  HI. 

Concerning  the  Doctrine  of  the.  Christian  Church 

in  this  Century. 

I.  The  whole  of  the  Christian  rehgion  is 
comprehended  in  two  great  points,  one  of 
which  regards  what  we  are  to  beHeve,  and  the 
other  relates  to  our  conduct  and  actions;  or,  in 
a  shorter  phrase,  the  Gospel  presents  to  us  ob- 
jects of  faith  and  rules  of  practice.  The  apos- 
tles express  the  former  by  the  term  mystery,  or 
the  truth,  and  the  latter  by  that  of  godliiuss,  or 
piety.*  The  rule  and  standard  of  both  are 
those  books  which  contain  the  revelation  that 
God  made  of  his  will  to  persons  chosen  for 
that  purpose,  whether  before  or  after  the  birth 
of  Christ;  and  these  divine  books  are  usually 
called  the  Old  and  J^hv  Testament. 

II.  The  apostles  and  their  disciples  took  all 
possible  care,  in  the  earliest  times  of  the  church, 
that  these  sacred  books  might  be  in  the  hands 
of  all  Christians,  that  they  might  be  read  and 
explained  in  the  assemblies  of  the  faitliful,  and 
thus  contribute,  both  in  private  and  in  public, 
to  excite  and  nourish  in  the  minds  of  Chris- 
tians a  fervent  zeal  for  the  truth,  and  a  firm  at 
tachment  to  the  ways  of  piety  and  virtue 
Those  who  performed  the  office  of  interpreters 
studied  above  all  things  plainness  and  perspi- 
cuity. At  tlie  same  time  it  must  be  acknow- 
ledged, that,  even  in  this  century,  several 
Christians  adopted  the  absurd  and  corrupt  cus- 
tom, used  among  the  Jews,  of  darkening  the 
plain  words  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  by  insipid 
and  forced  allegories,  and  of  drawing  them  vio- 
lently from  their  proper  and  natural  meanino-g, 
in  order  to  extort  from  them  mysterious  and 
hidden  significations.  For  a  proof  of  this,  we 
need  go  no  farther  than  the  Epistle  of  Barna- 
bas, which  is  yet  extant. 

III.  The  method  of  teaching  the  sacred 
doctrines  of  religion  was,  at  this  time,  most 
sim])le,  far  removed  from  all  the  subtle  rules 
of  philosophy,  and  all  the  precepts  of  human 
art.  This  appears  abundantly,  not  only  in  the 
writings  of  the  apostles,  but  also  in  all  those 
of  the  second  century,  which  have  survived 
the  ruins  of  time.  Neither  did  the  apostles, 
or  their  disciples,  ever  think  of  collecting  into 
a  regular  system  the  principal  doctrines  of  the 
Christian  religion,  or  of  demonstrating  them 
in  a  scientific  and  geometrical  order.  The 
beautiful  and  candid  simplicity  of  these  early 
ages  rendered  such  philosophical  niceties  un- 
necessary; and  the  great  study  of  those  who 
embraced  the  Gospel  was  rather  to  express  its 
divine  influence  in  their  dispositions  and  ac- 
tions, than  to  examine  its  doctrines  with  an  ex- 
cessive curiosity,  or  to  explain  them  by  the 
rules  of  human  wisdom. 

IV.  Tiiere  is  extant,  indeed,  a  brief  sum- 
mary of  the  principal  doctrines  of  Christianity 


ITim.  hi.  9;  vi.3.     Tit,  i.  1. 


in  that  form  which  bears  the  name  of  tlie 
Jlpostles''  Creed,  and  which,  from  the  fourth 
century  downwards,  was  almost  generally  con- 
sidered as  a  production  of  the  apostles.  All, 
however,  who  have  the  least  knowledge  of  an- 
ti(juity,  look  upon  this  opinion  as  entirely  false, 
and  destitute  of  all  foundation.*  There  is 
much  more  reason  in  the  opinion  of  those  who 
tliink,  that  this  creed  was  not  all  composed  at 
once,  but,  from  small  beginnings,  was  imper- 
ceptibly augmented  in  proportion  to  the  growth 
of  heresy,  and  according  to  the  exigencies  and 
circumstances  of  tlie  church,  from  which  it 
was  designed  to  banish  the  errors  that  daily 
arose.f 

V.  In  the  earliest  times  of  the  church,  all 
who  professed  firmly  to  believe  that  Jesus  was 
the  only  redeemer  of  the  world,  and  who  in 
consequence  of  this  profession,  promised  to 
live  in  a  mamier  conformable  to  the  purity  of 
his  holy  religion,  were  immediately  received 
among  the  disciples  of  Christ.  This  was  all 
the  preparation  for  baptism  then  required;  and 
a  more  accurate  instruction  in  the  doctrines 
of  Christianity  was  to  be  administered  to  them 
after  their  reception  of  that  sacrament.  But, 
when  Christianity  had  acquired  more  consist- 
ence, and  churches  rose  to  the  true  God  and 
his  eternal  Son,  almost  in  every  nation,  this 
custom  was  changed  for  the  wisest  and  most 
solid  reasons.  Then  baptism  was  administered 
to  none  but  such  as  had  been  previously  in- 
structed in  the  principal  points  of  Christianity, 
and  had  also  given  satisfactory  proofs  of  pious 
dispositions  and  upright  intentions.  Hence 
arose  the  distinction  between  catechumens,  who 
were  in  a  state  of  probation,  and  under  the  in- 
struction of  persons  appointed  for  that  pur- 
pose; and  believers,  who  were  consecrated  by 
baptism,  and  thus  initiated  into  all  the  myste- 
ries of  the  Christian  faith. 

VI.  The  methods  of  instructing  the  cate- 
chumens differed  according  to  their  various 
capacities.  To  those,  in  whom  the  natural 
force  of  reason  was  small,  only  the  fundamen- 
tal principles  and  truths,  which  are,  as  it  were, 
the  basis  of  Christianity,  were  taught.  Those, 
on  the  contrary,  whom  their  instructors  judg- 
ed capable  of  comprehending,  in  some  measure, 
the  whole  system  of  divine  truth,  were  fur- 
nished with  superior  degrees  of  knowledge; 
and  notliing  was  concealed  from  them,  which 
could  have  any  tendency  to  render  them  firm 
in  their  profession,  and  to  assist  them  in  arriv- 
ing at  Christian  perfection.  The  care  of  in- 
structing such  WBS  committed  to  persons  who 
were  distinguished  by  their  gravity  and  wis- 
doin,  and  also  by  their  learning  and  judgment. 
Hence  the  ancient  doctors  generally  divide 
their  flock  into  two  classes;  the  one  compre- 
hending such  as  were  solidly  and  thoroughly 


See  Buddei  Isagoge  ad  Theologium,  lib.  i.  cap.  ii. 
sect.  2.  p.  441,  as  also  Walchii  Inlroduetio  in  libros  Sym- 
bolicos,  lib.  i.  cap.  ii.  p.  87. 

f  This  opiuioii  is  confirmed  in  the  most  learned  and  in- 
genious manner  by  Sir  I'eler  King,  in  his  history  of  the 
Apostles' Creed.  Such,  however,  as  read  this  valuable 
work  with  pleasure,  and  with  a  certain  degree  of  pre- 
possession, would  do  well  to  consider  that  iU  author, 
upon  several  occasions,  has  given  us  conjectures  instead 
of  proofs;  and  also,  that  liis  conjectures  are  not  always' 
so  happy  as  justly  to  command  our  assent. 


Chap.  III. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


43 


instructed;  tlie  other,  tlioso  who  were  ac- 
quainted witli  Httle  more  than  the  first  princi- 
ples of  religion;  nor  do  they  deny  tlwt  the 
methods  of  instruction  applied  to  these  two  '• 
sorts  of  persons  were  extremely  difl'erent.         i 

VII.  The  Christians  took  all  possihlc  care 
to  accustom  their  children  to  the  st\idy  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  to  instruct  tiiem  in  the  doc- 
trines of  their  holy  religion;  and  schools  were 
every  where  erected  for  this  purpose,  even 
from  the  very  commencement  oi'  the  Christian 
church.  We  must  not,  however,  confound  the  i 
schools  designed  only  for  children,  with  the  { 
gytnnasia  or  academies  of  the  ancient  Chris- ' 
tians,  erected  in  several  large  cities,  in  which 
persons  of  riper  years,  especially  such  as  as- , 
pired  to  be  public  teachers,  were  instructed  in  | 
the  different  branches,  both  of  human  learn-  ; 
ing  and  of  sacred  erudition.  We  may,  un-: 
doulitedly,  attribute  to  the  apostles  themselves, : 
and  to  the  injunctions  given  to  their  disciples, 
the  excellent  establishments,  in  which  the 
youth  destined  to  the  holy  ministry  received  i 
an  education  suitable  to  the  solemn  office  they  j 
were  to  undertake.*  St.  John  erected  a  scliool  i 
of  this  kind  at  Ephesus,  and  one  of  the  same 
nature  was  founded  by  Polycarp  at  Smyrnaif  | 
but  these  were  not  in  greater  repute  than  that ' 
which  was  established  at  Alexandria,^  com-  | 
monly  called  the  catechetical  school,  and  gene- 
rally supposed  to  have  been  erected  by  St. ! 
Mark.§  i 

VIII.  The  ancient  Christians  are  supposed 
by  many  to  have  had  a  secret  doctrine;  and  if  | 
by  this  be  meant,  that  they  did  not  teach  all ; 
in  the  same  manner,  or  reveal  all  at  once,  and  | 
to  all  indiscriminately,  the  sublime  mysteries  \ 
of  religion,  there  is  nothing  in  this  that  may  ; 
not  be  fully  justified.  It  would  have  been  I 
improper,  for  example,'  to  propose  to  those  who 
were  yet  to  be  converted  to  Christianity,  the  ' 
more  difficult  doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  which  ! 
surpass  the  comprehension  of  imperfect  mor- 
tals. Such  were,  therefore,  first  instructed  in  j 
those  points  whidi  are  more  obvious  and  plain, 
until  they  became  capable  of  higher  and  more  i 
difficult  attainments  in  religious  knowledge. 
And  even  those  who  were  already  admitted 
into  the  society  of  Christians,  were,  in  point 
of  instruction,  dilVcrently  dealt  with  according 
to  their  respective  capacities.  Those  who  con- 
sider the  secret  doctrine  of  this  century  in  any 
other  light,  or  give  to  it  a  greater  extent  than 
what  we  have  here  attributed  to  it,  confound 
the  superstitious   practices   of  the   following 

*  2  Tim.  ii.  2. 

f  Ircnxus,  adv.  Haeres.  lib.  ii.  cap.  xxii.  Eusebius,  Hist. 
Ecclts.  lib.  V.  cap.  xx. 

QQ=-  \  The  Alexandrian  School  was  renowned  for  a 
succession  of  learned  doctors,  as  wc  find  by  the  accounts 
of  Eusebius  and  St.  Jerom;  for,  after  St.  Mark,  Pan- 
tsenus,  Clemens  Alexandrinus,  Origen,  and  many  others, 
taught  in  it  the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  and  rendered  it 
a  famous  seminary  for  Christian  philosophy  and  religious 
knowledge.  There  were  also  at  Home,  Aniioeh,  Ciesa- 
rea,  Edessa,  and  in  several  other  cities,  schools  of  the 
same  nature,  though  not  all  of  equal  reputation. 

^  See  the  dissertation  of  Schmidius,  de  Sehola  Catc- 
chetica  Alexandrina;  as  also  .\ulisius,  dcllc  Scuole  Sacre, 
book  ii.  ch.  i.  ii.  xxi.  The  curious  reader  will  find  a 
learned  account  of  the  more  famous  Christian  schools  iu 
the  eastern  parts,  at  Edessa,  Nisibis,  and  Seleucia;  and, 
indeed,  of  the  ancient  schools  in  general,  in  Assemani 
Biblioth.  Oriental.  Clement.  Vaticana:,  torn.  iii.  par.  ii. 


ages,  with  the  simplicity  of  that  discipline 
which  prevailed  at  the  time  of  wliich  we 
write. ^ 

IX.  The  lives  and  manners  of  the  Chris- 
tians in  this  century  are  highly  celebrated  by 
most  autliors,  and  recommended  to  succeeding 
generations  as  unspotted  models  of  piety  and 
virtue;  and,  if  these  encomiums  be  confined 
to  the  greater  part  of  those  who  embraced 
Christianity  in  the  infancy  of  the  church,  they 
are  certainly  distributed  with  justice:  but  many 
run  into  extremes  upon  this  head,  and,  estimat- 
ing the  lives  and  manners  of  all  by  the  illus- 
trious examples  of  some  eminent  saints,  or  the 
sublime  precepts  and  exhortations  of  certain 
pious  doctors,  fondly  imagine,  that  every  ap- 
pearance of  vice  and  disorder  was  banished 
from  the  first  Christian  societies.  The  greatest 
part  of  those  authors  who  have  treated  of  the 
innocence  and  sanctity  of  the  primitive  Chris- 
tians, have  fallen  into  this  error;  and  a  gross 
error  indeed  it  is,  as  the  strongest  testimonies 
too  evidently  prove. 

X.  One  of  the  circumstances  which  contri- 
buted chiefly  to  preserve,  at  least,  an  external 
appearance  of  sanctity  in  the  Christian  church, 
was  the  right  of  excluding  from  it,  and  from 
all  participation  of  tjie  sacred  rites  and  ordi- 
nances of  the  Gospel,  sucli  as  had  been  guilty 
of  enormous  transgressions,  and  to  whom  re- 
peated e.xliortations  to  repentance  and  amend- 
ment had  been  administered  in  vain.  This 
right  was  vested  in  the  ciuirch  from  the  ear- 
liest period  of  its  existence,  by  the  apostles 
themselves,  and  was  exercised  by  each  Cliris- 
tian  assembly  upon  its  respective  members. 
The  rulers,  or  doctors,  denounced  the  persons 
whom  they  thought  unworthy  of  the  privileges 
of  church  communion;  and  the  people,  freely 
approving  or  rejecting  their  judgment,  pro- 
noimced  the  decisive  sentence.  It  was  not, 
however,  irrevocable;  for  such  as  gave  un- 
doubted signs  of  their  sincere  repentance,  and 
declared  their  solemn  resolutions  of  future  re- 
formation, were  re-admitted  into  the  church, 
however  enormous  their  crimes  had  been;  but, 
in  case  of  a  rela])se,  their  second  e.vclusion  be- 
came absolutely  irreversible.! 

XI.  It  will  easily  be  imagined,  that  unity 
and  peace  could  not  reign  long  in  the  church, 
since  it  was  composed  of  Jews  and  Gentiles, 
who  regarded  each  other  with  the  bitterest 
aversion.  Besides,  as  the  converts  to  Chris- 
tianity could  not  extirpate  radically  the  pre- 
judices which  had  been  formed  in  their  minds 
by  education,  and  confirmed  by  time,  they 
brought  with  thom  into  the  bosom  of  the 
church  more  or  less  of  the  errors  of  their  for- 
mer religion.  Thus  the  seeds  of  discortl  and 
controversy  were  early  sown,  and  could  not 
fail  to  spring  up  soon  into  animosities  and  dis- 
sensions, which  accordingly  broke  out,  and  di- 
vided the  church.  The  first  of  these  contro- 
versies arose  in  the  church  of  Antiocii.  It  re- 
garded the  necessity  of  observing  the  law  of 


*  Many  learned  observations  upon  the  secret  discijiUne 
have  been  collected  by  the  celebrated  Chrisloph.  Matt. 
Pfaffius,  in  his  Dissert,  poster,  de  Pra!judicii»  Theolug. 
sect.  13,  p.  149,  &c.  in  Primiliis  Tnhiiigpusibus. 

t  See  Morinus,  Comm.  de  Disciplina  Puenitentix,  lib. 
ix.  cap.  xix.  p.  670. 


44 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


Moses;  and  its  issue  is  mentioned  by  St.  Luke 
in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.*  This  controversy 
was  followed  by  many  others,  eitlier  with  the 
Jews,  who  were  violently  attached  to  the  wor- 
ship of  their  ancestors,  or  witli  the  votaries  of 
a  wild  and  fanatical  sort  of  phiJosopIiy,  or 
with  such  as,  mistaking  the  true  genius  of  the 
Christian  religion,  abused  it  monstrously  to  tlie 
encouragement  of  their  vices,  and  the  indul- 
gence of  their  appetites  and  passions.f  St. 
Paul  and  the  other  apostles  have,  in  several 
places  of  their  writings,  mentioned  these  con- 
troversies, but  with  such  brevity,  that  it  is  dif- 
ficult, at  this  distance  of  time,  to  discover  the 
true  state  of  the  question  in  these  various 
disputes. 

XII.  The  most  weighty  and  important  of  all 
these  controversies,  was  that  which  some  Jew- 
ish doctors  raised  at  Rome,  and  in  other 
Christian  churches,  concerning  the  means  of 
justification  and  acceptance  with  God,  and  the 
method  of  salvation  pointed  out  in  the  word 
of  God.  The  apostles,  wherever  they  exer- 
cised their  ministry,  had  constantly  declared 
all  hopes  of  acceptance  and  salvation  delusive, 
except  such  as  were  founded  on  Jesus  the  Re- 
deemer, and  his  all-sufficient  merits,  while  the 
Jewish  doctors  maintained  the  works  of  the 
law  to  be  the  true  efiicient  cause  of  tlie  souPs 
eternal  salvation  and  felicity.  The  latter  sen- 
timent not  only  led  to  other  errors  prejudicial 
to  Christianity,  but  was  particularly  injurious 
to  the  glory  of  its  divine  author;  for  tliose  who 
looked  upon  a  course  of  life  conformable  to  the 
law,  as  a  meritorious  title  to  eternal  happiness, 
could  not  consider  Christ  as  the  Son  of  God, 
and  the  Saviour  of  mankind,  but  only  as  an 
eminent  prophet,  or  a  divine  messenger,  sent 
from  above  to  enlighten  and  instruct  a  darken- 
ed world.  It  is  not,  therefore,  surprising,  that 
St.  Paul  took  so  much  pains  in  his  Epistle  to 
the  Romans,  and  in  his  other  writings,  to  ex- 
tirpate such  a  pernicious  and  capital  error. 

Xni.  The  controversy  that  had  been  raised 
concerning  the  necessity  of  observing  tlie  cere- 
monies of  the  Mosaic  law,  was  detennined  by 
the  apostles  in  the  wisest  and  most  prudent 
manner.};  Their  authority,  however,  respec- 
table as  it  was,  had  not  its  full  effect;  for  the 
prejudices,  which  the  Jews,  especially  those 
who  lived  in  Palestine,  entertained  in  favour 
of  the  Mosaic  law  and  their  ancient  worship, 
were  so  deeply  rooted  in  their  minds,  that  they 
could  not  be  thoroughly  removed.  The  force 
of  these  prejudices  was  indeed,  somewhat  di- 
minished after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem 
and  the  ruin  of  the  temple,  but  not  entirely 
destroyed.  And  hence,  as  we  shall  see  in  its 
place,  a  part  of  the  judaizing  Christians  sepa- 
rated themselves  from  the  rest,  and  formed  a 
particular  sect,  distinguished  by  their  adhe- 
rence to  the  law  of  Moses. 


*  Chap.  XV. 

t  See,  for  an  illustration  of  these  points,  Witsius' 
Missellanea  Sacra,  torn.  ii.  Ksercit.  xx.  xxi.  xxii.  p.  668., 
and  also  Camp.  Vitringa,  Observ.  Sacrae,  lib.  iv.,  cap.  ix. 
X.  xi.,  p.  952. 

}  Acts  xr. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Concerning  the  Rites  and  Ceremonies  used  in  the 
Church  during  this  Century. 

I.  The  Christian  rehgion  was  singularly 
commendable  on  account  of  its  beautiful  and 
divine  simplicity,  which  appears  from  its  two 
great  and  fundamental  principles — faith  and 
charity.  This  simplicity  was  not,  however, 
incompatible  with  external  ceremonies  and 
positive  institutions,  which,  indeed,  are  neces- 
sary, in  this  imperfect  state,  to  keep  alive  a 
sense  of  religion  in  the  minds  of  men.  The 
rites  instituted  by  Christ  himself  were  only  two 
in  number;  and  these  were  intended  to  con- 
tinue to  the  end  of  the  church  here  below, 
without  any  variation.  These  rites  were  bap- 
tism and  the  holy  supper,  which  are  not  to  be 
considered  as  mere  ceremonies,  nor  yet  as  sym- 
bolic representations  only,  but  also  as  ordinan- 
ces accompanied  with  a  sanctifying  influence 
upon  the  heart  and  the  affections  of  true 
Christians.  And  we  cannot  help  observing 
here,  that  since  the  divine  Saviour  thought  fit 
to  appoint  no  more  than  two  plain  institutions 
in  his  church,  this  shows  us  that  a  great  num- 
ber of  ceremonies  are  not  essential  to  his  reli- 
gion, and  that  he  left  it  to  the  free  and  pru- 
dent choice  of  Cluistians  to  establish  such  rites 
as  tlie  circumstances  of  the  times,  or  the  exi- 
gencies of  the  church,  might  require. 

II.  There  are  several  circumstances,  how- 
ever, which  incline  us  to  tliink,  that  tlie  friends 
and  apostles  of  our  blessed  Lord  either  tolerat- 
ed through  necessity,  or  appointed  for  wise 
reasons,  many  other  external  rites  in  various 
places.  At  the  same  time,  we  are  not  to  ima- 
gine that  they  ever  conferred  upon  any  person 
a  perpetual,  indelible,  pontifical  authority,  or 
that  they  enjoined  the  same  rites  in  all  churches. 
We  learn  on  the  contrary,  from  authentic  re- 
cords, that  the  Christian  worship  was,  from  the 
beginning,  celebrated  in  a  different  manner  in 
different  places,  undoubtedly  by  the  orders,  or 
at  least  with  the  approbation  of  the  apostles 
and  their  disciples.  In  those  early  times  it  was 
both  wise  and  necessary  to  show,  in  the  esta- 
blishment of  outward  forms  of  worship,  some 
indulgence  to  the  ancient  opinions,  manners, 
and  laws  of  the  respective  nations  to  which 
the  Gospel  was  preached. 

III.  Hence  it  follows  that  the  opinion  of 
those  who  maintain  that  the  Jewish  rites  were 
adopted  every  where,  in  the  Christian  churches, 
by  order  of  the  apostles,  or  their  disciples,  is 
destitute  of  all  foimdation.  In  those  Christian 
societies,  which  were  totally  or  principally  com- 
posed of  Jewish  converts,  it  was  natural  to  re- 
tain as  much  of  the  Jewish  ritual  as  the  genius 
of  Christianity  would  suffer;  and  a  multitude 
of  examples  testify  that  this  was  actually  done. 
But  that  the  same  translation  of  Jewish  rites 
should  take  place  in  Cliristian  churches,  where 
there  were  no  Jews,  or  a  very  small  and  incon- 
siderable number,  is  utterly  incredible,  because 
such  an  event  was  morally  impossible.  In  a 
word,  the  external  forms  of  worship  used  in 
ancient  times,  must  necessarily  have  been  r?- 


Chap.  IV. 


RITES  AND  CEREMONIES. 


45 

in  those  perilous  times,  attended  their  transpor 
tatiou  from  one  place  to  another.  And  then, 
probabl}',  the  places  of  meeting,  that  had  for- 
merly belonged  to  private  persons,  became  the 
property  of  the  whole  Christian  conununity.* 
These  few  remarks  are,  in  my  opinion,  suf- 
ficient to  detenninc  that  question,  which 
has  been  so  long,  and  so  tediously  debated, — 
whether  the  fust  Christians  had  churclies  or 
not;t  since  if  any  are  pleased  to  give  the  name 
of  cliurch  to  a  house,  or  the  part  of  a  house, 
which,  though  appointed  as  the  place  of  reli- 
gious worship,  was  neither  separated  from  com- 
mon use,  nor  considered  as  holy  in  the  opinion 
of  the  people,  it  will  be  readily  granted,  that 
the  most  ancient  Christians  had  churches. 

VI.  In  these  assemblies  the  holy  scriptures 
were  publicly  read,  and  for  that  purpose  were 
divided  into  certain  portions  or  lessons.  This 
part  of  divine  service  was  followed  by  a  brief 
exhortation  to  the  people,  in  which  eloquence 
and  art  gave  place  to  the  natural  and  lerveut 
expression  of  zeal  and  charity.  If  any  de- 
clared themselves  extraordinarily  animated  by 
the  Spirit,  they  were  permitted  to  explain  sue 
cessively  the  divine  will,  while  the  other  pro- 
phets who  were  present  decided  how  much 
weight  and  authority  were  to  be  attributed  to 
what  they  said. J  The  prayers,  which  formed 
a  considerable  part  of  the  public  worship,  were 
introduced  at  the  conclusion  of  these  discour- 
ses, and  were  repeated  by  the  people  after  the 
bishop  or  presbyter,  who  presided  in  the  ser- 
vice.§  To  these  were  added  certain  hymns, 
which  were  simg,  not  by  the  whole  assembly, 
but  by  persons  appointed  for  that  purpose,  dur- 
ing the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  supper,  and 
the  feasts  of  charity.  Such  were  the  essential 
parts  of  divine  worship  which  were  observed  in 
all  Christian  churches,  though,  perhaps  the 
method  and  order  in  which  they  were  perform- 
ed were  not  the  same  in  all.|| 

VII.  The  prayers  of  the  first  Christians  were 
followed  by  oblations  of  bread,  wine,  and  other 
things;  and  hence  both  the  ministers  of  the 
cliurch  and  the  poor,  derived  their  subsistence. 
Every  Christian,  who  was  in  an  opulent  con- 
dition, and  indeed  every  one,  according  to  his 
circimistances,  brought  gifts  and  offered  them, 
as  it  were,  to  the  Lord.lF  Of  the  bread  and 
wine  presented  in  these  offerings,  such  a  quan- 
tity was  separated  from  the  rest  as  was  requir- 
ed in  the  administration  of  the  Lord's  supper; 
this  was  consecrated  by  certain  prayers  pro- 
nounced by  the  bishop  alone,  to   wliich   the 


gulated  and  modified  according  to  the  cliarac- 
ter,  genius,  and  manners  of  the  different  na- 
tions on  which  tiie  light  of  the  Gosi>cl  arose 

IV.  Since  then  there  was  such  a  variety 
in  the  ritual  and  discipline  of  the  primitive 
churches,  it  must  be  very  difficult  to  give  such 
an  account  of  the  worship,  manners,  and  in- 
stitutions, of  the  ancient  Christians,  as  will 
agree  with  what  was  practised  in  all  those 
countries  where  the  Gospel  flourished.  There 
are,  notwithstanding,  certain  laws,  whose  au- 
thority and  obligation  were  universal  and  in- 
dispensable among  Christians;  and  of  these  we 
shall  here  give  a  brief  account.  All  Clmstians 
were  unanimous  in  setting  apart  the  first  day 
of  the  week,  on  which  the  triumphant  Saviour 
arose  from  the  dead,  for  the  solemn  celebra- 
tion of  public  worship.  This  pious  custom, 
which  was  derived  from  the  example  of  the 
church  of  Jerusalem,  was  founded  upon  the 
express  appointment  of  the  apostles,  who  con- 
secrated that  day  to  the  same  sacred  purpose, 
and  was  observed  luiiversally  throughout  the 
Christian  churches,  as  appears  from  the  united 
testimonies  of  the  most  credible  writers.*  The 
seventh  diiy  of  the  week  was  also  observed  as 
a  festival,!  not  by  the  Christians  in  general, 
but  by  such  churches  only  as  were  principally 
composed  of  Jewish  converts;  nor  did  the  other 
Christians  censure  this  custom  as  criminal  or 
unlawful.  It  appears,  moreover,  that  all  the 
Christian  churches  observed  two  great,  anniver- 
sary festivals;  one  in  memory  of  Christ's  glo- 
rious resurrection,  and  the  other  to  commemo- 
rate the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost  upon  the 
apostles.|  To  these  we  may  add  the  days  on 
which  the  blessed  martyrs  laid  down  their  lives 
for  the  truth,  which  days  were  probably  digni- 
fied with  particular  solemnities  and  marks  of 
veneration  from  the  earliest  times. 

V.  The  places  in  which  the  first  Christians 
assembled  to  celebrate  divine  worsliip,  were,  no 
doubt,  the  houses  of  private  persons.  But,  in 
process  of  time,  it  became  necessary,  that  these 
sacred  assemblies  should  be  confined  to  one 
fixed  place  in  which  the  books,  tables,  and 
desks,  required  in  divine  service,  might  be  con- 
stantly kept,  and  the  dangers  avoided,  which 


*  Phil.  Jac.  Hartmannus,  de  rebus  gestis  Christianorum 
sub  Apostolis,  cap.  xv.  p.  387.  Just.  Hen.  Bohmer,  Dis- 
sert. 1.  Juris  Eccles.  Autiqui  de  slato  die  Christianor. 
p.  20,  &c. 

t  Stcph.  Curcellsu?,  Diatriba  de  Esu  Sanguinis,  Ope- 
rum  Theolog.  p.  958.  Gab.  Albaspinaus,  Observat.  Ec- 
cles. lib.  i.  Observ.  xiii.  It  is  in  vain  that  many  learned 
men  have  laboured  to  prove,  that,  in  all  the  primitive 
churches,  both  the  first  and  last  day  of  the  week  were 
observed  as  festivals.  The  cliurches  of  Bilhynia,  of  which 
riiny  speaks  in  his  letter  to  Trajan,  had  only  one  stated 
day  for  tlie  celebration  of  public  worship;  and  that  was, 
undoubtedly,  the  first  day  of  the  week,  or  what  we  call 
the  Lord's  day. 

{  There  are,  it  is  true,  learned  men,  who  look  upon 
it  as  a  doubtful  matter  whether  the  day  of  Pentecost  was 
celebrated  as  a  festival  so  early  as  the  first  century.  See 
Bingham's  Antiquities  of  the  Cliristian  Church,  book 
XX.  chap.  vi.  But,  notwithstanding  this,  there  are  some 
weighty  reasons  for  believing  that  this  festival  was  as 
ancient  as  that  of  Easter,  which  was  celebrated,  as  all 
agree,  from  the  very  first  rise  of  the  church.  It  is  also 
probable  that  Friday,  the  day  of  Christ's  crucifixiou,  was 
early  distinguished  by  particular  honours  from  the  other 
days  of  the  week.  Sec  Jac.  Godofred,  in  Codicem 
Theodosii,  torn.  i.  Asseman.  Biblioth.  Oriental,  Vatican, 
torn.  i.  Marteuue,  Thesaur.  Anccdot,  torn.  v. 


*  See  Camp.  Vilringa,  de  Synagoga  vetere,  lib.  i.  par. 
iii.  cap.  i.  p.  432. 

f  See  Blondel,  de  Episcopis  et  Presbyteris,  sect.  iii.  p. 
216,  243,  246.  Just.  Hen.  Bohmer,  Dissert,  ii.  Juris 
Eccles.  Antiqui,  de  Antelucanis  Christianorum  Costibus, 
sect.  4.  Bingham's  Antiquities  of  the  Christian  Church, 
book  viii.  chap.  i. 

t  1  Cor.  xiv.  6. 

§  See  Justin  Martyr's  second  Apology,  p.  98,  &c. 

II  This  must  be  understood  of  churches  well  established, 
and  regulated  by  fixed  laws;  for,  in  the  first  Christian 
assemblies,  which  were  yet  in  an  imperfect  and  fluctuating 
state,  one  or  other  of  these  circumstances  of  divine  wor- 
ship may  possibly  have  been  omitted. 

IT  See  the  dissertations  of  the  venerable  and  learned 
Pfaff,  de  Oblatione  et  Consicratione  Eucharistica, 
which  are  contained  in  his  Syntagma  Dissertation.  Theo- 
logic,  published  at  Stutgard  in  ITiO. 


46 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


people  assented,  by  saying  Amen.*  Tlie  holy 
supper  was  distributed  by  tlie  deacons;  and 
this  sacred  institution  was  followed  by  sober 
repasts,  denominated  (from  the  excellent  pur- 
pose to  wliich  they  were  directed,)  agapoi,  or 
feasts  of  charity. t  Many  attempts  have  been 
made  to  fix  precisely  the  nature  of  these  social 
feasts.  But  here  it  must  be  again  considered, 
that  the  rites  and  customs  of  the  primitive 
Christians  were  very  different  in  different 
countries,  and  that  consequently  these  feasts, 
like  otiier  institutions,  were  not  every  where 
celebrated  in  the  same  manner.  This  is  the 
true  and  only  way  of  explaining  all  the  diffi- 
culties that  can  arise  upon  this  subject. 

VIII.  The  sacrament  of  baptism  was  ad- 
ministered in  this  century,  without  the  public 
assemblies,  in  places  appointed  and  prepared 
for  tliat  purpose,  and  was  performed  by  an  im- 
mersion of  the  whole  body  in  the  baptismal 
font.J  At  fi:-st  it  was  usual  for  all  who  labour- 
ed in  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel,  to  be 
present  at  that  solemn  ceremony;  and  it  was 
also  customary,  that  the  converts  should  be 
baptized  and  received  into  the  church  by  those 
under  whose  ministry  they  had  embraced  tlie 
Christian  doctrine.  But  tiiis  custom  was  soon 
changed.  When  the  churches  were  well  esta- 
blished, and  governed  by  a  system  of  fixed  laws, 
then  the  right  of  baptizing  the  converts  was 
vested  in  the  bishop  alone.  This  right,  in- 
deed, he  conferred  upon  the  presbyters  and  the 
chorepiscopi  (country  bishops,)  when  the  bounds 
of  the  church  were  still  farther  enlarged;  re- 
serving, however,  to  himself  the  confirmation 
of  that  baptism  which  was  administered  by  a 
presbyter.  §  There  were,  doubtless,  several 
circmnstantial  ceremonies  observed  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  this  sacrament  for  the  sake  of 
order  and  decency.  Of  these,  however,  it  is 
not  easy,  nor  perhaps  is  it  possible  to  give  a 
certain  or  satisfactory  accomit,  since,  on  this 
subject  we  are  too  much  exposed  to  tlie  illu- 
sion wliich  arises  from  confounding  the  customs 
of  tlie  primitive  times  with  those  of  succeeding 
ages. 

IX.  Persons  who  were  visited  with  violent 
or  dangerous  disorders,  sent,  according  to  tlie 
apostle's  direction,  II  for  the  rulers  of  the  church, 
and,  after  confessing  their  sins,  were  recom- 
mended by  them  to  the  divine  mercy,  in  prayers 
full  of  piety  and  fervour,  and  were  also  anoint- 
ed with  oil.  This  rite  has  occasioned  many 
debates,  and,  indeed,  they  must  be  endless. 


♦  Justin  Martyr,  Apologia  secunda.  The  several  au- 
thors who  have  investigated  the  manner  of  celebrating 
the  Lord's  supper,  are  mentioned  by  Jo.  Alb.  Fabricius, 
in  his  Bibliograph.  Autiquar.  cap.  xi. 

t  The  authors  who  have  described  the  agapa  are  men 
tioned  by  Ittigius,  in  his  Selecta  Historia;  Eccles.  Capita, 
Saee.  ii.  cap.  iii.;  and  also  by  Pfaff,  de  Originibus  Juris 
Eccles.  p.  68. 

\  See  the  learned  dissertation  of  Jo.  Gerard  Vossius 
concerning  baptism,  Disp.  i.  Thes.  vi.  p.  31,  Sic.  The 
reader  will  also  find,  in  the  xith  chapter  and  xxvth  section 
of  the  Bibliogr.  Antiquar.  of  Fabricius,  an  account  of  the 
authors  who  have  written  upon  this  subject. 

Ij  These  observations  will  illustrate,  and,  perhaps,  de- 
cide the  question  concerning  the  right  of  administering 
baptism,  which  has  been  so  long  debated  among  tlie  learn- 
ed, and  with  such  ardour  and  vehemence.  See  Bohmer, 
Dissert,  xi.  Juris  Eccles.  p.  500;  and  also  Le  Clerc, 
Biblioth.  UniverscUe  et  Historinue,  torn.  iv.  p.  93. 

11  James  v.  14. 


since  the  silence  of  the  ancient  writers  upon 
that  Jiead  renders  it  impossible  to  decide  the 
matter  with  certainty.  The  anointing  of  the 
sick  is  very  rarely  mentioned  in  the  ancient 
records  of  the  church,  though  there  is  no  rea- 
son to  doubt  that  it  was  an  universal  custom 
among  Christians.* 

X.  Neither  Christ  nor  his  apostles  enacted 
any  law  concerning  fasling.  A  custom,  how- 
ever, prevailed  among  many  Christians,  of 
joining  abstinence  with  their  prayers,  espe- 
cially when  they  were  engaged  in  aflairs  of  - 
extraordinary  importance.!  As  this  custom 
was  authorized  by  no  public  law,  the  time  that 
was  to  be  employed  in  these  acts  of  abstinence 
was  left  to  every  one's  private  judgment;  nor 
were  those  looked  upon  as  criminal,  who  con- 
tented tliemselves  with  observing  the  rules  of 
strict  temperance,  without  going  farther.  J  In 
the  most  ancient  times  we  find  no  mention  of 
any  public  and  solemn  fasts,  except  on  the  an- 
niversary of  Christ's  crucifixion.  But,  in  pro- 
cess of  time,  days  of  fasting  were  gradually 
introduced,  first  by  custom,  and  afterwards  by 
positive  appointment,  though  it  is  not  certain 
what  those  days  were,  or  whether  they  were 
observed  in  the  first  century.  Those,  however, 
who  affu-m,  that  in  the  time  of  the  apostles, 
or  soon  after,  the  fourth  and  sixth  days  of  the 
week  were  observed  as  fasts,  are  not,  it  must 
be  acknowledged,  destitute  of  specious  argu- 
ments in  favour  of  their  opinion.^ 

CHAPTER  V. 

Conccrnins;  the  Divisions  and  Heresies  ichich 
troubled  the  Church  during  this  Century. 
I.  The  Christian  church  was  scarcely  form- 
ed, when,  in  different  places,  there  started  up 
certain  pretended  reformers,  who,  not  satisfied 
with  the  simplicity  of  that  religion  which  was 
taught  by  the  apostles,  meditated  changes  of 
doctrine  and  worship,  and  set  up  a  new  reli- 
gion, drawn  from  their  own  licentious  imagi- 
nations. This  we  learn  from  the  writings  of 
the  apostles,  and  particularly  from  the  epistles 
of  St.  Paul,  where  we  fmd,  that  some  were  in- 
clined to  force  the  doctrines  of  Christianity  into 
a  conformity  witii  the  philosophical  systems 
they  had  adopted, ||  while  others  were  as  studi- 
ous to  blend  with  these  doctrines  the  opinions, 
customs,  and  traditions  of  the  Jews.  Several 
of  these  are  mentioned  by  the  apostles,  such  as 
Hpnenaeus,  Alexander,  Philetus,  Hermogenes, 
Demas,  and  Diotrephes;  though  the  four  last 
are  rather  to  be  considered  as  apostates  from 
the  truth,  than  as  corrupters  of  it.H 


*  The  accounts  which  the  ancient  authors  have  given 
of  this  custom  are  the  most  of  them  collected  in  a  treatise 
published  by  Launoy,  de  Sacramentis  Unctionis  infirmo- 
rum,  cap.  i.  p.  444.  in  the  first  volume  of  his  works. 
Among  these  accounts  there  are  very  few  drawn  from 
the  writers  of  the  first  ages,  and  some  passages  applica- 
ble to  this  subject  have  been  omitted  by  that  learned  au- 
thor. 

f  1  Cor.vii.  5. 

I  See  the  Shepherd  of  Hermas,booli  iii.  Similitud.  v. 
§  See  Beverege's   Vindication   of  the   Canon,  in   the 

second  volume  of  his  edition  of  the  Apostolic  Fathers. 

II  1  Tim.  vi.  20.    1  Tim.  i.  3,  4.    Tit.  iii.  9.     Col.  ii.  8. 

TT  2  Tim.  ii.  18;  and  in  other  places.  See  also  the  ac- 
curate accounts  given  of  these  men  by  Vitringa,  ObserV. 
Sacr.  hb.  iv.  cap.  ix.  p.  952.  Ittigius,  de  Haeresiarchis 
jEvi  Apostol.  seel.  i.  cap.  viii.  Buddeus,  de  Ecclesia 
Apostolica,  cap.  v. 


Cha^.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


47 


II.  Tho  influence  of  these  new  teachers  was 
at  first  inconsiderable.  During  the  Hves  of  the 
apostles,  their  attempts  toward  tlie  perversion 
of  Christianity  were  attended  witli  htlle  suc- 
cess, and  they  had  a  very  small  number  of  fol- 
lowers. They,  however,  accpnred  credit  and 
strength  by  degrees;  and,  even  from  the  first 
dawn  of  the  Gospel,  imperceptibly  laid  the 
foundations  of  those  sects,  whose  animosilic^i 
and  disputes  produced  afterwards  such  trouble 
and  perplexity  in  tho  Christian  chmcli.  The 
true  state  of  these  divisions  is  more  involved 
in  darkness  than  any  other  part  of  ecclesiasti' 
cal  history;  and  this  obscurity  proceeds,  partly 
from  the  want  of  ancient  records,  partly  from 
the  abstruse  and  unintelligible  nature  of  the 
doctrines  tliat  distinguished  these  various  sects; 
and,  finally,  from  the  ignorance  and  prejudices 
of  those,  who  have  transmitted  to  us  the  ac- 
counts of  them,  which  are  yet  extant.  Of  one 
thing,  indeed,  we  are  certain,  and  that  is,  that 
the  greater  part  of  these  doctrines  were  chime- 
rical and  extravagant  in  the  highest  degree; 
and,  far  from  containing  any  thing  that  could 
recommend  them  to  a  lover  of  truth,  they  ra- 
ther deserve  to  occupy  a  place  in  the  history  of 
human  delusion  and  folly.* 

III.  Among  the  various  sects  that  troubled 
the  tranquillity  of  the  Christian  church,  the 
leading  one  was  that  of  the  Gnostics.  These 
enthusiastic  and  self-sufficient  philosophers 
boasted  of  their  being  able  to  restore  mankind 
to  the  knowledge  (gnos'is)  of  the  true  and  Su- 
preme Being,  which  had  been  lost  in  the  world. 
They  also  foretold  the  approaching  defeat  of 
the  evil  principle,  to  vvliom  they  attributed  the 
creation  of  this  globe,  and  declared,  in  the  most 
pompous  terms,  the  destruction  of  his  associ- 
ates, and  the  ruin  of  his  empire.  An  opinion 
has  prevailed,  derived  from  the  authority  of 
Clemens  the  Alexandrian,  that  the  first  ap- 
pearance of  the  Gnostic  sect  is  to  be  dated 
after  the  death  of  the  apostles,  and  placed  in 
the  reign  of  the  emperor  Adrian;  and  it  is  also 
alleged,  that,  before  this  time,  the  church  en- 
joyed a  perfect  tranquillity,  undisturbed  by  dis- 
sensions, or  sects  of  any  kind.  But  the  small- 
est degree  of  attention  to  the  language  of  the 
Scriptures,  not  to  mention  the  authority  of 
other  ancient  records,  will  prevent  us  from 
adopting  this  groundless  notion.  For,  from 
several  passages  of  the  sacred  writings,!  it  evi- 
dently appears,  that,  even  in  the  first  century, 
the  general  Christian  meeting  was  deserted, 
and  separate  assemblies  were  formed  in  several 


*  Certain  authors  have  written  professedly  of  the  sects 
that  divided  the  cliureh  in  this,  and  tlie  following  century, 
such  as  Ittigius,  in  his  treatise  de  Hseresiarchis  JFj\i 
Apostolici  et  Apostolico  proximi,and  also  in  the  Appendix 
to  the  same  work;  Renatus  Massuet,  in  his  Dissertations 
prefixed  to  Irensus,  and  Tillemont,  in  his  Menioirts 
pour  servir  a  I'llistoire  de  I'Eglise.  But  these  authors, 
and  others  whom  we  shall  not  mention,  have  ratlier  col- 
lected the  materials  from  which  a  history  of  the  ancient 
sects  may  be  composed,  than  written  their  history. 
HinckelmaUjTliomasius,  Dodwell,  Horbius,  and  13aiii:igi-, 
have  some  of  them  promised,  others  of  them  attempti  d 
such  a  history;  but  none  of  tlicm  finished  this  useful  de- 
sign. It  is  therefore  to  be  wished  that  some  eminent 
writer,  who,  with  a  competent  knowledge  of  ancient 
philosophy  and  literature,  also  possesses  a  penetrating 
and  unbiassed  judcraeut,  would  uiideilakc  this  difficult 
but  interesting  work. 

t  1  John  ii.  18.    1  Tim.  vi.  20.    Col.  ii.  8, 


l)laccs,  by  persons  infected  with  the  Gnostic 
heresy;  thougli,  at  the  same  time,  it  must  be 
acknowledged,  that  this  pernicious  sect  was 
not  cons()icuous,  either  for  its  ininibcr,  or  its 
reputation,  before  the  time  of  Adrian.  It  is 
proper  to  observe  here,  that,  under  the  general 
appellation  of  Gnostics,  are  com])rehendc<l  all 
those  who,  in  the  first  ages  of  Christianity,  cor- 
rupted the  doctrine  of  the  Gospel  by  a  profane 
mixture  of  the  tenets  of  the  oriental  philoso- 
phy (concerning  the  origin  of  evil  and  the 
creation  of  the  world,)  with  its  divine  truths. 
IV.  It  was  from  this  oriental  philosophy,  of 
which  the  leading  principles  have  been  already 
mentioned,  that  the  Christian  Gnostics  deriv- 
ed their  origin.  If  it  was  one  of  the  chief 
tenets  of  this  philoso])hy,  that  rational  souls 
were  imprisoned  in  corrupt  matter,  contrary  to 
the  will  of  the  Supreme  Deity,  there  were, 
however,  in  this  same  system,  other  doctrines 
which  promised  a  deliverance  from  tliis  deplo- 
rable state  of  servitude  and  darkness.  Tlie 
oriental  sages  expected  the  arrival  of  an  extra- 
ordinary messenger  of  the  Most  High  upon 
earth;  a  messenger  invested  with  a  divine  au- 
thority, endowed  with  the  most  eminent  sanc- 
tity and  wisdom,  and  peculiarly  commissioned 
to  enlighten,  with  the  knowledge  of  the  Su- 
pretne  Being,  the  darkened  minds  of  miserable 
mortals,  and  to  deliver  them  from  the  chains  of 
the  tyrants,  and  usurpers  of  this  world.  Wlien, 
therefore,  some  of  these  philosophers  perceived 
that  Christ  and  his  followers  wrought  miracles 
of  tlie  most  amazing  kind,  and  also  of  the  most 
salutary  nature  to  mankind,  they  were  easily 
induced  to  believe  that  he  was  the  great  Mes- 
senger expected  from  above,  to  deliver  men 
from  the  power  of  the  malignant  genii,  or 
spirits,  to  which,  according  to  their  doctrine, 
the  world  was  subjected,  and  to  free  their  souls 
from  tlie  dominion  of  corrupt  matter. — This 
supposition  once  admitted,  they  interpreted,  or 
rather  corrupted,  all  the  precepts  and  doctrines 
of  Christ  and  his  apostles,  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  reconcile  them  with  their  own  pernicious 
tenets. 

V.  From  the  false  principle  above  mention- 
ed, arose,  as  it  was  natural  to  expect,  a  multi- 
tude of  sentiments  and  notions,  most  remote 
from  the  tenor  of  the  gospel  doctrines,  and  tho 
nature  of  its  precepts.  The  Gnostic  doctrine, 
concerning  the  creation  of  the  world  by  one  or 
more  inferior  beings,  of  an  evil,  or,  at  least,  of 
an  imperfect  nature,  led  that  sect  to  deny  the 
divine  authority  of  the  books  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, whose  accounts  of  the  origin  of  things 
so  palpably  contradictetl  this  idle  fiction. — 
Through  a  frantic  aversion  to  these  sacred 
books,  they  lavished  their  encomiiuns  upon  the 
sei-jient,  the  first  author  of  sin,  and  held  in  ve- 
neration some  of  the  most  impious  and  profli- 
gate persons  of  whom  mention  is  made  in  sa- 
cred liistory.  The  pernicious  iiilluence  of 
their  fundamental  principle  carried  them  to  all 
sorts  of  extravagance,  filled  them  with  an  ab- 
horrence of  Moses  and  the  religion  he  taught, 
and  induced  them  to  assert,  tiiat  in  imposing 
such  a  system  of  disagreeable  and  severe  laws 
upon  the  Jews,  he  was  only  actuated  by  the 
maligirant  author  of  this  world,  who  consulted 
his  own  glory  and  authority,  and  not  the  real 


48 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OI'  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


advantage  of  men.  Their  persuasion  that  evil 
resided  in  matter,  as  its  centre  and  source,  pre- 
vented their  treating  the  hody  with  the  regard 
that  is  due  to  it,  rendered  tliem  inifavourable 
to  wedlock,  as  the  means  by  which  corporeal 
beings  are  multiplied,  and  led  them  to  reject 
the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body, 
and  its  future  re-union  with  the  immortal 
spirit.  Their  notion  that  malevolent  genii  pre- 
tsided  in  nature,  and  that  from  them  proceeded 
all  diseases  and  calamities,  wars  and  desola- 
tions, induced  them  to  apply  themselves  to  the 
study  of  magic,  to  weaken  the  powers  or  sus- 
pend the  influences  of  these  malignant  agents. 
I  omit  the  mention  of  several  other  extrava- 
gances in  their  system,  the  enumeration  of 
which  would  be  incompatible  with  the  charac- 
ter of  a  compendious  history. 

VI.  The  notions  of  this  sect  concerning  Je- 
sus Christ  were  impious  and  extravagant.  For, 
though  they  considered  him  as  the  Son  of  the 
Supreme  God,  sent  from  the  pleroma,  or  habi- 
tation of  the  Everlasting  Father,  for  the  hap- 
piness of  miserable  mortals,  yet  they  enter- 
tained unworthy  ideas,  both  of  his  person  and 
offices.  They  denied  his  deity,  looking  upon 
him  as  the  mere  Son  of  God,  and  consequent- 
ly inferior  to  the  Father;  and  they  rejected  his 
humanity,  upon  the  supposition  that  every 
thing  concrete  and  corporeal  is,  in  itself,  essen- 
tially and  intrinsically  evil.  Hence  the  great- 
est part  of  the  Gnostics  denied  that  Christ  was 
clothed  with  a  real  body,  or  that  he  suffered 
really,  for  the  sake  of  manliind,  the  pains  and 
sorrows  which  he  is  said  to  have  sustained  in 
the  sacred  history.  They  maintained  that  he 
came  to  mortals  with  no  other  view,  than  to 
deprive  the  tjrrants  of  this  w"orld  of  their  influ- 
ence upon  virtuous  and  heaven  born  souls,  and, 
destroj'ing  the  empire  of  these  wicked  spirits, 
to  teach  mankind  how  they  might  separate  the 
divine  mind  from  the  impure  body,  and  render 
the  former  worthy  of  being  united  to  the  Fa- 
ther of  spirits. 

VII.  Their  doctrine,  relating  to  morals  and 
practice,  was  of  two  kinds,  which  were  ex- 
tremely different  from  each  other.  The  great- 
est part  of  this  sect  adopted  rules  of  life  that 
were  full  of  austerity,  recommended  a  strict 
and  rigorous  abstinence,  and  prescribed  the 
most  severe  bodily  mortifications,  from  a  notion 
that  these  observances  had  a  happy  influence 
in  purifying  and  enlarging  the  mind,  and  in 
disposing  it  for  the  contemplation  of  celestial 
things.  As  they  looked  upon  it  to  be  the  un- 
happiness  of  the  soul  to  have  been  associated, 
at  all,  to  a  malignant,  terrestrial  body,  so  they 
imagined  that  the  more  the  body  was  extenu- 
ated, the  less  it  would  corrupt  and  degrade  the 
mind,  or  divert  it  from  pursuits  of  a  spiritual 
and  divine  natm-e:  all  the  Gnostics,  however, 
were  not  so  severe  in  their  moral  discipline. 
Some  maintained  that  there  was  no  moral  dif- 
ference in  human  actions;  and  thus  confound- 
ing right  and  wrong,  they  gave  a  loose  rein 
to  all  the  passions,  and  asserted  the  innocence 
of  following  blindly  all  their  motions,  and  of 
living  by  their  tumultuous  dictates.*     There 


See  the  Stromola  of  Clemens  .\lexandiinus,  lib.  iii. 


cap.  V. 


1  is  nothing  surprising  or  unaccountable  in  this 
j  difference  between  the  Gnostic  moralists;  for, 
i  when  we  examine  the  matter  with  attention, 
we  shall  find,  that  the  same  doctrine  may  very 
naturally  have  given  rise  to  these  opposite  sen- 
timents. As  they  all  deemed  the  body  the 
centre  and  source  of  evil,  those  of  that  sect, 
who  were  of  a  morose  and  austere  disposition, 
would  be  hence  naturally  led  to  mortify  and 
combat  the  body  as  the  enemy  of  the  soul;  and 
those  who  were  of  a  voluptuous  turn,  might 
also  consider  the  actions  of  the  body  as  having 
no  relation,  either  of  congruity  or  incongruity, 
to  the  state  of  a  soul  in  communion  with  God. 
VIII.  Such  extraordinary  doctrines  had  cer- 
tainly need  of  an  undoubted  authority  to  sup- 
port them;  and,  as  this  authority  was  not  to 
be  found  in  the  writings  of  the  evangelists  or 
apostles,  recourse  was  had  to  fables  and  strata- 
(gems.  When  the  Gnostics  were  challenged 
I  to  produce  the  sources  whence  they  had  drawn 
such  strange  tenets,  and  an  authority  proper  to 
justify  the  confidence  with  which  they  taught 
them,  some  referred  to  fictitious  writings  of 
Abraham,  Zoroaster,  Clirist,  and  his  apostles; 
others  boasted  of  their  having  drawn  these 
opinions  from  certain  secret  doctrines  of  Clirist, 
which  were  not  exposed  to  vulgar  eyes;  others 
affirmed,  that  they  had  arrived  at  these  sub- 
lime degrees  of  wisdom  by  an  innate  force 
and  vigour  of  mind;  and  some  asserted,  that 
they  were  instructed  in  these  mysterious  parts 
of  theological  science  by  Theudas,  a  disciple 
of  St.  Paul,  and  by  Matthias,  one  of  the  friends 
of  our  Lord.  As  to  those  among  the  Gnostics 
who  did  not  utterly  reject  the  books  of  the 
New  Testament,  it  is  proper  to  observe,  that 
they  not  only  interpreted  those  sacred  books 
most  absurdly,  by  neglecting  the  true  spirit  of 
the  words  and  the  intention  of  the  writers,  but 
also  corrupted  them,  in  the  most  perfidious 
manner,  by  curtailing  and  adding,  in  order  to 
remove  what  was  unfavourable,  or  to  produce 
something  conformable  to  their  pernicious  and 
extravagant  system. 

IX.  It  has  been  already  observed,  that  the 
Gnostics  were  divided  in  their  opinions  before 
they  embraced  Christianity.  This  appears- 
from  the  account  which  has  been  given  above 
of  the  oriental  philosophy;  and  hence  we  may 
see  the  reason  why  they  were  formed  into  so 
many  different  sects  after  their  receiving  the 
Christian  faith.  For,  as  all  of  them  endea- 
voured to  force  the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel 
into  a  conformity  with  their  particular  senti- 
ments and  tenets,  so  Christianity  must  liave 
appeared  in  various  forms,  among  the  different 
members  of  a  sect,  which  passed,  however, 
under  one  general  name.  Another  circum- 
stance, whicTi  contributed  to  this  diversity  of 
sects,  was,  tliat  some,  being  Jews  by  birth  (as 
Ccrintluis  and  otliers,)  could  not  so  easily  as- 
sume that  contempt  of  Moses,  and  tliat  aver- 
sion to  his  liistory,  which  were  so  virulently 
indidged  by  tliose  who  had  no  attachment  to 
the  Jewisli  nation  or  to  its  religious  institu- 
tions. We  may  also  observe,  that  the  whole 
Gnostic  system  was  destitute  of  any  sure  or 
solid  foundation,  and  depended  both  for  its  ex- 
istence and  support,  iijion  tlic  airy  suggestions 
of  genius  and  fancy.     This  consideration  alone 


Chap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


49 


is  a  sufficient  key  to  explain  the  divisions  that 
reigned  in  this  sect,  since  uniforiniUi  can  never 
subsist,  with  assurance,  but  upon  the  basis  of 
evident  and  substantial  truth;  and  varietii  must 
naturally  introduce  itself  into  those  systems 
and  institutions  which  are  formed  and  conduct- 
ed by  the  sole  powers  of  invention  and  fancy. 

X.  As  then  the  Christian  religion  was,  in  its 
rise,  corrupted  by  the  mixture  of  an  impious 
and  chimerical  pliilosophy  with  its  pure  and 
sublime  doctrines,  it  will  be  proper  to  mention 
here  the  heads  of  those  sects,  who,  in  the  hrst 
century,  cast  a  cloud  upon  the  lustre  of  the 
rising  church.  Among  tiiesc,  many  have  given 
the  first  place  to  Dositheus,  a  Samaritan.  It 
is  certain,  that,  about  the  time  of  our  Saviour, 
a  man  so  named,  lived  among  the  Samaritans, 
and  abandoned  that  sect;  but  all  the  accounts 
we  have  of  him  tend  to  show,  that  he  is  im- 
properly placed  among  mere  heretics,  and 
should  rather  be  ranked  among  tlio  enemies  of 
Christianity;  for  this  delirious  man  sot  himself 
up  for  the  Messiah,  whom  God  had  promised 
to  the  Jews,  and  disowning,  in  consequence, 
the  divine  mission  of  Christ,  could  not  be  said 
to  corrupt  his  doctrine.* 

XL  The  same  observation  is  applicable  to 
Simon  Magus.  This  impious  man  is  not  to 
bo  ranked  among  those  who  corrupted  with 
their  errors  the  purity  and  simplicity  of  the 
Christian  doctrine;  nor  is  he  to  be  considered 
as  the  parent  and  chief  of  the  heretical  tribe, 
in  which  point  of  light  he  has  been  injudi- 
ciously viewed  by  almost  all  ancient  and  mo- 
dern writers.  He  is  rather  to  be  placed  in'the 
innnber  of  those  who  were  enemies  to  the  pro- 
gress and  advancement  of  Christianity;  for  it 
is  manifest,  from  all  the  records  wc  have  con- 
cerning him,  that  after  his  defection  from  the 
Christians,  he  retained  not  the  least  attachment 
to  Christ,  but  opposed  himself  openly  to  that 
divine  personage,  and  assumed  to  himself  blas- 
phemously the  title  of  the  supreme  power  of 
Gorf.f 

XH.  The  accounts  which  ancient  writers 
give  us  of  Simon  the  magician,  and  of  his 
opinions,  seem  so  diilerent  and  indeed  so  in- 
consistent with  each  otlier,  that  several  learn- 
ed men  have  considered  them  as  regarding  two 
different  persons,  bearing  the  name  of  Simon; 
the  one  a  magician,  and  an  apostate  from  Chris- 
tianity; the  other  a  Gnostic  philusoplier.  This 
opinion,  which  supposes  a  fact,  without  any 
other  proof  than  a  seeming  dillerence  in  the 
narration  of  tiie  ancient  historians,  ought  not 
to  be  too  lightly  adopted.  To  depart  from  the 
authority  of  ancient  writers  in  this  matter  is 
by  no  means  jn'udcnt:  nor  is  it  necessary  to  re- 
concile the  dilferent  accounts  already  mention- 
ed, whose  inconsistency  is  not  real,  but  appa- 
rent only.  Simon  was  by  birth  a  Samaritan, 
or  a  Jew:  when  he  had  studied  philosophy  at 
Alexandria,^  he  made  a  public  profession  of 
magic  (which  was  not  a  very  uncommon  cir- 
cumstance at  that  time,)  and  peiisuadod  the 
Samaritans,  by  fictitious  miracles,  that  he  had 


*  See  Basnagc,  Histoire  des  Juifs,  lib.  ii.  cap.  xiii.  and 
Rich.  Simon,  Critique  de  la  Bibliothequc  des  Auteuis 
Ecclesiastiquea  de  M.  Du-Tin,  torn.  iii.  cap.  xiii. 

t  Origen  adv.  Celsura,  lib.  v. 

i  CUuieiitiua  Homil.  ii.  p.  633,  torn.  ii.  Pr.  Apost. 
Vol,.  I.— 7 


received  from  God  the  power  of  commanding' 
and  restraining  those  evil  beings  by  wliich 
mankind  were  tormented.*  Having  seen  the 
miracles  which  I'hilip  wrought  by  a  divine 
power,  he  joined  himself  to  liiis  n|)(jsllp,  and 
embraced  the  doctrine  of  Christ,  hut  with  no 
other  design  than  to  receive  the  power  of  work- 
ing miracles,  in  order  to  promote  a  low  inte- 
rest, and  to  preserve  and  increase  his  impious 
authority  over  the  minds  of  men.  Then  St 
Peter  pointed  out  to  him  solemnly  the  impiety 
of  his  intentions  and  the  vanity  of  his  hopes, 
in  that  severe  discourse  recorded  in  the  eighth 
chapter  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles:  then  the 
vile  impostor  not  only  returned  to  his  former 
ways  by  an  entire  defection  from  the  Chris- 
tians, but  also  opposed,  wiierevcr  he  came, 
the  progToss  of  the  Gospel,  and  even  visited 
dilferent  countries  witJi  that  odious  intent. 
Many  things  are  recorded  of  this  impostor,  of 
his  tragical  end,  and  of  the  statue  erected  to 
him  at  Rome,  wtiicii  the  greatest  part  of  the 
learned  reject  as  fabuknis.  'J'hey  are  at  least 
uncertain,  and  destitute  of  all  probability. t 

XIII.  It  is  beyond  all  doubt,  that  Simon 
was  in  the  class  of  those  philosophers,  who  not 
only  maintained  the  eternity  of  matter,  but 
also  the  existence  of  an  evil  bcini;  who  presid- 
ed, and  thus  shared  the  empire  of  the  miiverse 
with  the  supreme  and  beneficent  Mnd;  and, 
as  there  was  a  considerable  variety  in  the  sen- 
timents of  the  ditt'crcnt  mcmbei"s  of  this  sect, 
it  is  more  than  probable,  that  Simon  embraced 
the  opinion  of  those  who  held  that  matter 
moved  from  eternity  by  an  intrinsic  and  ne- 
cessary activity,  had,  by  its  innate  force,  pro- 
duced at  a  certain  period,  from  its  own  sub- 
stance, the  evil  principle  which  now  exercises 
dominion  over  it,  with  all  his  nmnerous  train 
of  attendants.  From  this  ])crnicious  doctrine, 
the  other  errors  attributed  to  him  concerning 
fate,  the  indifterencc  of  human  actions,  the 
impurity  of  the  hiunan  body,  the  power  of 
magic,  and  the  like  extravagances,  flow  natu- 
rally, as  from  their  true  and  genuine  source.! 
But  this  odious  magician  still  proceeded  to 
more  shocking  degrees  of  enonnity  in  his  mon- 


'  Acts  viii.  9,  10. 

t  See  Beausobre,  Histoire  de  Manich.  p.  20.3,  395.- 
Van  Dale's  Dissertation,  de  Statua  Sinionis,  subjoined  to 
his  discourse  concerning  the  ancient  oracles; — Dellingius, 
Observat.  Sacr.  lib.  i.  oliserv.  xxxvi.  Tillemont,  Mc- 
moires  pour  servir  a  I'Histoire  de  I'Eglisc,  toin.  i.  p.  3t0. 
(tjj-  The  circumstances  of  Simon's  tragical  end;  his 
having  pretended  to  fly  by  a  miraculous  power,  in  order 
to  please  the  emperor  iVero,  who  was  fond  of  magic;  his 
falling  to  the  ground,  and  breaking  his  limbs,  iu  conse- 
quence of  the  prayers  of  St.  Feler  and  St.  Paul;  and  his 
putting  himself  to  death,  through  shame  and  despair,  at 
having  been  thus  defeated  by  the  ^Hperio^  power  of  the 
apostles;  all  these  romantic  fictions  have  derived  their 
credit  from  a  set  of  ecclesiastical  writers,  who,  on  many 
occasions,  prefer  the  marvellous  to  the  truth,  as  favoura- 
ble to  a  system  of  religion,  or  rather  superstition,  which 
truth  and  reason  loudly  disown. 

{  The  dissertation  of  Horbius,  concerning  Simon,  the 
mngician,  which  was  published  not  long  ago  in  the  Bibli- 
olh.  Haeresiologica  of  Voiglius,  torn.  i.  part  ill.  seems 
preferable  to  any  thing  else  upon  that  subject,  though  it 
be  a  juvenile  performance,  and  not  sufficiently  finished. 
He  follows  the  steps  of  his  master,  Tiiomasius,  who,  with 
admirable  penetration,  discovered  the  true  source  of  that 
multitude  of  errors  with  which  the  Gnostics,  and  par 
ticularly  Simon,  were  so  dismally  polluted.  Voigtius 
gives  a  list  of  the  other  authors  who  have  ouide  mention 
of  this  impostor. 


50 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


strous  fictions;  for  he  pretended,  that  in  his 
person  resided  the  greatest  and  most  powerful 
of  the  divine  teons;  that  another  a^on  of  the 
female  sex,  the  mother  of  all  human  souls, 
dwelt  in  the  person  of  his  mistress  Helena,* 
and  that  he  came,  by  the  command  of  God 
upon  earth,  to  abolish  the  empire  of  those  who 
had  formed  this  material  world,  and  to  deliver 
Helena  from  their  power  and  dominion. 

XIV.  Anotlier  wrong-headed  teacher,  named 
Menander,  a  Samaritan  also  by  birth,  appear- 
ed in  this  century.  He  is  said  to  have  been  in- 
structed by  Simon;  but  this  opinion  has  no 
other  foundation  than  the  groundless  notion, 
that  all  the  Gnostic  sects  derived  tlieir  origin 
from  that  magician.  He  ought  rather  to  be  rank- 
ed With  tlie  lunatics,  than  with  the  heretics  of 
antiquity,  since  he  also  took  it  into  his  head  to 
exhibit  himself  to  the  world  as  the  promised 
Saviour;  for  it  appears,  by  the  testimonies  of  j 
Irenfeus,  Ju-stin,  and  Tertullian,  that  he  pre- 
tended to  be  one  of  the  ffions  sent  from  the  i)le- 
roma  or  celestial  regions,  to  succour  the  souls 
that  lay  groaning  under  bodily  oppression  and 
servitude,  and  to  maintain  thein  against  the  vio- 
lence and  stratagems  of  tlie  dsemons  who  held 
the  reins  of  empire  in  this  sublunary  world. 
As  this  doctrine  was  built  upon  the  same  foun- 
dation witli  that  of  Simon  Magus,  tlie  ancient 
writers  looked  upon  him  as  tlie  instructor  of 
Menander. 

XV.  If  then  we  separate  these  three  persons 
now  successively  mentioned,  from  the  heretics 
of  the  first  century,  we  may  rank  anaong  the 
chief  of  the  Christian  sectaries,  and  particu- 
larly those  who  bear  the  general  name  of  Gnos- 
tics, the  Nicolaitans,  whom  Christ  himsclfmen- 
tions  with  abhorrence  by  the  mouth  of  his  apos- 
tle.f  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  the  divine  Saviour 
does  not  reproach  them  with  erroneous  opinions 
concerning  the  deity,  but  with  the  licentious- 
ness of  their  practice,  and  tlie  contempt  of 
that  solemn  law  whicli  the  apostles  liad  enact- 
ed (Acts,  XV.  29.)  against  fornication,  and  the 
use  of  meats  offered  to  idols.  It  is,  however, 
certain,  that  the  writers  of  the  second  and  tlie 
following  centuries,  Irenseus,  Tertullian,  Cle- 
mens, and  others,  affirm,  that  the  Nicolaitans 
adopted  the  sentiments  of  the  Gnostics  con- 
cerning the  two  principles  of  all  things,  the 
aeons,  and  the  origin  of  this  terrestrial  globe. 
The  authority  of  these  writers  would  be  en- 
tirely satisfactory  in  this  matter,  were  there 
not  some  reason  to  imagine  that  tkey  con- 
founded, in  their  narrations,  two  sects  very 
different  from  each  other;  that  of  the  Nicolai- 
tans, mentioned  in  tlie  Revelations;  and  an- 
other, founded  by  a  certain  Nicolaus,  in  the 
second  centLiry,  upon  the  principles  of  tlie 
Gnostics.  But  this  is  a  matter  of  too  doubtful 
a  nature  to  justify  a  positive  decision  on  cither 
side. 

XVI.  There  is  no  sort  of  doubt,  that  Ce- 
renthus  may  be  placed  with  propriety  among 


*  Some  very  learned  mea  have  given  an  allegorical  ex- 
plication of  what  the  ancient  \»riter3  say  concerning 
Helena,  the  mistress  of  this  magician,  and  imagine,  that 
by  the  name  Helena  is  signified  either  matter  or  spirit. 
But  nothing  is  more  easy  than  to  show  upon  what  slight 
foundations  this  opinion  is  built. 

i  Rev.  li.  6,  11,  15. 


the  Gnostics,  though  the  learned  are  not  en- 
tirely agreed  whether  he  belongs  to  the  here- 
tics of  the  first  or  the  second  century.*  This  man 
was  by  birth  a  Jew,  and,  having  applied  him- 
self to  letters  and  philosophy  at  Alexandria, f 
attempted  at  length,  to  form  a  new  and  singu- 
lar system  of  doctrine  and  discipline,  by  a  mon- 
strous combination  of  the  doctrines  of  Christ 
witli  the  opinions  and  errors  of  the  Jews  and 
Gnostics.  From  the  latter  he  borrowed  the 
pleroma,  their  teons,  their  demiurge,  &c.  and 
so  modified  and  tempered  these  fictions,  as 
to  give  thom  an  air  of  Judaism,  which  must 
have  considerably  favoured  the  progress  of  his 
heresy.  He  taught  "that  tlie  Creator  of  this 
world,  whom  he  considered  also  as  the  sovereign 
and  lawgiver  of  the  Jewish  people,  was  a  be- 
ing endowed  with  the  greatest  virtues,  and  de- 
rived his  birth  from  the  Supreme  God;  that 
lie  fell  by  degrees,  from  his  native  virtue  and 
his  primitive  dignity;  tliat  God  in  consequence 
of  this  determined  to  destroy  his  empire,  and 
sent  upon  earth,  for  this  purpose,  one  of  the 
ever-happy  and  glorious  a;ons,  whose  name 
was  Christ;  that  this  Christ  chose  for  his  ha- 
bitation the  person  of  Jesus,  a  man  of  the 
most  illustrious  sanctity  and  justice,  the  son  of 
Joseph  and  Mary,  and,  descending  in  the  fom? 
of  a  dove,  entered  into  him  while  he  was  re- 
ceiving baptism  from  John  in  the  waters  of 
Jordan:  that  Jesus,  after  his  union  with  Christ, 
opposed  himself  with  vigour  to  the  God  of  the 
Jews,  and  was  by  his  instigation,  seized  and 
crucified  by  tlie  Hebrew  chiefs;  and  that, 
when  Jesus  became  a  prisoner,  Christ  ascend- 
ed into  heaven,  so  that  the  man  Jesus  alone 
was  subjected  to  the  pains  of  an  ignominious 
death."  Cerenthus  required  of  his  followers, 
that  they  should  worship  the  Father  of  Christ, 
even  the  Supreme  God,  in  conjunction  with 
the  Son;  that  they  should  abandon  the  law- 
giver of  the  Jews,  whom  he  looked  upon  as 
the  Creator  of  the  world;  that  they  should  re- 
tain a  part  of  the  law  given  by  Moses,  but 
should,  nevertheless,  employ  their  principal 
attention  and  care  to  regulate  their  lives  by 
the  precepts  of  Christ.  To  encour;tge  them  to 
this,  he  promised  them  the  resurrection  of  this 
mortal  body,  after  which  was  to  commence 
a  scene  of  the  most  exquisite  delights,  during 
Christ's  earthly  reign  of  a  tliousand  yeai-s, 
which  would  be  succeeded  by  a.  happy  and 
never-ending  life  in  the  celestial  world;  fixr  he 
held,  that  Christ  will  one  day  return  upon 
earth,  and,  renewing  his  former  union  with  the 
man  Jesus,  will  reign  with  his  people  in  the 
land  of  Palestine  during  a  thousand  years. 

XVII.  It  has  been  already  observed,  that  the 
church  was  troubled  with  early  disputes  con- 
cerning the  law  of  Moses  and  tlie  Jewish  rites. 
Those,  however,  who  considered  the  obser- 
vance of  the  Mosaic  rites  as  necessary  to  sal- 
vation, had  not,  in  this  first  century,  proceed- 
ed so  far  as  to  break  off  all  communion  with 


*  See  .Satn.  Basnage,  Annal.  Polit.  Eccles.  torn,  ii.; 
and  Faydit,  Eclaircissemens  sur  I'Histoire  Eccles.  de» 
deux  premiers  Siecles,  cap.  v.  The  opinion  of  these  two 
learned  men  is  opposed  by  Buddeus,de  Eccles,  Apostolica, 
cap.  V. 

f  Theodcret.  Fabul.  Hxret.  lib.  ii.  cap.  iii. 


Chap.  I. 


PROSPEROUS  EVENTS. 


51 


such  as  differed  from  them  hi  tliis  matter; 
therefore  tliey  were  still  regarded  as  brethren, 
thoup^h  of  the  weaker  sort.  Hut  wlien,  after 
the  second  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  under  the 
emperor  Adrian,  these  zealots  for  the  .Jewish 
rites  deserted  the  ordinary  assemblies  of  Chris- 
tians, and  established  separate  meetiuirs  among 
themselves,  they  were  numbered  with  those 
sects  who  had  departed  from  the  pure  doctrine 
of  Clirist.     Hence  arose  the  names  of  Naza- 


renes  and  Ebionites,  by  which  the  judaizinif 
Christians  were  distinguished  froni  tiiose  who 
looked  up(m  the  Mosaic  worship  and  ceremo- 
nies as  entirely  al)olished  by  the  appearance  of 
Christ  upon  earth.  We  shall  only  observe  far- 
ther under  this  head,  that  though  the  Nazarenea 
and  I'bioniles  are  generally  placed  among  the 
sects  of  the  apostolic  age,  they  really  belong 
to  the  second  century,  which  was  the"  earliest 
period  of  their  e.xistence  as  a  sect. 


THE  SECOND  CENTURY. 


PART  I. 

THE  EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Concerning  Out  jn-ospermis  Events  thai  happened 
to  the  Church  during  this  Century. 

I.  In  this  century,  the  Roman  sceptre  wa's, 
for  the  most  part,  swayed  by  princes  of  a  mild 
and  moderate  turn.  Trajan,  though  too  ea- 
gerly bent  upon  the  pursuit  of  glory,  and  not 
always  sufliciently  attentive  to  his  conduct,  or 
prudent  in  his  measures,  was  nevertheless  en- 
dowed with  many  virtues;  and  the  predomi- 
nant lines  of  his  character  were  clemency  and 
benevolence.  Adrian  was  of  a  more  harsh  and 
intractable  temper,  yet  fixr  from  deserving  the 
odious  appellation  of  a  wicked  or  unjust  prince. 
He  was  of  a  mixed  character,  chargeable  with 
several  vices,  and  estimable  on  account  of  some 
excellent  qualities.  The  Antonines  were  il- 
lustrious models  of  humanity,  goodness,  and 
sublime  virtue.  Severus  himself,  in  whose 
character  and  disposition  such  an  unexpected 
and  disadvantageous  change  was  eftecteil,  was, 
in  the  beginning  of  his  reign,  unjust  toward 
none;  and  even  tlie  Christians  were  treated  by 
him  with  equity  and  mildness. 

H.  This  lenity  of  the  emperors  proved  ad- 
vantageous to  those  Christians  who  lived  un- 
der the  Roman  sceptre;  it  sometimes  suspend- 
ed their  siilfering,  and  alleviated  the  burthen 
of  their  distresses;  for,  thoitgh  edicts  of  a  se- 
vere nature  were  issued  out  against  tliem,  and 
the  magistrates,  animated  by  tlie  priestetind  by 
the  multitude,  shed  tlicir  biood  with  a  cruelty 
which  frequentJy  exceeded  even  the  dictates  of 
the  most  barbtrous  laws,  yet  there  was  always 
some  remedy  ttifit  accompanied  these  evils,  and 
.softened  their  severity.  Trajan,  however  con7 
demnable  in  other  respects,  on  account  of  his 
conduct  toward  the  Ciiristians,  was  yet  engag- 
ed, by  the  representation  tliat  Pliny  the  younger 
gave  of  them,  to  forbid  all  search  to  be  made 
after  them.  He  also  prohibited  all  anonymous 
libeh  and  accusations,  by  which  they   had  so 


often  been  perfidiously  exposed  to  the  greatest 
sufferings.*  Antoninus  Pius  went  so  far  as  to 
enact  penal  laws  against  their  accusers;!  and 
others,  by  various  acts  of  beneficence  and  com- 
passion, defended  them  from  the  injurious 
treatment  of  the  priests  and  people.  Hence 
it  came  to  pass,  that,  in  this  century,  the  limits 
of  the  church  were  considerably  enlarged,  and 
the  number  of  converts  to  Christianity  prodi- 
giously augmented.  Of  the  truth  of  this,  we 
have  the  most  respectable  and  authentic  testi- 
monies in  the  writings  of  the  ancients;  testi- 
monies, whose  evidence  and  authority  are 
every  way  superior  to  the  vain  attempts  which 
some  have  made  to  obscure  and  weaken  them.  J 
HI.  It  is  not  easy  to  point  out  particularly 
the  different  countries  on  which  the  light  of 
celestial  truth  first  rose  in  this  age.  The  an- 
cient records  that  yet  remain,  do  not  give  us 
information  sufficient  to  determine  that  point 
with  certainty;  nor  is  it,  indeed,  a  matter  of 
high  importance.  Wo  are,  however,  assured, 
by  the  most  unexceptionable  testimonies,  that 
Christ  was  worsliij)ped  as  God  almost  through- 
out the  whole  East,  as  also  among  the  Ger- 
mans, Spaniards,  C«lts,  Britons,  and  many 
other  nations;^  but  which  of  them  received  the 
Gospel  in  the  first  century  and  which  in  the 
second,  is  a  question  unansv.'orable  at  this  dis- 
tance of  time.  PantiBuus,  tlie  head  of  the 
Alexandrian  school,  is  said  to  have  conveyed 
to  the  Indians  the  knowledge  of  Christ. ||    But, 


*  Sec  Pliny's  epistles,  booli  x.  let.  xcviii. 

t  Eusebius,  Ecol.  Hist.  lib.  iv.  cap.  xiii. 

{  See  Moylc's  letters  concern iiit;  the  thundering  legion, 
with  the  reuKirks  wliich  Dr.  Mosheim  has  annexed  to  his 
Latin  translation  ol'  (hem,  published  at  the  end  of  a 
work  entitled,  Syntagma  Dissert,  ad  .Sanctiores  Discipli 
nas  pertinentinm.  See  also  the  Dialogue  between  Justin 
Martyr  and  Trypho  the  Jew. 

^  lrena:us contra  Hares,  lib.  i.cap. x.  -Terlnllian  adv. 
Judjcos,  cap.  vii. 

II  Kiisebius,  Hist.  Eccl.  b.  v.  e.  x.-  Jerome,  C«tAl, 
Script.  Eccl.  c.  xixvi. 


52 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  I. 


after  an  attentive  examination  of  the  account 
which  Eusebius  gives  of  this  point,  it  will  ap- 
pear that  these  supposed  Indians  were  Jews, 
inhabitants  of  the  happy  Arabia,  whom  Bar- 
tholomew the  apostle  had  before  instructed  in 
the  doctrines  of  Christianity;  for,  according  to 
the  account  of  St.  Jerome,  Pantsenus  found 
among  this  people  tlie  Gospel  of  St.  Matthew 
which  they  had  received  from  Bartholomew, 
their  first  t&icher. 

IV.  The  Christian  relignon,  having  penetrat- 
ed into  the  province  of  Gaul,  seems  to  have 
passed  thence  into  that  part  of  Germany 
which  was  subject  to  the  Romans,  and  after- 
wards into  Britain.*  Certain  German  churches, 
indeed,  are  fondly  ambitious  of  deriving  their 
origin  from  St.  Peter,  and  from  the  compan- 
ions of  the  other  apostles.  The  Britons  also 
are  willing  to  believe,  upon  the  authority  of 
Bede,  that  in  this  century,  and  imder  the  reign 
■of  Marcus  Antoninus,  their  king  Lucius  ad- 
dressed himself  to  Eleutherns,  the  Roman  pon- 
tiff, for  doctors  to  instruct  him  in  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  and,  having  obtained  his  request, 
embraced  the  Gospel. f  But,  after  all,  these 
traditions  are  extremely  doubtful,  and  are,  in- 
deed, rejected  by  such  as  have  learning  suffi- 
cient to  weigh  the  credibility  of  ancient  nar-  i 
rations. 

V.  It  is  very  possible  that  the  light  of  Chris- 
tianity may  have  reached  Trans- Alpine  Gaul, ! 
now  called  France,  before  the  conclusion  of 
the  apostolic  age,  either  by  the  ministry  of  the 
apostles  themselves,  or  their  unrnediate  succes- 
sors. But  we  have  no  records  that  mention, ; 
with  certainty,  the  establishment  of  Christian  \ 
churches  in  this  part  of  Europe  before  the  se- 
cond century.  Pothinus,  a  man  of  exemplary 
piety  and  zeal,  set  out  from  Asia  in  companj' 
with  Irena3us  and  others,  and  laboured  in  the 
Christian  cause  with  such  success  among  the 
Gauls,  that  churches  were  established  at  Lyons 
and  Vienne,  of  which  Pothinus  him.self  be- 
came the  first  bishop.]: 

VI.  The  writers  of  this  century  attribute 
this  rapid  progress  of  Christianity  to  the  power 
of  God,  to  the  energy  of  divine  truth,  to  the 
extraordinary  gifts  which  were  imparted  to  the 
first  Christians,  and  the  miracles  and  prodi- 
gies that  were  wrought  in  their  behalf,  and  at 
their  command;  and  they  scarcely  ascribe  any 
part  of  the  amazing  success  that  attended  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel,  to  the  intervening 
succours  of  human  means,  or  second  causes. 


*  Ursinus,  Bebelius  and  others,  have  written  learnedly 
eoncerning  the  origin  of  the  German  oliurches,  whicii 
Tertullian  and  Irenaiuii  mention  as  erected  in  lliis  cen 
tiiry.  Add  to  these  the  ample  illustrations  of  this  subject, 
which  are  to  be  found  in  Liron's  Siugnlarites  Hislor.  et 
Liter,  torn.  iv.  Tlie  celebrated  Dom.  Calmet  has  judi- 
ciously refuted  tlie  common  and  popular  accounts  of  the 
fust  Christian  doctors  in  Germany,  in  his  Hist,  de  la 
Lorraine,  torn.  i.  Diss,  sur  les  Evcqnes  de  Treves,  par 
lii.  iv.  See  also  Bollandus,  Act.  Sanctor.,and  Hontheim, 
Diss,  de  jEra  Episcop.  Trcvir.  torn.  i. 

f  See  Usher's  Antiq.  Ecclts.  Britann.  cap.  i.;  as  also 
Godwin,  de  Conversione  Britan.  cap.  i.;  and  Rapin's 
History  of  England. 

\  See  the  epistle  of  Peter  de  Marea,  concerning  the 
rise  of  Christianity  in  France,  pnblished  among  the  dis- 
sertations of  that  author,  and  also  by  Valcsius,  in  his 
edition  of  Eusebius'  Ecclesiastical  History.  See  also 
Histoire  Literaire  de  la  Fr.iucc,  torn,  i.,  and  Liron's 
Singularites  Histor.  et  Literaires,  vol.  iv. 


But  this  is  carrying  the  matter  too  far.  The 
wisdom  of  human  counsels,  and  the  useful  ef- 
forts of  learning  and  prudence,  are  too  incon- 
siderately excluded  from  this  account  of  things; 
for  it  is  beyond  all  doubt,  that  the  pious  dili- 
gence and  zeal,  with  which  many  learned  and 
worthy  men  recommended  the  sacred  writings, 
and  spread  them  abroad  in  translations,  so  as 
to  render  them  useful  to  those  who  were  io-no- 
rant  of  the  language  in  which  they  were  writ- 
ten, contributed  much  to  the  success  and  pro- 
pagation of  the  Christian  doctrine.  Latin  ver- 
sions of  these  sacred  books  were  multiplied  by 
the  pious  labours  of  the  learned,  with  particu- 
lar diligence,  because  that  language  was  now 
more  general  than  any  other.*  Among  these 
versions,  that  which  was  distinguished  by  the 
name  of  the  Italic  obtained  universally  the  pre- 
ference, and  was  followed  by  the  Syriac,  Egyp- 
tian, and  iEthiopic  versions,  whose  dates  it  is 
impossible  to  fix  with  certainty. f 

VII.  Among  the  obstacles  that  retarded  the 
progress  of  Christianity,  the  impious  calum- 
nies of  its  enemies  were  the  most  considerable. 
The  persons,  the  characters,  and  religious  sen- 
timents of  the  first  Christians,  were  most  un- 
justly treated,  and  most  perfidiously  misrepre- 
sented to  tlie  credulous  multitude,];  who  were 
restrained  by  this  oftly  from  embracing  the 
Gospel.  Those,  therefore,  who,  by  their  apo- 
logetic writings  for  the  Christians,  destroyed 
the  poisonous  influence  of  detraction,  render- 
ed, no  doubt,  signal  service  to  the  doctrine  of 
Christ,  by  removing  the  chief  impediment  to 
its  progress.  Nor  were  the  .writings  of  such 
as  combated  with  success  the  ancient  heretics 
witliout  their  use,  especially  in  the  early  periods 
of  the  church;  for  the  insipid  and  extravagant 
doctrines  of  these  sectaries,  and  the  gross  im- 
moralities with  which  they  were  chargeable, 
were  extremely  prejudicial  to  the  Christian  re- 
ligion, by  disgusting  many  at  v/hatever  bore 
the  Christian  name;  but,  when  it  was  known 
by  the  writings  of  those  who  defended  Chris- 
tianity, that  these  corrupt  heretics  were  held 
in  aversion,  instead  of  being  patronized  by  the 
true  followers  of  Chri.st,  the  clouds  that  were 
cast  over  the  religion  of  Jesus  were  dispersed, 
and  the  prejudices  tliat  had  been  raised  against 
it  were  fully  removed. 

VIII.  It  is  easier  to  conceive  than  to  ex- 
press, how  much  the  mmiculouf;  pcnvcrs  and  ex- 
traordinary s;ifts,  which  were  displayed  in  the 
ministry  of  the  first  heralds  of  tlie  Gospel,  con- 
tributed to  enlarge  the  bounds  of  the  church. 
These  gifts,  however,  which  were  bestowed  for 
wise  and  important  reasons,  began  gradually 
to  diminish  in  proportion  as  the  reasons  ceased 
for  which  they  were  conferred.     And,  accord- 


*  See  Augustin.  de  doctrina  Christiana,  lib.  ii.  cap.  \i. 

t  See  Jo.  Gottlob  Carpzov.  Critica  sacra  Vet  Test, 
p.  663. 

{jS^  \  Nothing  more  injurious  can  be  conceived  than 
the  terms  of  contempt,  indignation,  and  reproach,  v\hich 
the  Heathens  employed  in  expressing  their  hatred  against 
the  Christians,  who  were  called  by  them  atheists,  because 
they  derided  the  heathen  Polytheism;  maglrians,  because 
they  wrought  miracles;  self-murderers,  because  they  suf- 
fered martyrdom  cheerfully  for  the  truth;  haters  of  ttie 
/I'sA/,  because,  to  avoid  the  fury  of  the  persecutions  raised 
against  them,  they  were  obliged,  at  fust,  to  hold  their 
religious  assemblies  in  the  night.  See  Bingham's  An- 
tiquities of  the  Christian  Church,  book  i.  cap.  ii. 


Chap.  I. 


prosprroijs  events. 


53 


ingly,  when  almost  all  nations  were  enlighten- 
ed with  the  truth,  and  the  number  of  Cliris- 
tian  churrhes  daily  increased,  tiic  niiraculons 
gift  of  tongues  began  gradually  to  decrease. 
It  appears  at  the  same  time,  fi'oni  unexception- 
able testimonies,  that  the  otiier  extraordinary 
gifts  with  which  the  omnipotence  and  wisdom 
of  the  Most  TJigh  had  so  richly  endowed  the 
rising  clnirch,  were  in  several  places  continued 
during  this  century.*' 

IX.  We  cannot  indeed  place,  with  certainty, 
among  the  effects  of  a  miraculous  power  yet 
remaining  in  the  church,  the  story  of  the 
f'iiristian  legion,  wlio,  by  their  prayers,  drew 
from  lieaven  a  refresliing  shower  upon  the  army 
of  Marcus  Antoninus,  ready  to  perisli  with 
thirst,  when  that  emj)eror  was  at  war  witlithe 
Marcomanni.  This  remarkable  event  (which 
gave  to  the  Christians,  to  whom  it  was  attri- 
buted, the  name  of  tlie  llumdmnj^-  legion,  on 
account  of'tiie  thunder  and  liglitning  that  de- 
stroyed the  enemy,  while  the  shower  revived 
the  fainting  Romans)  has  been  mentioned  by 
many  writers.  But  wlietlier  it  was  really  mi- 
raculous or  not,  has  been  much  disputed 
among  learned  men.  Some  think  that  the 
Christians,  by  a  pious  sort  of  mistake,  attribut- 
ed tJiis  unexpected  and  seasonable  shower, 
which  saved  the  Roman  army,  to  a  miraculous 
interposition;  and  this  opinion  is,  indeed,  sup- 
ported by  the  weiglitiest  reasons,  as  well  as  by 
the  most  respectable  authorities.! 

X.  Let  us  distinguisli  wliat  is  doubtful  in 
tiiis  story,  from  that  which  is  certain.  It  is 
undoubted,  that  the  Roman  troops,  enclosed 
by  the  enemy,  and  reduced  to  the  most  deplo- 
rable and  even  desperate  condition,  by  the 
thirst  under  which  they  languislied  in  a  parch- 
ed desert,  were  revived  by  a  sudden  and  un- 
expected rain.  It  is  also  certain,  that  both  the 
Heathens  and  the  Christians  considered  this 
event  as  extraordinary  and  miraculous;  the 
former  attributing  it  to  Jupiter,  Mercury,  or 
the  power  of  magic;  tlie  latter  to  Christ,  inter- 
posing thus  unexpectedly,  in  conse(picnce  of 
their  prayers.     It  is  equally  indisputable,  that 


*  Pfaiincr,  de  donis  miraciilosis;  Speiicor.  Not.  ad 
Orig.  contra  Celsuin;  Mammachius,  Origines  et  Aiitiqui- 
tat.  (3liristiaii.  toni.  i. 

j  Sneli  readers  as  are  desirous  to  know  what  learned 
miM  have.  alUced  on  both  sides  of  this  curious  question, 
may  consult  Witsius'  Disserlat.  de  Legioiie  Fulniinatrice, 
whicli  is  subjoined  lo  his  iKgyptiaca,  in  defence  of  this 
miracle;  as  also  what  is  alleged  against  il  by  Dan.  I. a 
Roijue,  in  a  discourse  upon  tliat  subject  subjoined  to  tlie 
Adversaria  Sacra  of  Matth.  La  Roque,  his  liilher.  But, 
above  all,  the  controversy  between  Sir  Peter  King  [*j 
and  Mr.  Walter  Moyle,  upon  this  subject,  is  worthy  of 
111!'  attention  of  the  curious;  and  likewise  tlie  dissertation 
of  the  learned  Jablonski,  inserted  in  the  eighth  volume 
of  (be  Misi:ellanea  Lipsiensia,  p.  417,  under  the  title  of 
.Spicilegium  de  Legione  Fulniinatrice.  The  last  men- 
tioned author  investigates,  with  great  acnteness,  the  rea- 
sons and  motives  which  induced  the  Christians  lo  place 
so  inconsiderately  this  s/ioit'cr  in  the  list  of  miracles. 


5lj=[*]  It  is  by  mistake  that  Dr.  Mosheim  confounds  Sir 
Peter  King,  lord  ("liauci  llor  of  Kngiand,wilh  the  person 
who  carried  on  the  controversy  with  Moyle,  concerning 
the  thundering  legion.  Moylc's  adversary  was  Mr. 
King,  rector  ol"  Topshani,  near  Kxcter,  which  was  the 
place  of  his  nativity,  and  also  that  of  the  famous  chancel- 
lor who  bore  his  name.  See  the  htters  addressed  to  the 
Kev.  Mr.  King,  iiftlie  posthumous  collection  of  Locke's 
Letters,  published  by  Collins.  Sec  also  Lardner's  Col- 
lection of  Heathen  and  Jewish  Testimonies,  Sic,  vol.  ii. 


a  considerable  number  of  Christians  served  at 
this  time  in  the  Roman  armj';  and  it  is  ex- 
ceedingly probable,  that,  in  sucli  trying  cir- 
cumstances of  calamity  and  distress,  they  im- 
plored the  merciful  interposition  and  succour 
of  their  God  and  Saviour;  and,  as  tlie  C'hris- 
tians  of  those  times  looked  upon  all  extraordi- 
nary events  as  miracles,  and  ascribed  to  their 
prayers  all  tlie  uncommon  occurrences  of  an 
advantageous  nature  tliat  hapjicned  to  the 
Roman  empire,  it  will  not  appear  surprising, 
tliat,  on  the  present  occasion,  they  attributed 
tlie  deliverance  of  Antoninus  and  his  army  to 
a  miraculous  interposition  which  tliey  liad  ob- 
tained from  above.  Rut,  on  the  other  hand, 
it  must  be  carcfidly  oliscrved,  that  it  is  an  in- 
variable maxim,  universally  adopted  by  the 
wise  and  judicious,  that  no  events  are  to  be  es- 
teemed miraculous,  whicji  may  be  rationally 
atti-ibuted  to  natural  causes,  and  accounted  for 
liy  a  recourse  to  the  ordinary  dispensations  of 
Providence;  and,  as  the  unexpected  siiower, 
which  restored  the  expiring  force  of  the  Ro- 
mans, may  be  easily  explained  without  rising 
beyond  the  usual  and  ordinary  course  of  nature, 
the  conclusion  is  manifest;  nor  can  it  be  doubt- 
ful in  what  light  we  are  to  consider  that  re- 
markable event. 

XI.  The  Jews  were  visited  with  new  calami- 
ties, first  mider  Trajan,  and  then  under  Adrian, 
when,  under  the  standard  of  I'arcoclicbas,  who 
gave  himself  out  for  the  Messiah,  they  rose  in 
rebellion  against  the  Romans.  In  consequence 
of  this  sedition,  prodigious  numbers  of  that 
miserable  people  were  put  to  the  sword;  and  a 
new  city,  called  /Elia  CapitoJina,  was  raised 
upon  the  ruins  of  Jerusalem,  into  which  no 
Jew  was  permitted  to  enter.*  Tliis  defeat  of  the 
.lews  tended  to  confirhi,  in  some  measure,  tlio 
external  tranquilhty  of  tlie  C'liristian  Church; 
for  that  turbulent  and  perfidious  nation  jiad 
hitherto  vexed  and  oppressed  the  Christians, 
not  only  by  presenting  everywhere  to  the  Ro- 
man magistrates  complaints  and  accusations 
against  tlieni,  but  also  by  treating  them  in  the 
most  injurious  manner  in  Palestine  and  the 
neighbouring  countries,  because  they  refused 
to  succour  them  against  the  Romans.  Rut 
this  new  calamity,  which  fell  upon  that  sedi- 
tious nation,  put  it  out  of  tlicir  jiower  to  exer- 
cise their  malignity  against  the  discii>lcs  of  Je- 
sus, as  the}'  had  forinoily  done. 

XII.  Among  other  accessions  to  the  s])len- 
dom-  and  force  of  the  growing  churcii,  we  may 
reckon  tlic  learned  and  ingenious  labours  of 
those  philosophers  and  literati,  who  were  con- 
verted to  Christianity'  in  this  century.  I  am 
sensible  that  the  advantages  iience  arising  to 
tlie  cause  of  true  religion  will  be  disputed  liy 
many;  and,  indeed,  when  tiie  ((ucslion  is  thus 
proposed,  whether,  upon  the  whole,  the  inte- 
rests of  Christianity  have  gained  or  lost  by  the 
writings  of  the  learned,  and  the  speculations 
of  jihilosophers  wlio  liave  been  employed  in 
its  defence,  I  confess  myself  incapalile  of  .solv- 
ing it  in  a  satisfactory  mannt^r;  for  notiiing  is 
more  manifest  tlian  this  truth,  tliat  tlie  noble 
simplicity  and  dignity  of  religion  were  sadly 
corrupted  in  many  jdaces,  when  the  piiiloso- 


*  Justiu  Mart.  Dial,  cum  Tr) phone,  p.  49,278. 


51 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  I. 


phers  blended  their  opinions  with  its  pure  doc- 
trines, and  were  so  audacious  as  to  submit  that 
divine  system  of  faith  and  piety  to  be  scruti- 
nized and  modified  by  the  fallible  rules  of  im- 
perfect reason. 

CHAPTER  n. 

Concerning  the  calamitous  Events  that  happened 
to  the  Church  during  this  Century. 

I.  In  the  beginning  of  this  century,  there 
were  no  laws  in  force  against  the  Ciiristians; 
for  tlie  senate  had  annulled  the  cruel  edicts  of 
Nero,  and  Nerva  had  abrogated  the  sanguinary 
laws  of  his  predecessor,  Domitian.  But  not- 
withstanding this,  a  horrid  custom  prevailed, 
of  persecuting  the  Christians,  and  even  of  put- 
ting them  to  death,  as  often  as  sanguinary 
priests,  or  an  outrageous  populace  instigated 
by  those  ecclesiastics,  demanded  their  destruc- 
tion. Hence  it  happened,  that,  even  under  the 
reign  of  the  good  Trajan,  popular  clamours* 
were  raised  against  the  Christians,  many  of 
whom  fell  victims  to  the  rage  of  a  merciless 
multitude.  Such  were  the  riotous  proceed- 
ings that  happened  in  Bithynia,  under  the  ad- 
ministration of  Pliiiy  the  3'ounger,  who,  on 
that  occasion,  wrote  to  the  emperor,  to  know 
in  what  manner  he  was  to  conduct  himself 
toward  the  Ciiristians.  The  answer  which  he 
received  from  Trajan  amounted  to  this,  "  That 
the  Christians  were  not  to  be  officiously  sought 
after,t  but  that  such  as  were  accused  and  con- 
victed of  an  adherence  to  Christianity  were  to 
be  put  to  death  as  wicked  citizens,  if  they  did 
not  return  to  the  religion  of  their  ancestors."! 

II.  This  edict  of  Trajau,  being  registered 
among  the  public  and  solemn  laws  of  the  Ro- 
man empire,  set  bounds,  indeed,  to  the  fury  of 
those  who  persecuted  the  Christians,  but  was 
the  occasion  of  martvrdom  to  many,  even  un- 
der the  best  emperors.  For,  as  often  as  an  ac- 
cuser appeared,  and  the  person  accused  of  an 
adherence  to  Christianity  confessed  the  truth  of 
the  charge,  the  alternative  was  apostasy  or 
death,  since  a  magnanimous  perseverance  in 
the  Christian  faith  was,  according  to  the  edict 
of  Trajan,  a  capital  crime.  And,  accordingly, 
the  senerable  and  aged  Simeon,  son  of  Cleo- 
phas,  and  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  was,  by  this 
very  law,  crucified  in  consequence  of  an  accu- 
sation formed  against  him  by  the  Jews.j:  By 
the  same  law,  also,  was  the  great  and  pious 
Ignatius,  bisliop  of  Antioch,  ordered  by  Trajan 
himself  to  expire  in  the  Roman  theatre,  ex- 
posed to  the  rapacity  of  furious  beasts;§  for, 
as  the  law  simply  denounced  death  to  such  as 
were  convicted  of  an  attachment  to  Christ, 
tlie  kind  of  punishment  was  left  by  the  legis- 
lator to  the  choice  of  the  judge. 

III.  Such  of  the  Christians  as  could  conceal 
their  profession  were  indeed  sheltered  under 
the  law  of  Trajan,  which  was,  tlierefore,  a  dis- 
agreeable restraint  upon  the  heathen  priests. 


*  EusebiuSjHist.  Er-clcs.  lib.  iii.  cap.  xxxii. 

f  See  Pliny's  Letlirs,  book  x.  let.  xcvir.  and  xcviii., 
which  have  been  illustrated  by  many  Ifarned  men,  such 
as  Vossius,  Bohnicr,  Baldwin,  Heunian,  and  others. 

J  Eusebius,  Hi^l.  Eccles.  lib.  iii.  rap.  xxxii.  p.  103. 

^  See  the  Acta  Maityrii  lt;natiani,  published  by  Ru- 
inart,  and  also  in  the  Collection  of  the  Apostolic  Fathers. 


who  breathed  nothing  but  fury  against  the  dis- 
ciples of  Jesus.  The  office  of  an  accuser  was 
also  become  dangerous,  and  very  few  were  dis- 
posed to  undertake  it,  so  that  the  sacerdotal  craft 
was  now  inventing  new  methods  to  oppress  the 
Christians.  The  law  of  Trajan  was  therefore 
artfully  evaded  under  the  reign  of  his  succes- 
sor Adrian.  The  populace,  set  in  motion  by 
the  priests,  demanded  of  the  magistrates,  with 
one  voice,  during  the  public  games,  the  de- 
struction of  the  Christians;  and  the  magis- 
trates, fearing  that  a  sedition  might  be  tlie 
consequence  of  despising  or  opposing  these 
popular  clamours,  were  too  much  dispos<;'a  to 
indulge  them  in  their  request.  During  these 
commotions,  Serenus  Granianus,  proconsul  of 
Asia,  represented  to  the  emperor  how  barba- 
rous and  unjust  it  was  to  sacrifice,  to  the  fury 
of  a  lawless  multitude,  persons  who  had  been 
convicted  of  no  crime.  Nor  were  his  wise  and 
equitable  remonstrances  fruitless;  for  Adrian, 
by  an  edict  issued  out  to  these  magistrates, 
prohibited  the  putting  the  Christians  to  death, 
unless  they  were  regularly  accused  and  con- 
victed of  crimes  committed  against  the  laws; 
and  this  edict  appears  to  have  been  a  solemn 
renewal  of  the  law  of  Trajan.*  The  modera- 
tion of  the  emperor,  in  this  edict,  may,  per- 
haps, have  been  produced  by  the  admirable 
apologies  of  Quadratus  and  Aristides,  in  fa- 
vour of  the  Christians,  which  were  every  way 
proper  to  dispel  the  angry  prejudices  of  a  mind 
that  had  any  sense  of  equity  and  humanity  left. 
But  it  was  not  from  the  Romans  alone,  that 
the  disciples  of  Christ  were  to  feel  oppression; 
Barcochebas,  the  pretended  king  of  the  Jews, 
whom  Adrian  afterwards  defeated,  vented 
against  them  all  his  fury,  because  they  re- 
ftised  to  join  his  standard,  and  second  his 
rebellion.! 

IV.  The  law  of  Adrian,  according  to  its  na- 
tural sense,  seemed  to  cover  the  Christians 
from  the  fury  of  their  enemies,  since  it  ren- 
dered them  punishable  on  no  other  account 
than  the  commission  of  crimes,  and  since  the 
magistrates  refused  to  interpret  their  religion 
as  the  crime  mentioned  in  the  ituperial  edict. 
Therefore  their  enemies  invented  a  new  method 
of  attacking  them  under  the  reign  of  Antoninus 
Pius,  even  by  accusing  them  of  impiety  and 
atheism.  This  calumny  was  refuted  in  an 
apology  for  the  Christians,  presented  to  the  em- 
peror by  Justin  Martyr;  in  consequence  of 
which,  this  equitable  prince  ordered  that  all 
proceedings  against  them  should  be  regulated 
by  tlie  law  of  Adrian.]:  This,  however,  was 
not  sufficient  to  suppress  the  rage  of  blood- 
thirsty persecution;  for  some  time  after  this, 
on  occasion  of  some  earthquakes  which  hap- 
pened in  Asia,  the  people  renewed  their  vio- 
lence against  the  Christians,  whom  they  con- 
sidered as  the  authors  of  those  calamities,  and 
treated  consequently  in  the  most  cruel  and  in- 
jurious manner.  The  emperor,  informed  of 
tliese  unjust  and  barbarous  proceedings,  ad- 
dressed an  edict  to  the  whole  province  of  Asia, 
in   which   he  denoimced  capital   punishment 


*  Compare  Eusebius,  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  iv.  cap.  ix.  with 
Balduinus  ad  Edicta  Princip.  in  Christianos,  p.  73. 
t  Justin  Mart.  Apologia  secunda,  p.  72,  edit.  Colon, 
j  Eusebius,  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  iv.  cap.  xxvi.  p.  148. 


Chap.  II. 


CALAMITOUS  EVENTS. 


55 


against  such  as  should,  for  the  future,  accuse 
the  Christians,  without  being  able  to  prove 
them  guilty  of  any  crime.* 

V.  This  vvortiiy  prince  was  succeeded  by 
Marcus  Aurelius  Antoninus,  the  philosoplu;)-, 
whom  most  writers  have  celebrated  beyond 
measure  on  account  of  his  extraordinary  wis- 
dom and  virtue.  It  is  not,  however,  in  his 
conduct  toward  the  Christians  tliat  we  must 
look  for  tiie  reasons  of  tiiese  pompous  encomi- 
ums; for,  here  the  clemency  and  justice  of  that 
emperor  sutler  a  strange  eclipse,  lie  did  not, 
indeed,  revoke  the  edict  of  Antoninus  Pius,  or 
abrogate  tiie  laws  which  the  preceding  empe- 
rors had  enacted  in  favour  of  the  Christians; 
but  he  did  what  was  equally  pernicious  fo 
them.  Without  examining  impartially  their 
cause,  he  lent  an  easy  and  attentive  ear  to  the 
most  virulent  insinuations  of  their  enemies, 
especially  to  the  malignant  calumnies  of  the 
philosophers,  who  accused  them  of  the  most 
horrid  crimes  and  the  most  monstrous  impiety, 
and  charged  tliem  with  renewing  the  shocking 
feasts  of  Thyestes,  and  the  incestuous  amours  of 
the  Theban  prin  e;  so  that,  if  we  except  that  of 
Nero,  there  was  i  o  reign  under  which  the  Chris- 
tians were  more  injuriously  and  cruelly  treated, 
tlian  under  that  of  the  v;ise  and  virtuous  Marcus 
Aurelius;  and  yet  there  was  no  reign  under 
which  such  numerous  and  victorious  ./lpolop;i('s 
were  published  in  their  behalf.  Those  which 
Justin  Martyr,  Athenagoras,  and  Tatian, 
wrote  upon  this  oci  asion,  are  still  extant. 

VI.  This  emperor  issued  against  the  Chris- 
tians, whom  he  regarded  as  a  vain,  obstinate, 
and  vicious  set  of  men,  edicts,!  wliicli,  upon 
the  whole,  were  very  unjust;  though  we  do 
not  know,  at  this  distance  of  time,  their  i)ar- 
ticular  contents.  In  conseqTieucc  of  these  im- 
perial edicts,  the  judges  and  magistrates  re- 
ceived the  accusations,  which  even  slaves,  and 
the  vilest  of  the  perjured  rabble,  brought 
against  the  followers  of  Jesus;  and  the  Chris- 
tians were  put  to  the  most  cruel  tortures  and 
were  condemned  to  meet  death  in  the  most 
barbarous  forms,  notwithstanding  their  perfect 
innocence,  and  their  persevering  and  solemn 
denial  of  the  horrid  crimes  laid  to  tlieir  charge. 
The  imperial  edicts  were  so  positive  and  ex- 
press against  inflicting  punishment  upon  sucli 
of  the  Cliristians  as  were  guilty  of  no  crime, 
that  the  corrupt  judges,  who,  through  motives 
of  interest  or  pojiularity,  desired  their  destruc- 
tion, were  obliged  to  suborn  fiilse  accusers  to 
charge  them  with  actions  that  might  bring 
them  within  the  reach  of  the  laws.     Hence 


*  Euscbius,  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  iv.  cap.  xiii.  p.  126. 
5lJ=Il  is  proper  to  be  observed,  that  the  word  crime,  iii 
several  Ibrmcr  edicts,  had  not  been  sufficiently  determin- 
ed in  its  signification;  so  that  we  find  the  enemies  of  the 
Christians,  and  even  the  Roman  magistrates,  applying  this 
term  to  the  profession  of  Christianity.  But  the  equitable 
edict  of  Uiisgood  emperor  decided  that  point  on  the  side 
of  humanity  and  justice,  as  appears  from  tlic  letter  lie 
addressed  to  the  province  of  Asia,  in  favour  of  the  per- 
secuted Christians,  and  which  concludes  with  the  follow- 
ing words:  "  If  any  one,  for  the  future,  shall  molest  the 
Christians,  and  accuse  them  merely  on  account  of  their 
religion,  let  the  person  thus  accused  be  discharged, 
though  he  is  found  to  be  a  Christian,  and  the  accuser 
be  punished  according  to  the  rigour  of  the  law." 

\  See  Melitoap.  Euscb.  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  iv.  can.  jtxvi. 
p.  147. 


many  fell  victims  to  cruel  superstition  and  po- 
pular fury,  seconded  by  the  corruption  of  a 
wicked  magistracy,  and  the  connivance  of  a 
priiu(%  who,  with  respect  to  one  set  of  men, 
f<)rg(it  those  principles  of  justice  and  clemency 
which  directed  ins  conduct  toward  all  others. 
Among  these  victims,  there  were  many  men  of 
illustrious  i)iety,  and  some  of  eminent  learning 
and  abilities,  such  as  the  holy  and  venerable 
Polycarp,  bishop  of  Smyrna,  and  Ju.stin  .Mar- 
tyr, so  deservedly  renowned  for  his  erudition 
and  philosophy.*  Many  churches,  jiarticularly 
those  of  Lyons  and  Viennc,  were  almost  en- 
tirely destroyed,  during  tliis  violent  persecu- 
tion, which  raged  in  the  year  m,  and  will  be 
an  indelible  stain  upon  the  memory  of  the 
prince  by  wiiose  order  it  was  carried  on.f 

VII.  During  the  reign  of  Commodus,  the 
Christians  sufil'red  very  little;  no  general  per- 
secution raged  against  them;  and  any  cruelties 
which  they  endured  wero  confined  to  a  sm.all 
number,  who  had  newly  abandoned  the  Pagan 
superstitions.!  But  the  scene  changed  toward 
the  latter  end  of  this  century,  when  Severns 
was  declared  emperor.  Then  Egypt  and  other 
provinces  were  dyed  with  the  blood  of  martyrs, 
as  appears  from  the  testimonies  of  Tertullian, 
Clemens  of  Alexandria,  and  other  writers. 
Those,  therefore,  arc  not  to  be  followed,  who 
affirm,  that  the  ("hrislians  suti'ered  nothing 
under  Severus,  before  the  begimiing  of  the 
third  century,  which  was  distinguished  by  tiie 
cruel  edicts  of  this  emperor  against  their  lives 
and  fortunes;  for,  as  the  imperial  laws  against 
the  Christians  weie  not  abrogated,  and  the 
iniquitous  edicts  of  Trajan  and  Marcus  Anto- 
ninus were  still  in  liirce,  there  was  a  door,  ii> 
consequence,  open  to  the  fury  and  injustice  of 
corrupt  magistrates,  as  oilen  its  they  were 
pleased  to  exercise  them  upon  the  church.  It 
was  this  series  of  calamities,  under  which  it 
groaned  toward  the  conclusion  of  the  second 
century,  which  engaged  Tertullian  to  write  his 
Apology,  and  several  other  books,  in  defence 
of  the  Christians. 

VHI.  It  is  very  easy  to  account  for  the  suf- 
ferings and  calamities  with  which  the  disci[)les 
of  Jesus  were  loaded,  when  we  consider  how 
they  were  blackened  and  rendered  odious  by 
tiie  railings,  the  calumnies,  and  libels  of  the 
Heathen  priests,  and  the  otiier  defenders  of  a 
corrupt  and  most  ai)ominable  system  of  super- 
stition. Tile  injurious  imputations,  the  horrid 
cliarges,  of  which  we  took  notice  above,  are 
mentioned  l)y  all  tiiose  who  have  written  in 
defence  of  the  Christians,  and  ought  indeed, 
to  stand  always  upon  record,  iis  proofs  both  of 
the  weakness  and  wickedness  of  their  adversa- 
ries JVothing  can  be  more  frivolous  and  in- 
significant than  the  objections  with  which  the 
mo.st  famous  defenders  of  Paganism  assailed 
Cliristianity  at  this  time;  and  such  as  desire  a 
convincing  proof  of  tliis  assertion,  have  only 


*  A  full  account  of  their  martyrdom  is  to  be  found  in 
the  valuable  work  of  Ruinarl,  entitled,  Acta  Sincera 
Martyrum. 

t  See  the  letter  of  the  Christians  at  Lyons  concerning 
this  persecution,  which  is  to  be  found  in  Eusebius'  Ec- 
clesiastical History,  book  v.  chap.  ii.  and  also  in  Fox'» 
Martyrology,  vol.  i. 

X  Eusfbius,  lib.  V. 


50 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


to  read  the  arguments  of  Celsus  on  tliat  sub- 
ject. This  philosopher  wrote  against  tlie 
Christians  during  the  reign  of  Adrian,  and  was 
admirably  refuted,  in  the  following  century,  by 
Origen,  who  rejiresents  him  as  an  Epicurean, 
(a  mistake  which  has  been  almost  generall\' 
followed;)  whereas  it  appears  with  the  utmost 
proljability,  that  he  was  a  Platonic  philosopher 
of  the  sect  of  Ammonius.*     Be  that  as  it  will, 


(jX^  *  The  learned  Dr.  Lardner  does  not  think  it  pos- 
sible that  Celsus  could  liave  been  of  the  sect  of  Am- 
monius, since  the  former  lived  and  wrote  in  the  second 
century,  whereas  the  latter  did  not  flourish  before  the 
third.  And  indeed  we  learn  from  Ori2;en  himself,  that 
he  knew  of  two  only  of  the  name  of  Celsus,  one  who 
lived  in  the  time  of  Wero,  and  the  other  in  the  reign  of 
Adrian, and  afterwards.  The  latter  was  the  philosopher 
who  wrote  against  Christianity, 


Celsus  was  a  trifling  caviller,  as  is  manifest 
from  the  answer  of  Origen;  nor  do  his  writings 
iiffainst  Christianity  serve  any  other  purpose, 
than  to  show  his  malignant  and  illiberal  turn 
of  mind. 

Fronto,  the  rhetorician,  and  Crescens,  the 
Cynic  philosopher,  made  also  soine  wretched 
attempts  against  Christianity  The  efforts  of 
the  former  are  only  known  by  the  mention  that 
is  made  of  them  by  Minutius  Felix;*  and  the 
enterprises  of  the  latter  were  confined  to  a  ve- 
heinent  zeal  for  the  ruin  of  the  Christians,  and 
a  virulent  persecution  of  Justiti  Martyr,  which 
ended  in  the  cruel  death  of  that  eminent  saint. f 


*  Octavius,  p.  266,  edit.  Heraldi. 
t  Justin  Mart.  Apologia  secunda,  p.  21. — Tatian,  Oral, 
contra  Grscos. 


PART  II. 


THE  INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Concerning  the  state  of  Letters  aiul  Philosophy 
during  this  Century. 

I.  Under  the  reign  of  Trajan,  letters  and 
philosophy  came  forth  from  the  retreat  where 
they  had  languished  during  tlie  savage  tyranny 
of  his  predecessors,  and,  by  the  auspicious  pro- 
tection of  that  excellent  prince,  were  in  soine 
measure  restored  to  their  former  lustre.*  Tliis 
happy  revolution  in  the  republic  of  letters,  was 
indeed  of  a  short  duration,  as  it  was  not  sup- 
ported by  the  following  emperors,  who  were, 
for  the  most  part,  averse  to  literary  pursuits. 
Even  Marcus  Antoninus,  who  surpassed  them 
all  in  learning,  gave  protection  and  encourage- 
ment to  the  Stoics  alone,  and,  after  the  exam- 
ple of  that  su])ercilious  sect,  treated  the  arts 
and  sciences  with  indifference  and  contempt. j 
And  here  we  see  tlie  true  reason  why  the  wri- 
ters of  this  century  are,  in  general,  so  much 
inferior  to  those  of  the  former  in  point  of  ele- 
gance and  purity,  eloquence  and  taste. 

II.  It  intist  be  observed,  at  the  same  time, 
that  this  degeneracy  of  erudition  and  taste  did 
not  amount  to  an  utter  extinction  of  the  one 
and  the  other;  for,  even  in  this  century,  there 
were,  both  among  the  Greeks  and  Romans, 
men  of  eminent  genius  and  abilities,  who  set 
oft",  in  the  most  advantageous  manner,  the 
learning  of  the  times  in  which  they  lived. 
Among  the  learned  Grecians,  the  first  place  is 
due  to  Plutarch,  a  man  of  vast  erudition,  whose 
knowledge  was  various,  but  indigested,  and 
whose  philosophical  taste  was  corrupted  by  the 
sceptical  tenets  of  the  acadeinics.  There  were, 
likewise,  in  all  the  more  considerable  cities  of 
the  Roman  empire,  rhetoricians,  sophists,  and 
grammarians,  who,  by  a  variety  of  learned  ex- 
ercises, seemed  zealous  in  forming  the  youth 
to  their  arts  of  eloquence  and  declamation,  and 

*  Plin.  epist.  lib.  iii.  ep.  18. 

t  In  the  first  book  of  his  Meditations,  sect.  7, 17. 


in  rendering  them  fit,  by  their  talents  and  their 
acquisitions,  to  be  useful  to  their  country.  But 
the  instruction  acquired  in  these  schools  was 
more  specious  than  solid;  and  the  youth  who 
received  their  education  in  them,  distinguished 
themselves,  at  their  entrance  upon  the  active 
stage  of  life,  more  by  empty  declamation,  than 
by  true  eloquence;  more  by  pompous  erudition, 
than  by  wisdom  and  dexterity  in  the  manage- 
ment of  public  affairs.  The  consequence  of 
this  was,  that  the  rhetoricians  and  sophists, 
though  agreeable  to  the  corrupt  taste  of  the 
tiiue,  which  was  iircapable,  generally  speaking, 
of  perceiving  the  native  charms  of  truth,  yet 
fell  into  contempt  among  tlie  prudent  and  the 
wise,  who  held  in  derision  the  knowledge  and 
education  acquired  in  their  auditories.  Beside 
the  schools  now  mentioned,  there  were  two 
public  academies  in  the  empire;  one  at  Rome, 
founded  by  Adrian,  in  which  all  the  sciences 
were  taught;  and  the  other  at  Berytus  in  Phoe- 
nicia, which  was  principally  destined  for  the 
education  of  youth  in  the  science  of  law.* 

III.  Many  philosophers  of  all  the  different 
sects  flourished  at  this  time,  whose  names  we 
do  not  think  it  necessary  to  mention. f  Two, 
however,  there  were,  of  such  remarkable  and 
shining  merit,  as  rendered  them  real  orna- 
inents  to  the  Stoic  philosophy;  which  the  me- 
ditations of  Marcus  Antoninus  and  the  manual 
of  Epictetus  abundantly  testify.  These  two 
great  men  had  more  admirers  than  disciples 
and  followers;  for,  in  this  century,  the  Stoical 
sect  was  not  in  the  highest  esteem,  as  the  rigour 
and  austerity  of  its  doctrine  were  by  no  means 
suited  to  the  dissolute  manners  of  the  times. 
The  Platonic  schools  were  more  frequented  for 
several  reasons,  and  particularly  for  these  two, 


*  See  the  Meditations  of  Marcus  Antoninus,  book  i. 
sect.  7,  10. 

t  Justin  Mart.  Dialog,  cum  Tryphone,  op.  p.  218,  &c. 
We  find  also  many  of  these  philosophers  mentioned  in 
the  meditations  of  Marcus  Antoninus. 


Chap.  I. 


LEARNING  AND  PHILOSOPHY. 


57 


that  their  moral  precepts  were  less  rigorous  and 
severe  than  those  of  the  Stoics,  and  their  doc- 
trines more  conformable  to,  or  ratlier  less  in- 
compatible with,  the  common  opinions  con- 
cerning- the  gods.  But,  of  all  the  philosophers, 
the  Epicureans  enjoj'cd  the  greatest  reputa- 
tion, and  liad  undoubtedly  the  greatest  num- 
ber of  followers,  because  their  opinions  tended 
to  encourage  the  indolent  security  of  a  volup- 
tuous and  efteminute  liie,  and  to  banish  the  re- 
morse and  terrors  that  haunt  vice,  and  natu- 
rally incommode  the  wicked  in  their  sensual 
pursuits.* 

IV.  Toward  the  conclusion  of  this  century, 
a  new  sect  of  philosophers  suddenly  arose, 
spread  with  amazing  rapidity  through  the 
greatest  part  of  the  Roman  empire,  swallowed 
up  almost  all  other  sects,  and  proved  extremely 
detrimental  to  the  cause  of  Christianity.  Alex- 
andria in  Egypt,  which  had  been,  for  a  long 
time,  the  seat  of  learning,  and,  as  it  were,  the 
centre  of  all  the  liberal  arts  and  sciences,  gave 
birth  to  this  new  philosophy.  Its  votaries 
chose  to  be  called  Platonists,  though,  far  from 
adlicring  to  all  the  tenets  of  Plato,  they  col- 
lected from  the  ditlerent  sects  such  doctrines  as 
they  thought  conformable  to  truth,  and  formed 
tliereof  one  general  system.  The  reason,  then, 
why  they  distinguished  themselves  by  the  title 
of  Platonists,  was,  that  they  thought  the  senti- 
ments of  Plato,  concerning  that  most  noble 
part  of  philosophy,  which  has  the  Deity  and 
things  invisible  for  its  objects,  much  more  ra- 
tional and  sublime  than  those  of  the  other  phi- 
losophers. 

V.  What  gave  to  tliis  new  philosophy  a  su- 
perior air  of  reason  and  dignity,  was,  the  mi- 
prejudiced  spirit  of  candour  and  impartiality  on 
which  it  seemed  to  be  founded.  Tiiis  recom- 
mended it  particularly  to  those  real  sages, 
whose  inquiries  were  accompanied  with  wis- 
dom and  moderation,  and  who  were  hick  of 
those  arrogant  and  contentious  sects,  which  re- 
quired an  invariable  attaclnnent  to  their  parti- 
cular systems.  And,  indeed,  nothing  could 
have  a  more  engaging  aspect  tlian  a  set  of  men, 
who,  abandoning  all  cavil,  and  all  prejudices 
in  favour  of  any  party,  professed  searching  after 
the  trutli  alone,  and  were  ready  to  adopt,  irom 
all  the  ditlerent  systems  and  sects,  such  tenets 
as  they  thougiit  agreeable  to  it.  Hence  also 
they  were  called  Eclectics.  It  is,  however,  to 
be  observed,  as  we  hinted  in  the  former  section, 
that  thougii  these  philosopliers  were  attached 
to  no  particular  sect,  yet  they  j)roferred,  as  ap- 
pears from  a  variety  of  testimonies,  the  sub- 
lime Plato  to  all  other  sages,  and  approved 
most  of  his  opinions  concerning  the  Deity,  tlie 
universe,  and  the  human  soul. 

VI.  Tiiis  new  species  of  Platonism  was  em- 
braced by  such  of  tlie  Alexandrian  Christians 
as  were  desirous  of  retaining,  with  the  pro- 
fession of  the  Gospel,  the  title,  the  dignity,  and 
the  habit  of  philosophers,  [t  is  also  said  to 
iiave  had  the  particular  approbation  of  Athe- 
nagoras,  Panta;nus,  Clemens  the  Alexandrian, 
and  of  all  those  who,  in  ih's  century,  were 
charged  with  the  care  of  the  public  schoolj 


*Lucian's  Pseudomant.  p.  7ti3.  torn.  i.  op. 
t  The  title  and  dignity  of  philosophers  delighted  so 
much  these  honest  men,  that  though  they  were  advanced 

Vol.  I.— 8 


which  the  Christians  had  at  Alexandria.  These 
sages  were  of  opinion,  that  true  philosophy, 
the  greatest  and  most  salutary  gift  of  God  to 
mortals,  was  scattered  in  various  portions 
tiu'ough  all  tiie  ditlerent  sects;  and  that  it  was, 
consequently,  the  duty  of  every  wise  man,  and 
more  especially  of  every  Christian  doctor,  to 
gather  it  from  the  several  corners  where  it  lay 
dispersed,  and  to  employ  it,  thus  re-united,  in 
the  delence  of  religion,  and  in  destroying  the 
dominion  of  impiety  and  vice.  The  Christian 
Eclectics  had  this  also  in  common  with  the 
others,  that  they  preferred  Plato  to  the  other 
philosophers,  and  looked  upon  his  opinions  con- 
cerning God,  the  human  soul,  and  things  in- 
visibh;,  as  conformable  to  the  spirit  and  genius 
of  the  Christian  doctrine. 

VII.  This  philosophical  system  underwent 
some  changes,  when  Ammonius  Saccas,  who 
taught,  with  the  highest  applause,  in  the  Alex- 
andrian school  about  tlie  conclusion  of  this 
century,  laid  the  ibundalions  of  that  sect  which 
was  distinguished  by  the  name  of  the  New 
Platonists.  This  learned  man  was  born  of 
Christian  parents,  and  never,  perhaps,  gave  up 
entirely  the  outward  profession  of  that  divine 
religion  in  which  he  had  been  educated.*  As 
his  genius  was  vast  and  comprehensive,  so 
were  his  projects  bold  and  singular.     For  lie 


in  the  church  to  the  rank  of  presbyters,  they  would  not 
abandon  the  philosophers'  cloak.  See  Origeu,  Epist.  ad. 
Eusebium,  toni.  i.  op.  edit,  de  la  Rue. 

'  Porjihyry,  in  his  third  book  against  the  Chrfstians, 
mainlaius,  that  Ammonius  deserted  the  Christian  religion 
and  went  over  to  Paganism  as  soon  as  hec.irae  to  that  time 
of  life  when  the  mind  is  capable  of  making  a  wise  and 
judicious  choice.  Eusibiua,  on  the  other  hand,  denies 
this  assertion;  maintaining,  that  Ammonius  persevered 
constantly  in  the  profession  of  Christianity;  and  he  is 
followed  in  this  opinion  by  Valesius,  Baylc,  basnage,  and 
others.  The  learned  Fabricius  is  of  opinion,  that  Euse- 
bius  confounded  two  persons  who  bore  the  name  of  Am- 
monius, one  of  whom  was  a  Christian  irriter,  and  the 
other  a  heathen  philosopher.  See  Fahric.  Bibiioth. 
Graica,  lib.  iv.  cap.  xxvi.  The  truth  of  the  matter 
seems  to  have  been,  that  Ammonius  Saccas  was  a  Chris- 
tian, who  adopted  with  such  dexterity  the  doctrines  of 
the  pagan  philosophy,  as  to  appear  a  Christian  to  the 
Christians,  and  a  Pagan  to  tlie  Pagans.  See  Brucker's 
Historia  Crilica  Philosophic,  vol.  li.  and  iii.  Since  the 
first  edition  of  this  work  appeared,  the  learned  Dr. 
Lardiier  has  maintained,  not  without  a  certain  degree  of 
asperity,  which  is  unusual  in  his  valuable  writings,  the 
opinion  of  Fabricius,  against  Eusebius,  and  particularly 
against  Dr.  Mosheim.  See  his  Collection  of  Heathen 
and  Jewish  Testimonies,  vol.  iii.  Dr.  Mosheim  was 
once  of  the  same  opinion  with  Fabricius,  and  he  main- 
taint'd  it  in  a  Dissertation,  de  ecclesia  turbala  per  re- 
cenlioren  Platonicos;  but  he  afterwards  saw  reason  to 
change  his  mind.  His  reasons  may  be  seen  in  his  book, 
de  rebus  Christianorum,  ante  Const.  Mag.  p.  281,  &c. 
They  indeed  weigh  little  with  Dr.  Lardner,  who,  how- 
ever, opposes  nothing  to  them  but  mere  assertions,  uo- 
sujuwrted  by  the  smallest  glimpse  of  evidence.  For  the 
letter  of  Origen,  which  he  quotes  friim  Eusebius,  is  SO 
far  from  proving  that  Ammonius  was  mertJi/ a  Heathen 
philosopher,  and  not  a  Christian,  that  it  would  not  be 
suHicient  to  demonstrate  (hat  there  was  ever  such  a  per- 
son as  Ammonius  in  the  world,  since  he  is  not  so  much  as 
named  in  that  letter.  But  allowing  with  Valesius  that 
it  is  Ammonius  whom  Origen  has  in  view,  when  he  talks 
of  the  philosophical  master  from  whom  he  and  Hercules 
received  instruction,  it  seems  very  whimsical  to  conclude 
from  this  circumstance,  that  Ammonius  was  no  Christian. 
The  coalition  between  Platonism  and  Christianity,  in  the 
second  and  third  centuries,  is  a  fact  too  fully  proved  to 
be  rendered  dubious  by  mere  affirmations.  The  notion, 
therefore,  of  two  persons  bearing  the  name  of  Ammo- 
nius, the  one  a  Heathen  philosopher,  and  the  other  a 
Christian  writer,  of  which  Dr.  Lardner  seems  so  fond, 
rests  upon  little  more  than  an  hypothesis  formed  to  re- 
move an  imaginary  difficulty. 


58 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


attempted  a  general  reconciliation  or  coalition 
of  all  sects,  whether  philosophical  or  religious, 
and  taught  a  doctrine  which  he  looked  upon 
as  proper,  to  unite  thein  all,  the  Christians  not 
excepted,  in  the  most  perfect  harmony.  And 
herein  lies  the  difference  between  this  new  sect 
and  the  Eclectics,  who  had,  before  this  time, 
flourished  in  Eg3'pt.  The  Eclectics  held,  that, 
in  every  sect,  there  was  a  mixture  of  good  and 
bad,  of  truth  and  falsehood;  and,  accordingly, 
they  chose  and  adopted,  out  of  each  of  them, 
such  tenets  as  seemed  to  tliem  conformable  to 
reason  and  truth,  and  rejected  sucli  as  they 
thought  repugnant  to  both.  Ammonius,  on 
the  contrary,  maintained,  that  the  great  prin- 
ciples of  all  philosophical  and  religious  truth 
were  to  be  found  equally  in  all  sects;  that  they 
differed  from  each  other  only  in  their  method 
of  expressing  them,  and  in  some  opinions  of 
little  or  no  importance;  and  tliat,  by  a  proper 
interpretation  of  tlieir  respective  sentiments, 
they  might  easily  be  united  into  one  body.  It 
is  farther  to  be  observed,  tiiat  the  pi'opensity 
of  Ammonius  to  singularity  and  paradox,  led 
him  to  maintain,  that  all  the  Gentile  religions, 
and  even  tlie  Christian,  were  to  be  illustrated 
and  explained  by  the  principles  of  this  univer- 
sal philosophy;  but  that,  in  order  to  this,  the 
fables  of  the  priests  were  to  be  removed  from 
Paganism,  and  the  comments  and  interpreta- 
tions of  the  disciples  of  Jesus  from  Chris- 
tianity. 

VIII.  This  arduous  design,  which  Ammo- 
nius had  formed,  of  bringing  about  a  coalition 
of  all  the  philosophical  sects,  and  all  the  s^'s- 
tems  of  religion  that  prevailed  in  the  world, 
required  many  difficult  and  disagreeable  things 
in  order  to  its  execution.  Every  particular 
sect  or  religion  must  have  several  of  its  doc- 
trines curtailed  or  distorted,  before  it  could  en- 
ter into  the  general  mass.  The  tenets  of  the 
philosophers,  the  superstitions  of  the  Heathen 
priests,  the  solemn  doctrines  of  Christianity, 
were  all  to  suffer  in  this  cause,  and  forced  al- 
legories were  to  be  employed  with  subtilty  in 
removing  the  difficulties  with  which  it  was  at- 
tended. How  this  vast  project  was  effected  by 
Ammonius,  the  writings  of  his  disciples  and 
followers,  that  yet  remain,  abundantly  testify. 
In  order  to  the  accomplishment  of  his  purpose, 
he  supposed,  that  true  philosophy  derived  its 
origin  and  its  consistence  from  the  eastern  na- 
tions; that  it  was  taught  to  the  Egyptians  by 
Hermes;  that  it  was  brought  from  them  to  the 
Greeks,  by  whose  vain  subtilties,  and  litigious 
disputes,  it  was  rendered  somewhat  obscure 
and  deformed;  but  was  however,  preserved  in 
its  original  purity  by  Plato,  who  was  the  best 
interpreter  of  Hermes,  and  of  the  other  orien- 
tal sages.  He  maintained,  that  all  the  differ- 
ent religions  which  prevailed  m  the  world, 
were,  in  their  original  integrit}',  contormable 
to  the  genius  of  this  ancient  philosophy;  but 
that  it  unfortunately  happened,  that  the  sym- 
bols and  fictions,  under  which,  according  to 
the  eastern  manner,  the  ancients  delivered 
their  precepts  and  their  doctrines,  were,  in  pro- 
cess of  time,  erroneously  miderstood  both  by 
priests  and  people  in  a  literal  sense;  that,  in 
consequence  of  this,  the  invisible  beings  and 
demonSj  whom  the  Supreme  Deity  had  placed 


'  in  the  different  parts  of  the  universe  as  the 
ministers  of  his  providence,  were,  by  the  sug- 
gestions of  superstition,  converted  into  gods, 
and  worshipped  with  a  multiplicity  of  vain  cere- 
monies. He  therefore  insisted,  that  the  reli- 
gions of  all  nations  should  be  restored  to  their 
original  purity,  and  reduced  to  their  primitive 
standard,  viz.  "  The  ancient  philosophy  of  the 
east;"  and  he  affirmed,  that  this  his  project 
was  agreeable  to  the  intentions  of  Jesus  Christ, 
whose  sole  view,  in  descending  upon  earth, 
was,  to  set  bounds  to  the  reigning  superstition, 
and  to  remove  the  errors  that  had  crept  into 
all  religions,  but  not  to  abolish  the  ancient 
theology  from  which  they  were  derived. 

IX.  Taking  these  principles  for  granted, 
Ammonius  adopted  the  doctrines  which  were 
received  in  Egypt,  the  place  of  his  birth  and 
education,  concerning  the  universe  and  the 
Peity,  considered  as  constituting  one  great 
whole;  as  also  concerning  the  eternity  of  the 
world,  the  nature  of  souls,  the  empire  of  Pro- 
vidence, and  the  government  of  this  world  by 
demons.  For  it  seems  evident,  that  the  Egyp- 
tian philosophy,  which  was  said  to  be  derived 
from  Hermes,  was  the  basis  of  that  of  Ammo- 
nius; or,  as  it  is  otherwise  called,  of  modern 
Platonism;  and  the  book  of  Jamblichus,  con- 
cerning the  mysteries  of  the  Egyptians,  puts 
the  matter  beyond  dispute.  Ammonius,  there- 
fore, associated  the  sentiments  of  the  Egyp- 
tians with  the  doctrines  of  Plato,  which  was 
easily  done  by  adulterating  some  of  the  opin- 
ions of  the  latter,  and  forcing  liis  expressions 
from  their  obvious  and  natural  sense;  and,  to 
finish  this  conciliatory  sclieme,  he  so  interpret- 
ed the  doctrines  of  the  other  philosophical  and 
religious  sects,  by  the  violent  succours  of  art, 
invention,  and  allegory,  that  they  seemed,  at 
length ,  to  bear  some  resemblance  to  the  Egyp- 
tian and  Platonic  systems. 

X.  To  this  monstrous  coalition  of  heteroge- 
neous doctrines,  its  fanatical  author  added  a 
rule  of  life  and  mamiers,  which  carried  an  as- 
pect of  high  sanctity  and  uncommon  austerity. 
He,  indeed,  permitted  the  people  to  live  ac- 
cording to  the  laws  of  their  country,  and  the 
dictates  of  nature;  but  a  more  sublime  rule 
was  laid  down  for  the  wise.  They  were  to 
raise,  above  all  terrestrial  things,  by  the  tow- 
ering efforts  of  holy  contemplation,  those  souls 
wliose  origin  was  celestial  and  divine.  They 
were  ordered  to  extenuate,  by  liunger,  thirst, 
and  other  mortifications,  the  sluggish  body, 
which  confines  the  activity,  and  restrains  the 
liberty  of  tlie  immortal  spirit;  that  tlius,  in  this 
life,  they  might  enjoy  communion  with  the 
Supreme  Eeing,  and  ascend  after  death,  active 
and  unencumbered,  to  the  universal  Parent,  to 
live  in  his  presence  for  ever.  As  Ammonius 
was  born  and  educated  among  the  Christians, 
he  embellished  these  injunctions,  and  even  gave 
them  an  air  of  authority,  by  expressing  them 
partly  in  terms  borrowed  from  the  sacred  scrip- 
tures, of  which  we  find  a  vast  number  of  cita- 
tions also  in  the  writings  of  his  disciples.  To 
tliis  austere  discipline,  he  added  the  pretended 
art  of  so  purging  and  refuiing  that  faculty  of 
the  mind  which  receives  the  images  of  things, 
as  to  render  it  capable  of  perceiving  the  de- 
mons, and  of  performing  many  marvelloufl 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CliURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


59 


things,  by  their  assistance.  Tliis  art,  which 
the  disciples  of  Ammonius  called!  thiurgy,  was 
not,  however,  conimimicated  to  all  the  schools 
of  this  fanatical  philosopher,  but  only  to  those 
of  the  first  rank. 

XI.  Tlie  extravagant  attempts  of  Ammoni- 
us did  not  cease  here.  To  reconcile  the  popu- 
lar religions  of  different  countries,  and  parti- 
cularly the  Christian,  with  this  new  system,  he 
fell  upon  the  following  inventions;  1st,  He 
turned  into  a  mere  allt'H;ory  tlic  whole  liistory 
of  the  gods,  and  maintained,  that  those  heinns 
whom  the  priests  and  people  dignified  with  tiiis 
title,  were  no  more  than  celestial  ministers,  to 
whom  a  certain  kind  of  worship  was  due,  but 
a  worship  inferior  to  that  which  was  to  be  re- 
served for  the  Supreme  Deity.  2dly,  He  ac- 
knowledged Christ  to  be  a  most  excellent  man, 
the  friend  of  God,  the  admirable  tlicurgc;  he 
denied,  however,  that  Jesus  intended  to  abol- 
ish entirely  the  worsJii])  of  demons,  and  of  tlie 
other  ministers  of  divine  Providence;  and  af- 
firmed, on  the  contrary,  that  his  only  intention 
was  to  purify  the  ancient  religion,  and  that  his 
followers  had  manifestly  corrupted  tJie  doc- 
trine of  their  divine  master.* 

XII.  This  new  species  of  philosophy,  im- 
prudently adopted  by  Origcn  and  many  other 
Christians,  was  extremely  prejudicial  to  the 
cause  of  tlie  Gospel,  and  to  the  beautiful  sim- 
plicity of  its  celestial  doctrines.  For  hence  it 
was,  that  the  Christian  doctors  began  to  intro- 
duce their  perplexed  and  obscure  erudition  into 
the  religion  of  Jesus;  to  involve,  in  the  dark- 
ness of  a  vain  philosophy,  some  of  the  princi- 
pal truths  of  Christianity,  that  had  been  re- 
vealed with  the  utmost  plainness,  and  were  in- 
deed obvious  to  the  meanest  capacity;  and  to 
add,  to  the  divine  precepts  of  our  Lord,  many 
of  their  own,  which  had  no  sort  of  foundation 
in  any  part  of  the  sacred  writings.  From  the 
same  source  arose  that  melancholy  set  of  men, 
who  have  been  distinguished  b}'  the  name  of 
Mystics,  whose  system,  when  separated  from 
the  Platonic  doctrine  concerning  the  nature 
and  origin  of  the  soul,  is  but  a  lifelesG  mass, 
without  any  vigour,  form,  or  consistence.  Nor 
did  the  evils,  which  sprang  from  this  Ammo- 
nian  philosophy,  end  here.  For,  under  the 
specious  pretext  of  the  necessity  of  contempla- 
tion, it  gave  occiLsion  to  that  slothful  and  indo- 
lent course  of  life,  which  continvies  to  be  led 
by  myriads  of  monks  retired  in  cells,  and  se- 
questered from  society,  to  which  they  are  nei- 
ther useful  by  their  instructions,  nor  by  their 
examples.  To  this  philosophy  we  may  trace, 
as  to  their  source,  a  multitude  of  vain  and 
foolish  ceremonies,  calculated  only  to  cast  a 
veil  over  truth,  and  to  nourisli  superstition; 
and  which  are,  for  the  most  part,  religiously 
observed  by  many,  even  in  the  times  in  which 


*  What  we  have  here  mentioned  concerning:  the  doc- 
trines and  opinions  of  Ammonius,  is  gathered  from  the 
writings  and  disputationsof  his  disciples,  who  arc  known 
by  the  name  of  the  Modern  Platonisls.  This  pliiloso- 
pher  has  left  nothing  in  writing  behind  him.  He  even 
imposed  a  law  upon  iiis  disciples  not  to  divulge  his  doc- 
trines among  the  multitude;  which  law,  however,  llity 
made  no  scruple  to  neglect  and  violate.  Sec  Porpliyr. 
Vit.  Plotini,  cap.  iii.  At  the  same  time,  there  is  no  sort 
of  doubt,  that  all  these  inventions  belong  properly  to  Am- 
monius, whom  all  the  later  Platonists  arltnowledgc  as  the 
fuuoder  of  this  sect,  and  the  autlior  of  their  philosophy. 


we  live.  It  would  be  endless  to  enumerate  all 
the  pernicious  consequences  that  may  be  justly 
attributed  to  this  new  philosophy,  or  rather  to 
this  monstrous  attempt  to  reconcile  falsehood 
with  truth,  and  liglit  with  darkness.  Some  of 
its  most  fatal  effects  were,  its  alienating  the 
minds  of  many,  in  tlie  following  ages,  from  the 
Cliristian  religion;  and  its  substituting,  in  the 
place  of  the  pure  and  sublime  simplicity  of  the 
Crospel,  an  unseemly  mixture  of  Platonisin 
and  Christianity. 

XII J.  The  number  of  learned  men  among 
the  Cluistians,  which  was  very  small  in  the 
preceding  century,  increased  considerably  in 
this.  Among  these  there  were  few  rhetori- 
cians, sophists,  or  orators.  The  majority  were 
philosophers  attached  to  the  Eclectic  system, 
though  they  were  not  all  of  the  same  senti- 
ments concerning  the  utility  of  letters  and  phi- 
losophy. Those  who  were  themselves  initiat- 
ed into  the  depths  of  philosophy,  were  desi- 
rous that  others,  particularly  such  as  aspired  to 
the  offices  of  bishops  or  doctors,  should  apply 
themselves  to  the  study  of  human  wisdom,  in 
order  to  their  being  the  better  qualified  for  de- 
fending the  truth  with  vigour,  and  instructing 
the  ignorant  with  success.  Others  were  of  a 
quite  different  way  of  thinking  upon  this  sub- 
ject, and  were  for  banishing  all  argumentation 
and  philosophy  from  the  limits  of  the  church, 
from  a  notion  that  erudition  might  prove  detri- 
mental to  the  true  spirit  of  religion.  Hence 
the  early  beginning-s  of  that  unhappy  contest 
between /f»t//i  and  reason,  religion  and  philoso- 
phy, piety  and  genius,  wliich  increased  in  the 
succeeding  ages,  and  is  prolonged,  even  to  our 
times,  with  a  violence  that  renders  it  extremely- 
difficult  to  be  brought  to  a  conclusion.  Those 
who  maintained  that  learning  and  philosoph}' 
were  rather  advantageous  than  detrimental  to 
the  cause  of  religion,  gained,  by  degrees,  the 
ascendant;  and,  in  consequence  thereof,  laws 
were  enacted,  which  excluded  the  ignorant  and 
illiterate  from  tlie  office  of  public  teachers. 
The  opposite  side  of  the  question  was  not, 
however,  without  defenders;  and  the  defects 
and  vices  of  learned  men  and  philosophers  con- 
tributed much  to  increase  their  number,  aa  will 
appear  in  the  progress  of  this  history. 

CHAPTER  II. 

Concerning  Ihe   Doctors  and  Ministers  of  the 
Church,  and  the  Form  of  its  Government. 

I.  The  form  of  ecclesiastical  government, 
whose  commencement  we  have  seen  in  the  last 
century,  was  brought  in  this  to  a  greater  de- 
gree of  stabilitj'  and  consistence.  One  inspec- 
tor, or  bishop,  presided  over  each  CRristian  as- 
sembly, to  which  oflice  he  was  elected  by  the 
voices  of  the  whole  ]>eoyle.  In  this  jiost  ho 
was  to  be  watchful  and  provident,  attentive  to 
the  wants  of  the  church,  and  careful  to  supply 
them.  To  assist  hiin  in  this  laborious  pro- 
vince, he  formed  a  council  of  presbyters,  which 
was  not  confined  to  any  fixed  number;  and  to 
each  of  tlicse  he  distributed  his  task,  and  ap- 
pointed a  station,  in  which  he  was  to  promote 
the  interests  of  the  church.  To  the  bishops 
and  presbyters,  the  ministers  or  deacons  wore 


60 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


subject;  and  the  latter  were  divided  into  a  va- 
riety of  classes,  as  the  state  of  the  church  re- 
quired. 

II.  During  a  great  part  of  this  century,  the 
Christian  churclies  were  independent  with  re- 
spect io  each  other;  nor  were  they  joined  by 
association,  confederacy,  or  any  other  bonds 
than  those  of  charity.  Each  Christian  assem- 
bly was  a  little  state,  governed  by  its  own  laws, 
which  were  either  enacted,  or  at  least,  approv- 
ed by  the  society.  But,  in  process  of  time, 
all  the  Christian  churches  of  a  province  were 
formed  into  one  large  ecclesiastical  body, 
which,  like  confederate  states,  assembled  at 
certain  times  in  order  to  deliberate  about  the 
common  interests  of  the  whole.  This  institu- 
tion had  its  origin  among  tlie  Greeks,  with 
whom  nothing  was  more  common  than  this 
confederacy  of  independent  states,  and  the  re- 
gular assemblies  which  met,  in  consequence 
thereof,  at  fixed  times,  and  were  composed  of 
the  deputies  of  each  respective  state.  But 
these  ecclesiastical  associations  were  not  long 
confined  to  the  Greeks ;  their  great  utility  was 
no  sooner  perceived,  than  they  became  univer- 
sal, and  were  formed  in  all  places  where  the 
gospel  had  been  planted.*  To  these  assem- 
blies, in  which  the  deputies  or  commissioners 
of  several  churches  consulted  together,  the 
names  of  synods  was  appropriated  by  the 
Greeks,  and  that  of  councils  by  the  Latins; 
and  the  laws  that  were  enacted  in  these  gene- 
ral meetings,  were  called  canons,  i.  e.  rules. 

III.  These  co!(7ici/s  of  which  we  find  not  the 
smallest  trace  before  the  middle  of  this  century, 
changed  the  whole  face  of  the  church,  and 
gave  it  a  new  form:  for  by  them  the  ancient 
privileges  of  the  people  were  considerably  di- 
minished, and  the  power  and  authority  of  the 
bishops  greatly  augmented.  The  humilitjr, 
indeed,  and  prudence  of  these  pious  prelates, 
prevented  their  assuming  all  at  once  the  power 
with  which  they  were  afterward  invested.  At 
their  first  appearance  in  these  general  councils, 
they  acknowledged  that  they  were  no  more 
tnan  the  delegates  of  their  respective  churches, 
and  that  they  acted  in  the  name,  and  by  the 
appointment  of  their  people.  But  they  soon 
changed  this  humble  tone,  imperceptibly  ex- 
tended the  limits  of  their  authority,  turned 
their  influence  into  dominion,  and  their  coun- 
sels into  laws;  and  openly  asserted,  at  length, 
that  Christ  had  empowered  them  to  prescribe 
to  his  people  authoritative  rules  oF  faith  and 
manners.  Anotlicr  effect  of  these  councils 
was,  the  gradual  abolition  of  that  perfect 
equality  which  reigned  among  all  bishops  in 
the  prnnitive  times.  For  the  order  and  de- 
cency of  tl^ese  assemblies  required,  tiiat  some 
one  of  the  provincial  bishops,  meeting  in  coun- 
cil, should  be  invested  witli  a  superior  degree 
of  power  and  authoBity;  and  hence  the  rights 
of  Metropolitans  derive  their  origin.  In  the 
mean  time  the  bounds  of  tlie  church  were  en- 
larged; the  custom  of  holding  councils  was 
followed  wherever  the  sotmd  of  the  Gospel 
had  reached;  and  the  universal  church  had 
now  the  appearance  of  one  vast  lepublic, 
formed  by  a  combination   of  a  great  num- 


•  Tcrtullian,  Lib.  de  JejuuJis,  cap.  xiii.  p.  711. 


ber  of  little  states.  This  occasioned  the  cre- 
ation of  a  new  order  of  ecclesiastics,  who 
were  appointed,  in  different  parts  of  the  world, 
as  heads  of  the  church,  and  whose  office  it  was 
to  preserve  the  consistence  and  union  of  that 
immense  body,  whose  members  were  so  widely 
dispersed  throughout  the  nations.  Such  were 
the  nature  and  office  of  the  patriarchs,  among 
whom,  at  length,  ambition,  having  reached 
its  most  insolent  period,  formed  a  new  dig- 
nity, investing  the  bishop  of  Rome,  and  his 
successors,  with  the  title  and  authority  of 
pi-ince  of  the  patriarchs. 

IV.  The  Christian  doctors  had  the  good  for- 
tune to  persuade  the  people,  that  the  ministers 
of  the  Christian  church  succeeded  to  the  cha- 
racter, rights,  and  privileges,  of  the  Jewish 
piiesthood;  and  tliis  persuasion  was  a  new 
source  both  of  honours  and  profit  to  the  sacred 
order.  This  notion  was  propagated  with  in- 
dustry some  time  after  the  reign  of  Adrian, 
when  the  second  destruction  of  Jerusalem  had 
extinguished  among  the  Jews  all  hopes  of  see- 
ing their  government  restored  to  its  former 
lustre,  and  their  country  arising  out  of  ruins. 
And,  accordingly,  the  bishops  considered  them- 
selves as  invested  with  a  rank  and  character 
similar  to  those  of  the  high  priest  among  the 
Jews,  while  the  presbyters  represented  the 
priests,  and  the  deacons  the  Levites.  It  is, 
indeed,  highly  probable,  that  they  who  first  in- 
troduced this  absurd  comparison  of  offices,  so 
entirely  distinct,  did  it  rather  through  igno- 
rance and  error,  than  through  artifice  or  de- 
sign. The  notion,  however,  once  entertained, 
produced  its  natural  effects;  and  these  effects 
were  pernicious.  The  errors  to  which  it  gaye 
rise  were  many;  and  we  may  justly  consider, 
as  one  of  its  immediate  consequences,  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  greater  difference  between  the 
Christian  pastors  and  their  flock,  than  the  ge- 
nius of  the  Gospel  seems  to  admit. 

V.  From  the  government  of  the  church,  let 
us  turn  our  eyes  to  those  who  maintained  its 
cause  by  their  learned  and  judicious  writings. 
Among  these  we  may  mention  Justin,  a  man 
of  great  piety  and  considerable  learning,  who, 
from  a  pagan  philosopher,  became  a  Christian 
martyr.  He  had  frequented  all  the  different 
sects  of  philosophy  in  an  ardent  and  impartial 
pursuit  of  truth;  and  finding,  neither  among 
Stoics  nor  Peripatetics,  neither  in  the  Pythago- 
rean nor  Platonic  schools,  any  satisfactory  ac- 
count of  the  perfections  of  the  Supreme  Be- 
ing, and  the  nature  and  destination  of  the  hu- 
man soul,  he  embraced  Christianity  on  account 
of  the  light  which  it  cast  upon  these  interest- 
ing subjects. — We  have  yet  remaining  his  two 
Apologies  in  behalf  of  the  Christians,  which 
are  highly  esteemed,  as  they  deserve  to  be,  al- 
though, in  some  passages  of  them,  he  shows 
himself  an  incautious  disputant,  and  betrays  a 
want  of  acquaintance  with  ancient  history. 

Irenteus,  bishop  of  Lyons,  a  Greek  by  birth, 
and  probably  born  of  Christian  parents,  a  dis- 
ciple also  of  Polycarp,  by  whom  he  was  sent 
to  preach  the  Gospel  among  the  Gauls,  is  ano- 
ther of  the  writers  of  this  century,  whose  la- 
bours were  remarkably  useful  to  the  church. 
He  turned  his  pen  against  its  internal  and  do- 
mestic enemies,  by  attacking  the  monstrou.s 


Chap.  ITT. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


61 


errors  which  had  been  adopted  by  many  of  the 
primitive  Christians,  as  appears  by  liis  five 
Books  against  Heresies,  wliicli  are  yet  preserv- 
ed in  a  Latin  translation,*  and  are  considered 
as  one  of  the  most  precious  monuments  of  an- 
cient erudition. 

Athenagoras  also  deserves  a  place  among 
the  estimable  writers  of  this  age.  He  was  a 
philosopher  of  no  mean  reputation;  and  his 
apology  for  the  Christians,  and  his  treatise  upon 
the  Resurrection,  afford  striking  proofs  of  his 
learning  and  genius. 

The  works  of  Thcophilus,  bishop  of  Antioch, 
are  more  remarkable  for  their  erudition,  than 
for  their  order  and  method;  this,  at  least,  is 
true  of  his  three  Books  in  Defence  of  Chris- 
tianity, addressed  to  Autolycus.f  But  the 
most  illustrious  writer  of  this  century,  and  the 
most  justly  renowned  for  his  various  erudition, 
and  his  perfect  acquaintance  with  the  ancient 
sages,  was  Clemens,  the  disciple  of  Pantsenus, 
and  the  head  of  the  Alexandrian  school,  des- 
tined for  the  instruction  of  the  catechumens. 
His  Stromata,  Pedagogue,  and  Exhortation, 
addressed  to  the  Greeks,  which  are  yet  extant, 
abmidantly  show  the  extent  of  his  learning  and 
the  force  of  his  genius,  though  he  is  neither  to 
be  admired  for  the  precision  of  his  ideas,  nor 
for  the  perspicuity  of  his  style.  It  is  also  to 
be  lamented,  that  his  excessive  attachment  to 
the  reigning  philosophy  led  him  into  a  variety 
of  pernicious  errors. 

Hitherto  we  have  made  no  mention  of  the 
Latin  writers,  who  employed  their  pens  in  the 
Christian  cause.  And,  indeed,  the  only  one 
of  any  note  we  find  in  this  century,  is  Tertul- 
lian,  by  birth  a  Carthagenian,  who,  having  first 
embraced  the  profession  of  the  law,  became 
afterwards  a  presbyter,  and  concluded  by  adopt- 
ing the  heretical  visions  of  Montanus.  He  was 
a  man  of  extensive  learning,  of  a  fine  genius, 
and  highly  admired  for  his  elocution  in  the 
Latin  tongue.  We  have  several  works  of  his 
yet  remaining,  which  were  designed  to  explain 
and  defend  the  truth,  and  to  nourish  pious  af- 
fections in  the  hearts  of  Christians.  There 
was,  indeed,  such  a  mixture  in  the  qualities  of 
this  man,  that  it  is  difficult  to  fix  his  real  cha- 
racter, and  to  determine  which  of  the  two  pre- 
dominated— his  virtues  or  his  defects.  He  was 
endowed  with  a  great  genius,  but  seemed  defi- 
cient in  point  of  judgment.  His  piety  was 
warm  and  vigorous,  but,  at  the  same  time,  me- 
lancholy and  austere.  His  learning  was  ex- 
tensive and  profound;  and  yet  his  credulity  and 
superstition  were  such  as  could  only  have  been 
expected  from  the  darkest  ignorance.  And 
with  respect  to  his  reasonings,  thoy  had  more 
of  the  subtilty  that  dazzles  the  imagination, 


QQ=  *  Tlie   first  book  is  yet  extant  in  the  original 
Greek;  of  the  rest,  we  have  only  a  Latin  version,  through 
the  barbarity  of  which,  though  excessive,  it  is  cisy   to  i 
discern  the  eloquence  and  erudition  that  reign  through- 
out the  original.     See  Hist.  Litcraire  de  la  Krance. 

(SQ"  \  Tneophilus  was  the  author  of  several  works, 
beside  those  mentioned  by  Dr.  Mosheim,  particularly  of 
K  commentary  upon  the  Proverbs,  another  upon  the  Four 
Kyangelists,  and  of  some  short  and  pathetic  discourses, 
which  he  published  from  time  to  time  for  the  use  of  his 
flock.  He  also  wrote  against  Marcion  and  Hcrmogcnes, 
and,  in  refuting  the  errors  of  these  heretics,  be  quotes 
ieveral  passages  of  the  Revelations. 


than  of  that  solidity  which  brings  light  and 
conviction  to  the  mind.* 

CHAPTER  m. 

Concerning  the  Doctiine  of  the  Chiistian  Church 
in  this  Century. 

I.  The  Christian  system,  a."?  it  was  hitherto 
taught,  preserved  its  native  and  bcautifiil  sim- 
plicity, and  was  comprehended  in  a  small  num- 
ber of  articles.  The  public  teachers  inculcat- 
ed no  other  doctrines,  than  those  which  are 
contained  in  what  is  commonly  called  the 
Apostles'  Creed;  and  in  the  method  of  illus- 
trating them,  all  vain  subtilties,  all  mysterious 
researches,  every  thing  that  was  beyond  tlie 
reach  of  common  capacities,  were  carefully 
avoided.  This  will  not  appear  surprising  to 
those  who  consider  that,  at  this  time,  there  was 
not  the  least  controversy  about  those  capital 
doctrines  of  Cln-istianity,  which  were  after- 
wards so  keenly  debated  in  the  church;  and 
who  reflect,  th.at  the  bishops  of  these  j)rimitive 
times  were,  for  the  most  part,  plain  and  illite- 
rate men,  remarkable  rather  for  their  piety  and 
zeal,  than  for  their  learning  and  eloquence. 

n.  This  venerable  sini])licity  was  not,  in- 
deed, of  a  long  duration;  its  beauty  was  ffra- 
dually  effaced  by  the  laborious  efforts  of  hu- 
man learning,  and  the  dark  subtilties  of  ima- 
ginary science.  Acute  researches  were  em- 
ployed upon  several  religious  subjects,  con- 
cerning wliich  ingenious  decisions  were  pro- 
nounced; and,  what  was  worst  of  all,  several 
tenets  of  a  chimerical  philosophy  were  impru- 
dently incorporated  into  the  Christian  system. 
This  disadvantageous  change,  this  unhappy 
alteration  of  the  primitive  simplicity  of  the 
Christian  religion,  arose  partly  from  ])ride,  and 
partly  from  a  sort  of  necessity.  The  former 
cause  was  the  eagerness  of  certain  learned  men 
to  bring  about  a  imion  between  the  doctrines 
of  Chiistianity  and  the  ojiinions  of  the  philo- 
sophers; for  they  thought  it  a  very  fine  accom- 
plishment, to  be  able  to  express  the  precepts  of 
Christ  in  the  language  o( iihilosophtrs,  civilian!!, 
and  rabbis.  Tiie  other  reason  that  contributed 
to  alter  the  simplicity  of  the  Christian  religion, 
was,  the  necessity  of  having  recourse  to  logical 
definitions  and  nice  distinctions,  in  order  to 
confound  the  sophistical  arguments  wliicli  the 
infidel  and  the  heretic  employed,  one  lo  over- 
turn the  Christian  system,  and  the  other  to 
corrupt  it.  ^^:^  These  philosophical  arms,  in 
the  hands  of  the  judicious  and  wise,  were  both 
honourable  and  useful  to  religion;  but,  when 
they  were  handled  by  every  ignorant  and  self- 
sufficient  meddler,  as  was  afterwards  the  case, 
they  produced  nothing  but  perplexity  and  con- 
fusion, under  which  genuine  Christianity  al- 
most disappeared. 

HL  Many  examples  might  be  alleged,  which 
verify  the  observations  we  have  now  been 


*  It  is  proper  to  point  out,  to  such  as  are  desirous  of  a 
more  particular  account  of  the  works,  as  also  of  the  ex- 
cellencies and  defects  of  these  ancient  writers,  the  au- 
thors who  have  professedly  written  of  them;  and  the 
principal  are  those  who  follow:  Jo.  Alb.  Fabricius,  in 
Biblioth.  Grsc.  et  Latin. — Cave.  Hist.  Liter.  Scriptor. 
Eccl. — Du-Pin  et  Cellicr,  Bibiioth.  des  Auleurs  Eccleii- 
asliques. 


62 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


making;  and,  if  the  reader  is  desirous  of  a 
striking  one,  he  has  only  to  take  a  view  of  the 
doctrines  which  began  to  be  taught  in  this  cen- 
tury, concerning  the  state  of  the  soul  after  the 
dissolution  of  the  body.  Jesus  and  his  disci- 
ples had  simply  declared,  that  the  souls  of  good 
men  were,  at  their  departure  from  their  bodies, 
to  be  received  into  heaven,  while  those  of  the 
wicked  were  to  be  sent  to  hell;  and  this  was 
sufficient  for  the  first  disciples  of  Christ  to 
know,  as  they  had  more  piety  t.lian  curiosity, 
and  were  satisfied  with  the  knowledge  of  this 
solemn  fact,  without  any  inclination  to  pene- 
trate its  manner,  or  to  pry  into  its  secret  rea- 
sons. But  this  plain  doctrine  was  soon  dis- 
guised, when  Platonism  began  to  infect  Chris- 
tianity. Plato  had  taught  that  the  souls  of 
heroes,  of  illustrious  men,  and  eminent  philo- 
sophers alone,  ascended  after  death  into  the 
mansions  of  light  and  felicity,  while  those  of 
the  generality,  weighed  down  by  their  lusts 
and  passions,  sunk  into  the  infernal  regions, 
whence  they  were  not  permitted  to  emerge 
before  they  were  purified  from  their  turpitude 
and  corruption.*  This  doctrine  was  seized 
with  avidity  by  the  Platonic  Christians,  and 
applied  as  a  commentary  upon  that  of  Jesus. 
Hence  a  notion  prevailed,  that  only  the  mar- 
tyrs entered  upon  a  state  of  happiness  imme- 
diately after  death,  and  that,  for  the  rest,  a 
certain  obscure  region  was  assigned,  in  which 
they  were  to  be  imprisoned  until  tlie  second 
coming  of  Christ,  or,  at  least,  until  they  were 
purified  from  their  various  pollutions.  This 
doctrine,  enlarged  by  the  irregular  fancies  of 
injudicious  men,  became  a  source  of  innmne- 
rable  errors,  vain  ceremonies,  and  monstrous 
superstitions. 

IV.  But,  however  the  doctrines  of  the  Gos- 
pel may  have  been  abused  by  the  commenta- 
ries and  interpretations  of  different  sects,  all 
were  unanimous  in  regarding  the  Scriptures 
with  veneration,  as  the  great  rule  of  faith  and 
manners;  and  hence  arose  the  laudable  and 
pious  zeal  of  adapting  them  to  general  use. 
We  have  mentioned  already  tlie  translations 
that  were  made  of  them  into  different  lan- 
guages, and  it  will  not  be  improper  to  say 
sometliing  here  concerning  those  v/ho  employ- 
ed their  useful  labours  in  explaining  and  inter- 
preting them.  Pantffinus,  tlie  head  of  the 
Alexandrian  school,  was  probably  the  fir.st  who 
enriched  the  church  with  a  version  of  the  sa- 
cred writings,  which  has  been  lost  among  the 
ruins  of  time.  The  same  fate  attended  the 
cominenta7-ij  of  Clemens  the  Alexandrian,  upon 
the  canonicril  epistles;  and  also  another  cele- 
brated workf  of  the  same  author,  in  which  he 
is  said  to  have  explained,  in  a  compendious 
manner,  almost  all  the  sacred  writings.  The 
Harmony  of  the  Erangdisls,  composed  by  Ta- 
tian,  is  yet  extant.  But  the  Exposition  of  the 
Revelations,  by  Justin  Martyr,  and  of  the  four 
Gospels  by  Theophihis  bishop  of  Antioch,  toge- 
tlier  with  several  illustrations  of  the  Mosaic 


*  See  an  ample  account  of  the  opinions  of  (lie  Platon- 
ists  and  other  ancient  philosophers  on  this  subjecl,  in  the 
notes  which  Dr.  Mosheim  has  added  to  his  Latin  transla- 
tion of  Cndworth's  Intellectual  System.,  vol.  ii. 

t  Viz.  Clementis  Ilypotyposes. 


history  of  the  creation,  by  other  ancient  wri- 
ters, are  lost. 

V.  The  loss  of  these  ancient  productidns  is 
the  less  to  be  regretted  as  we  know,  with  cer- 
tainty, their  vast  inferiority  to  the  expositions 
of  the  holy  Scriptures  that  appeared  in  suc- 
ceeding times.  Among  the  persons  already 
mentioned,  none  deserved  the  name  of  an  able 
and  judicious  interpreter  of  the  sacred  text. 
They  all  attributed  a  double  sense  to  the  words 
of  Scripture;  the  one  obvious  and  literal,  the 
other  hidden  and  mysterious,  which  lay  con- 
cealed, as  it  were  under  the  veil  of  the  outward 
letter.  The  former  they  treated  with  the  ut- 
most neglect,  and,  turned  the  whole  force  of 
their  genius  and  application  to  unfold  the  lat- 
ter; or,  in  other  words,  they  were  more  studi- 
ous to  darken  the  Scriptures  with  their  idle 
fictions,  than  to  investigate  their  true  and  na- 
tural sense.  Some  of  them  also  forced  the  ex- 
pressions of  sacred  writ  out  of  their  obvious 
meaning,  in  order  to  apply  them  to  the  sup- 
port of  their  philosophical  systems;  of  which 
dangerous  and  pernicious  attempts,  Clemens 
of  Alexandria  is  said  to  have  given  the  first 
example.  With  respect  to  the  expositors  of 
the  Old  Testament  in  this  century,  we  shall 
only  make  this  general  remark,  that  their  ex- 
cessive veneration  for  the  Alexandrian  version, 
commonly  called  the  Septuagint/which  they 
regarded  almost  as  of  divine  authority,  con- 
fined their  views,  fettered  their  critical  spirit, 
and  hindered  them  from  producing  any  thing 
excellent  in  the  way  of  sacred  criticism  or  in- 
terpretation. 

VI.  If  this  age  was  not  very  fertile  in  sacred 
critics,  it  was  still  less  so  in  expositors  of  the 
doctrinal  parts  of  religion;  for  hitherto  there 
was  no  attempt  made,  at  least  that  has  come 
to  our  knowledge,  to  compose  a  system  or  com- 
plete view  of  the  Christian  doctrine.  Some 
treatises  of  Arabians,  relative  to  this  subject, 
are  indeed  mentioned;  but,  as  they  are  lost, 
and  seem  not  to  have  been  much  known  by 
any  of  the  writers  whose  works  have  survived 
them,  we  can  form  no  conclusions  concerning 
them.  The  books  of  Papias,  concerning  the 
sayings  of  Christ  and  his  apostles,  were  ac- 
cording to  the  account  which  Eusebius  gives 
of  them,  rather  an  historical  commentary,  than 
a  theological  system.  Melito,  bisliop  of  Sardis, 
is  said  to  have  written  several  treatises;  one 
concerning  faith,  another  on  the  creation,  a 
third  respecting  the  church,  and  a  fourth  for 
the  illustration  of  truth;  but  it  does  not  ap- 
pear from  the  titles  of  these  writings,  whether 
they  were  of  a  doctrinal  or  controversial  na- 
ture.* Several  of  the  polemic  writers,  indeed, 
have  been  naturally  led,  in  the  course  of  con- 
trovers}',  to  explain  amply  certain  points  of 
religion.  But  those  doctrines  which  have  not 
been  disputed,   are  very  rarely  defined  with 


Q(p=  *  Melito,  beside  his  Apology  far  the  Christians, 
and  the  treatises  mentioned  by  Dr.  Mosheim,  wrote  a 
discourse  upon  Esther  and  several  other  dissertations,  of 
vvliich  we  have  only  some  scattered  fragments  remaining; 
but  what  is  worthy  of  remark  here,  is,  that  he  is  Ihe 
first  Christian  writer  who  has  given  us  a  catalogue  of  the 
books  of  the  Old  Testament.  His  catalogue,  also,  is 
perfectly  conformable  to  that  of  the  Jews,  except  in  thii 
point  only,  that  be  has  omitted  it  in  the  book  of  Either, 


Chap.  IH. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


63 


such  accuracy,  by  the  ancient  writers,  as  to 
point  out  to  us  clearly  what  their  opinions 
concerning  them  were.  Hence  it  ought  not 
to  appear  surprising,  that  all  the  dillerent  sects 
of  Christians  pretend  to  find,  in  the  vvrilincrs 
of  the  fathers,  decisions  favourahle  to  their 
respective  tenets. 

Vn.  The  controversial  writers,  who  shone 
in  this  century,  had  three  diHercnt  sorts  of  ad- 
versaries to  combat;  the  Jews,  the  Pagans,  and 
those  who,  in  tlie  bosom  of  Christianity,  cor- 
rupted its  doctrines,  and  produced  various  sects 
and  divisions  in  the  church.  Justin  Martyr, 
and  Tertullian,  embarked  in  a  controversy  with 
the  Jews,  whicli  it  was  not  possible  for  tliem  to 
manage  with  the  highest  success  and  dexterity, 
as  they  were  very  little  acquainted  with  the 
language,  the  history,  and  the  learning  of  tlie 
Hebrews,  and  wrote  with  more  levity  and  in- 
accuracy, than  such  a  subject  would  justify. 
Of  those  who  managed  the  cause  of  Christi- 
anity against  the  Pagans,  some  performed  this 
tnportant  task  by  composing  apologies  for  the 
Cliristians,  and  others  by  addressing  patlietic 
exliortations  to  the  Gentiles.  Among  the  for- 
mer were  Athenagoras,  Melito,  Quadratus, 
Miltiades,  Aristides,  Tatian,  and  Justin  Mar- 
tyr; and  among  tlie  latter,  Tertullian,  Cle- 
mens, Justin,  and  Theophilus  bishop  of  An- 
tioch.  All  these  writers  attacked,  with  judg- 
ment, dexterity,  and  success,  the  pagan  super- 
stition, and  also  defended  the  Christians,  in  a 
victorious  manner,  against  all  the  calumnies 
and  aspersions  of  their  enemies.  But  they  did 
not  succeed  so  well  in  unfolding  the  true  na- 
ture and  genius  of  Chiistiaiiity,  nor  were  the 
arguments  adduced  by  them  to  demonstrate  its 
truth  and  divinity  so  full  of  energy,  so  strik- 
ing and  irresistible,  as  those  by  which  they 
overturned  the  pagan  system.  In  a  word,  both 
their  explication  and  defence  of  many  of  the 
doctrines  of  Christianity  are  defective  and  un- 
satisfactory in  several  respects.  As  to  those 
who  directed  their  polemic  eiforts  against  the 
heretics,  their  number  was  prodigious,  though 
few  of  their  writings  have  come  down  to  our 
times.  IreiiEBus  refuted  the  whole  tribe  in  a 
work  destined  solely  for  that  purpose.  Cle- 
mens,* Tertullian,!  and  Justin  Martyr,  wrote 
also  against  all  the  sectaries;  but  the  work  of 
the  last,  upon  that  subject,  is  not  extant.  It 
would  be  endless  to  mention  those  who  com- 
bated particular  errors;  of  whose  writings  also, 
many  have  disappeared  amidst  the  decays  of 
time,  and  the  revolutions  that  have  happened 
in  the  republic  of  letters. 

VIII.  If  the  primitive  defenders  of  Ciiris- 
tianity  were  not  always  happy  in  the  choice  of 
their  arguments,  j'et  they  discovered  more  can- 
dour and  probity  than  those  of  the  following 
ages.  The  artifice  of  sophistry,  and  the  habit 
of  employing  pious  frauds  in  support  of  the 
truth,  had  not,  as  yet,  infected  the  Christians. 
And  this,  indeed,  is  all  that  can  be  said  in  tiicir 
behalf;  for  they  are  worthy  of  little  admiration 
on  account  of  the  accuracy  or  depth  of  their 
reasonings.  The  most  of  them  appear  to  have 
been  destitute  of  penetration,  learning,  order, 


*  In  his  work  entitled,  Stromata. 

t  In  his  Prscscriptiones  adrersus  Hxreticos 


application  and  force.  They  frequently  make 
use  of  arguments  void  of  all  solidity,  and  much 
more  proper  to  dazzle  the  fancy,  than  to  en- 
lighten and  convince  the  mind.  One,  laying 
aside  tiie  sacred  writings,  from  which  all  the 
wcijions  of  religious  controversy  ought  to  be 
drawn,  refers  to  the  decisions  of  those  bishops 
who  ruled  the  apostolic  churches.  Another 
thinks,  that  the  antiquity'  of  a  doctrine  is  a 
mark  of  its  truth,  and  pleads  prescription 
against  iiis  adversaries,  as  if  he  was  maintain- 
ing his  property  before  a  civil  magistrate;  than 
which  method  of  disputing  notliing  can  be 
more  pernicious  to  the  cause  of  truth.  A  third 
imitates  those  wrong-headed  disputants  among 
the  Jews,  who,  infatuated  with  their  cabalistic 
jargon,  olfered,  as  argimionts,  tlie  imaginary 
powers  of  certain  mystic  words  and  chosen 
numbers.*  Nor  do  they  seem  to  err,  who  are 
of  opinion,  that,  in  this  century,  that  vicious 
niethodf  of  disputing,  vviiich  afterwards  ob- 
tained the  name  of  tKconomical,  was  first  intro- 
duced, j; 

IX.  The  principal  points  of  morality  were 
treated  bj-  Justin  INIartyr,  or,  at  least,  by  the 
writer  of  the  Epistle  to  Zena  and  Serenus, 
which  is  to  be  found  among  the  works  of  that 
celebrated  author.  Many  other  writers  con- 
fined themselves  to  particular  branches  of  the 
moral  system,  which  they  handled  with  much 
attention  and  zeal.  Thus  Clemens  of  Alexan- 
dria wrote  several  treatises  concerning  calum- 
ny, patience,  continence,  and  other  virtues, 
which  discourses  have  not  reached  our  times. 
Those  of  Tertullian  upon  chastity,  upon  flight 
in  the  time  of  persecution,  as  also  upon  fast- 
ing, shows,  female  omainents,  and  pra3-er, 
have  survived  the  waste  of  time,  and  might 
be  read  with  much  fruit,  were  the  style  in 
which  they  are  written  less  laboured  and  diffi- 
cult, and  the  spirit  they  breathe  less  melan- 
choly and  morose. 

X.  Learned  men  are  not  unanimous  with 
regard  to  the  degree  of  esteem  that  is  due  to 
the  authors  now  mentioned,  and  the  other  an- 
cient moralists.  Some  represent  them  as  the 
most  excellent  guides  in  the  paths  of  piety  and 
virtue;  while  others  place  them  in  the  lowest 
rank  of  moral  writers,  consider  them  as  the 
worst  of  all  instructers,  and  treat  their  pre- 
cepts and  decisions  as  perfectly  insipid,  and,  in 
many  respects,  pernicious.  We  leave  the  de- 
termination of  this  point  to  such  as  are  more 
capable  of  pronouncing  decisively  upon  it, 
than  we  pretend  to  be.§     It,  however,  appears 


*  .Several  examples  of  this  senseless  method  of  reason- 
ing are  lobe  found  in  different  writers.  See  particularly 
Uasnage,  llistoire  des  Jnifs,  lorn.  iii.  p.  660,  694. 

Ol5=  t  Tlie  {economical  method  of  disputing  was  that 
in  whicli  the  disputants  accommodated  themselves,  as  far 
as  was  possible,  to  the  taste  and  prejudices  of  those 
whom  Ihey  were  endeavouring  to  gain  over  to  the  truth. 
Some  of  the  first  Christians  carried  this  condescejision 
too  far,  and  abused  St.  Paul's  example,  (1  Cor.  in.  20, 
•JI,ihJ.)  to  a  degree  inconsistent  with  the  purity  and  sim- 
plicity of  the  Clirislian  doctrine. 

{  Rich.  Simon,  Histoire  Criliijue  des  principaux  Com- 
mentateurs  du  N.  T.  cap.  ii.  p.  21. 

^  This  question  was  warmly  and  learnedly  debated  be- 
tween the  deservedly  celebrated  Barbeyrac  and  Cellier, 
a  Benedictine  monk.  Buddeus  has  given  us  a  history  of 
this  controversy,  with  his  own  judgment  of  it,  in  hia  lia- 
eoge  ad  Theologiam,  lib.  ii.  cap.  iv.  p.  620,  &c.  Bar- 
ueyrac,  however,  publishf  d  after  this  a  particular  treatise 


64 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part IL 


to  us  incontestable,  that  in  the  writings  of  the 
primitive  fathers,  there  are  several  sublime  sen- 
timents, judicious  thoughts,  and  many  things 
Uiat  are  naturally  adapted  to  form  a  religious 
temper,  and  to  excite  pious  and  virtuous  affec- 
tions; while  it  must  be  confessed  on  the  other 
hand,  that  they  abound  still  more  with  pre- 
cepts of  an  excessive  and  unreasonable  auste- 
rity, with  stoical  and  academical  dictates, 
vague  and  indeterminate  notions,  and  what  is 
yet  worse,  with  decisions  that  are  absolutely 
false,  and  in  evident  opposition  to  the  precepts 
of  Christ.  Before  the  question  mentioned 
aljove  concerning  the  merit  of  the  ancient  fa- 
thers, as  inoralists,  be  decided,  a  previous  ques- 
tion must  be  determined,  namely,  What  is 
meant  by  a  bad  director  in  point  of  morals? 
and,  if  by  such  a  person  be  meant,  one  who 
has  no  determinate  notion  of  the  nature  and 
limits  of  the  duties  incumbent  upon  Clu'istians, 
no  clear  and  distinct  ideas  of  virtue  and  vice; 
who  has  not  penetrated  the  spirit  and  genius  of 
those  sacred  books,  to  which  alone  we  must 
appeal  in  every  dispute  about  Cliristian  virtue, 
and  who,  in  consequence  thereof,  fluctuates 
often  in  uncertainty,  or  falls  into  error  in  ex- 
plaining the  divine  laws,  though  he  may  fre- 
quently administer  sublime  and  pathetic  in- 
structions; if,  by  a  bad  guide  in  morals,  such  a 
person,  as  we  have  now  delineated,  be  meant, 
then  it  must  be  confessed,  that  this  title  belongs 
indisputably  to  many  of  the  fathers. 

XI.  The  cause  of  morality,  and  indeed,  of 
Christianity  in  general,  sutfered  deeply  by  a 
capital  error  which  was  received  in  this  centu- 
ry; an  error  admitted  without  any  sinister 
views,  but  yet  with  great  imprudence,  and, 
which,  through  every  period  of  the  church, 
even  until  the  present  time,  has  produced  other 
errors  without  number,  and  multiplied  the  evils 
mider  which  tiie  Gospel  has  so  often  groaned. 
Jesus  Christ  prescribed  to  all  his  disciples  one 
and  the  same  rule  of  life  and  manners.  But 
certain  Christian  doctors,  either  through  a  de- 
sire of  imitating  the  nations  among  whom  they 
lived,  or  in  consequence  of  a  natural  propensi- 
ty to  a  life  of  austerity  (which  is  a  disease  not 
uncommon  in  Syria,  Egypt,  and  other  Eastern 
provinces,)  were  induced  to  maintain,  that 
Christ  had  established  a  double  rule  of  sanctity 
and  virtue,  for  two  different  orders  of  Chris- 
tians. Of  these  rules  one  was  ordinary,  the 
other  extraordinary;  one  of  a  lower  dignity, 
the  other  more  sublime;  one  for  persons  in  the 
active  scenes  of  life,  the  other  for  those  who, 
in  a  sacred  retreat,  aspired  to  the  glory  of  a  ce- 
lestial state.  In  consequence  of  this  wild  sys- 
tem, they  divided  into  two  parts  all  those  mo- 
ral doctrines  and  instructions  which  they  had 
received,  either  by  writing  or  tradition.  -  One 
of  these  divisions  they  called  frecepts  and  the 
other  comiscls.  They  gave  the  name  of  pre- 
cepts to  those  laws  which  were  obligatory  upon 


in  defence  of  the  severe  sentence  he  had  pronounced 
against  the  fathers.  This  ingenious  performance  was 
printed  at  Amsterdam  in  1720,  under  the  title  of  Traite 
6Ur  la  Morale  des  Peres;  and  is  highly  worthy  of  the  pe- 
rusal of  those  who  have  a  taste  for  this  interesting  branch 
of  literature,  though  they  will  find  in  it  some  imputa- 
tions cast  upon  the  fathers,  against  which  they  may  be 
easily  defended. 


all  orders  of  men;  and  that  of  counsels  to  such 
as  related  to  Christians  of  a  more  sublime  rank, 
who  proposed  to  themselves  great  and  glori- 
ous ends,  and  aspired  to  an  intimate  commu- 
nion with  the  Supreme  Being. 

XII.  This  double  doctrine  suddenly  produc- 
ed a  new  set  of  men,  who  made  profession  of 
uncommon  degrees  of  sanctity  and  virtue,  and 
declared  their  resolution  of  obeying  all  the 
counsels  of  Christ,  that  they  might  enjoy  com- 
munion with  God  here;  and  also,  that,  after 
the  dissolution  of  their  mortal  bodies,  they 
might  ascend  to  him  with  greater  facility,  and 
find  nothing  to  retard  their  approach  to  the 
supreme  centre  of  happiness  and  perfection. 
They  looked  upon  themselves  as  prohibited 
from  the  use  of  things  which  it  was  lawful  for 
other  Christians  to  enjoy,  such  as  wine,  flesh, 
matrimony,  and  trade.*  They  thought  it  their 
indispensable  duty,  to  extenuate  the  body  by 
watchings,  abstinence,  labour  and  hunger. — 
They  looked  for  felicity  in  solitary  retreats,  in 
desert  places,  where,  by  severe  and  assiduous 
efforts  of  sublime  meditation,  they  raised  the 
soul  above  all  external  objects  and  all  sensual 
pleasures.  Both  men  and  women  imposed 
upon  themselves  the  most  severe  tasks,  the 
most  austere  discipline;  all  which  however  the 
fruit  of  pious  intention,  was,  in  the  issue,  ex- 
tremely detrimental  to  Christianity.  These 
persons  were  called  Ascetics,  S7rs^:tioi, 'Ex;>.£xtoi, 
and  philosophers;  nor  were  they  only  distin- 
guished by  tlieir  title  from  other  Christians, 
but  also  by  their  garb.f  In  this  century,  in- 
deed, such  as  embraced  this  austere  kind  of 
life,  submitted  themselves  to  all  these  mortifi- 
cations in  private,  without  breaking  asunder 
their  social  bonds,  or  withdrawing  themselves 
from  the  concourse  of  men.  But,  in  process 
of  time,  they  retired  into  deserts;  and  after  the 
example  of  the  Essenes  and  TherapeutEe,  they 
formed  themselves  into  certain  companies. 

XIII.  Nothing  is  more  obvious  than  the  rea- 
sons that  gave  rise  to  this  austere  sect.  One 
of  the  principal  was,  the  ill  judged  ambition  of 
the  Christians  to  resemble  the  Greeks  and  Ro- 
mans, many  of  whose  sages  and  philosophers 
distinguished  themselves  from  the  generality 
by  their  maxims,  by  their  habits,  and,  indeed, 
by  the  whole  plan  of  life  and  manners  which 
they  had  formed  to  themselves,  and  by  which 
they  acquired  a  high  degree  of  esteem  and  au- 
thority. It  is  also  well  known,  that,  of  all 
these  philosophers,  there  were  none  whose  sen- 
timents and  discipline  were  so  well  received  by 
the  ancient  Christians  as  those  of  the  Platon- 
ists  and  Pythagoreans,  who  prescribed  in  their 
lessons  two  rules  of  conduct;  one  for  the  sages, 
who  aspired  to  the  sublimest  heights  of  virtue; 
and  another  for  the  people,  involved  in  the 
cares  and  hurry  of  an  active  life.;^  The  law 
of  moral  conduct,  which  the  Platonists  pre- 
scribed to  the  philosophers,  was  as  folh)ws: — 


*  Athenagoras,  Apologia  pro  Christian,  cap.  xxviii. 

t  See  Saluias.  Comm.  in  Tertullianum  de  Pallio. 

I  These  famous  sects  made  an  irajiortant  distinction 
between  living  according  to  nature,  Z>tv  xxtx  cpvtriv,  and 
liitirlg  above  nature,  Z»iu  u^se  <f'J'^"'-  The  former  was 
the  rule  prescribed  to  the  vulgar;  the  latter,  that  which 
was  to  direct  the  conduct  of  the  philosophers,  who  aimed 
at  superior  degrees  of  virtue.  See  Aueas  Grazeus  in 
ThcophrasU 


Chap.  III. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


65 


"The  soul  of  the  wise  man  ought  to  be  remov- 
ed to  the  greatest  possible  distance  from  the 
contagious  influence  of  the  body;  and,  as  the 
depressing  weight  of  the  body,  the  force  of  its 
appetites,  and  its  connexions  with  a  corrupt 
world,  are  in  direct  opposition  to  this  sacred 
obligation,  all  sensual  pleasures  are  to  l)e  care- 
fully avoided;  the  body  is  to  be  suj)iK>rt,ed,  or 
rather  extenuated,  by  a  slender  diet;  solitude  is 
to  be  sought  as  the  true  mansion  of  virtue,  and 
contemplatiun  to  be  employed  as  the  moans  of 
raising  the  soul,  as  far  as  is  possible,  to  a  sub- 
lime freedom  from  all  corporeal  ties,  and  to  a 
noble  elevation  above  all  terrestrial  things.* 
The  person  who  lives  in  this  manner,  shall  en- 
joy, even  in  the  present  state,  a  certain  degree 
of  communion  with  the  Deity;  and,  when  the 
corporeal  mass  is  dissolved,  shall  immediately 
ascend  to  the  sublime  regions  of  felicity  and 
perfection,  without  passing  tjirough  that  state 
of  purification  and  trial,  which  awaits  the  ge- 
nerality of  mankind."  It  is  easy  to  perceive, 
that  this  rigorous  discipline  was  a  natiu\il  con- 
sequence of  the  peculiar  opiruons  which  these 
philosophers,  and  some  others  who  resembled 
them,  entertained  concerning  the  nature  of  the 
soul,  the  influence  of  matter,  the  operations  of 
invisible  beings,  or  demons,  and  the  formation 
of  the  world;  and,  as  these  opinions  were 
adopted  by  the  more  learned  among  the  Chris- 
tians, it  was  natural  that  they  should  embrace 
also  tiie  moral  discipline  which  flowed  from 
them. 

XIV.  There  is  a  particular  consideration 
that  will  enable  us  to  render  a  natural  account 
of  tiie  origin  of  those  religious  severities  of 
which  we  have  been  now  speaking,  and  that  is 
drawn  from  the  genius  and  temper  of  the  peo- 
ple by  whom  they  were  first  practised.  It  was 
in  Egypt  that  this  morose  discipline  had  its 
rise.  That  country,  we  may  observe,  has  in 
all  times,  as  it  were  by  an  immutable  law,  or 
disposition  of  nature,  abounded  with  persons 
of  a  melancholy  complexion,  and  produced,  in 
proportion  to  its  extent,  more  gloomy  spirits 
than  any  otiier  part  of  the  world. f  It  was 
here  that  the  Essenes  and  Therapeutse,  those 
dismal  and  gloomy  sects,  dwelt  principally, 
long  before  the  coming  of  Christ;  as  also  many 
otiiers  of  the  Ascetic  tribe,  who,  led  by  a  me- 
lancholy turn  of  mind,  and  a  delusive  notion 
of  rendering  themselves  more  acceptable  to  the 
Deity  by  their  iiusterities,  withdrew  themselves 
from  human  society,  and  from  all  the  innocent 
pleasures  and  comforts  of  life.t  From  Egypt, 
this  sour  and  insocial  discipline  passed  into  Sy- 
ria, and  the  neighbouring  countries,  which  also 
abounded  with  persons  of  the  same  dismal  con- 
stitution witli  that  of  the  Egyptians;§  and 
thence,  in  process  of  time,  its  infection  reach- 
ed the  European  nations.  Hence  arose  that 
train   of  austere  and  superstitious  vows  and 


*  The  reader  will  find  the  principles  of  this  fanatical 
discipline,  in  Porphyry's  book  fsf  xtt-.^ii;,  t'.  e.  con- 
cerning abstinence.  That  celebrated  Platonist  has  ex- 
plained at  large  the  respective  duties  that  belong  to  active 
and  contemplative  life,  book  i.  sect.  27,  and  41. 

t  See  Maillet,  Description  dc  I'Egypte,  torn.  ii. 

}  Herodot.Histor.  lib.  ii. — Epiphanius,  Expo«it.  Fidei, 
sect.  U.— TertuUian,  de  Exhortatione  Castitat.  cap.  liii. 
— Athaoas.  Vita  Antonii. 

^  Voyages  en  Perse,  par  Jean  Chardin,  torn,  iv. 

Vol.  I.— 9 


rites,  that  still,  in  many  places,  throw  a  veil 
over  the  beauty  and  simplicity  of  the  Christian 
religion.  Hence  the  celibacy  of  the  priestly 
order,  tlie  rigour  of  unprofiUible  penances  and 
mortifications,  the  innumerable  swarms  of 
monks,  who,  in  the  senseless  pursuit  of  a  vi- 
sionary sort  of  pcriection,  refused  their  talents 
and  labours  to  society.  Hence  also  that  dis- 
tinction between  the  theorelical  and  mystical 
life,  and  many  other  fancies  of  a  like  nature, 
which  we  shall  have  occasion  to  mention  in 
the  course  of  this  history. 

XV.  It  is  generally  true,  that  delusions  tra- 
vel in  a  train,  and  that  one  mistake  produces 
many.  The  Christiiuis  who  adopted  this  aus- 
tere system  had  certainly  made  a  very  false 
step,  and  done  much  injury  to  their  excellent 
and  most  reasonable  religion.  But  they  did 
not  stop  here;  another  erroneous  practice  was 
adopted  by  them,  which,  thougli  it  was  not  so 
general  as  the  other,  was  yet  extremely  perni 
cious,  and  proved  a  source  of  numberless  evils 
to  the  Christian  church.  The  Platonists  and 
Pythagoreans  held  it  as  a  maxim,  that  it  was 
not  only  lawful,  but  even  praisewortliy,  to  de- 
ceive, and  even  to  use  the  expedient  of  a  lie, 
in  order  to  advance  the  cause  of  truth  and 
piety.  The  Jews,  wlio  lived  in  I'gypt,  had  learn- 
ed and  received  tliis  maxim  fiom  them,  before 
the  coming  of  Christ,  as  ajijjears  incontestably 
from  a  multitude  of  ancient  records;  and 
the  Christians  were  infected  from  both  these 
sources  with  the  same  pernicious  error,  as  ap- 
pears from  the  number  of  books  attributed 
falsely  to  great  and  venerable  names,  from  the 
Sibylline  verses,  and  several  supposititious  pro- 
ductions which  were  spread  abroad  in  this  and 
the  following  century.  It  does  not  indeed 
seem  probable,  tliat  all  these  pious  frauds  were 
chargeable  upon  the  professors  of  real  Chris- 
tianity, upon  those  who  entertained  just  and 
rational  sentiments  of  the  religion  of  Jesus. 
The  greatest  part  of  these  fictitious  writings 
undoubtedly  flowed  from  the  fertile  invention 
of  the  Gnostic  sects,  though  it  amnot  be  af- 
firmed that  even  true  Christians  were  entirely 
innocent  and  irreproachable  in  this  respect. 

XVI.  As  the  boundaries  of  the  church  were 
enlarged,  the  niunbcr  of  vicious  and  irregular 
persons  who  entered  into  it,  received  a  pro- 
portional increase,  ;is  appears  from  the  many 
complaints  and  censures  that  wc  find  in  tlio 
writers  of  this  century.  Several  methods  were 
practised  to  stem  the  torrent  of  iniquity.  Ex- 
communication was  peculiarly  employed  to 
prevent  or  piuiish  the  most  heinous  and  enor- 
mous crimes,  and  tiie  crimes  deemed  such, 
were  murder,  idolatry,  and  adtiltery,  which 
terms,  however,  we  must  here  understand  in 
their  more  full  and  extensive  sense.  In  some 
places,  the  commission  of  any  of  these  sins  ir- 
revocably cut  otF  tlie  criminals  from  all  hopes 
of  restoration  to  the  privileges  of  church  com- 
munion; in  others,  after  a  long,  laborious,  and 
painful  course  of  probation  and  discipline,  they 
were  re-admitted  into  the  bosom  of  the  church.* 


*  By  this  distinction,  we  may  easily  reconcile  the  dif- 
ferent  opinions  of  the  learned  concerning  the  rfiects  of 
excommunication.  See  Morinus,de  Disciplina  PoenitCDt. 
lib.  ix.  cap.  xix.  p.  67. — Sirmond,  Hisloria  roenitentiie 
publics,   cap.   i. — Joseph,   Auguslin,  Orsi,  Dissert,  do 


66 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


XVII.  It  is  here  to  be  attentively  observed, 
that  the  fomi,  used  in  the  exclusion  of  heinous 
offenders  from  the  society  of  Christians,  was, 
at  first,  extremely  simple.  A  small  number 
of  plain,  j'et  judicious  rules,  made  up  the 
whole  of  this  solemn  institution,  which,  how- 
ever was  imperceptibly  altered,  enlarged  by  an 
addition  of  a  vast  multitude  of  rites,  and  new- 
modelled  according-  to  the  discipline  used  in  the 
Heathen  mysteries.*  Those  who  have  any  ac- 
quaintance with  the  singular  reasons  that 
obliged  the  Cbristians  of  those  ancient  tunes 
to  be  careful  in  restraining  the  progress  of 
vice,  will  readily  grant,  that  it  was  incumbent 
upon  the  rulers  of  the  church  to  pejfect  their 
discipline,  and  to  render  tlio  restraints  upon 
inicjuity  more  severe.  They  will  justify  the 
rulers  of  the  primitive  church  in  their  refusing 
to  restore  excommunicated  members  to  their 
forfeited  privileges,  before  they  had  given  in- 
contestable marks  of  the  sincerity  of  their  re- 
pentance. Yet  it  remains  to  be  examined, 
whether  it  was  expedient  to  borrow  from  tiie 
enemies  of  tlie  truth  the  rules  of  this  salutary 
discipline,  and  thus  to  sanctify  in  some  mea- 
sure, a  part  of  the  Heathen  superstition.  But, 
however  delicate  such  a  question  may  be, 
when  determined  with  a  view  to  all  the  indi- 
rect or  immediate  consequences  of  the  matter 
in  debate,  the  equitable  and  candid  judge  will 
consider  principally  the  good  intentions  of  those 
from  whom  these  ceremonies  and  institutions 
proceeded,  and  will  overlook  the  rest  from  a 
charitable  condescension  and  indulgence  to 
human  weakness. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Of  the  Ceremonies  used  in  the  Church  during 
this  Cenlnry. 
I.  There  is  no  institution  so  pure  and  ex- 
cellent which  the  corruption  and  folly  of  man 
will  not  in  time  alter  for  the  worse,  and  load 
with  additions  foreign  to  its  nature  and  origi- 
nal design.  Such,  in  a  particular  manner, 
was  the  fate  of  Christianity.  In  this  century 
many  unnecessary  rites  and  ceremonies  were 
added  to  the  Christian  worship,  the  introduc- 
tion of  which  was  extremely  oflensive  to  wise 
and  good  men.'f  These  changes,  while  they 
destroyed  the  beautiful  simplicity  of  the  Gos- 
pel, were  naturally  pleasing  to  the  gross  mul- 
titude, who  are  more  delighted  with  the  pomp 
and  splendour  of  external  institutions,  than 
with  the  native  charms  of  rational  and  solid 
piety,  and  who  generally  give  little  attention 
to  any  objects  but  those  whicii  strike  their 
outward  senses.j:     But  other  reasons  may  be 


Criminum  tapilalium  jxr  tria  priora  Ssecula  Absolutioiie, 
published  at  Milan  in  1730. 

"  See  Fabricius,  Bibliograph.  Antiquar.  p.  397,  and 
Morinus,  de  Poeriitcntia,  lib.  i.  cap.  xv,  &c. 

f  TertuUiau,  Lib.  de  Creatioue,  p.  792,  op. 

(Jj^  X  It  is  not  improper  to  remark  here,  lliat  this  at- 
tachment of  the  vulgar  to  the  pomp  of  ceremonies,  is  a 
circumstance  that  has  always  been  favourable  to  the  am- 
bitious views  of  the  Romish  clergy,  since  the  pomp  of 
religion  naturally  casts  a  part  of  its  glory  and  magnifi- 
cence upon  its  ministers,  and  thereby  gives  them,  imper- 
ceptibly, a  vast  aseenili  ney  over  the  minds  of  the  people. 
The  late  lord  Bolingbroke,  being  present  at  the  elevation 
of  the  host  in  the  cathedral  at  I'aris,  expressed  to  a  no- 
bleman who  stood  near  him,  his  surprise  that  the  king  of 
France  should  commit  the  performance  of  such  an  august 
and  striking   ceremony  to  any  subject.     How  far  ambi- 


added  to  this,  which,  though  they  suppose  no 
bad  intention,  yet  manifest  a  considerable  de- 
gree of  precipitation  and  imprudence. 

II.  And  here  we  may  observe,  in  the  first 
place,  that  there  is  a  high  degree  of  probability 
in  the  notion  of  those  who  think  that  the 
bishops  augmented  the  number  of  religious 
rites  in  the  Christian  worship,  by  way  of  ac- 
commodation to  the  infij-mities  and  prejudices, 
both  of  .lews  and  heathens,  in  order  to  facili- 
tate their  conversion  to  Christianity.  Both 
Jews  and  heathens  were  accustomed  to  a  great 
variety  of  pompous  and  magnificent  ceremo- 
nies in  their  religious  service.  And  as  they 
deemed  these  rites  an  essential  part  of  religion, 
it  was  natural  that  they  should  behold  with 
indifference,  and  even  with  contempt,  the  sim- 
plicity of  the  Christian  worship,  which  was 
destitute  of  those  idle  ceremonies  that  rendered 
their  service  so  specious  and  striking.  To  re- 
move then,  in  some  measure,  this  prejudice 
against  Christianity,  the  bishops  thought  it  ne- 
cessary to  increase  the  number  of  ceremonies, 
and  thus  to  render  tlie  public  worship  more 
striking  to  the  outward  senses.* 

III.  This  addition  of  external  rites  was  also 
designed  to  remove  the  opprobrious  calumnies 
which  the  .Jewish  and  pagan  priests  cast  upon 
the  Christians  on  account  of  the  simplicity  of 
their  worship,  considering  them  as  little  better 
than  atheists,  because  they  had  no  temples,  al- 
tars, victims,  priests,  nor  any  mark  of  that  ex- 
ternal pomp  in  whicli  the  viilgar  are  so  prone 
to  place  the  essence  of  religion.  The  rulers 
of  the  church  adopted,  therefore,  certain  ex- 
ternal ceremonies,  that  thus  they  might  cap- 
tivate the  senses  of  the  vulgar,  and  be  able 
to  refute  the  reproaches  of  their  adversaries. 
§:^This,  it  must  be  confessed,  was  a  very 
awkward,  and  indeed,  a  very  pernicious  stra- 
tagem; it  was  obscuring  the  native  lustre  of 
the  Gospel,  in  order  to  extend  its  influence, 
and  making  it  lose,  in  point  of  real  excellence, 
what  it  gained  in  point  of  popular  esteem. 
Some  accoinmodations  to  the  infirmities  of 
mankind,  some  prudent  instances  of  conde- 
scension to  their  invincible  prejudices,  are  ne- 
cessary in  ecclesiastical,  as  well  as  in  civil  in- 
stitutions; but  they  must  be  of  such  a  nature 


tion  may,  in  this  and  the  succeeding  ages,  have  con- 
tributed to  the  accumulation  of  gaudy  ceremonies,  is  a 
question  not  easily  determined. 

*  A  remarkable  passage  in  the  life  of  Gregory,  sur- 
named  Thaumaturgus,  i.  c.  the  wonder  worker,  will  il- 
lustrate this  point  in  the  clearest  manner.  The  passage 
is  as  follows:  "  Cum  animadvertisset  (Gregorius)  quod 
ob  corporeas  deleetationes  et  voluplates  simplex  et  im- 
peritun\  valgus  in  simulacrorum  cultus  errore  perma- 
neret — permisit  eis,  ut  in  memoriam  et  recordationem 
sanctorum  martyrum  sese  oblectarent,  et  in  laititiam  ef- 
funderentur,  quod  successu  tcmporis  aliquando  futurcm 
esset,  ut  sua  sponte  ad  houestiorum  et  accuratiorem  vitse 
rationem  transirent."  i.  e.  "When  Gregory  perceived 
that  the  ignorant  multitude  persisted  in  their  idolatry, 
on  account  of  the  pleasures  and  sensual  gratifications 
which  they  enjoyed  at  the  pagan  festivals,  he  granted  them 
a  permission  to  indulge  themselves  in  the  like  pleasures, 
in  celebrating  the  memory  of  the  holy  martyrs,  hoping 
that,  in  process  of  time,  they  would  return  of  their  own 
accord,  to  a  more  virtuous  and  regular  course  of  life." 
There  is  no  sort  of  doubt,  that,  by  this  permission, 
Gregory  allowed  the  Christians  to  dance,  sport,  and  feast 
at  the  tombs  of  the  martyrs,  upon  their  respective  festi- 
vals, and  to  do  every  thing  which  the  pagans  were  ac- 
customed to  do  in  their  temples,  during  the  feasts  cele- 
brated in  honour  of  their  gods," 


Chap.  IV. 


RITES  AND  CEREMONIES. 


67 


as  not  to  inspire  ideas,  or  encouraore  preju- 
dices, incompatible  with  just  sentiments  of  the 
great  object  of  rehgious  worship,  and  of  the 
fundamental  trutlis  which  God  has  imparted 
by  reason  and  revelation  to  tlie  human  race 
How  far  tliis  rule  has  been  disregarded  and  vi- 
olated, will  appear  too  plainly  in  the  progress 
of  this  history. 

IV.  A  third  cause  of  tlio  multiplication  of 
ceremonies  in  the  Christian  church,  may  be 
deduced  from  the  abuse  of  certain  titles  that 
distinguished  the  sacerdotal  orders  among  the 
Jews.  Every  one  knows,  that  many  terms 
used  in  the  New  Testament  to  express  the  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  Christian  doctrine  and  wor- 
ship, are  borrowed  troni  the  .Jewish  lavv-,  or 
bear  a  certain  analogy  to  the  forms  and  cere- 
monies instituted  by  Moses.  The  Christian 
doctors  not  only  imitated  this  analogical  man- 
ner of  speaking,  but  even  extended  it  farther 
than  the  apostles  had  done;  and  though  in  tiiis 
there  was  nothing  that  deserved  reproach,  yet 
the  consequences  of  this  metliod  of  speaking 
became,  through  abuse,  detrimental  to  the  pu- 
rity of  the  Gospel;  for,  in  process  of  time, 
many  asserted,  (whether  through  ignorance  or 
artifice  is  not  easy  to  determine.)  that  these 
forms  of  speech  were  not  figurative,  but  highly 
proper,  and  exactly  suital»le  to  the  nature  of 
the  things  thej'  were  designed  to  express.  The 
bishops,  by  an  innocent  allusion  to  the  Jewisii 
manner  of  speaking,  had  been  called  chief 
priests;  the  elders,  or  presbyters,  had  received 
the  title  of  priests,  and  tiie  deacons  that  of  Le- 
vites.  But,  in  a  little  time,  these  titles  were 
abused  by  an  aspiring  clergy,  who  thouglit 
proper  to  claim  the  same  rank  and  station,  the 
same  rights  and  privileges,  that  were  conferred 
with  those  titles  upon  the  ministers  of  religion 
under  the  Mosaic  dispensation.  Hence  the 
rise  of  tilhes,  first-fruits,  splendid  garments,  and 
many  other  circumstances  of  external  gran- 
deur, by  which  ecclesiastics  were  eminently 
distinguished.  In  like  manner  the  comparison 
of  the  Christian  olilations  with  the  JewisJi  vic- 
tims and  sacrifices,  produced  a  multitude  of 
unnecessary  rites,  and  was  the  occasion  of  in- 
troducing that  erroneous  notion  of  the  euelia- 
rist,  whicii  represents  it  as  a  real  sacrifice,  and 
not  merely  as  a  commemoration  of  the  great 
otlering  tliat  was  once  made  upon  the  cross  for 
the  sins  of  mortals. 

V.  The  profound  respect  that  was  ]>ai(l  to 
the  Greek  and.Roman  mysteries,  and  the  ex- 
traordinary sanctity  that  was  attributed  to 
them,  were  additional  circumstances  that  in- 
duced the  Christians  to  give  their  religion  a 
mystic  air,  in  order  to  put  it  upon  an  equal 
footing,  in  point  of  dignity,  with  that  of  tlie 
Pagans.  For  tiiis  jiurpose,  they  gave  the  name 
of  mysteries  to  tile  institutions  of  the  Gospel, 
and  decorated  particularly  the  holy  sacrament 
with  that  solemn  title.  They  used  in  that  sa- 
cred institution,  as  also  in  that  of  baptism,  se- 
veral of  the  terms  employed  in  the  Heathen 
mysteries,  and  proceeded  so  far,  at  length,  as 
even  to  adopt  some  of  the  ceremonies  of  which 
those  renowned  mysteries  consisted.*     This 


'  See,  for  many  examples  of   tliis,   Isaac  Casaubon, 
^xercitaU  xvi.  in  Auiial.  Cardiii.  Baronii,  p.  38{<,   edit. 


imitation  began  ui  the  eastern  provinces;  but, 
after  tiio  time  of  Adrian,  who  first  introduced 
the  mysteries  among  the  Lntius,*  it  was  fol- 
lowed by  tile  Christians  who  dwelt  in  the  west- 
ern parts  of  tlie  empire.  A  great  i)art,  there- 
fore, of  the  service  of  the  Church,  in  tliis  cen- 
tury, had  a  certain  air  of  the  I  leathcn  myste- 
ries, and  resembled  them  considerably  in  many 
particulars. 

VI.  It  may  be  farther  observed,  that  the  cus- 
tom of  teaching  their  religious  doctrines  by 
images,  actions,  signs,  and  otiier  scnsiiile  repre- 
sentations, which  prevailed  among  the  Egyp- 
tians, and,  indeed,  in  almost  all  the  eastern  na- 
tions, was  another  cause  of  tlie  increase  of  ex- 
ternal rites  in  the  church.  As  there  were  many 
persons  of  narrow  capacities,  whose  compre- 
hension scarcely  extended  beyond  sensible  ob- 
jects, the  Clirislian  doctors  tliouglit  it  advisable 
to  instruct  such  in  the  essential  trutlis  of  the 
Gospel,  by  placing  these  truths  as  it  were,  be- 
fore their  eyes,  under  sensible  images.  Thus 
they  administered  milk  and  honey,  tlic  ordinary 
food  of  infants,  to  such  as  were  newly  received 
into  the  cliurch,  showing  by  this  sign,  that  by 
their  baptism  they  were  born  again,  and  were 
bound  to  manifest  the  simplicity  and  innocence 
of  infants  in  their  lives  and  conversation. — 
Certain  military  forms  were  borrowed  to  ex- 
press the  new  and  solemn  engagements,  by 
which  Christians  attached  themselves  to  Christ 
as  their  leader  and  their  chief;  and  the  ancient 
ceremony  of  manumission  was  used  to  signify 
the  liberty  of  which  they  were  made  partakers, 
in  consequence  of  their  redemption  from  the 
guilt  and  dominion  of  sin,  and  their  deliver- 
ance from  the  power  of  the  prince  of  dark- 
ness.f 

VII.  If  it  be  considered,  in  the  first  place, 
that  the  Christians  who  composed  the  church, 
were  Jews  and  Heathens,  accustomed  from 
their  birth,  to  various  insignificant  ceremonies 
and  superstitious  rites, — and  if  it  be  also  con- 
sidered, that  such  a  long  course  of  custom  and 
of  education  forms  prejudices  that  are  extreme- 
ly obstinate  and  ditficult  to  be  conquered — it 
will  then  ajipear,  that  nothing  less  than  a  con- 
tinued miracle  could  have  totally  prevented  the 
entrance  of  all  superstitious  mixtures  into  the 
Christian  worship.  A  single  exanijile  will  tend 
to  the  illustrations  of  this  matter.  J5efi)re  the 
coming  of  Christ,  all  the  eastern  nations  jxer- 
formed  divine  worship  with  their  faces  turned 
,o  tliat  part  of  the  heavens  where  the  sun  dis- 
plays liis  rising  beams.  'J'liis  cnsloni  was 
founded  ujion  a  general  opinion,  that  God, 
whose  essence  they  looked  uium  to  be  liu;kt,a.n(i 
whom  they  considered  as  being  circumscribed 
within  certain  linrits,  dwelt  in  that  part  of  tiie 
firmament,  from  which  he  sends  forth  the  sun, 
the  bright  image  of  his  benignity  and  glory. 
The  Christian  converts,  indeed,  rejected  this 
gross  error;  but  they  retained  the  ancient  and 
universal  custom  of  worshipping  toward  the 
east,  which  sprang  from  it.  Nor  is  that  cus- 
tom abolished  even  in  our  times,  but  still  pre- 


Genev.  16.54.  Tollius,  Insign.  itincris  It.ilici,  not.  p. 
l.'Jlj  163. — Spanheim's  notes  to  his  French  translation  of 
Julian's  Ctrstirs,  p.  \'Xi. — Clarkson  on  LUttrgies. 

*  .Sparlian,  Vit.  Iladriaui,  c.  xiii. 

f  Set  Kdui.  .Verillii  Oliterval.  lib.  iii.  cap.  iii. 


68 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


vails  in  a  great  number  of  Christian  churches. 
From  the  same  source  arose  various  rites 
among  the  Jews,  wliich  many  Cliristians,  espe- 
cially those  who  live  in  the  eastern  countries, 
observe  religiously  at  this  very  day.* 

VIII.  We  shall  take  no  more  than  a  brief 
view  of  these  rites  and  ceremonies,  since  a  par- 
ticular consideration  of  them  would  lead  us 
into  endless  discussions,  and  open  a  field  too 
vast  to  be  comprehended  in  such  a  compen- 
dious history  as  we  here  give  of  the  Christian 
church.  The  first  Cliristians  assembled  for  the 
purposes  of  divine  worship,  in  private  houses, 
in  caves,  and  in  vaults,  where  the  dead  were 
buried.  Their  meetings  were  on  the  first  day 
of  the  week;  and,  in  some  places,  they  assem- 
bled also  on  the  seventh,  which  was  celebrated 
by  the  Jews.  Many  also  observed  the  fourth 
day  of  the  week,  on  which  Christ  was  betrayed; 
and  the  sixth,  which  was  the  day  of  his  cruci- 
fixion. The  hour  of  the  day  appointed  for 
holding  these  religious  assemblies  varied  ac- 
cording to  the  different  times  and  circumstan- 
ces of  the  church;  but  it  was  generally  in  the 
evening  after  smi-set,  or  in  the  morning  before 
the  dawn.  During  these  sacred  meetings, 
prayers  were  repeated;t  the  holy  scriptures 
were  publicly  read;  short  discourses,  upon  the 
duties  of  Christians,  were  addressed  to  the 
people;  hymns  were  sung;  and  a  portion  of  tlie 
oblations,  presented  by  the  faitliful  was  em- 
ployed in  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper 
and  the  feast  of  charity. 

IX.  The  Christians  of  this  century  celebrat- 
ed anniversary  festivals  in  commemoration  of 
the  death  and  resurrection  of  Christ,  and  of 
the  effusion  of  the  Holy  Ghost  upon  the  apos- 
tles. The  day  whiclv  was  observed  as  the  an- 
niversary of  Christ's  death  was  called  the  pas- 
chal day,  or  passover,  because  it  was  looked 
upon  to  be  the  same  with  that  on  which  the 
Jews  celebrated  the  feast  of  tliat  name.  In 
the  manner,  however,  .of  observing  this  solemn 
day,  the  Christians  of  Asia  Minor  differed  much 
from  the  rest,  and  in  a  more  especial  manner 
from  those  of  Rome.  They  both  indeed,  fast- 
ed during  the  gi-eat  week  (so  that  was  called  in 
which  Clirist  died,)  and  afterwards  celebrated, 
like  the  Jews,  a  sacred  feast,  at  which  they  dis- 
tributed a  paschal  lamb  in  memory  of  the  holy 
supper.  But  the  Asiatic  Christians  kept  this 
feast  on  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  fij'st  Jewisli 
month,  vi^hen  the  Jews  celebrated  their  passo- 
ver, and,  three  days  after,  commemorated  the 
resurrection  of  the  triumphant  Redeemer. — 
They  affirmed,  that  they  had  derived  this  cus- 
tom from  the  apostles  John  and  Philip;  and 
pleaded,  moreover,  in  its  behalf,  the  exatnple  of 
Christ  himself,  who  held  his  paschal  feast  on 
the  day  of  the  Jewish  passover.  The  western 
churches  observed  a  different  method;  they 
celebrated  their  paschal  feast  on  the  night  that 
preceded  the  anniversary  of  Christ's  resurrec- 
tion, and  thus  connected  the  commemoration 
of  his  crucifixion  with  that  of  his  victory  over 


*  See  Spencer  de  Legibus  ritualibus  Hchrctorum,  Pro- 
legom. 

f  There  is  an  excellent  account  given  of  these  prayera, 
and  of  the  Christian  worship  in  general,  in  TurtuUian's 
Apology,  chap,  xxxix.  which  is  one  of  the  most  noble 
productions  of  ancient  times. 


death  and  the  grave.  Nor  did  they  differ  thai 
from  the  Asiatics,  without  pleading  also  apos- 
tolic authority  for  what  they  did;  for  they  al- 
leged that  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  as  a  jus- 
tification of  their  conduct  in  this  matter. 

X.  The  Asiatic  rule  for  keeping  the  paschal 
feast,  was  attended  with  two  great  inconveni- 
ences, to  which  the  Christians  at  Alexandria 
and  Rome,  and  all  the  western  churclies,  refus- 
ed to  submit;  for,  in  the  first  place,  as  the  Asia- 
tics celebrated  their  festival  on  the  same  day 
that  Christ  is  said  to  have  eaten  the  paschal 
lamb  with  his  disciples,  this  occasioned  an  ine- 
vitable interruption  in  the  fast  of  the  great 
loee.k,  which  the  otlier  churches  looked  upon  as 
almost  criminal,  at  least  as  highly  indecent. 
Nor  was  tliis  the  only  inconvenience  arising 
from  this  rule:  for,  as  they  celebrated  the  me- 
mory of  Christ's  resurrection,  precisely  on  the 
third  day  after  their  paschal  supper,  it  happen- 
ed for  the  most  part,  that  this  great  festival 
(which  afterwards  was  called  by  the  Latins 
pascha,  and  to  which  we  give  the  name  of  jEos- 
ter)  was  holden  on  other  days  of  the  week  than 
the  first.  This  circumstance  was  extremely 
displeasing  to  the  greatest  part  of  the  Chris- 
tians, who  thought  it  unlawful  to  celebrate  the 
resurrection  of  our  Lord  on  any  day  but  Sun- 
day, as  that  was  the  day  on  which  this  glorious 
event  happened.  Hence  arose  sharp  and  ve- 
hement contentions  between  the  Asiatic  and 
western  Christians.  About  the  middle  of  this 
century,  during  the  reign  of  Antoninus  Pius, 
the  venerable  Polycarp  went  to  Rome  to  con- 
fer with  Anicet,  liishop  of  that  see,  upon  this 
matter,  with  a  view  to  terminate  the  warm  dis- 
putes which  it  had  occasioned.  But  this  con- 
ference, though  conducted  with  great  decency 
and  moderation,  was  without  effect.  Polycarp 
and  Anicet  only  agreed  in  this,  that  the  bonds 
of  charity  were  not  to  be  broken  on  account  of 
this  contr  /Versy;  but  they  respectively  conti- 
nued, at  tlie  same  time,  in  their  fonner  senti- 
ments; nor  could  tlie  Asiatics  be  engaged  by 
any  arguments  to  alter  the  rule  which  they 
pretended  to  have  received  by  tradition  from 
St.  John.* 

XI.  Toward  tlie  conclusion  of  this  century, 
Victor,  bishop  of  Rome,  endeavoured  to  force 
the  Asiatic  Christians  by  the  pretended  autho- 
rity of  his  laws  and  decrees,  to  follow  the  rule 
whicli  was  observed  by  the  western  churches 
in  this  point.  Accordingly,  after  having  taken 
the  advice  of  some  foreign  bishops,  he  wrote 
an  imperious  letter  to  the  Asiatic  prelates  com- 
manding them  to  imitate  the  example  of  tlie 
western  Cliristians  with  respect  to  the  time  of 
celebrating  the  festival  of  Easter.  The  Asi- 
atics answered  this  lord!)'  requisition  by  the 
pen  of  Polycrates,  bishop  of  Ephesus,  who  de- 
clared in  tlieir  name,  with  great  spirit  and  reso- 
lution, tjiat  they  would  by  no  means  depart,  in 
this  manner  from  the  custom  handed  down  to 
them  by  their  ancestors.  Upon  this  the  thun- 
der of  excommunication  began  to  roar.  Vic- 
tor, exasperated  by  this  resolute  answer  of  the 
Asiatic  bishops,  broke  communion  with  them 
pronounced  them  unworthy  of  the  name  of  his 
brethren,  and  excluded  them  from  all  fellow- 


Eu&ebius,  Hist.  Eccles.  lib-  iv.  v- 


€hap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


m 

Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  according  to 
tho  express  command  of  our  Hlessed  Lord.  Af- 
ter baptism,  tliey  received  the  sip^n  of  the  cross, 
were  anointed,  and  by  prayers  and  imposition 
of  hands,  were  solcmenly  recommended  to  the 
mercy  of  God,  and  dedicated  to  his  service;  in 
consequence  of  which  tlicy  received  milk  and 
honey,  which  concluded  the  ceremony.*  The 
reason.s  of  this  particular  ritual  coincide  with 
what  we  have  said  in  general  concerning  the 
origin  and  causes  of  the  multiplied  ceremonies 
that  crept  from  time  to  time  into  the  church. 

Adult  persons  were  prepared  for  baptism  by 
abstinence,  prayer,  and  other  pious  exercises. 
It  was  to  answer  for  them  that  sponsors,  or 
godfathers,  were  first  instituted,  tiiougli  they 
were  afterwards  admitted  also  in  the  baptism 
of  infants.! 

CHAPTER  V. 

Concerning  the  Heresies  and  Divisions  that  trou- 
bled the  Church  during  this  Century. 

I.  Among  the  many  sects  which  divided  the 
Christian  church  during  this  century,  it  is  na- 
tural to  mention,  in  the  first  place,  that  which 
an  attachment  to  the  Mosaic  law  separated 
from  the  rest  of  their  Christian  brethren.  Tho 
first  rise  of  this  sect  is  placed  under  the  reign 
of  Adrian;  for,  when  this  emperor  had,  at 
length,  razed  Jerusalem,  entirely  destroyed 
even  its  very  foundations,  and  enacted  laws 
of  the  severest  kind  against  tho  whole  body  of 
the  Jewish  peo])le,  the  greatest  part  of  tjie 
Christians,  who  lived  in  Palestine,  to  prevent 
their  being  confounded  witli  the  Jews,  aban- 
doned entirely  the  Mosaic  riles,  and  chose  a 
bishop  named  Mark,  a  foreigner  by  nation,  and 
consequentl)'  an  alien  from  the  conniionwcalth 
of  Israel.  This  step  was  highly  shocking  to 
those,  whose  attachment  to  the  Mosaic  rites 
was  violent  and  invincible;  and  such  was  the 
case  of  many.  These,  therefore,  separated 
themselves  from  the  ])rethren,  and  Ibunded  in 
Peraea,  a  country  of  Palestine,  and  in  the 
neighbourning  parts,  particular  assemblies,  in 
which  the  law  of  Moses  maintained  its  primi- 
tive dignity,  authority,  and  lustre.]; 

II.  This  body  of  judaizing  Christians,  which 
set  Christ  and  Moses  upon  an  equal  fooling,  in 
point  of  authority,  afterwards  divided  itsoli"  into 
two  sects,  extreuK'ly  diU'erenl  both  in  their 
rites  and  in  their  opinions,  and  distingiiislied 
by  the  names  of  Nazarenes  and  I'^bionitcs.  The 
former  arc  not  placed  by  the  ancient  Christians 
in  the  heretical  register;^  but  the  latter  were 
considered  as  a  sect,  whose  tenets  were  de- 
structive of  the  fimdamental  principles  of  liie 


ship  with  the  church  of  Rome.  This  excom- 
munication, indeed,  extended  no  fartlier:  nor 
could  it  cut  oft'  the  Asiatic  bishops  from  com- 
munion with  the  other  churclies,  whose  bishops 
were  far  from  approving  the  conduct  of  Vic- 
tor.* The  progress  of  this  violent  dissension 
was  stopped  by  the  wise  and  moderate  remon- 
strances, which  Irenseiis,  bishop  of  Lyons,  ad- 
dressed to  tiie  Roman  prelate  on  this  occasion, 
in  which  he  showed  him  the  imprudence  and 
•injustice  of  the  step  he  had  taken,  and  also  by 
the  long  letter  which  the  Asiatic  Christians 
wrote  in  their  own  justification.  In  conse- 
quence therefore  of  this  cessation  of  arms,  the 
combatants  retained  each  their  own  customs, 
until  the  fourth  century,  when  the  council  of 
Nice  abolished  that  of  the  Asiatics,  and  ren- 
dered the  time  of  the  celebration  of  Easier  the 
8ame  through  all  the  Christian  churches. f 

XII.  In  these  times,  the  sacrament  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  was  celebrated,  for  the  most 
part,  on  Sundays,  and  the  ceremonies  observed 
upon  that  occasion  were  such  as  follow.  Of 
the  bread  and  wine,  which  were  presented 
among  the  other  oblations  of  tiie  faithful,  a 
part  was  separated  from  the  rest,  and  conse- 
crated by  the  prayers  of  the  bishop.  The 
wine  was  mixed  with  water,  and  the  bread 
was  divided  into  several  portions.  A  part  of 
the  consecrated  bread  and  wine  was  carried 
to  the  sick  or  absent  members  of  the  church, 
as  a  testimony  of  fraternal  love,  sent  to  them 
by  the  whole  society. J  It  appears  by  many  and 
undoubted  testimonies,  that  this  holy  rile  was 
looked  upon  as  essential  to  salvation;  and, 
when  this  is  duly  considered,  we  shall  be  less 
disposed  to  censure,  as  erroneous,  the  opinion 
of  those  who  have  aftirmed,  thai  tho  Lord's 
Supper  was  administered  to  infants  during  this 
century.^  The  feasts  of  charity,  tliat  followed 
the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  have 
been  already  mentioned. 

XIII.  The  sacrament  of  baptism  was  ad- 
ministered publicly  twice  every  year,  at  the 
festivals  of  Easter  and  Pentecost  or  Whitsun- 
tide,||  either  by  the  bishop,  or,  in  consequence 
of  his  authorization  and  appointment,  by  tjie 
presbyters.  The  persons  that  were  to  be  bap- 
tized, after  they  had  repeated  the  Creed,  con- 
fessed and  renounced  their  sins,  and  particu- 
larly the  devil  and  his  pompous  allurements, 
were  immersed  under  water,  and  received  into 
Christ's  kingdom  by  a  solenm  invocation  of 


*  This  whole  affair  furnishes  a  striking  argument, 
among  the  multitude  that  may  be  drawn  from  ecclesiasti- 
cal history,  against  the  supremacy  and  universal  au- 
thority of  the  bishop  of  Rome. 

QCf'  t  Dr.  Mosheim,  in  a  note,  refers  us  for  a  more 
copious  account  of  this  controversy  to  his  Commen'ar. 
de  rebus  Christianorum  ante  Constantinum  M.  He  had 
said  in  that  work,  that  Faydit  had  perceived  the  error  of 
the  common  opinion,  concerning  tlie  disputes  which  arose 
in  the  church  about  the  time  of  keeping  Easter.  But 
here  he  retracts  this  encomium,  and,  after  a  second 
reading  of  Faydit's  book,  finds  himself  obliged  to  declare, 
that  this  writer  has  entirely  missed  the  true  state  of  the 
question.  See  the  account  of  this  controversy,  given  by 
the  learned  Heuman,inoneuf  the  treatises  of  his  Sylloge, 
or  collection  of  small  pieces. 

\  Henricus  Rixnerus,  de  n'lUVdj  reterum  Christiano- 
rum circa  Eucharistim. 

§  Set  Jo.  Frid.  Mayer,  Diss,  de  Eucharistia  Infantum; 
as  also  Zornius,  Histor.  Eucharist.  Infantum. 

II  Se*  Wall's  History  of  Infaut  Baptism,  and  Vice- 
comes  de  Ritibus  Baptismi. 


*  See  Tertullian  on  Baptism. 

t  See  Ger.  a  Maestrichl,  de  Susceploribus  Infantiiim 
ex  Baptismo;  though  he  is  of  a  dilTereiit  opinion  in  thit 
matter,  and  thinks  that  sjwnsors  were  not  used  in  llic 
baptism  of  adult  persons.  See  also  Wall's  ilislory  of 
Infant  Baptism.  0(7- See  moreover,  upon  this  subject, 
IsaaciJundt,  Arg.de  Susceptorum  Baptismalium  Origine 
Commenlatio,  published  in  1755,  of  which  an  account 
may  be  seen  in  the  Biblioth.  dts  Sciences  el  dcs  Beaux 
.\rts,  tom.  vi. 

}  See  Sulpitius  Severus,  Hist.  Sacr.  lib.  ii.  cap.  xixi. 

§  Epiphanius  was  the  first  writer  who  placed  the  Naza- 
renes in  the  list  of  heretics.  He  wrote  in  the  fourth 
century,  but  is  very  far  from  being  remarkable,  either 
for  his  fidelity  or  judgment. 


70 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


Christian  religion.  These  sects  made  use  of  a 
gospel,  or  history  of  Ciirist,  different  from  that 
which  is  received  among  us,  and  concernin 
which  there  have  been  many  disputes  among 
the  learned.*  The  term  Nazarine  was  not 
originally  the  name  of  a  sect,  in  that  which 
distinguished  tlie  disciples  of  Jesus  but  general; 
and,  as  those  whom  the  Greeks  called  Chris 
tians,  received  the  name  of  Nazarenes  among 
the  Jews,  tlie  latter  name  was  not  considered 
as  a  mark  of  ignominy  or  contempt.  Those, 
indeed,  who,  after  their  separation  from  tlieir 
brethren,  retained  the  title  of  Nazarenes,  dif- 
fered much  from  the  true  disciples  of  Christ, 
to  whom  that  name  had  been  originally  given: 
"  they  held,  that  Christ  was  born  of  a  virgin, 
and  was  also  in  a  certain  manner  united  to  the 
divine  nature;  they  refused  to  abandon  the 
ceremonies  prescribed  by  the  law  of  Moses,  but 
were  far  from  attempting  to  impose  the  obser- 
vance of  these  ceremonies  upon  tlie  Gentile 
Christians;  and  they  rejected  all  those  addi- 
tions which  had  been  made  to  the  Mosaic  in- 
stitutions, by  the  Pharisees  and  the  doctors  of 
the  law;"t  and  hence  we  may  easily  see  the 
reason  why  the  greatest  part  of  the  Christians 
treated  the  Nazarenes  with  a  more  than  ordi- 
nary degree  of  gentleness  and  forbearance. 

III.  It  is  doubtful  whether  the  Ebionites  de- 
rived their  name  from  one  of  their  principal 
doctors,  or  from  their  poverty.];  One  thing, 
however,  is  certain,  that  their  sentiments  and 
doctrines  were  much  more  pernicious  than  those 
of  the  Naz,arenes;§  for,  though  they  believed 
the  celestial  mission  of  Christ,  and  his  partici- 
pation of  a  divine  nature,  yet  tliey  regarded 
him  as  a  man  born  of  Joseph  and  Mary,  ac- 
cording to  the  ordinary  course  of  nature. 
They  also  asserted,  that  the  ceremonial  law, 
instituted  by  Moses,  was  not  only  obligatory 
upon  the  Jews,  but  upon  all  otliers,  and  that 
the  observance  of  it  was  essential  to  salvation; 
and  as  St.  Paul  had  very  different  sentiments 
from  them,  concerning  the  obligation  of  the 
ceremonial  law,  and  had  opposed  the  observ- 
ance of  it  in  the  warmest  manner,  so,  in  con- 
sequence, they  held  this  apostle  in  abliorrence, 
and  treated  his  writings  witli  the  utmost  dis- 
respect. Nor  were  they  only  attached  to  tlie 
rites  instituted  by  Moses:  they  went  still  far- 


(ilj-  *  Tliis  gospel,  which  was  called  iiuliscriminately 
the  gospel  of  the  Na/.arenes,  or  Hebrews,  isccilainly  the 
same  with  the  gospel  of  the  Ebionites,  and  that  of  the 
twelve  apostles,  and  is  probably  that  which  Si.  Paul  re- 
fers to,  Galatians,  ch.  i.  ver.  6.  Dr.  Mosheim  refers  his 
readers,  for  an  account  of  this  gospel,  to  Kaliricins,  in 
his  Codex,  Apocryph.  Nov.  Test.  torn.  i.  p.  355,  and  to 
a  work  of  his  owu,  entitled  Vindiciffi  contra  Tolandi 
Nazarenum.  The  reader  will,  however,  find  a  still  more 
accurate  and  satisfactory  account  of  this  gospel,  in  the 
first  volume  of  the  learned  and  judicious  Mr.  Jones'  in- 
comparable Method  of  settling  the  Canonical  Authority 
of  the  New  Testament. 

t  See  Mich,  le  Quien,  Adnot.  ad  Damascenum,  torn. 
i.  as  also  a  dissertation  of  the  same  author,  de  Nazarenis 
et  eorum  Fide,  which  is  the  seventh  of  those  that  he  has 
subjoined  to  his  edition  of  the  works  of  Damascenuf. 

\  See  Fabric,  ad  Philostr.  de  Hseresibus;  and  Itigius,  de 
Haeresibus  JE\\  Aposlolici. 

{J(^  (j  The  learned  Mr.  .Jones  looked  upon  these  two 
sects  as  differing  very  little  from  one  another.  He  at 
tributes  to  them  both  much  the  same  doctrines,  and  al- 
ledges,  that  the  Ebionites  had  only  made  some  small  ad- 
ditions to  the  old  Nazarene  system. 


ther,  and  received,  with  an  equal  degree  of 
veneration,  the  superstitions  of  their  ancestors, 
and  the  ceremonies  and  traditions  which  the 
Pharisees  presumptuously  added  to  the  law.* 

IV.  These  obscure  and  mifrequented  here- 
tical assemblies  were  very  little  detrimental  to 
the  Cliristian  cause,  which  suffered  much  more 
from  those  sects,  whose  leaders  explained  the 
doctrines  of  Christianity  in  a  manner  confor- 
mable to  the  dictates  of  the  oriental  pjiilosopliy 
concerning  the  origin  of  evil.  The  oriental 
doctors,  who,  before  this  century,  had  lived  in 
tlie  greatest  obscurity,  came  forth  from  theii 
retreat  under  the  reign  of  Adrian, f  exposed 
themselves  to  public  view,  and  collected,  in 
various  provinces,  assemblies,  whose  numbers 
were  very  considerable.  The  ancient  records 
mention  a  great  number  of  these  demi-chris- 
tian  sects,  many  of  which  are  no  farther  known 
tlian  by  their  distinguishing  names:  which  per- 
haps, is  the  only  circumstance  in  which  they 
ditier  from  each  other.  One  division,  how- 
ever, of  these  oriental  Christians,  may  be  men- 
tioned as  real  and  important,  since  the  two 
branches  it  produced  were  considerably  superi- 
or to  the  rest  in  reputation,  and  made  more 
noise  in  the  world  than  the  other  multiplied 
subdivisions  of  this  pernicious  sect.  Of  this 
famous  division,  one  branch  which  arose  in 
Asia,  preserved  the  oriental  doctrine  concern- 
ing the  origin  of  the  world,  unmixed  with  otiier 
sentiments  and  opinions;  while  the  otlier,  which 
was  formed  in  Egypt,  made  a  motley  mixture 
of  this  philosophy  with  the  tenets  and  prodi- 
gies adopted  in  tlie  religious  system  of  that 
su])erstitious  country.  The  doctrine  of  the 
former  surpassed  in  simplicity  and  perspicuity 
tliat  of  the  latter,  which  consisted  of  a  vast 
variety  of  parts,  so  artfully  combined,  that  the 
explication  of  them  became  exceedingly  diffi- 
cult. 

V.  Among  the  doctors  of  the  Asiatic  brancli, 
the  first  place  is  due  to  Elxai,  who,  during  the 
reign  of  Trajan,  is  said  to  have  formed  the 
sect  of  the  Elcesaites.  This  heretic,  tliough  a 
Jew,  attached  to  the  worship  of  one  God,  and 
full  of  veneration  for  Moses,  corrupted  the  re- 
ligion of  his  ancestors,  by  blending  with  it  a 
multitude  of  fictions  drawn  from  the  oriental 
philosophy.  Pretending  also,  after  tlie  exam- 
ple of  the  Essenes,  to  give  a  rational  explica- 
tion of  the  law  of  Moses,  he  reduced  it  to  a 
mere  allegory.  It  is,  at  the  same  time,  proper 
to  observe,  that  some  have  doubted  whether 
tlie  Elcesaites  are  to  be  reckoned  among  the 
Christian  or  the  Jewish  sects;  and  Epiphanius 
who  was  acquainted  with  a  certain  production 
of  Elxai,  expresses  his  uncertainty  in  this  mat- 
ter. Elxai,  indeed,  in  that  book,  mentions 
Christ  with  tlie  highest  encomiums,  without, 
however,  adding  any  circumstance  from  which 
it  might  be  concluded  with  certainty,  that  Je- 


*  Iren^us,  lib.  i.  contra  Haeres.  cap.  xxvi.  p.  105,  edit. 
Massueti.  Epiphanius  gives  a  large  account  of  the  Ebio- 
nites, Haeres.  xxx.  But  he  deserves  little  credit,  since  he 
confesses,  (sect.  3,  p.  127,  and  sect.  4,  p.  141,)  that  he 
had  confounded  the  Sampsseans  and  Elcesaites  with  the 
Ebionites,  and  also  acknowledges  that  the  first  Ebionites 
were  strangers  to  the  errors  with  which  he  charges  them. 

t  Stromata  of  Clemens  Alex.  lib.  viii.  cap.  xvii.  p.  898. 
Cypriani  epist.  Ixxv. 


1 


Chap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


71 


sus  of  Nazareth  was  the  Christ  of  whom  he 
spoke.* 

VI.  If,  tlien,  Elxai  be  improperly  placed 
among  the  leaders  of  the  sect  now  under  con- 
sideration, we  may  place  at  it.s  head  Satiiriii- 
niis  of  Antiocli,  who  is  one  of  the  first  Gnostic 
chiefs  mentioned  in  hif;tor}^  He  licld  the  doc- 
trine of  two  principles,  from  which  proceeded 
all  tilings;  one  a  wise  and  benevolent  deity; 
and  the  other,  a  principle  essentially  evil, 
which  he  supposed  to  be  under  the  superinten- 
dence of  a  certain  intelligence  of  a  malignant 
nature.  "  Tlie  world  and  its  first  iiiliabitants 
were  (according  to  the  system  of  this  raving 
philosopher)  created  by  seven  angels,  who  pre- 
sided over  the  seven  planets.  This  work  was 
carried  on  without  the  knowledge  of  the  bene- 
volent deity,  and  in  opposition  to  the  will  of 
the  material  ])rinciple.  The  former,  however, 
beheld  it  with  approbation,  and  honoured  it 
with  several  marks  of  his  beneficence.  He  en- 
dowed with  rational  souls  the  beings  who  in- 
liabited  this  new  system,  to  whom  their  crea- 
tors had  imparted  nothing  more  than  the  mere 
animal  life;  and,  having  divided  the  world  into 
seven  parts,  he  distributed  them  among  the 
seven  angelic  architects,  one  of  whom  was  the 
god  of  the  Jews,  and  reserved  to  himself  the 
supreme  empire  over  all.  To  these  creatures, 
whom  the  benevolent  principle  had  endowed 
with  reasonable  souls,  and  with  dispositions 
that  led  to  goodness  and  virtue,  the  evil  being, 
to  maintain  his  empire,  added  another  kind, 
whom  he  formed  of  a  wicked  and  malignant 
character;  and  hence  arose  the  difference  ob- 
servable among  men.  When  the  creators  of 
the  world  fell  from  their  allegiance  to  the  Su- 
preme Deity,  God  sent  from  lieaven,  into  our 
globe,  a  restorer  of  order,  whose  name  was 
Christ.  This  divine  conqueror  came  clothed 
with  a  corporeal  appearance,  but  not  with  a 
real  body;  he  came  to  destroy  the  empire  of  the 
material  principle,  and  to  point  out  to  virtuous 
souls  the  way  by  which  they  must  return  to 
God.  This  way  is  beset  with  difficulties  and 
sufferings,  since  those  souls,  who  propose  re- 
turning to  the  Supreme  Being  after  the  disso- 
lution of  this  mortal  body,  must  abstain  from 
wine,  flesh,  wedlock,  and,  in  short,  from  every 
thing  that  tends  to  sensual  gratification,  or  even 
bodily  refreshment."  Saturninus  taughtthese 
e.xtravagant  doctrines  in  Syria,  but  principally 
at  Antioch,  and  drew  after  him  many  disciples 
by  the  pompous  appearance  of  an  extraordina- 
ry virtue! 

VII.  Cerdo  the  Syrian,  and  Marcion,  son  to 
the  bishop  of  Pontus,  belong  to  the  Asiatic 
sect,  though  they  began  to  establish  their  doc- 
trine at  Rome,  and,  having-  given  a  turn  some- 
what different  to  the  oriental  superstition,  may 
themselves  be  considered  as  the  heads  of  anew 
sect,  which  bears  their  names.  Amidst  the 
obscurity  and  doubts  that  render  so  uncertain 
the  history  of  these  two  men,  the  following 
fact  is  uicontestable,  viz.  That  Cerdo  had  been 


*  Euseb.  Hist.  Ecclrs.  lib.  vi.  cap.  xKiviii.— Epipha- 
nius,  Haercs.  xix.  sect.  iii.  Thtodoretus.  Kabul.  Hsret. 
lib.  ii.  cap.  vii. 

f  Irenaeus,  lib.  i.  c.  xxiv.— Euseb.  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  iv. 
cap.  vii. — Theodoret.  Kabul.  Haerct.  lib.  i.  cap.  ii. — 
Epiphan.  Haeres.  ixxiii. 


spreading  his  doctrine  at  Rome  before  the  ar- 
rival of  Marcion  there;  and  that  the  latter  hav- 
ing, through  his  own  misconduct,  forfeited  a 
I  place  to  wliich  he  aspired  in  the  church  of 
I  Rome,  atLacitod  himself  tlirougii  resentment  to 
j  the  impostor  Cerdo,  and  pro[>agated  his  impi- 
jous  doctrines  with  an  astonishing  success 
i  throughout  the  world.  "  Allcr  the  example  of 
J  tlie  oriental  doctors,  they  held  the  existence  of 
I  two  principles,  the  one  [)crfectly  good,  and  the 
j  other  perfectly  evil.  Between  tbese,  they  im- 
agined an  intermediate  kind  of  deity,  neither 
perfi.'ctly  good  nor  ])erfectly  evil,  but  of  a  mix- 
ed nature  (so  Marcion  expres.';es  it,)  and  so  far 
just  and  powerful,  as  to  administer  rewardsand 
inlhct  punishments.  This  middle  deity  is  the 
creator  of  this  inferior  world,  and  the  god  and 
legislator  of  the  Jewi.-h  nation;  he  wages  per- 
petual war  with  the  evil  princijjle,  and  one  and 
the  other  aspire  to  the  place  of  the  Supreme 
Being,  and  ambitiously  attcmj>t  to  reduce  un- 
der their  authority  all  the  iniiabitants  of  the 
world.  The  .Tews  are  the  subjects  of  that  pow- 
erful genius,  who  formed  this  globe;  the  other 
nations,  who  worship  a  variety  of  irods,  are 
under  the  empin?  of  the  evil  principle.  Both 
these  conflicting  powers  exercise  oppressions 
upon  rational  and  innnortal  souls,  and  keep 
them  in  a  tedious  and  miserable  captivity. — 
Therefore  the  Supremo  God,  in  order  to  ter- 
minate this  war,  and  to  deliver  from  their  bond- 
age those  souls  whose  origin  is  celestial  and 
divine,  sent  to  the  Jews  a  being  most  like  to 
himself,  even  his  son  Jesus  Christ,  clothed  with 
a  certain  shadowy  resemblance  of  a  body,  that 
thus  he  migiit  be  visible  to  mortal  ej'es.  The 
connnission  of  this  celestial  messenger  was  to 
destroy  the  ein])ire  both  of  the  evil  principle, 
and  of  the  author  of  this  world,  and  to  bring 
back  wandering  souls  to  God.  On  this  ac- 
count, he  was  attacked  with  inexpressible  vio- 
lence and  fury  by  the  prince  of  darkness,  and 
by  the  god  of  the  Jews,  but  without  eifect, 
since,  having  a  body  only  in  appearance,  he 
was  thereby  rendered  incapable  of  suflering. 
Those  who  follow  the  sacred  directions  of  this 
celestial  conductor,  mortify  tlie  body  by  fast- 
ings and  austerities,  call  off'  their  minds  from 
the  allurements  of  sense,  and,  renouncing  the 
precepts  of  the  god  of  the  Jews,  and  of  the 
prince  of  darkne&s,  turn  their  eyes  toward  the 
Supreme  Being,  shall,  after  death  ascend  to 
the  mansions  of  felicity  and  jjcrfection."  In 
consequence  of  all  this,  the  rule  of  marmers 
which  Marcion  prescribed  to  his  followers,  was 
excessively  austere,  containing  an  express  pro- 
hibition of  wedlock,  of  the  use  of  wine,  flesh, 
and  of  all  the  external  comforts  of  life.  Not- 
withstanding tlie  rigor  of  this  discipline,  great 
numbers  einl)raced  the  doctrines  of  Marcion, 
of  whom  Lucan  (called  also  Lucian,)  Severus, 
Blastes,  and  [irincipally  Apelles,  are  said  to 
have  varied,  in  some  things,  from  the  opinions 
of  their  master,  and  to  have  formed  new  sects.* 
VIII.  Bardesanes  and  Tatian  are  commonly 


*  Sec  Irena;us,  Epiphanius,  and  particularly  Tertul- 
liaii's  Kive  Books  against  the  Marcionilcs,  with  his  Poetn 
against  Marcion,  and  the  Dialogue  apainst  the  Marcion- 
ites,  which  is  generally  ascribed  to  Origen.  See  alio 
Tillemoufs  Memo,  and  Beaiisobre's  Hist,  du  M&oi- 
cheisme,  torn.  ii. 


72 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


supposed  to  have  been  of  the  school  of  Valen- 
tine, the  Egyptian.  But  this  notion  is  entirely 
without  foundation,  since  their  doctrine  differs 
in  many  things  from  that  of  the  Valentinians, 
approaching  nearer  to  that  of  the  oriental  phi- 
losophy concerning  the  two  principles.  Bar- 
desanes,  a  native  of  Edessa,  was  a  man  of  a 
very  acute  genius,  and  acquired  a  shining  re- 
putation by  his  writings,  which  were  in  great 
number,  and  valuable  for  the  profound  erudi- 
tion they  contained.  Seduced  by  the  fantastic 
charms  of  the  oriental  philosophy,  he  adopted 
it  with  zeal,  but,  at  the  same  time,  with  certain 
modifications,  that  rendered  his  system  less  ex- 
travagant than  that  of  the  Marcionites,  against 
whom  he  wrote  a  very  learned  treatise.  The 
sum  of  his  doctrine  is  as  follows:  There  is  a 
Supreme  God,  pure  and  benevolent,  absolutely 
free  from  all  evil  and  imperfection;  and  there 
is  also  a  prince  of  darkness,  the  fountain  of  all 
evil,  disorder  and  misery.  God  created  the 
world  without  any  mixture  of  evil  in  its  com- 
position; he  gave  existence  also  to  its  inhabi- 
tants, who  came  out  of  his  forming  hand,  pure 
and  incorrupt,  endued  with  subtile  etherial 
bodies,  and  spirits  of  a  celestial  nature.  But 
when,  in  process  of  time,  the  prince  of  dark- 
ness had  enticed  men  to  sin,  God,  permitted 
tliem  to  fall  into  sluggish  and  gross  bodies, 
formed  of  corrupt  matter  by  the  evil  principle; 
he  permitted  also  the  depravation  and  disorder 
wliich  this  malignant  Ijeing  introduced,  both 
into  the  natural  and  the  moral  world,  design- 
ing, by  this  permission,  to  punish  the  degene- 
racy and  rebellion  of  an  apostate  race;  and 
hence  proceeds  the  perpetual  conllict  between 
reason  and  passion  in  the  mind  of  man.  It 
was  on  tliis  account,  tliat  Jesus  descended  from 
the  upper  regions,  clothed,  not  with  a  real,  but 
with  a  celestial  and  aerial  body,  and  taught 
mankind  to  subdue  tliat  body  of  corruption 
which  they  carry  about  with  them  in  this  mor- 
tal life,  and,  by  abstinence,  fasting  and  contem- 
plation, to  disengage  themselves  from  the  ser- 
vitude and  dominion  of  that  malignant  matter 
which  chained  down  the  soul  to  low  and  igno- 
ble pursuits.  Tiiose,  vv'ho  hear  the  voice  of 
this  divine  instructor,  and  submit  themselves 
to  his  discipline,  sliall,  after  the  dissolution  of 
this  terrestrial  body,  moimt  up  to  the  mansions 
of  felicity,  clothed  with  ethereal  vehicles,  or 
celestial  bodies."  Such  was  the  doctrine  of 
Bardesanes,  who  afterwards  abandoned  the 
chimerical  part  of  this  system,  and  returned  to 
a  better  mind;  though  his  sect  subsisted  a  long 
time  in  Syria.* 

IX.  Tatian,  by  birth  an  Assyrian,  and  a  dis- 
ciple of  Justin  Martyr,  is  more  distinguished, 
by  the  ancient  writere,  on  account  of  his  ge- 
nius and  learning,  and  the  excessive  and  in- 
credible austerity  of  his  life  and  manners,  than 
by  any  remarkable  errors  or  opinions  which  he 
taught  his  followers.  It  appears,  however, 
from  the  testimony  of  credible  writers,  that  Ta- 
tian looked  upon  matter  as  the  fountain  of  all 
evil,  and  therefore  recommended,  in  a  particu- 


*  See  the  writers  who  have  given  accounts  of  the  an- 
cient heresies,  as  also  Eusebius,  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  iv.  cap. 
x%x. — Origen,  Dial,  contra  Marcionitas,  sect.  iii. — F. 
Strunzius,  Hist.  Bardesanis. — Beauiobre,  Hist,  du  Ma- 
nieh.  vol.  ii. 


lar  manner,  the  mortification  of  the  body;  that 
he  distinguished  the  creator  of  the  world  from 
the  Supreme  Being;  denied  the  reality  of 
Christ's  body;  and  corrupted  the  Christian 
religion  with  several  other  tenets  of  the  orien- 
tal philosophy.  He  had  a  great  number  of 
followers,  who  were,  after  him,  called  Ta- 
tianists,*  but  were,  nevertheless,  more  fre- 
quently distinguished  from  other  sects  by 
names  relative  to  the  austerity  of  their  man- 
ners; for,  as  they  rejected,  with  a  sort  of  hor- 
ror, all  the  comforts  and  conveniences  of  life, 
and  abstained  from  wine  with  such  a  rigorous 
obstinacy,  as  to  use  nothing  but  water  even  at 
the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper;  as  they 
macerated  their  bodies  by  continual  fastings, 
and  lived  a  severe  life  of  celibacy  and  absti- 
nence, so  they  were  called  Encratites,  [*]  Hy- 
droparastates,  [f]  and  Apotactites.  [].] 

X.  Hitherto,  we  have  only  considered  the 
doctrine  of  the  Asiatic  Gnostics.  Those  of 
the  Egyptian  branch  differ  from  them  in  gene- 
ral in  this,  that  they  blended  into  one  mass  the 
oriental  philosophy  and  the  Egyptian  theology; 
the  former  of  which  the  Asiatics  preserved  un- 
mixed in  its  original  simplicity.  The  Egyp- 
tians were,  moreover,  particularly  distinguish- 
ed from  the  Asiatic  Gnostics  by  the  following 
difference  in  their  religious  system,  viz.  1. 
That  though,  beside  the  existence  of  a  deity, 
they  maintained  that  also  of  an  eternal  matter, 
endued  with  life  and  motion,  yet  they  did  not 
acknowledge  an  eternal  principle  of  darkness, 
or  the  evil  principle  of  the  Persians.  2.  They 
supposed  that  our  blessed  Saviour  was  a  com- 
pound of  two  persons,  of  the  man  Jesus,  and 
of  Christ,  the  Son  of  God;  that  the  divine 
nature  entered  into  the  man  Jesus,  when  ho 
was  baptized  by  John  in  the  river  Jordan,  and 
departed  from  him  when  he  was  seized  by  the 
Jews.  3.  They  attributed  to  Christ  a  real  not 
an  imaginary  body;  though  it  must  be  confessed, 
that  they  were  much  divided  in  their  sen- 
timents on  this  head.  4.  Their  discipline,  with 
respect  to  life  and  manners,  was  much  less  se- 
vere than  that  of  the  Asiatic  sect,  and  seems, 
in  some  points,  to  have  been  favoiirable  to  the 
corruption  and  passions  of  men. 

XI.  Basilides  has  generally  obtained  the  first 
place  among  the  Egyptian  Gnostics.  "  He 
acknowledged  the  existence  of  one  Supreme 
God,  perfect  in  goodness  and  wisdom,  who 
produced  from  his  own  substance  seven  beings, 
or  ffions,  of  a  most  excellent  nature.  Two  of 
these  aeons  called  Djmamis  and  Sophia  (power 
and  wisdom,)  engendered  the  angels  of  the 
highest  order.  These  angels  formed  a  heaven 
for  their  habitation,  and  brought  forth  other 
angelic  beings,  of  a  nature  somewhat  inferio- 
to  their  own.  Many  other  generations  of  an 
gels  followed  these  and  new  heavens  were  also 
created,  until  the  number  of  angelic  orders, 
and  of  their  respective  heavens  amounted  to 
three  hundred  and  sixty-five,  and  thus  equalled 


*  We  have  yet  remaining  of  the  writings  of  Tatian, 
an  Oration  addressed  to  the  Greeks.  As  to  his  opinions 
they  may  be  gathered  from  Clemens  Alexandrinus,  Stro- 
mat.  lib.  ji.  p.  460.— Epiphanius,  Haeres.  xlvi.  cap.  i  p. 
391.  Origen  de  Oratione,  cap.  xiii.  None,  however, 
of  the  ancients  wrote  professedly  coDceming  the  doctrine 
of  Tatian. 
[*]  Temperate,  [fj  Drinkers  of  water.  [{]  Renouocers. 


Chap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


73 


the  days  of  the  year.  All  these  arc  under 
the  empire  of  an  omnipotent  Lord,  wliom  Ba- 
silides  called  Abraxas."*  Tliis  word  (which 
was  certainly  in  use  among-  the  Egyptians  be- 
fore his  time)  contains  numeral  letters  to  the 
amount  of  36o,  and  thereby  expresses  the  num- 
ber of  heavens  and  angelic  orders  above-men- 
tioned. "  The  inhabitants  of  the  lowest  hea- 
vens, which  touched  upon  the  borders  of  the 
eternal,  malignant,  and  self-animated  matter, 
conceived  the  design  of  forming  a  world  from 
that  confused  mass,  and  of  creating  an  order 
of  beings  to  people  it.  This  design  was  car- 
ried into  execution,  and  was  approved  by  the 
Supreme  God,  who,  to  the  animal  life  with 
which  only  the  inhabitants  of  tliis  new  world 
were  at  first  endowed,  added  a  reasonable  soul, 
giving,  at  the  same  time,  to  tlie  angels,  the  em- 
pire over  them." 

XII.  "  These  angelic  beings,  advanced  to 
the  government  of  the  world  which  they  had 
created,  fell,  by  degrees,  from  their  original 
purity,  and  manifested  the  fatal  marks  of  their 
depravity  and  corruption.  They  not  only  en- 
deavoured to  efface  from  the  minds  of  men  the 
knowledge  of  the  Supreme  Being,  tliat  they 
might  bo  worshipped  in  his  stead,  but  also  be- 
gan to  wai*  against  one  another,  with  an  am- 
bitious view  to  enlarge,  every  one,  the  boimds 
of  his  respective  dominion.  The  most  arro- 
gant and  turbulent  of  all  these  angelic  spirits, 
was  that  which  presided  over  the  Jewish  na- 
tion. Hence  God,  beholding  with  compassion 
the  miserable  state  of  rational  creatures,  who 
groaned  under  the  contests  of  these  jarring 
powers,  sent  from  heaven  his  son  Nus,  or 
Christ,  the  chief  of  the  teons,  that,  joined  in  a 
substantial  union  with  the  man  Jesus,  he  miglit 
restore  the  knowledge  of  the  Supreme  Being, 
and  destroy  the  empire  of  those  angelic  na- 


*  We  have  remaining  a  great  nunfiber  of  gems,  and 
receive  more  from  Egypt  from  time  to  time,  on  which, 
beside  other  figures  of  Egyptian  taste,  we  find  the  word 
Abraxas  engraven.  See,  for  this  purpose,  a  work  en- 
titled, Macarii  Abraxas,  sen  de  Gemmis  Basilidianis 
Disquisitio,  which  was  published  at  Antwerp  with  seve- 
ral improvements,  by  M.  Chi/Het,  in  1657.  See  also 
Montfaucon,  Palajograph  Graee.  lib.  ii.  cap.  viii.  All 
these  gems  are  supposed  to  come  from  Basilides,  and 
therefore  bear  his  name.  Most  of  them,  however,  con- 
tain the  marks  of  a  superstition  too  gross  to  be  attributed 
even  to  a  half-Christain,  and  bear  also  emblematic  char- 
acters of  the  Egyptian  theology.  It  is  not,  therefore, 
just  to  attribute  them  all  to  Basilides  (who,  though  erro- 
neous in  many  of  his  opinions,  was  yet  a  follower  of 
Christ,)  but  such  of  them  only  as  exhibit  some  mark  of 

the  Christian  doctrine   and   discipline. There   is  no 

doubt  that  the  old  Egyptian  word  Abraxas  was  appropri- 
ated to  the  governor  or  lord  of  the  heavens,  and  that 
Basilides,  having  learned  it  from  the  philosophy  of  his 
nation,  retained  it  in  his  religious  system.  See  Beauso- 
bre,  Hist,  du  Manicheisme.  vol.  ii.  p.  51.,  and  also  Jo. 
Bapt.  Passerius,  in  his  Dissert,  de  Gemmes  Basilidianis, 
which  makes  a  part  of  the  splendid  work  that  he  pub- 
lished at  Florence,  1750,  de  Gemmis  stelliferis,  tom.  ii. 
p.  221.  See  also  the  sentiments  of  the  learned  Jablon- 
ski,  concerning  the  signification  of  the  word  Abraxas,  as 
they  are  delivered  in  a  dissertation  inserted  in  the  seventh 
volume  of  the  Miscell.  Leips.  Nova.  Fesserius  affirms, 
that  none  of  these  gems  can  properly  be  said  to  relate  to 
Basilides,  but  that  they  concern  only  magicians,  »'.  e. 
sorcerers,  fortune-tellers,  and  the  like  adventurers. 
Here,  however,  this  learned  man  seems  to  go  too  far,  since 
he  himself  acknowledges  (p.  2:25,)  that  he  had  sometimes 
found,  on  these  gems,  vestiges  of  the  errors  of  Basilides. 
These  famous  monuments  stand  yet  in  need  of  an  inter- 
preter; but  it  must  be  one  who  can  join  circumspection 
to  diligence  and  erudition. 

Vol.  I.— 10 


tures  which  presided  over  the  world,  and  par- 
ticularly that  of  the  arrogant  leader  of  the 
Jcwisii  people.  The  god  ot  the  Jews,  alarmed 
at  this,  sent  forth  his  ministers  to  seize  the  man 
Jesus,  and  put  him  to  death.  They  executed 
his  commands;  but  their  cruelty  could  not  ex- 
tend to  Cluist,  against  whom  their  efforts  were 
vain.*  Those  souls,  who  obey  the  precepts 
of  the  Son  of  God,  sliall,  after  the  dissolution 
of  their  mortal  frame,  ascend  to  the  Father, 
while  their  bodies  return  to  the  corrupt  mass 
of  matter  from  which  they  were  formed.  Dis- 
obedient spirits,  on  tlie  contrary,  shall  pass 
successively  into  other  bodies." 

XIII.  The  doctrine  of  Basilides,  in  point  of 
morals,  if  we  may  credit  the  account  of  most 
ancient  writers,  was  favourable  to  the  lusts 
and  passions  of  mankind,  and  permitted  the 
practice  of  all  sorts  of  wickedness.  But  those 
whose  testimonies  are  the  most  worthy  of  re- 
gard, give  a  quite  different  account  of  this 
teacher,  and  represent  him  as  recommending 
the  practice  of  virtue  and  piety  in  the  strongest 
maimer,  and  as  having  condemned  not  only 
the  actual  commission  of  iniquit}^,  but  even 
every  inward  projiensity  of  the  mind  to  a 
vicious  conduct.  It  is  true  there  were,  in  his 
precepts  relating  to  the  conduct  of  life,  some 
points  which  gave  great  offence  to  all  real 
Christians;  for  he  affirmed  it  to  be  lawful  for 
them  to  conceal  their  religion,  to  deny  Christ, 
when  their  lives  were  in  danger,  and  to  par- 
take of  the  feasts  of  the  Gentiles  that  were  in- 
stituted in  consequence  of  the  sacrifices  offered 
to  idols.  He  endeavoured  also  to  diminisli  the 
glory  of  those  who  suHbred  martyrdom  for  the 
cause  of  Christ  impiously  maintaining,  that 
they  were  more  heinous  sinners  tliau  others, 
and  that  their  sufferings  were  to  be  looked 
upon  as  a  punishment  inflicted  upon  them  by 
the  divine  justice.  He  was  led  into  this  enor- 
mous error,  by  an  absurd  notion  tliat  all  the 
calamities  of  this  life  were  of  a  penal  nature, 
and  that  men  never  suffered  but  in  conse- 
quence of  their  iniquities.  This  rendered  his 
principles  greatly  suspected;  and  the  irregular 
lives  of  some  of  his  disciples  seemed  to  justify 
the  unfavourable  opinion  that  was  entertained 
of  their  master.f 

XIV.  But  whatever  may  be  said  of  Basilides, 
it  is  certain,  that  he  was  far  surpassed  in  im- 
piety by  Carpocrates,  who  was  also  of  Alex- 
andria, and  who  carried  the  Gnostic  blasphe- 
mies to  a  more  enormous  degree  of  extrava- 
gance than  they  had  ever  been  brought  by  any 
of  that  sect.  His  philosophical  tenets  agree, 
in  general,  with  those  of  the  Egj'ptian  Gnos- 
tics. He  acknowledged  the  existence  of  a 
Supreme  God,  and  of  the  aeons  derived  from 


*  Many  of  the  ancients  have,  upon  the  authority  of 
Ircnaeus,  accused  Basilides  oi  denying  the  realily  of 
Christ's  body,  and  of  maintaining  that  Simon  the  Cyrc- 
nian  was  crucified  in  his  stead.  But  this  accusation  ii 
entirely  groundless,  as  may  be  seen  by  consulting  the 
Commentar.  de  rebus  Christian,  ante  Constant,  where  it 
is  demonstrated,  that  Basilides  considered  the  divine 
Saviour  as  compounded  of  the  man  Jesus,  and  Christ 
the  Son  of  God.  It  may  be  true,  indeed,  that  some  of 
the  disciples  of  Basilides  entertained  the  opinion  which 
is  here  unjustly  attributed  to  their  master. 

t  For  a  farther  account  of  Basilides,  thr  reader  m«y 
consult  Ren.  Massuet,  Dissert,  iu  Ircnzum,  and  Beauso- 
bre  Hist,  du  Manicheitmc,  vol,  ii. 


74 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


him  by  successive  generations.  He  maintain- 
ed tlie  eternity  of  a  corrupt  matter,  and  the 
creation  of  the  world  from  it  by  angehc  pow- 
ers, as  also  the  divine  origin  of  souls  unhap- 
pily imprisoned  in  mortal  bodies,  &c.  But, 
beside  these,  he  propagated  sentiments  and 
maxims  of  a  horrid  kind.  He  asserted,  that 
Jesus  was  born  of  Joseph  and  Mary,  according 
to  the  ordinary  course  of  nature,  and  was  dis- 
tinguished from  the  rest  of  mankind  by  nothing 
but  his  superior  fortitude  and  greatness  of  soul. 
His  doctrine,  also,  with  respect  to  practice,  was 
licentious  in  the  highest  degree;  for  he  not 
only  allowed  his  disciples  a  full  liberty  to  sin, 
but  recommended  to  them  a  vicious  course  of 
life,  as  a  matter  both  of  obligation  and  neces- 
sity; asserting,  that  eternal  salvation  was  only 
attainable  by  those  who  had  committed  all 
sorts  of  crimes,  and  had  daringly  filled  up  the 
measure  of  iniquity.  It  is  almost  incredible, 
that  one  who  maintained  the  existence  of  a 
Supreme  Being,  who  acknowledged  Clu-ist  as 
the  Saviour  of  mankind,  could  entertain  such 
monstrous  opinions.  One  might  infer,  indeed, 
from  certain  tenets  of  Carpocrates  that  he 
adopted  the  common  doctrine  of  the  Gnos- 
tics concerning  Christ,  and  acknowledged  also 
the  laws  which  this  divine  Saviour  imposed 
upon  his  disciples.  Notwithstanding  this,  it  is 
beyond  all  doubt,  that  the  precepts  and  opinions 
of  this  Gnostic  are  full  of  impiety,  since  he 
held,  that  lusts  and  passions  being  implanted 
in  our  nature  by  God  himself,  were  conse- 
quently void  of  guilt,  and  had  notliing  crimi- 
nal in  them;  that  all  actions  were  indifferent 
in  their  own  nature,  and  were  rendered  good 
or  evil  only  by  the  opinions  of  men,  or  by  the 
laws  of  the  state;  that  it  was  the  will  of  God 
that  all  things  should  be  possessed  m  common, 
the  female  sex  not  excepted;  but  that  hiunan 
laws,  by  an  arbitrary  tyranny,  branded  those 
as  robbers  and  adulterers,  who  only  used  their 
natural  rights.  It  is  easy  to  perceive,  that,  by 
these  tenets,  all  the  principles  of  virtue  were 
destroyed,  and  a  door  opened  to  tlie  most  hor- 
rid licentiousness,  and  to  the  most  profligate 
and  enormous  wickedness.* 

XV.  Valentine,  who  was  likewise  an  Egyp- 
tian by  birth,  was  eminently  distinguised  from 
all  his  brethren  by  the  extent  of  his  fame,  and 
the  multitude  of  his  followers.  His  sect,  which 
took  rise  at  Rome,  grew  up  to  a  state  of  con- 
sistence and  vigour  in  the  isle  of  Cyprus,  and 
spread  itself  tlirough  Asia,  Africa,  and  Europe, 
with  an  amazing  rapidity.  The  principles  of 
Valentine  were,  generally  speaking,  the  same 
with  those  of  the  Gnostics,  whose  name  he 
assumed;  yet,  in  many  points,  he  entertained 
opinions  that  were  peculiar  to  himself.  "  He 
placed,  for  instance,  in  the  pleroma  (so  the 
Gnostics  called  the  habitation  of  the  Deity) 
thirty  seons,  of  which  the  one  half  were  male, 
and  the  other  female.  To  these  he  added  four 
others,  which  were  of  neither  sex,  viz.  Horus, 
who  guarded  the  borders  of  the  pleroma,  Christ, 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  Jesus.  The  youngest  of 
the  aeons,  called  Sophia  (i.  e.  wisdom,)  con- 
ceiving an  ardent  desire  of  comprehending  the 


*  See  Iren.  contra  Hseres.  cap.  xxv.  Clemeotis  Alex. 
Slromata,  lib,  iii.  p.  511. 


nature  of  the  Supreme  Being,  and  by  force  of 
this  propensity,  brought  forth  a  daughter, 
named  Acliamoth,  who,  being  exiled  from  the 
pleroma,  fell  down  into  the  rude  and  undigest- 
ed mass  of  matter,  to  which  she  gave  a  certain 
arrangement,  and,  by  the  assistance  of  Jesus, 
produced  the  demiurge,  the  lord  and  creator  of 
all  things.  Tliis  demiurge  separated  the  sub- 
tile or  animal  matter  from  that  of  the  grosser 
or  more  terrestrial  kind;  out  of  the  former  he 
created  the  superior  world,  or  the  visible  hea- 
vens; and  out  of  the  latter  he  formed  the  infe- 
rior world,  or  this  terraqueous  globe.  He  also 
made  man,  in  whose  composition  the  subtile, 
and  also  the  grosser  matter,  were  both  united 
in  equal  portions;  but  Acliamoth,  the  mother 
of  the  demiurge,  added  to  these  two  substan- 
ces, of  which  the  human  race  was  formed,  a 
spiritual  and  celestial  substance."  This  is  the 
sum  of  that  intricate  and  tedious  fable,  which 
the  extravagant  brain  of  Valentine  imposed 
upon  the  world  for  a  system  of  religious  phi- 
losophy; and  from  this  it  appears  that,  though, 
he  explained  the  origin  of  the  world  and  of 
the  human  race,  in  a  more  subtile  manner  than 
the  Gnostics,  he  did  not  differ  from  them  in 
reality.  His  imagination  was  more  wild  and 
inventive  than  that  of  his  brethren;  and  this 
is  manifest  in  tlie  whole  of  his  doctrine,  which 
is  no  more  than  Gnosticism,  set  out  with  some 
supernumerary  fringes,  as  will  farther  appear 
from  what  follows. 

XVI.  "  The  Creator  of  this  world,  accord- 
ing to  Valentine,  arrived,  by  degrees,  at  such 
a  pitch  of  arrogance,  that  he  either  imagined 
himself  to  be  God  alone,  or,  at  least,  was  de- 
sirous that  mankind  should  consider  him  as 
such.  For  this  purpose  he  sent  forth  prophets 
to  the  Jewish  nation,  to  declare  his  claim  to 
the  honour  that  is  due  to  the  Supreme  Being; 
and  in  this  point  the  other  angels  who  preside 
over  the  different  parts  of  the  universe  imme- 
diately began  to  imitate  his  ambition.  To 
chastise  this  lawless  arrogance,  and  to  illumi- 
nate the  minds  of  rational  beings  with  the 
knowledge  of  the  true  and  Supreme  Deity, 
Christ  appeai'ed  upon  earth,  composed  of  an 
animal  and  spiritual  substance,  and  clothed 
moreover,  with  an  aerial  body.  This  Redeemer, 
in  descending  upon  earth,  passed  through  the 
womb  of  Mary,  as  the  pure  water  flows  through 
the  untainted  conduit.  Jesus,  one  of  the  su- 
preme aeons,  was  substantially  united  to  him, 
when  he  was  baptized  by  Jolm  in  the  waters  of 
Jordan.  The  creator  of  this  world,  when  he 
perceived  that  the  foundations  of  his  empi/e 
were  shaken  by  this  divine  man,  caused  him  to 
be  apprehended  and  nailed  to  the  cross.  But 
before  Cluist  submitted  to  this  punishment, 
not  only  Jesus  the  Son  of  God,  but  also  the 
rational  soul  of  Christ  ascended  on  high,  so 
that  only  the  animal  soul  and  the  ethereal  body 
suffered  crucifixion.  Those  who  abandoning 
the  service  of  false  deities,  and  the  worslrip  of 
the  God  of  the  Jews,  live  according  to  the  pre- 
cepts of  Clirist,  and  submit  the  animal  and  sen- 
sual soul  to  the  discipline  of  reason,  shall  be 
truly  happy;  their  rational  and  also  their  sen- 
sual souls  shall  ascend  to  those  glorious  seats 
of  bliss  which  border  on  the  pleroma;  and 
when  all  the  parts  of  the  divine  nature,  or  ali 


Chap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


75 


souls  are  purified  thoroughly,  and  separated 
from  matter,  tlien  a  raging  fire,  let  loose  from 
its  prison,  shall  spread  its  flames  throughout 
the  universe,  and  dissolve  the  frame  of  this  cor- 
poreal world."  Such  is  the  doctrine  of  Va- 
lentine and  the  Gnostics;  such  also  are  the 
tenets  of  the  oriental  philosophy,  and  they  may 
be  suimned  up  in  the  following  propositions; 
"  This  world  is  a  compound  of  good  and  evil. 
Whatever  is  good  in  it,  comes  down  from  tiic 
Supreme  God,  the  Father  of  ligiit,  and  to  him 
it  shall  return;  and  then  the  world  shall  be  en- 
tirely destroyed."* 

XVII.  We  learn  from  ancient  writers,  that 
the  Valentinian  sect  was  divided  into  many 
branches.  One  was  the  sect  of  the  Ptolemites, 
so  called  from  their  chief  Ptolemy,  who  differ- 
ed in  oj)inion  from  his  master  Valentine,  with 
respect  both  to  the  number  and  nature  of  the 
scons,  another  was  the  sect  of  the  Sccundians, 
whose  chief  Secundus,  one  of  the  principal 
followers  of  Valentine,  maintained  the  doc- 
trine of  two  eternal  principles,  viz.  light  and 
darkness,  whence  arose  the  good  and  evil  that 
are  observable  in  the  universe.  From  the  same 
source  arose  the  sect  of  Heracleon,  from  whose 
writings  Clemens  and  Origen  have  made  many 
extracts;  as  also  that  of  the  Marcosians,  whose 
leaders,  Marc  and  Colarbasus,  added  many  ali- 
surd  fictions  to  those  of  Valentine;  though  it  is 
certain,  at  the  same  time,  that  many  errors 
were  attributed  to  them,  which  they  did  not 
maintain.!  I  omit  the  mention  of  some  other 
sects,  to  which  the  Valentinian  heresy  is  said 
to  have  given  rise.  Whether,  in  reality,  they 
all  sprang  from  this  source,  is  a  question  of  a 
very  doubtful  kind,  especially  if  we  consider 
the  errors  into  which  the  ancients  have  fallen, 
in  tracing  out  the  origin  of  the  various  sects 
that  divided  the  church. | 

XVIII.  It  is  not  necessary  to  take  any  parti- 
cular notice  of  the  more  obscure  and  less  con- 
siderable of  the  Gnostic  sects,  of  which  the 
ancient  writers  scarcely  mention  any  thing  but 


*  It  is  proper  to  observe,  for  the  information  of  those 
who  desire  a  more  copious  account  of  the  Valentinian 
heresy,  that  many  ancient  writers  have  written  upon  this 
subject,  especially  Irenaeus,  TertuUian,  Clemens  Alex. 
&c.  Among  the  moderns,  see  the  dissertation  of  J.  K. 
Buddeus  de  ha:resi  Valentiniana,  which  gave  occasion  to 
many  disputes  concerning  the  origin  of  this  heresy. 
Some  of  the  moderns  have  endeavoured  to  reconcile, 
with  reason,  this  obscure  and  absurd  doctrine  of  the 
Valentinians,  See,  for  this  purpose,  the  following  au- 
thors: Souverain,  Platonisme  devoile,  ch.  viii.  Camp. 
Vitringa,  Observ.  Sacr.  lib.  i.  cap.  ii.  Beausobre,  Histoirc 
du  Manicheisme,  p.  548.  Jac.  liasnagc,  Hist,  des  Juifs, 
tom.  iii.  p.  'i'20.  Pierre  Faydil,  Eclaircissemens  sur 
I'Hist.  Ecclesiast.  des  deux  premiers  Siecles.  How 
vain  all  such  endeavours  are,  might  easily  be  shown:  and 
Valentine  himself  has  determined  the  matter,  by  ac- 
knowledging that  his  doctrine  is  absolutely  and  entirely 
different  from  that  of  other  Christians. 

Ql^  t  Marc  did  not  certainly  entertain  all  the  opinions 
that  arc  attributed  to  him.  Those,  however,  which 
we  are  certain  that  he  adopted,  arc  sufficient  to  convince 
U9  that  he  was  out  of  his  senses.  He  maintained,  among 
other  crude  fancies,  that  the  plenitude  and  perfection  of 
truth  resided  in  the  Greek  Alphabet,  and  alledges  thai 
as  the  reason  why  Jesus  Christ  was  called  the  Alpha  and 
the  Omega. 

}  Concerning  these  sects,  the  reader  will  find  some- 
thing fuller  in  Irenxus  and  the  other  ancient  writers, 
and  a  yet  more  learned  and  satisfactory  account  in 
Grajbe's  Spicilegium  Patr.  ct  Hxreticor.  sec.  2.  There 
i>an  ample  account  of  the  Marcosians  in  Irenaeus,  contra 
Hser.  lib.  i. 


the  name,  and  one  or  two  of  their  distinguish- 
ing lenels.  Such  were  the  Adamites,  who  are 
said  to  have  professed  an  exact  imitation  of  the 
primitive  state  of  innocence;  the  Cainites,  who 
treated  as  saints,  with  the  utmost  marks  of  ad- 
miration and  respect,  Cain,  Cora,  Dathan,  the 
inhabitants  of  Sodom,  and  even  the  traitor 
Judas.  Such  also  were  the  Abelites,  who  en- 
tered into  the  bonds  of  matrimony,  but  Jieg- 
lected  to  fulfil  its  princijjal  end,  even  the  pro- 
creation of  offspring;  the  Sethitcs,  who  honour- 
ed Setli  in  a  particular  manner,  and  looked 
upon  him  as  the  same  person  witli  Christ;  the 
Florinians,  who  had  Florinus  and  Blastus  for 
their  chiefs,*  and  several  others.  It  is  highly 
probable  that  the  ancient  doctors,  deceived  by 
the  variety  of  names  that  distinguished  the 
heretics,  may  with  too  much  precipitation  have 
divided  one  sect  into  many;  and  it  may  be  far- 
ther questioned,  whether  they  have,  at  all 
times,  represented  accurately  the  nature  and 
true  meaning  of  several  opinions  concerning 
which  they  have  written. 

XIX.  The  Ophites,  or  Serpentinians,  a  ridi- 
culous sort  of  heretics,  who  had  for  their  leader 
a  man  called  Euphrates,  deserve  not  the  lowest 
place  among  the  Egyptian  Gnostics.  This 
sect,  which  had  its  origin  among  the  Jews,  was 
of  a  nwre  ancient  date  than  the  Christian  re- 
ligion. A  part  of  its  followers  embraced  the 
Gospel,  while  the  rest  retained  their  primitive 
superstition;  and  hence  arose  the  division  of 
the  Ophites  into  Christian  and  anti-Christian. 
The  Ciiristian  Ophites  entertained  almost  the 
same  fantastic  opinions  that  were  holden  by 
the  other  Egyptian  Gnostics,  concerning  the 
teons,  the  eternal  matter,  the  creation  of  the 
world  in  opposition  to  the  will  of  God,  the 
rulers  of  the  seven  planets  that  presided  over 
this  world,  the  tyranny  of  the  demiurge,  and 
also  respecting  Christ  united  to  the  man  Jesus, 
in  order  to  destroy  the  empire  of  this  usurper. 
But,  beside  these,  they  maintained  the  follow- 
ing particular  tenet  (whence  they  received  the 
name  of  Ophites);  "  That  the  serpent,  by  which 
our  first  parents  were  deceived,  was  either 
Christ  himself,  or  Sophia,  concealed  under  the 
form  of  that  animal;"  and,  in  consequence  of 
this  opinion,  they  are  said  to  have  nourished  a 
certain  number  of  serpents,  which  they  looked 
upon  as  sacred,  and  to  which  they  offered  a 
sort  of  worship,  a  subordinate  kind  of  divine 
honours.  It  was  no  difficult  matter  for  those, 
who  made  a  distinction  between  the  Supreme 
Being  and  the  Creator  of  the  world,  and  vvlio 
looked  upon  every  thing  as  divine,  which  was 
in  opposition  to  the  demiurge,  to  fall  into  these 
extravagant  notions. 

XX.  The  schisms  and  commotions  that  arose 
in  the  church,  from  a  mixture  of  the  oriental 
and  Egyptian  philosophy  with  the  Christian 
religion,  were,  in  the  second  century,  increased 
by  those  Grecian  piiilosopliers  who  embraced 
the  doctrine  of  Christ.  The  Christian  doc- 
trines concerning  the  Fatlier,  Son,  and  Iloly 


*  Here  Dr.  Mosheim  has  fallen  into  a  slight  inaccuracy 
in  confounding  the  opinions  of  these  two  heretics,  since 
it  is  certain,  that  Blastus  was  for  restoring  the  Jewish 
religion,  and  celebrating  the  passover  on  the  fourteenth 
day;  whereas  Florinus  was  p  Valentinian,  and  maintained 
the  doctrine  of  the  two  principles,  with  other  Onostu 
errors. 


76 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  H. 


Ghost,  and  the  two  natures  united  in  our  I 
blessed  Saviour,  were  by  no  means  reconcila- 1 
ble  with  the  tenets  of  the  sages  and  doctors  of 
Greece,  who  therefore  endeavoured  to  explain 
them  in  such  a  manner  as  to  render  them  i  om 
prehensible.  Praxeas,  a  man  of  genius  and 
learning,  began  to  propagate  these  explications 
at  Rome,  and  was  severely  persecuted  for  the 
errors  they  contained.  He  denied  any  real 
distinction  between  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy 
Ghost,  and  maintained  that  the  Father,  sole 
creator  of  all  things,  had  united  to  himself  the 
human  nature  of  Christ.  Hence  his  followers 
■were  called  Monarchians,  because  of  their  de- 
nying a  plurality  of  persons  in  the  Deity;  and 
also  Patripassians,  because,  according  to  Ter- 
tullian's  account,  they  believed  that  the  Father 
was  so  intimately  united  with  the  man  Christ, 
his  son,  that  he  suffered  with  him  the  anguisli 
of  an  afflicted  life,  and  the  torments  of  an  ig- 
nominious death.  However  ready  many  may 
have  been  to  embrace  this  erroneous  doctrine, 
it  does  not  appear,  that  this  sect  formed  to  it- 
self a  separate  place  of  worship,  or  removed 
from  the  ordinary  assemblies  of  Christians.* 

XXI.  An  opinion  highly  resembling  that 
now  mentioned,  was,  about  the  same  time,  pro- 
fessed at  Rome  by  Theodotus,  who,  though  a 
tanner,  was  a  man  of  profound  learning,  and 
also  by  Artemas,  or  Artemon,  from  whom  the 
sect  of  the  Artemonites  derived  their  origin. 
The  accounts  given  of  these  two  persons,  by 
the  ancient  writers,  are  not  only  few  in  num- 
ber, but  are  also  extremely  ambiguous  and  ob- 
scure. Their  sentiments,  however,  as  far  as 
they  can  be  collected  from  the  best  records, 
amount  to  this;  "  That,  at  the  birth  of  the  man 
Christ,  a  certain  divine  energy,  or  portion  of  the 
divine  nature  (and  not  the  person  of  the  Fa- 
ther, as  Praxeas  imagined,)  united  itself  to 
him." 

It  is  impossible  to  decide  with  certamty 
which  of  the  two  was  the  more  ancient,  Theo- 
dotus, or  Artemon;  as  also  whether  they  both 
taught  the  same  doctrine,  or  differed  in  their 
opinions.  One  thing,  indeed,  is  certain,  that 
the  disciples  of  both  applied  the  dictates  of 
philosophy,  and  even  the  science  of  geometry, 
to  the  explication  of  the  Christian  doctrine. 

XXII.  A  like  attaclunent  to  the  dictates  of  a 
presumptuous  philosophy,  induced  Hermoge- 
nes,  a  painter  by  profession,  to  abandon  the 
doctrme  of  Christianity  concerning  the  origin 
of  the  world,  and  the  nature  of  the  soul,  and 
thus  to  raise  new  troubles  in  the  church.  Re- 
garding rtiatter  as  the  fountain  of  all  evil,  he 
could  not  persuade  himself  that  God  had  cre- 
ated it  from  nothing,  by  an  almighty  act  of  his 
will;  and  therefore  he  maintained,  that  the 
world,  with  whatever  it  contains,  as  also  the 
souls  of  men,  and  other  spirits,  were  formed  by 
the  Deity  from  an  uncreated  and  eternal  mass 
of  corrupt  matter.  In  this  doctrine  there  were 
many  intricate  things,  and  it  manifestly  jarred 
with  the  opinions  commonly  received  among 
Christians  relative  to  that  difficult  and  almost 
unsearchable  subject.  How  Hermogenes  ex- 
plained those  doctrines  of  Christianity  which 


*  Tertulliani  lib.  contra  Praxeam;  as  also  Petri  Wes- 
tsliogii  Probabilia,  cap.  xxrj. 


opposed  his  system,  neither  Tertullian,  who  re- 
futed it,  nor  any  of  the  ancient  writers,  inform 
us.* 

XXIII.  These  sects,  which  we  have  now 
been  slightly  surveying,  may  be  justly  regarded 
as  the  offspring  of  philosophy.  But  they  were 
succeeded  by  one  in  which  ignorance  reigned, 
and  which  was  the  mortal  enemy  of  philoso- 
phy and  letters.  It  was  formed  by  Montanus, 
an  obscure  man,  without  any  capacity  or 
strength  of  judgment,  and  who  lived  in  a 
Phrygian  village  called  Pepuza.  This  weak ' 
man  was  so  foolish  and  extravagant  as  to  ima- 
gine and  pretend,  that  he  was  the  paraclete,  or 
comforter,!  whom  the  divine  Saviour,  at  his 
departure  from  the  earth,  promised  to  send  to 
his  disciples  to  lead  them  to  all  truth.  He 
made  no  attempts  upon  the  peculiar  doctrines 
of  Christianity,  but  only  declared,  that  he  was 
sent  with  a  divine  commission,  to  give,  to  the 
moral  precepts  delivered  by  Christ  and  his  apos- 
tles, the  finishing  touch  that  was  to  bring  them 
to  perfection.  He  was  of  opinion,  that  Christ 
and  his  apostles  made,  in  their  precepts,  many 
allowances  to  the  infirmities  of  those  among 
whom  they  lived,  and  that  this  condescending 
indulgence  rendered  their  system  of  moral  laws 
imperfect  and  incomplete.  He  therefore  added 
to  the  laws  of  the  Gospel  many  austere  deci- 
sions; inculcated  the  necessity  of  multiplying 
fasts;  prohibited  second  marriages  as  unlawful; 
maintained  that  the  church  should  refuse  abso- 
lution to  those  who  had  fallen  into  the  com- 
mission of  enormous  sins;  and  condemned  all 
care  of  the  body,  especially  all  nicety  in  dress, 
and  all  female  ornaments.  The  excessive  au- 
sterity of  this  ignorant  fanatic  did  not  stop 
here;  he  showed  the  same  aversion  to  the  no- 


*  There  is  yet  extant  a  book  written  by  Tertullian 
against  Hermogenes,  in  which  the  opinions  of  the  latter 
concerning  matter,  and  the  origin  of  the  world,  are 
warmly  opposed.  We  have  lost  another  work  of  the 
same  author,  in  which  he  refuted  the  notion  of  Hermo- 
genes concerning  the  soul. 

t  Those  are  undoubtedly  in  an  error,  who  have  assert- 
ed that  Montanus  gave  himself  out  for  the  Holy  Ghost. 
However  weak  he  may  have  been  in  point  of  capacity,  he 
was  not  fool  enough  to  push  his  pretensions  so  far. 
Neither  have  they,  who  inform  us  that  Montanus  pre- 
tended to  have  received  from  above  the  same  spirit  or 
paraclete  which  formerly  animated  the  apostles,  inter- 
preted with  accuracy  the  meaning  of  this  heretic.  It  is, 
therefore,  necessary  to  observe  here,  that  Montanus 
made  a  distinction  between  the  paraclete  promised  by 
Christ  to  his  apostles,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  that  was  shed 
upon  them  on  the  day  of  Pentecost;  and  understood,  by 
the  former,  a  divine  teacher  pointed  out  by  Christ,  as  a 
comforter,  wlio  was  to  perfect  the  Gospel  by  the  addi- 
tion of  some  doctrines  omitted  by  our  Saviour,  and  to 
cast  a  full  light  upon  others  which  were  expressed  in  an 
obscure  and  imperfect  manner,  though  for  wise  reasons 
which  subsisted  during  the  ministry  of  Christ;  and,  in- 
deed, Montanus  was  not  the  only  person  who  made  this 
distinction.  Other  Christian  doctors  were  of  opinion, 
that  the  paraclete  promised  by  Jesus  to  his  disciples,  was 
a  divine  ambassador,  entirely  distinct  from  the  Holy 
Ghost  which  was  shed  upon  the  apostles.  In  the  third 
century.  Manes  interpreted  the  promise  of  Christ  in  this 
manner.  He  pretended,  moreover,  that  he  himself  was 
the  paraclete,  and  that,  in  his  person,  the  prediction  was 
fulfilled.  Every  one  knows,  that  Mohammed  entertained 
the  same  notion,  and  applied  to  himself  the  prediction 
of  Christ.  It  was,  therefore,  this  divine  messenger  that 
Montanus  pretended  to  be,  and  not  the  Holy  Ghost. 
This  will  appear  with  the  utmost  evidence,  to  those  who 
read  with  attention  the  account  given  of  this  matter  by 
Tertullian,  who  was  the  most  famous  of  all  the  disciples 
of  Montanus,  and  the  most  perfectly  acquainted  Willi 
every  point  of  his  doctrinci 


Chap.  I. 


PROSPEROUS  EVENTS. 


77 


blest  employments  ot  the  mind,  that  he  did  to 
the  innocent  enjoyments  of  life;  and  gave  it 
as  his  opinion,  that  philosophy,  arts,  and  what- 
ever savoured  of  polite  literature,  should  be 
mercilessly  banished  from  tiie  Christian  church. 
He  looked  upon  those  Christians  as  guilty  of  a 
most  heinous  transgression,  who  saved  their 
lives  by  flight,  from  the  persecuting  sword,  or 
who  ransomed  them  by  money,  from  the  handa 
of  their  cruel  and  mercenary  judges.  I  might 
mention  many  other  precepts  of  the  same 
teacher,  equal  to  these  in  severity  and  rigour. 

XXIV.  It  was  impossible  to  suffer,  within 
the  bounds  of  the  church,  an  enthusiast,  who 
gave  himself  out  for  a  commLuiicator  of  pre- 
cepts superior  in  sanctity  to  those  of  Christ 
himself,  and  who  imposed  his  austere  discipline 
upon  Christians,  as  enjoined  by  a  divine  au-  i 
thority,  and  dictated  by  the  oracle  of  celestial  i 
wisdom,  which  spoke  to  the  world  through 
him.  Besides,  his  dismal  predictions  concern- 
ing the  disasters  that  were  to  happen  in  the 
empire,  and  the  approaching  destruction  of  tlie 
Roman  republic,  might  be  expected  to  render  | 
him  obnoxious  to  the  governing  powers,  and 
also  to  excite  their  resentment  against  the 
church,  which  nourished  such  an  inauspicious 
prophet  in  its  bosom.  Montanus,  therefore, 
first  by  a  decree  of  certain  assemblies,  and  af- 
terwards by  the  unanimous  voice  of  the  whole 
church,  was  solemnly  separated  from  the  body  i 
of  the  faithful.  | 

It  is,  however,  certain,  that  the  very  severity  I 


of  liis  doctrines  gained  him  the  esteem  and  con- 
fidence of  many,  vv'ho  were  far  from  bcino-  of 
the  lowest  order.  The  mo.st  eminent  among 
those  were  Priscilla  and  Maxiniilla,  ladies  more 
remarkable  for  their  opulence  than  for  their 
virtue,  and  who  fell  with  a  high  degree  of 
warmth  and  zeal  into  the  visions  of  tlieir  fa- 
natical chief,  prophesied  like  him,  and  imitated 
the  pretendeii  i)araclcte  in  all  the  variety  of 
his  extravagance  and  folly.  Hence  it  became 
au  easy  matter  for  Mont  aims  to  erect  a  new 
church,  which  was  first  established  at  Pepuza, 
and  afterwards  spread  abroad  through  Asia, 
Africa,  and  a  part  of  Europe.  The  most  emi- 
nent and  learned  of  all  the  followers  of  this 
rigid  enthusiast  was  TertuUian,  a  man  of  great 
learning  and  genius,  but  of  an  austere  and 
melancholy  temper.  This  great  man,  by  adopt- 
ing the  sentiments  of  Montanus,  and  maintain- 
ing his  cause  with  fortitude,  and  even  vehe- 
mence, in  a  multitude  of  books  written  ujjon 
thatoccasion,  has  exhibited  a  mortifying  spec- 
tacle of  the  deviations  of  which  human  nature 
is  capable,  even  in  those  in  whom  it  seems  to 
have  approached  the  nearest  to  perfection.* 


*  For  an  account  of  the  Montanists,  see  Euseb.  Eccles. 
History,  book  v.  ch.  xvi.,  and  all  the  writers  ancient  and 
moilern  (especially  Terlullian)  who  have  professedly 
written  of  the  sects  of  the  earlier  ages.  The  learned 
Theophilus  Werusdorff  published,  in  1751,  a  most  inge- 
nious exposition  of  whatever  regards  the  sect  of  the 
Montanists,  under  the  following  title:  Commentatio  de 
Montanists  Sasculi  secundi,  vulgo  creditis  Haereticis. 


THE  THIRD  CENTURY. 


PART  I. 


THE  EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Wliich  contains  the  Prosperous  Events  that  hap- 
pened to  the  Church  during  this  Century. 

I.  That  the  Christians  suffered,  in  this  cen- 
tury, calamities  and  injuries  of  the  most  dread- 
ful kind,  is  a  matter  that  admits  no  debate;  nor 
was  there,  indeed,  any  period  in  which  they 
were  secure  or  free  from  danger.  For,  not  to 
mention  the  fury  of  the  people,  set  in  motion 
so  often  by  the  craft  and  zeal  of  their  licentious 
priests,  the  evil  came  from  a  higher  source;  the 
prastors  and  magistrates,  notwithstanding  the 
ancient  laws  of  the  emperors  in  favor  of  the 
Christians,  had  it  in  their  power  to  pursue  them 
W'ith  all  sorts  of  vexations,  as  often  as  avarice, 
cruelty,  or  superstition  roused  up  the  infer- 
nal spirit  of  persecution  in  their  breasts.  At 
the  same  time,  it  is  certain  that  the  rights  and 


privileges  of  the  Christians  were  multiplied,  in 
this  century,  much  more  than  some  are  apt  to 
imagine.  In  the  army,  at  court,  and,  indeed, 
in  all  the  orders  of  the  nation,  there  were  many 
Christians  who  lived  entirely  unmolested;  and, 
what  is  still  more,  the  profession  of  Christi- 
anity was  no  obstacle  to  the  public  preferment 
under  most  of  the  emperors  that  reigned  in 
this  century.  It  is  also  certain,  that  the  Chris- 
tians had,  in  many  places,  houses  where  they 
assembled  for  the  purposes  of  divine  worship 
with  the  knowledge  and  connivance  of  the  em- 
perors and  magistrates.  And  though  it  be 
more  than  probable,  that  this  liberty  wa.«,  upon 
various  occasions,  and  even  for  the  most  part, 
purchased  at  a  high  rate,  yet  it  is  manifest, 
that  some  of  the  emperors  were  very  favour- 
ably inclined  toward  the  Christians,  and  were 
far  from  having  any  aversion  to  their  religion. 


78 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  I. 


n.  Caracalla,  tlie  son  of  Severus,  was  prO' 
claimed  emperor  in  tlie  year  211,  and,  during' 
the  six  years  of  liis  government,  he  neither 
oppressed  the  Christians  himself,  nor  permitted 
any  others  to  treat  them  with  cruelty  or  injus- 
tice. Heliogabalus  also,  thougli  in  other  re- 
spects the  most  infamous  of  all  princes,*  and, 
perhaps,  the  most  odious  of  all  mortals,  show- 
ed no  marks  of  bitterness  or  aversion  to  the 
disciples  of  Jesus.  His  successor,  Alexander 
Severus,  who  was  a  prince  distinguished  by  a 
noble  assemblage  of  the  most  excellent  and  il- 
lustrious virtues,  did  not,  indeed,  abrogate  the 
laws  that  had  been  enacted  against  the  Chris- 
tians; and  this  is  the  reason  why  we  have  some 
examples  of  martyrdom  under  his  administra- 
tion. It  is  nevertheless  certain,  that  he  show- 
ed them,  in  many  waj's,  and  upon  every  occa- 
bion  that  was  offered  to  him,  the  most  mi- 
doubted  marks  of  benignity:  he  is  even  said  to 
have  gone  so  far  as  to  pay  a  certain  sort  of 
worship  to  the  divine  author  of  our  religion. | 
The  friendly  inclination  of  tliis  prince  toward 
the  Christians  probably  arose,  at  first,  from  the 
instructions  and  counsels  of  his  mother,  .Tulia 
Mammaea,  for  whom  he  had  a  high  degree  of 
love  and  veneration.  Julia  had  very  favour- 
able sentiments  of  the  Cluistian  religion:  and, 
being  once  at  Antioch,  sent  for  the  famous 
Origen  from  Alexandria,  in  order  to  enjoy  the 
pleasure  and  advantage  of  his  conversation  and 
instructions.  Those  who  assert,  that  Julia, 
and  her  son  Alexander,  embraced  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  are  by  no  means  furnished  with 
unexceptionable  testimonies  to  confirm  this 
fact,  though  we  may  affirm,  with  confidence, 
that  this  virtuous  prince  looked  upon  Christi- 
anity as  meriting,  beyond  all  other  religions, 
toleration  and  favour  from  the  state,  and  con- 
sidered its  author  as  worthy  of  a  place  among 
those  who  had  been  distinguished  by  their  sub- 
lime virtues,  and  honoured  with  a  commission 
from  above. J 

III.  Under  Gordian,  the  Christians  lived  in 
tranquillity.  His  successors  the  Philips,  father 
and  son,  proved  so  favourable,  and  even 
friendly  to  them,  that  these  two  emperors 
passed,  in  the  opinion  of  many,  for  Christians; 
and,  indeed,  the  arguments  alleged  to  prove  that 
they  embraced,  though  in  a  secret  and  clandes- 
tine manner,  tlie  religion  of  Jesus,  seem  to  ren- 
der this  point  highly  probable.  But,  as  these  ar- 
gimnents  are  opposed  by  others  equally  specious, 
the  famous  question,  relating  to  the  religion  of 
Philip  the  Arabian  and  his  son,  must  be  left 
undecided. §      Neither  side   offers  reasons  so 


*  Larapridius,  Vita  Elagabali. 

f  Lamprid.  di  Vita  Severi,  cap.  xxix.  Vide  Carol 
Heiir.  Zeibichii  Dis.  de  Christo  ab  Alexandro  in  larario 
culto,  in  Miscellan.  Lips.  nov.  torn.  iii. 

\  Vide  F.  Spanhemii  Dis.  de  Lucii,  Britouum  Regis, 
Juliae  Mammaese  et  Philipporum,  conversionibus,  torn. 
ii.  op.  p.  400.  Item,  Paul  Jablonski,  Dis  de  Alexandro 
Severe  sacris  Christianis  per  Gnosticos  initiate,  in  Mis- 
cellan. Lips.  nov.  torn.  iv. 

(JlJ=  §  The  authors  of  the  Universal  History  have  de- 
termined the  question  which  Dr.  Moshcim  leaves  here 
undecided;  and  they  think  it  maybe  affirmed,  that  Philip 
and  his  son  embraced  the  Gospel,  since  that  opinion  is 
built  upon  such  respectable  authority  as  that  of  Jerom, 
Chrysostom,  Dionysius  of  Alexandria,  Zonaras,  Nice- 
phorus,  Cedreuus,  Ruffinus,  Syncellus,  Orosius,  Jor- 
nandes,  Ammianus  Marcellinus,  the  learned  cardinal 
Bono,  VinceotiuB  Lirineneis,  Huelius,  and  others.    Dr. 


victorious  and  unanswerable,  as  to  produce  a 
full  and  complete  conviction;  and  this  is  there- 
fore one  of  those  many  cases,  where  a  suspen- 
sion of  judgment  is  both  allowable  and  wise. 
With  respect  to  Gallienus,  and  some  other  em- 
perors, of  this  century,  if  they  did  not  pro- 
fessedly favour  the  progress  of  Christianity, 
they  did  not  oppress  its  followers,  or  retard  its 
advancement. 

IV.  This  clemency  and  benevolence,  which 
the  followers  of  Jesus,  experienced  from  great 
men,  and  especially  from  those  of  imperial  dig- 
nity, must  be  placed,  without  doubt,  among 
the  human  means  that  contributed  to  multij>ly 
the  number  of  Christians,  and  to  enlarge  the 
boimds  of  the  church.  Other  causes,  how- 
ever, both  divine  and  human,  must  be  added 
here,  to  afford  a  complete  and  satisfactory  ac- 
count of  this  matter.  Among  the  causes  which 
belong  to  the  first  of  these  classes,  we  do  not 
only  reckon  the  intrinsic  force  of  celestial  truth, 
and  the  piety  and  fortitude  of  those  who  de- 
clared it  to  the  world,  but  also  that  especial  and 
intei-posing  providence,  which,  by  such  dreams 
and  visions  as  were  presented  to  the  minds  of 
many,  who  were  either  inattentive  to  the  Chris- 
tian doctrine,  or  its  professed  enemies,  touched 
their  hearts  with  a  conviction  of  its  ttuth  and 
a  sense  of  its  importance,  and  engaged  them, 
without  delay,  to  profess  themselves  the  dis- 
ciples of  Christ.*  To  this  may  also  be  added, 
the  healing  of  diseases,  and  other  miracles, 
which  many  Christians  were  yet  enabled  to 
perform  by  invoking  the  name  of  the  divine 
Saviour.f  The  number  of  miracles,  however, 
we  find  to  have  been  much  less  in  this  than  in 
the  preceeding  century;  nor  must  this  altera- 
tion be  attributed  only  to  the  divine  wisdom, 
which  rendered  miraculous  interpositions  less 
frequent  in  pjoportion  as  they  became  less  ne- 
cessary, but  also  to  that  justice  which  was 
provoked  to  diminish  the  frequency  of  gifts, 
because  some  did  not  scruple  to  pervert  them 
to  mercenary  purposes. J 

V.  If  we  turn  our  view  to  the  human  means 
that  contributed,  at  this  time,  to  multiply  the 
number  of  Christians,  and  extend  the  limits  of 
the  church,  we  shall  find  a  great  variety  of 
causes  imiting  their  influence,  and  contributing 
jointly  to  this  happy  purpose.  Among  these 
must  be  reckoned  the  translations  of  the  sacred 
writings  into  various  languages,  the  zeal  and 
labours  of  Origen  in  spreading  abroad  copies 
of  them,  and  the  different  works  that  were 
published,  by  learned  and  pious  men,  in  de- 
fence of  the  Gospel.  We  may  add  to  this,  that 
the  acts  of  benificence  and  liberality,  perform- 
ed by  the  Christians,  even  toward  persons 
whose  religious  principles  they  abhorred,  had  a 


Mosheim  refers  his  readers,  for  an  account  of  this  mat- 
ter, to  the  following  writers:  Spanheim,  de  Christianis- 
mo  Philip,  torn.  ii.  op.  p.  400.— Entretiens  Historiques 
sur  le  Christianisme  de  TEmpereur  Philippe,  par  P.  De 
L.  F. — Mammachii  Origineset  Antiqu.  Christianas,  torn, 
ii.  p.  252.— Fabric,  de  Luce  Evang.  &c.  p.  252. 

*  See,  for  an  account  of  this  matter,  the  following  au- 
thors: Origen,  lib.  i.  adv.  Cclsum,  p.  35.  Homil.  in  Lucse 
vii.  p.  216,  torn.  ii.  op.  edit.  Basil.— as  also  TertuUian,  de 
Anima,  cap.  xiv.  and  Eusebius,  lib.  vi.  cap.  v. 

f  Origen,  contra  celsum,  lib.  i.  Euseb.  lib.  v.  cap.  vii. 
Cypriani  Ep.  i.  ad  Donat.  and  the  notes  of  Baluze  upon 
that  passage. 

}  Spencer,  not  in  Origen.  contra  Celsum. 


Chap.  I. 


CALAMITOUS  EVENTS. 


79 


great  influence  in  attracting  the  esteem,  and 
removing  the  prejudices  of  many,  who  were 
thus  prepared  for  examining  with  candour  the 
Christian  doctrine,  and,  consequently,  for  re- 
ceiving its  divine  hght.  The  adorers  of  the 
pagan  deities  must  have  been  destitute  of  every 
generous  affection,  of  every  humane  feeling,  if 
tJie  view  of  that  boundless  charity,  which  the 
Christians  exercised  toward  the  poor,  the  love 
they  ex-pressed  even  to  their  enemies,  the  ten- 
der care  they  took  of  the  sick  and  infu-m,  the 
humanity  they  discovered  in  the  redemption  of 
captives,  and  the  other  illustrious  virtues,  which 
rendered  them  so  worthy  of  universal  esteem, 
had  not  touched  their  hearts,  dispelled  their 
prepossessions,  and  rendered  them  more  fa- 
vourable to  the  disciples  of  Jesus.  If,  among 
the  causes  of  the  propagation  of  Christianity, 
there  is  any  place  due  to  pious  frauds,  it  is  cer- 
tain that  they  merit  a  very  small  part  of  the 
honour  of  having  contributed  to  this  glorious 
purpose,  since  they  were  practised  by  lew,  and 
that  very  rarely. 

VI.  That  the  limits  of  the  church  were  ex- 
tended in  this  century,  is  a  matter  beyond  all 
controversy.  It  is  not,  however,  equally  cer- 
tain in  what  manner,  by  what  persons,  or  in 
what  parts  of  the  world,  this  was  effected. 
Origen,  invited  from  Alexandria  by  an  Arabian 
prince,  converted,  by  his  assiduous  labours,  a 
certain  tribe  of  wandering  Arabs  to  the  Chris- 
tian faith.*  The  Goths,  a  fierce  and  warlike 
people,  who  inhabited  the  countries  of  Moesia 
and  Thrace,  and  who,  accustomed  to  rapine, 
harassed  the  neighbouring  provinces  by  perpe- 
tual incursions,  received  the  knowledge  of  the 
Gospel  by  the  means  of  certain  Christian  doc- 
tors sent  thither  from  Asia.  The  holy  lives  of 
these  venerable  teachers,  and  the  miraculous 
powers  with  which  they  were  endowed,  attract- 
ed the  esteem,  even  of  a  people  educated  to 
nothing  but  plunder  and  devastation,  and  ab- 
solutely micivilized  by  letters  or  science;  and 
their  authority  and  influence  became  so  great, 
and  produced,  in  pro'cess  of  time,  such  remark- 
able effects,  that  a  great  part  of  this  barbarous 
people  professed  themselves  the  disciples  of 
Clirist,  and  put  off,  in  a  niamier,  that  ferocity 
which  had  been  so  natural  to  them.f 

VII.  The  Christian  assemblies,  founded  m 
Gaul  by  the  Asiatic  doctors  in  the  preceding 
century,  were  few  in  number,  and  of  very  small 
extent;  but  both  their  number  and  their  extent 
were  considerably  increased  from  the  time  of 
the  emperor  Decius.  Under  his  sway,  Diony- 
sius,  Gatian,  Trophimus,  Paul,  Saturninus, 
Martial,  Stremonius,  men  of  exemplary  piety, 
passed  into  this  province,  and,  amidst  dangers 
and  trials  of  various  kinds,  erected  churches 
at  Paris,  Tours,  Aries,  and  several  other  places. 
This  was  followed  by  a  rapid  progress  of  the 
Gospel  among  the  Gauls,  as  the  disciples  of 
these  pious  teachers  spread,  in  a  short  time,  the 
knowledge  of  Christianity  through  the  wlicle 
country.  J     We  must  also  place  in  this  century 


*  Eusebius;  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  iv.  cap.  xix.  p.  221. 

t  Sozomenus,  His.  Eccles.  lib.  ii.  cap.  vi.  Taulus 
Ciaconus,  Hist.  Miscel.  lib.  ii.  cap.  xiv.  Philostorgius, 
Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  ii.  cap.  v.  p.  470. 

\  See  the  historj-  of  the  Frauks  by  Gregory  of  Tours, 
book  i.  ch.  Hviii.  Theodor.  Ruinart,  Acta  Martyr. 
tiucera,  p.  109, 


the  origin  of  several  German  churches,  such 
as  those  of  Cologne,  Treves,  Mentz,  and  others, 
of  which  Eucharius,  Valerius,  Matcrnus,  and 
Clemens,  were  the  principal  founders.*  The 
hi.storians  of  Scotland  inform  us,  that  the  light 
of  Christianity  arose  tipon  that  country  during 
this  century;  but,  thougli  there  be  nothing  im- 
probable in  this  assertion,  yet  it  is  not  built 
upon  incontestable  authority.! 

CHAPTER  II. 
Concerning  the  Calamitous  Events  which  hap- 
pened to  the  Church  in  this  Century. 
I.  In  the  beginning  of  this  century,  the 
Christian  church  suffered  calamities  of  various 
kinds  throughout  the  provinces  of  the  Roman 
empire.  These  sufferings  increased  in  a  terri- 
ble manner,  in  consequence  of  a  law  made,  in 
the  year  203,  by  the  emperor  Severus  (who, 
in  other  respects,  was  certainly  no  enemy  to 
the  Christians,)  by  which  every  subject  of  the 
empire  was  prohibited  from  changing  the  reli- 
gion of  his  ancestors  for  the  Christian  or  Jew- 
ish faith. I  This  law  was,  in  its  effects,  most 
prejudicial  to  the  Christians;  for,  though  it  did 
not  formally  condemn  them,  and  seemed  only 
adapted  to  put  a  stop  to  the  progress  of  the 
Gospel,  yet  it  induced  rapacious  and  unjust 
magistrates  to  persecute  even  mito  death  the 
poorer  sort  among  the  Christians,  that  thus  the 
richer  might  be  led,  tlirough  fear  of  the  like 
treatment,  to  purchase  their  tranquillity  and 
safety  at  an  expensive  rate.  Hence  many  of 
the  disciples  of  Clirist,  in  several  parts  of  Asia, 
also  in  Egypt  and  other  parts  of  Africa,  were 
put  to  death  in  consequence  of  this  law. — 
Among  these  Leonidas,  the  father  of  Origen, 
Perpetua  and  Felicitas  (those  two  famous 
African  ladies,  whose  acts  §  are  come  down  to 
our  times,)  Potamiena  INlarcella,  and  other 
martyrs  of  both  sexes,  acquired  an'  illustrious 
name  by  the  magnanimity  and  tranquillity  with 
which  they  endured  the  most  cruel  sufferings. 
II.  From  the  death  of  Severus  to  the  reign 
of  Maximin,  the  condition  of  the  Christians 
was,  in  some  places,  prosperous,  and,  in  all, 
supj)ortable.  But  with  Maximin  the  face  of 
affairs  changed.  Tliis  unworthy  emperor,  hav- 
ing animated  the  Roman  soldiers  to  a.ssa.s.sinate 
Alexander  Severus,  dreaded  the  resentment  of 
the  Cliristians,  whom  that  excellent  prince  had 
favoured  and  ])rotected  in  a  distinguished  man- 
ner; and,  for  this  reason,  he  ordered  the  bishops, 
whom  he  knew  that  Alexander  had  always 
treated  as  his  intimate  friends,  to  be  seized  aiid 
put  to  death. II  During  his  reign,  the  Chris- 
tians sutVcrcd  in  tiie  most  barbarous  manner; 
for,  though  the  edict  of  this  tyrant  extended 
only  to  the  bishops  and  leaders  of  the  Chris- 
tian church,  yet  its  shocking  effects  reached 
much  farther,   as    it  animated    the    heathen 


*  See  Au:;.  Calmet,  Hist,  dc  Lorraine,  torn.  i.  dissert, 
i.  p.  7.  Jo.  Nicol.  ab  Honlhcim,  Historia  Trerircnsis, 
torn.  i.  ubi.  Diss,  de  a;ra  fiindati  Episcopatiis  Trevirensis. 

t  Sec  Usher  and  Stillinglleet,  Antiiiuit.  et  Origin. 
Ecclesiar.  Brit.  See  also  Sir  George  Mackenzie,  de 
Regali  Scotonim  prosapia,  cap.  viii.  p.  119. 

t  Eusebius,  Histor.  Eccles.  lib.  vi.  cap.  i.  Spartianiu 
io  Severo,  cap.  xvi.  xvii. 

iTheod.  Ruinart,  Acta  Martyr,  p.  90. 
Euseb.   Hist.   Eccles.   lib.   vi.   cap.   xxviii.   p.  525. 
Orosius,  Hist,  lib.  rii.  cap.  xix.  p.  509, 


80 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  I. 


priests,  the  magistrates,  and  the  multitude, 
against  Christiana  of  every  rank  and  order.* 

HI.  This  storm  was  succeeded  by  a  calm,  in 
which  the  Christians  enjoyed  a  happy  tranquil- 
lity for  many  years.  The  accession  of  Decius 
Trajan  to  the  "imperial  throne,  in  the  year  249, 
raised  a  new  tempest,  in  which  the  fury  of  per- 
secution fell  in  a  dreadful  manner  upon  the 
church  of  Christ;  for  this  emperor,  either  from 
an  illgrounded  fear  of  the  Christians,  or  from 
a  violent  zeal  for  the  superstition  of  his  ances- 
tors, published  most  terrible  and  cruel  edicts; 
by  which  the  prsetors  were  ordered,  on  pain 
of  death,  either  to  extirpate  the  whole  body  of 
Christians  without  exception,  or  to  force  them, 
by  torments  of  various  kinds,  to  return  to  the 
pagan  worship.  Hence,  in  all  the  provinces 
of  the  empire,  multitudes  of  Christians  were, 
in  the  course  of  two  years,  put  to  death  by  the 
most  horrid  punislunentsf  which  an  ingenious 
barbarity  could  invent.  Of  all  these  cruelties 
the  most  mihappy  circumstance  was,  their  fa- 
tal influence  upon  tlie  faith  and  constancy  of 
many  of  the  sutlerers;  for  as  this  persecution 
was  much  more  terrible  than  all  those  which 
preceded  it,  so  a  great  number  of  Christians, 
dismayed,  not  at  the  approach  of  death,  but  at 
the  aspect  of  those  dreadful  and  lingering  tor- 
ments, which  a  barbarous  magistracy  had  pre- 
pared to  combat  their  constancy,  fell  from  the 
profession  of  their  faith,  and  secured  them- 
selves from  pmiishment,  either  by  offering  sa- 
crifices, or  by  burning  incense,  before  the 
images  of  the  gods,  or  by  purchasing  certificates 
from  the  pagan  priests.  Hence  arose  the  op- 
probrious names  of  Sacrificati,  given  to  those 
who  sacrificed;  Thuriftcati,  to  those  who  burn- 
ed incense;  and  Libellatici,  to  those  who  pro- 
duced certificates.! 

IV.  This  defection  of  such  a  prodigious 
number  of  Christians  under  Decius,  was  the 
occasion  of  great  commotions  in  the  church, 
and  produced  debates  of  a  very  difficult  and 
delicate  nature;  for  the  lapsed,  or  those  who 
had  fallen  from  their  Christian  profession,  were 
desirous  of  being  restored  to  the  church-com- 
munion, without  submitting  to  that  painful 
course  of  penitential  discipline,  which  the  ec- 
clesiastical laws  indispensably  required.  The 
bishops  were  divided  upon  this  matter:  some 
were  for  showing  the  desired  indulgence,  while 
others  opposed  it  with  all  their  might.§     In 


*  Origen,  torn,  xxviii.  in  Matth.  op.  torn.  i.  p.  137.  See 
also  Firinilianus  in  Cypriani  Epistolis,  p.  140. 

■f  Eusebius,  lib.  vi.  cap.  xxxix.  xli.  Grcgorius  Nys3. 
in  vita  Thaumatiirgi.     Cyprianus,  de  Lapsis. 

X  These  certificales  were  not  all  equally  criminal;  nor 
did  all  of  them  indicate  a  degree  of  apostacy  equally 
enormons.  It  is  therefore  necessary  to  inform  the  rea- 
derof  the  following  distinctions  omitted  by  Dr.  Mosheim; 
these  certificates  were  sometimes  no  more  than  a  permis- 
sion to  abstain  from  sacrificing,  obtained  by  a  fee  given 
to  the  judges,  and  were  not  looked  upon  as  an  act  of 
apostacy,  unless  the  Christians  who  demanded  them  had 
declared  to  the  judges  that  they  had  conformed  them- 
selves to  the  emperor's  edicts.  But,  at  other  times,  they 
contained  a  profcsBion  of  paganism,  and  were  either  of- 
fered voluntarily  by  the  apostate,  or  were  subscribed  by 
him,  when  they  were  presented  to  him  by  the  persecuting 
magistrates.  Many  used  certificates,  as  letters  of  security 
obtained  from  the  priests,  at  a  high  rate,  and  which  dis- 
pensed them  from  either  professing  or  denying  their  sen- 
timents. See  Spanheim's  Historia  Christiana,  p.  732. 
See  also  Prud.  Maranus  in  vita  Cypriani,  sect.  6. 

5  Eusebius,  hb.  vi,  cap.  xliv.  Cypr.  Epistolae. 


Africa,  many,  in  order  to  obtain  more  speedily 
the  pardon  of  their  apostacy,  interested  the 
martyrs  in  their  behalf,  and  received  from  them 
letters  of  reconciliation  and  peace,  i.  e.  a  for- 
mal act,  by  which  they  (the  martyrs)  declared 
in  their  last  moments,  that  tliey  looked  upon 
them  as  worthy  of  their  communion,  and  de- 
sired, of  consequence,  that  they  should  be  re- 
stored to  their  place  among  the  brethren.  Some 
bishops  and  presbyters  re-admitted  into  the 
church,  with  too  much  facility,  apostates  and 
transgressors,  who  produced  such  testimonies 
as  these.  But  Cyprian,  bishop  of  Carthage, 
a  man  of  severe  wisdom  and  great  dignity  of 
character,  acted  in  quite  another  way.  Though 
he  had  no  intention  of  derogating  from  the  au- 
thority of  tlie  venerable  martyrs,  yet  he  op- 
posed with  vigour  this  unreasonable  lenity,  and 
set  limits  to  the  efficacy  of  these  letters  of  re- 
conciliation and  peace.  Hence  arose  a  keen 
dispute  between  him  and  the  martyrs,  confes- 
sors, presbyters,  and  lapsed,  seconded  by  tlie 
people:  and  yet,  notwithstanding  this  formida- 
ble multitude  of  adversaries,  the  venerable 
bishop  came  off  victorious.* 

V.  Gallus,  the  successor  of  Decius,  and 
Volusianus,  son  of  the  former,  re-animated  the 
flame  of  persecution,  which  was  beginning  to 
burn  with  less  fury;]  and,  beside  the  sufferings 
which  the  Christians  had  to  undergo  in  con- 
sequence of  their  cruel  edicts,  they  were  also 
involved  in  the  public  calamities  that  prevailed 
at  this  time,  and  suffered  grievously  from  a 
terrible  pestilence,  which  spread  desolation 
througli  many  previous  of  the  empire. J  This 
pestilence  also  was  an  occasion  which  the  pa- 
gan priests  used  with  dexterity  to  renew  the 
rage  of  persecution  again.';t  them,  by  persuad- 
ing the  people  that  it  was  on  account  of  the 
lenity  used  towards  the  Christians,  that  the 
gods  sent  down  their  judgments  upon  the  na- 
tions. In  the  year  234,  Valerian,  being  de- 
clared emperor,  made  the  fury  of  persecution 
cease,  and  restored  the  church  to  a  state  of 
tranquillity. 

VI.  The  clemency  and  benevolence  which 
Valerian  showed  to  the  Christians,  continued 
until  the  fifth  year  of  his  reign.  Then  the 
scene  began  to  change,  and  the  change  indeed 
was  sudden.  Macrianus,  a  superstitious  and 
cruel  bigot  to  paganism,  had  gained  an  entire 
ascendency  over  Valerian,  and  was  chief  coun- 
sellor in  every  tiling  that  related  to  tlie  affairs 
of  government.  By  the  persuasion  of  this  im- 
perious minister,  the  Cliristians  were  prohibited 
from  assembling,  and  their  bishops  and  doctors 
were  sent  into  banishment.  This  edict  was 
published  in  the  year  257,  and  was  followed, 
the  year  after,  by  one  still  more  severe;  in  con- 
sequence of  which,  a  considerable  number  of 
Christians,  in  tlie  different  provinces  of  the 
empire,  were  put  to  death;  and  many  of  these 
were  subjected  to  such  cruel  modes  of  execu- 
tion, as  were  more  terrible  than  deatli  itself 
Of  those  who  suffered  in  this  persecution,  the 


*  The  whole  history  of  this  controversy  may  be  gather- 
ed from  the  epistles  of  Cyprian.  See  also  Gabr.  Albas- 
pinsEus,  Observat.  Eccles.  lib.  i.  observ.  xx.  aud  Dallsus, 
de  Poenis  et  Satisfactionibus  humanis,  lib.  vii.  cap.  xvi. 

t  Euseb.  lib.  vii.  cap.  i.    Cypriani.  Epist.  Ivii,  Iviii. 

j  Vid.  Cypriani  Lib.  ad  Demetrianum. 


Chap.  II. 


CALAJIITOUS  EVENTS. 


81 


most  eminent  were  Cyprian,  bishop  of  Car- 
thage; Sixtus,  bishop  of"  Rome;  and  Lauren- 
tius,  a  Roman  deacon,  who  was  barbarously 
consumed  by  a  slow  and  liniroring'  lire.  An 
unexpected  event  suspended,  lor  awhile,  the 
sufferings  of  the  Christians.  Valerian  was 
made  prisoner  in  tiie  war  against  the  Persians; 
and  his  son  Gallieiius,  in  the  year  260,  restor- 
ed peace  to  the  church.* 

V'll.  The  condition  of  the  Christians  was 
ratiier  supportable  than  happy,  under  the  reign 
of  Gallienus,  which  lasted  eight  years;  as  also 
under  the  short  administration  of  his  successor 
Claudius.  Nor  did  tliey  suffer  nmcli  daring 
the  first  four  years  of  the  reign  of  Aurelian, 
who  was  raised  to  the  empire  in  the  year  270. 
But  the  fifth  year  of  this  emperor's  administra- 
tion would  have  proved  fatal  to  them,  had  not 
his  violent  death  prevented  the  execution  of 
his  cruel  purposes;  for  while,  instigated  by  the 
imjust  suggestions  of  his  own  superstition,  or 
by  the  barbarous  counsels  of  a  bigoted  priest- 
hood, he  was  preparing  a  formidable  attack 
upon  the  Christians,  he  was  obliged  to  march 
into  Gaul,  where  lie  was  murdered,  in  the  year 
275,  before  his  edicts  were  published  through- 
out the  empire,  t  Few,  therefore,  suffered 
martyrdom  under  his  reign;  and  indeed,  during 
the  remainder  of  this  century,  the  Christians 
enjoyed  a  considerable  measure  of  ease  and 
tranquillity.  They  were,  at  least,  free  from 
any  violent  attacks  of  oppression  and  injustice, 
except  in  a  small  number  of  cases,  where  the 
avarice  and  superstition  of  the  Roman  magis- 
trates interrupted  their  tranquillity.  J 

VIII.  While  the  emperor,  and  proconsuls 
employed  against  the  Christians  the  terror  of 
unrighteous  edicts,  and  tiie  edge  of  the  destroy- 
ing sword,  the  Platonic  philosophers,  who  have 
been  described  above,  exhausted  against  Chris- 
tianity all  the  force  of  their  learning  and  elo- 
quence, and  all  the  resources  of  their  art  and 
dexterity,  in  rhetorical  declamations,  subtile 
writings,  and  ingenious  stratagems.  These 
artful  adversaries  were  so  much  the  more  dan- 
gerous and  formidable,  as  they  had  adopted 
several  of  the  doctrines  and  institutions  of  the 
Gospel,  and,  with  a  specious  air  of  moderation 
and  impartiality,  were  attemjjting,  after  the 
example  of  their  master  Amuionius,  to  recon- 
cile paganism  with  Christianity,  and  form  a 
sort  of  coalition  of  the  ancient  and  the  new 
religion.  These  philosophers  had  at  their 
head,  in  this  century.  Porphyry  (a  Syrian,  or, 
as  some  allege,  a  Tyrian,  by  birtii,)  who  wrote 
against  the  Christians  a  long  and  laborious 
work,  which  was  destroyed  afterwards  by  an 
imperial  edict. §  He  was,  undoubtedly,  a  wri- 
ter of  great  dexterity,  genius,  and  erudition, 
as  those  of  his  works  which  yet  remain  suffi- 

*  Euseb.  Hist.  EccUs.  lib.  vii.  cap.  x.  xi.  p.  255.  Acta 
Cypriani,as  ihcy  arc  to  be  found  in  Iliiinarti  Act.  Marty- 
rum,  p.  216.     Cypriani  Epi^t.  Ixxvii.  Ixxjiii. 

t  Eiistbius,  lib.  vii.  Lactantius,  de  mortibus  Prrse- 
ciiutor. 

}  Among  these  vexations  may  be  reckoned  the  cruehy 
of  Galerius  Maximiam,  who,  toward  the  conclusion  of 
this  century,  persecuted  the  ministers  of  his  court,  and 
the  soldiers  of  his  army,  who  had  professed  Christianity. 
See  Eusebius,  lib.  viii. 

^  See  Holstenius  dc  vita  Porphyr.  cap.  xi.  Fabric. 
Lux  Evang.  p.  154.  Buddeus,  leagoge  in  Theologiuin, 
torn.  ii. 

Vol.  I— 11 


ciently  testify.  But  those  very  works,  and  the 
history  of  his  life,  show  us,  at  the  same  time, 
that  he  was  a  nmch  more  virulent,  than  formi- 
dable enemy  to  the  Christians;  for  by  them  it 
appears,  that  he  was  much  more  attentive  to 
the  suggestions  of  a  superstitious  spirit,  and 
the  visions  of  a  lively  fancy,  than  to  the  sober 
dictates  of  right  reason  and  a  sound  judgment; 
and  it  may  be  more  especially  observed  of  the 
remaining  fragments  of  his  work  against  the 
Christians,  that  they  are  equally  destitute  of 
judgment  and  equity,  and  are  utterly  unworthy 
of  a  wise  and  a  good  man.* 

IX.  Many  were  the  deceitful  and  perfidious 
stratagems  by  which  this  sect  endeavoured  to 
obscure  the  lu.strc,  and  diminish  the  authority 
of  the  Cliristian  doctrine.  None  of  these  seem- 
ed to  be  more  dangerous  than  the  seducing  ar- 
tifice with  which  they  formed  a  comparison  be- 
tween the  life,  actions,  and  miracles  of  Christ, 
and  the  history  of  the  ancient  pliilosoi)hers,  and 
placed  the  contending  parties  in  such  fallacious 
points  of  view,  as  to  make  the  pretended  sages 
of  antiquity  appear  in  nothing  inferior  to  the 
divine  Saviour.  With  this  view,  Archytas  of 
Tarentum,  Pytliagoras,  of  whom  Porphyry 
wrote  the  life,  Apollonius  Tyanceus,  a  PytJia- 
goreau  j)hilosophcr,  whose  miracles  and  pere- 
grinations were  highly  celebrated  by  the  vul- 
gar, were  brouglit  upon  the  scene,  aiid  exliibit- 
ed  as  divine  teachers,  and  rivals  of  the  glory 
of  the  Son  of  God.  Philostratus,  one  of  the 
most  eminent  rhetoricians  of  this  age,  compos- 
ed a  pompous  history  of  the  life  of  Apollonius, 
who  was  little  better  than  a  cunning  knave, 
and  did  nothing  but  ape  the  auslerity  and  sanc- 
tity of  Pythagoras.  This  history  appears  ma- 
nifestly designed  to  draw  a  parallel  between 
Christ  and  the  philosopher  of  Tyana;  but  the 
impudent  fictions  and  ridiculous  fables,  with 
which  this  work  is  filled,  must,  one  would 
think,  have  rendered  it  incapable  of  deceiving 
any  who  possessed  a  sound  mind;  any,  but 
such  as,  through  the  corruption  of  vicious  pre- 
judices, were  willing  to  be  deceived. f 

X.  But  as  there  are  no  opinions,  however 
absurd,  and  no  stories,  however  idle  and  im- 
probable, that  a  weak  and  ignorant  multitude, 
more  attentive  to  the  pomp  of  ivords  than  to 
the  irutli  of  thino;s,  will  not  easily  swallow;  so 
it  happeni'd,  that  many  were  ensnared  by  the 
absurd  attempts  of  these  insidious  ]>hilosophers. 
Some  were  induced  by  these  perfidious  strata- 
gems to  abandon  the  Cliristian  religion,  which 


5(7=  *  This  work  of  Porphyry  against  the  Christians 
was  burned,  by  an  edict  of  Conslantiue  the  Great.  It  was 
divided  into  fifteen  books,  as  we  find  iu  Eiiscbtus,  and 
contained  the  blackest  calumnies  against  the  Christians. 
The  first  book  treated  of  the  contradictions  nhich  he 
pretended  to  have  found  iu  the  sacred  writings.  The 
greatest  part  of  the  twelfth  is  employed  is  fixing  the  time 
wlicn  the  prophecies  of  Daniel  were  written;  for  Por- 
phyry himself  found  these  predictiiins  so  clearly  and 
evideully  fullilled,  that,  to  aroid  the  force  of  the  irgu- 
ment,  thence  dediicible  in  faror  of  Christianity,  he  was 
forced  to  have  reconrse  to  the  absurd  supposition,  that 
these  prophecies  had  been  published  under  the  name  of 
Daniel  by  one  who  lived  in  the  tinve  of  Antiochus,  and 
wrote  after  the  arriral  of  the  events  foretold.  Metho- 
dius, Eusebius,  and  Apoliinaris,  wrote  against  Porphyry; 
but  their  refutations  have  been  long  since  lost. 

t  See  Olerius'  preface  to  the  Life  of  Apollonius  by 
Philostratus;  as  also  Mosheim's  notes  to  his  Latin  trans- 
lation of  Cudworth's  Intellectual  Systeai,  p.  304,  kc. 


82 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  U. 


they  had  embraced.  Otliers,  when  tliey  were 
taught  to  beheve  that  true  Christianity  (as  it 
was  inculcated  by  Jesus,  and  not  as  it  was  af- 
terwards corrupted  by  liis  disciples)  difi'ered  in 
few  points  from  the  jjagan  system,  properly  ex- 
plained and  restored  to  its  primitive  purity, 
determined  to  remain  in  tlie  religion  of  their 
ancestors,  and  in  the  worship  of  their  gods. 
A  third  sort  were  led,  by  these  comparisons 
between  Clirist  and  the  ancient  philosophers, 
to  form  to  themselves  a  motley  system  of  reli- 
gion composed  of  the  tenets  of  both  parties, 
whom  they  treated  with  the  same  veneration 
and  respect.  Such  was,  particularly,  tlie  me- 
thod of  Alexander  Severus,  who  paid  indis- 
criminately divine  honours  to  Christ  and  to 
Orpheus,  to  Apollonius,  and  the  other  philo-  ■ 
sophers  and  heroes  whose  names  were  famous  i 
in  ancient  times.  j 

XI.  The  credit  and  power  of  the  Jews  were ' 
now  too  much  diminished  to  render  them  as  i 
capable  of  injuring  the  Christians,  by  tiieir  m- 1 
fluence  over  the  magistrates,  as  they  had  for- 1 
merly  been.     This  did  not,  however,  discour- 1 


age  their  malicious  efforts,  as  the  books  which 
Tertullian  and  Cyprian  have  written  against 
them  abundantly  show,  with  several  other 
writings  of  the  Christian  doctors,  who  com- 
plained of  the  malignity  of  the  Jews,  and  of 
their  sinister  machinations.*  During  the  per- 
secution under  Severus,  a  certain  person  call- 
ed Dominus,  who  had  embraced  Christianity, 
deserted  to  the  Jews,  doubtless  to  avoid  the 
punishments  that  were  decreed  against  the 
Christians;  and  it  was  to  recall  this  apostate  to 
his  duty  and  his  profession,  that  Serapion, 
bishop  of  Antioch,  wrote  a  particular  treatise 
against  the  Jews.f  We  may  easily  conclude, 
from  tliis  instance,  that,  when  the  Christians 
were  persecuted,  the  Jews  were  treated  with 
les.s  severity  and  contempt,  on  account  of  their 
enmity  against  the  disciples  of  Jesus.  From 
the  same  tiict  we  may  also  learn,  that,  though 
they  were  in  a  state  of  great  subjection  and 
abasement,  they  were  not  entirely  deprived  of 
all  power  of  oppressing  the  Christians. 


*  Hippolytus,  Serm.  in  Susann.  ct  Daniel,  torn.  i.  op. 
t  Eusebius.  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  vi.  cap.  xii.  p.  213. 


PART  II. 


THE  INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Concerning  the  State  of  Letters  and  Plulosophij 
during  this  Century. 

I.  The  arts  and  sciences,  which,  in  the  pre- 
ceding century,  were  in  a  declining  state,  seem- 
ed, in  this,  ready  to  expire,  and  had  lost  all 
their  vigour  and  lustre.  The  celebrated  rheto- 
rician Longinus,  and  the  eminent  historian  Dio 
Cassius,  with  a  few  others,  were  tlie  last  among 
the  Greeks,  who  stood  in  the  breach  against 
the  prevailing  ignorance  and  barbarism  of  the 
times.  Men  of  learning  and  genius  were  still 
less  numerous  in  the  western  provinces  of  the 
empire,  thougli  tiiere  were  in  several  places 
flourishing  schools,  appropriated  to  the  ad- 
vancement of  tiie  sciences  and  the  culture  of 
taste  and  genius.  Ditferent  reasons  contri- 
buted to  this  decay  of  learning.  Few  of  the 
emperors  patronised  the  sciences,  or  encour- 
aged, by  the  prospect  of  their  favour  and  pro- 
tection, that  enuilation  which  is  the  soul  of 
literary  excellence.  Besides,  the  civil  wars 
that  ahnost  always  distracted  the  emjnre,  were 
extremely  unfavourable  to  the  pmsuit  of  sci- 
ence; and  tile  perpetual  incursions  of  the  bar- 
barous nations  interrupted  that  leisure  and 
tranquillity  which  are  so  essential  to  the  pro- 
gress of  learning  and  knowledge,  and  extin- 
guished, among  a  people  accustomed  to  the 
din  of  arms,  all  desire  of  literary  acquisitions.* 

II.  If  we  turn  our  eyes  toward  the  state  of 
philosophy,  the  prospect  will  appear  somewhat 
less  desolate  and  comfortless.     There  were,  as 


*  See  the  Literary  History  ot  France,  by  the  Benedic- 
tine monks,  vol.  i.  part  ii. 


yet,  in  several  of  the  Grecian  sects,  men  of 
considerable  knowledge  and  reputation,  of 
whom  Longinus  has  mentioned  the  greatest 
part.*  But  all  these  sects  were  gradually 
eclipsed  by  the  scliool  of  Ammonius,  whose 
origin  and  doctrines  have  been  considered 
above.  This  victorious  sect,  which  was  form- 
ed in  Egypt,  issued  thence  with  such  a  rapid 
progress,  that,  in  a  short  time,  it  extended 
itself  almost  throughout  the  Roman  empire, 
and  drew  into  its  vortex  the  greatest  part  of 
tliose  who  applied  themselves,  through  incli- 
nation, to  the  study  of  philosophy.  This 
amazing  progress  was  due  to  Plotinus,  the 
most  eminent  disciple  of  Ammonius,  a  man  of 
a  most  subtile  invention,  endowed  by  nature 
with  a  genius  capable  of  the  most  profound 
researches,  and  equal  to  the'  investigation  of 
the  most  abstruse  and  difficult  subjects.  This 
penetrating  and  sublime  philosopher  taught 
publicly,  first  in  Persia,  and  afterwards  at 
Rome,  and  in  Campania;  in  all  which  parts 
the  youth  flocked  in  crowds  to  receive  his  in- 
structions. Pie  comprehended  the  precepts  of 
his  philosophy  in  several  books,  most  of  which 
are  yet  extant.f 

III.  The  number  of  disciples,  formed  in  the 
school  of  Plotinus,  is  almost  beyond  credibility. 
The  most  famous  was  Porphyry, J  who  spread 


*  In  his  life  of  Plotinus,  epitomised  by  Porphyry, 
cli.xx. 

t  See  Porphyrii  vita  Plotini,  of  which  Fabricius  has 
given  an  edition  iu  his  Bibliotheca  (jrseca,  torn.  iv. — 
Bayle's  Diction,  torn.  iii. — and  Brucker's  Historia 
Critica  Fhilo«ophiae. 

(ttj"  }  Porphyry  was  first  the  disciple  of  Longinus,  au- 
thor of  the  justly  celebrated  Treatise  on  the  Sublime; 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


83 


abroad  through  Sicily,  and  many  other  coun- 
tries, the  doctrine  of  his  master,  revived  with 
great  accuracy,  adorned  with  the  graces  of  a 
flowing  and  elegant  style,  and  enriclied  with 
new  inventions  and  curious  improvements.' 
From  tlie  time  of  Ammonius,  until  the  sixtii 
century  this  was  almost  the  only  system  of 
philosophy  that  was  publicly  taught  at  Alex- 
andria. A  certain  philosopher,  whose  name 
was  Plutarch,  having  learned  it  there,  brought 
it  into  Greece,  and  renewed,  at  Athens,  the 
celebrated  Academy,  from  which  issued  a  set 
of  illustrious  philosophers,  whom  we  shall 
have  occasion  to  mention  in  the  progress  of 
this  work.f 

IV.  We  have  unfolded,  above,  the  nature 
and  doctrines  of  this  pliilosophy,  as  far  as  was 
compatible  with  the  brevity  of  our  present  de- 
sign. It  is,  however,  proper  to  add  here,  tliat 
its  votaries  were  not  all  of  the  same  senti- 
ments, but  thought  very  ditl'erently  upon  a  va- 
riety of  subjects.  This  ditiereuce  of  opinion 
was  the  natural  consequence  of  that  funda- 
mental law,  which  the  whole  sect  was  obliged 
to  keep  constantly  in  view,  viz.  That  truth 
was  to  be  pursued  witli  the  utmost  liberty,  and 
to  be  collected  from  all  the  different  systems  in 
which  it  lay  dispersed.  Hence  it  happened, 
that  the  Athenians  rejected  certain  opinions 
that  were  entertained  by  the  philosophers  of 
Alexandria:  yet  none  of  those  who  were  am- 
bitious to  be  ranked  among  these  new  Plato- 
nists,  called  in  question  the  main  doctrines 
which  formed  the  groundwork  of  their  singu- 
lar system;  those,  for  example,  whicli  regard- 
ed the  existence  of  one  God,  the  fountain  of 
all  things;  the  eternity  of  the  world;  the  de- 
pendence of  matter  upon  the  Supreme  Being; 
the  nature  of  souls;  the  plurality  of  gods;  the 
method  of  interpreting  the  popular  supersti- 
tions, &c. 

V.  The  famous  que.stion  concerning  the 
excellence  and  utility  of  human  learning,  was 
now  debated  with  great  warmtli  among  the 
('hristians;  and  the  contending  parties,  in  tliis 
controversy,  seemed  hitherto  ol"  equal  force 
in  point  of  number,  or  nearly  so.  Many  re- 
commended the  study  of  philosophy,  and  an 
acquaintanci!  with  the  Greek  and  Jloman  lite- 
rature; while  others  maintained,  that  these 
were  pernicious  («  the  interests  of  genuine 
Christianity,  and  the  progress  of  true  piety. 
The  cause  of  letters  and  philosopliy  triumphed, 
liowever,  by  degrees;  and  those  wlio  wished 
well  to  tliem,  continued  to  gain  ground,  till  at 
length  the  superiority  was  manifestly  decided 
in  their  fiivour.  This  victory  was  principally 
due  to  the  iuHuence  and  authority  of  Origen, 
who,  having  been  early  instructed  in  the  new 
kind  of  Platonism  already  mentioned,  blendid 
it,  though  unha])i)ily,  with  tiie  purer  and  more 
sublime  tenets  of  a  celestial  doctrine,  and  re- 
commended it,  in  the  warmest  manner,  to 
the  youth  who  attended  his  public  lessons. 
The  fame  of  this  philosoper  increased  daily 


but,  haviiij;  passed  from  Greece  to  Rome,  where  lie 
heard  Plotinus,  he  was  so  charmi-d  with  the  genius  and 
penetration  of  this  philosoplier,  that  he  attacht-d  himself 
entirely  to  him.     See  Plotin.  vit.  p.  3.  F.unap.  c.  ii.  p.  17. 

*  Ilolsliiiius,  vit.  Porphyrii,  republished  by  Fabricius. 

i  Marini  vita  Procii,  cap.  xi.  xii. 


among  the  Christians;  and,  in  proportion  to 
his  rising  credit,  his  method  of  proposing  and 
explaining  the  doctrines  of  Cliristianity  gained 
authorit}',  till  it  became  almost  universal.  Be- 
sides, some  of  the  di.sciples  of  Plotinus  havino- 
embraced  C'hristianity,  on  condition  that  they 
should  be  allnwed  to  retain  such  of  the  opinions 
of  their  ma.ster  as  they  thought  of  superior 
excellence  and  merit,*  this  must  also  have  con- 
tributed, in  some  measure,  to  turn  the  balance 
in  favour  of  the  sciences.  These  Christian 
philosophers,  preserving  still  a  fervent  zeal  for 
the  doctrines  of  their  Heathen  chief,  would 
naturally  embrace  every  opportunity  of  .spread- 
ing them  abroad,  and  instilling  them  into  the 
minds  of  tlie  ignorant  and  the  unwary. 

CHAPTER  II. 

Resprcting  the  DoHms  and  Ministers  of  the 
Chxirch,  and  itft  Fm-m  of  Governnunl,  during 
this  Century. 

I.  The  form  of  ecclesiastical  government 
that  had  been  adopted  by  Christians  in  general, 
had  now  accpiirctl  greater  degrees  of  stability 
and  force,  both  in  particular  ciiurches,  and  in 
the  general  society  of  Christians.  It  appears 
incontestable,  from  the  most  authentic  records 
and  the  best  histories  of  tliis  century,  that,  in 
the  larger  cities,  there  was,  at  the  head  of  each 
church,  a  person  to  whom  was  given  the  title 
of  Inshop,  who  ruled  this  sacred  community 
with  a  certain  sort  of  authority,  in  concert, 
however,  with  the  body  of  presbyters,  and  con- 
sulting, in  matters  of  moment,  the  opinions 
and  the  voices  of  the  whole  assembly.]  It  is 
also  equally  evident,  that,  in  every  province, 
one  bishop  was  invested  with  a  certain  stipe- 
riority  over  the  rest,  in  point  of  rank  and  au- 
thority. This  was  necessary  to  the  mainte- 
nance of  that  association  of  churches  which 
had  been  introduced  in  the  preceding  centm-y; 
and  it  contributed  to  facilitate  the  holding  of 
general  councils,  and  to  give  a  certain  degree 
of  order  and  consistoncy  to  their  proceedings. 
It  nuist,  at  the  same  time,  be  cart^iully  observ- 
ed, that  the  rights  and  privileges  of  these 
primitive  bisho])s  were  not  every  where  accu- 
rately fixed,  nor  determined  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  prevent  encroachmuiits  and  disputes;  nor 
does  it  appear,  that  the  chief  authority  in  the 
proviiu'e  was  always  conferred  upon  that  bishop 
wlio  [jresided  over  the  church  established  in 
the  metropolis.  It  may  also  bo  noticed,  as  a 
matter  beyond  all  dispute,  that  tiic  bishops  of 
Rome,  Antioch,  and  Alexandria,  considered  as 
rules  of  primitive  and  aposlijiic  <;hurches,  had 
.1  kiial  of  ])ro-eminence  over  all  others,  and 
were  not  only  consulted  frequently  in  affairs  of 
a  didicult  and  momentous  naturo,  but  were 
also  distinguished  by  peculiar  rights  and  pri- 
vileges. 

11.  With  respect,  particularly,  to  the  bishop 
of  Rome,  he  is  supposed  by  Cyprian  to  have 
had,  at  this  time,  a  certain  pre-eminence  in 


*  Augustinus,  Epistola  Ivi.  ad  Dioscor.  p.  S60,  torn, 
ii.  op. 

t  A  satisfactory  account  of  this  matter  may  be  seen  in 
Blondelli  Apologia  pro  S#'ntentia  Hirroh)u)i  dc  Episco- 
pis  ct  Presbylens,  p.  136,  as  that  author  has  collected  all 
I  the  testimonies  of  the  ancients  relative  to  that  subject. 


84 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


the  church;*  nor  does  he  stand  alone  in  this 
opinion.  But  it  ought  to  be  observed,  that 
even  those,  who,  with  Cyprian,  attributed  this 
pre-eminence  to  the  Roman  prelate,  insisted,  at 
the  same  time,  with  the  utmost  warmth,  upon 
the  equality,  in  point  of  dignity  and  authority, 
that  subsisted  among  all  the  members  of  the 
episcopal  order.  In  consequence  of  this  opin- 
ion of  an  equality  among  all  Christian  bishops, 
they  rejected,  with  contempt,  the  judgment  of 
the  bishop  of  Rome,  when  they  thought  it  ill- 
founded  or  unjust,  and  followed  their  own 
sense  of  things  with  a  perfect  independence. 
Of  this  Cyprian  himself  gave  an  eminent  ex- 
ample, in  his  famous  controversy  with  Stephen 
bishop  of  Rome,  concerning  the  baptism  of 
heretics,  in  which  he  treated  the  arrogance  of 
that  imperious  prelate  with  a  noble  indigna- 
tion, and  also  with  a  perfect  contempt.  Who- 
ever, therefore,  compares  these  particulars,  will 
easily  perceive,  that  tlie  only  dignity  which  the 
bishop  of  Rome  could  justly  claim  was  a  pre- 
eminence of  order  and  (tssocialion,'\  not  of 
poiver  and  authority.  Or  to  explain  the  matter 
yet  more  clearly,  the  pre-eminence  of  the  bishop 
of  Rome,  in  the  universal  church,  was  such  as 
that  of  Cyprian,  bishop  of  Carthage,  was  in 
the  African  churches;  and  every  one  kll0^vs, 
that  the  precedency  of  this  latter  prelate  di- 
minished in  nothing  the  equality  that  subsisted 
among  the  African  bishops,  and  invalidated  in 
no  instance  their  rights  and  liberties,  but  gave 
only  to  Cyprian,  as  the  president  of  their  ge- 
neral assemblies,  a  power  of  calling  councils, 
of  presiding  in  them,  of  admonishing  his  bre- 
thren in  a  mild  and  fraternal  manner,  and  of 
executing,  in  short,  such  offices  as  the  order 
and  purposes  of  these  ecclesiastical  meetings 
necessarily  required. | 

III.  The  face  of  things  began  now  to  cliange 
in  the  Christian  church.  The  ancient  method 
of  ecclesiastical  government  seemed,  in  general, 
still  to  subsist,  while,  at  tlie  same  time,  by  im- 
perceptible steps,  it  varied  from  the  primitive 
rule,  and  degenerated  toward  tlie  form  of  a  re- 
ligious monarchy;  for  the  bishops  aspired  to 
higher  degrees  of  power  and  authority  than 
they  had  formerly  possessed,  and  not  only  vio- 
lated the  rights  of  the  people,  but  also  made 
gradual  encroachments  upon  the  privileges  of 
the  presbyters;  and  that  tliey  might  cover  tliese 
usurpations  with  an  air  of  justice,  and  an  ap- 
pearance of  reason,  they  publislied  new  doc- 
trines concerning  the  nature  of  tlie  churcli,  and 
of  the  episcopal  dignity,  which,  however,  were 
in  general  so  obscure,  that  they  themselves 
seemed  to  have  understood  them  as  little  as 
those  to  whom  they  were  delivered.  One  of 
the  principal  authors  of  this  change,  in  the  go- 


*  Cyprian,  Ep.  Iv.  et  Ixxiii.  etiam  de  Unitate  Eeclesise, 
p.  195,  edit.  Baluzii. 

Ojj-  f  So  I  have  translated  Prjjicipattis  ordinis  et  con- 
sociationis,  which  could  not  be  otherwise  rendered  with- 
out a  long  circumlocution.  The  pre-eminence  here  men- 
tioned, signifies  the  right  of  convening  councils,  of  pre- 
siding in  them,  of  collecting  voices,  and  such  other  things 
as  were  essential  to  the  order  of  these  assemblies. 

I  See  Steph.  Baluzii  adno.  ad  Cypriani  Epistolas,  p. 
387,  389,  400.  Consult  particularly  the  seveniy-first  and 
seventy-third  epistles  of  Cyprian,  and  the  fifly-fiflh,  ad- 
dressed to  Cornelius,  bishop  of  Rome,  in  which  letters 
the  Carthaginian  prelate  pleads  with  warmth  and  vehe- 
mence for  the  equality  of  all  Christian  bishops. 


vernment  of  the  church,  was  Cyprian,  who 
pleaded  for  the  power  of  the  bishops  with  more 
zeal  and  vehemence  than  had  ever  been  hith- 
erto employed  in  that  cause,  though  not  with 
an  unshaken  constancy  and  perseverance;  for, 
in  difficult  and  perilous  times,  necessity  some- 
times obliged  him  to  yield,  and  to  submit  seve- 
ral things  to  the  judgment  and  authority  of  the 
church. 

IV.  This  change  in  the  form  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal government,  was  soon  followed  by  a  train 
of  vices,  which  dishonoured  the  character  and 
authority  of  those  to  whom  the  administration 
of  the  church  was  committed;  for,  though  se- 
veral yet  continued  to  exhibit  to  the  world  il- 
lustrious examples  of  primitive  piety  and  Chris- 
tian virtue,  yet  many  were  sunk  in  luxury  and 
voluptuousness,  puffed  up  with  vanity,  arro- 
gance, and  ambition,  possessed  with  a  spirit  of 
contention  and  discord,  and  addicted  to  many- 
other  vices  that  cast  an  imdeserved  reproach 
upon  the  holy  religion,  of  which  they  were  the 
unworthy  professors  and  ministers.  This  is 
testified  in  such  an  ample  manner,  by  the  re- 
peated com])laints  of  many  of  the  most  re- 
spectable writers  of  this  age,*  that  truth  will 
not  permit  us  to  spread  the  veil,  which  we 
should  otherwise  be  desirous  to  cast  over  such 
enormities  among  an  order  so  sacred.  The 
bishops  assumed,  in  many  places,  a  princely 
authority,  particularly  those  who  had  the  great- 
est number  of  churches  under  their  inspection, 
and  who  presided  over  the  most  opulent  assem- 
blies. They  appropriated  to  tlieir  evangelical 
function  the  splendid  ensigns  of  temporal  ma- 
jesty; a  throne,  surrounded  with  ministers,  ex- 
alted above  his  equals  the  servant  of  the  meek 
and  humble  Jesus;  and  sumptuous  garments 
dazzled  the  eyes  and  the  minds  of  the  multi- 
tude into  an  ignorant  veneration  for  this  usurp- 
ed authority.  An  example  which  ought  not 
to  have  been  followed,  was  ambitiously  imitated 
by  the  presbyters,  who,  neglecting  the  sacred 
duties  of  their  station,  abandoned  themselves 
to  the  indolence  and  delicacy  of  an  effeminate 
and  luxurious  life.  The  deacons,  beholding 
the  presbyters  thus  deserting  their  fimctions, 
boldly  invaded  their  riglits  and  privileges;  and 
tlie  effects  of  a  corrupt  ambition  were  spread 
through  every  rank  of  the  sacred  order. 

V.  From  what  has  been  now  observed,  we 
may  come,  perhaps,  at  the  true  origin  of  minor 
or  inferior  orders,  which  were,  in  this  century, 
added  every  where  to  tliose  of  the  bishops, 
presb3'ters,  and  deacons;  for,  certainly,  the  titles 
and  offices  of  suhdeacons,  acohjthi,  ostlarii,  or 
door-keepers,  readers,  exorcists,  and  cnpiatce, 
would  never  have  been  heard  of  in  the  church, 
if  its  rulers  had  been  assiduously  and  zealously 
employed  in  promoting  the  interests  of  truth 
and  piety,  by  their  labours  and  their  example. 
But,  when  Uie  honors  and  priviliges  of  the 
bishops  and  presbyters  were  augmented,  the 
deacons  also  began  to  extend  their  ambitious 
views,  and  to  despise  those  lower  functions  and 
employments  which  they  had  hitherto  exer- 
cised with  such  humility  and  zeal.  The  ad- 
ditional orders  that  were  now  created  to  di- 


*  Origen.  Comm.  in  Matthaeum,  par.  i.  op.  p.  420,443. 
Eusebius,  Hiit.  Ecdes.  lib.  viii.  cap.  i. 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


85 


minish  the  labours  of  the  pre-sent  rulers  of  the 
church,  had  functions  allotted  to  them,  wliich 
their  names  partly  explain.*  l"he  institution 
of  exorcists  was  a  consequence  of  the  doctrine 
of  the  New  Platonists,  which  the  Christians 
adopted,  and  which  taupht,  that  the  evil  genii, 
or  spirits,  were  continually  hovering  over  hu- 
man bodies,  toward  which  they  were  carried 
by  a  natural  and  veliement  desire;  and  that 
vicious  men  were  not  so  much  impelled  to  sin 
by  an  innate  depravity,  or  by  the  seduction  of 
example,  as  by  the  internal  suggestions  of  some 
evil  daemon.  I'lie  copiaUe  were  employed  in 
providing  for  the  decent  interment  of  the  dead. 
VI.  Marriage  was  permitted  to  all  tlie  va- 
rious ranks  and  orders  of  the  clergy.  Those, 
however,  who  continued  in  a  state  of  celibacy, 
obtained  by  this  abstinence  a  higher  reputation 
of  sanctity  and  virtue  than  others.  This  was 
owing  to  an  almost  general  persuasion,  that 
they,  who  took  wives,  were  of  all  others  the 
most  subject  to  the  influence  of  malignant 
dtemons.f  And  as  it  was  of  infinite  impor- 
tance to  the  interests  of  the  church,  that  no 
mipure  or  malevolent  spirit  should  enter  into 
the  bodies  of  such  as  were  appointed  to  govern, 
or  to  instruct  others,  so  the  people  were  de- 
sirous that  the  clergy  should  use  their  utmost 
efforts  to  abstain  from  the  pleasures  of  the  con- 
jugal life.  Many  of  the  sacred  order,  espe- 
cially in  Africa,  consented  to  satisfy  the  desires 
of  the  people,  and  endeavoured  to  do  this  in 
such  a  manner  as  not  to  otter  an  entire  violence 
to  their  own  inclinations.  For  this  purpose, 
they  formed  connexions  witli  those  women  wJio 
had  made  vows  of  per])etual  chastity;  and  it 
was  an  ordinary  thing  for  an  ecclesiastic  to  ad- 
mit one  of  these  fair  saints  to  the  participation 
of  his  bed;  but  still   under  the  most  solemn 


(tl^*Thesub-(lf  aeons  were  designed  to  ease  the  deacons 
of  tlie  meanest  part  of  their  worlt.  Their  offiee,  conse- 
quently, was  to  prepare  tlie  sacred  vessels  of  the  altar, 
and  to  deliver  them  to  the  deacons  in  time  of  divine  ser- 
vice; to  attend  the  doors  of  the  church  during  the  com- 
munion service;  to  go  on  the  bishop's  embassies,  witli  his 
letters  or  messages  to  foreign  cliurches.  In  a  word,  Ihcy 
were  so  subordinate  to  the  superior  rulers  of  the  church, 
that  by  a  canon  of  the  council  of  Laodicea,  they  were 
forbidden  to  sit  in  the  presence  of  a  deacon  without  his 
leave.  The  order  of  ucolythi  was  peculiar  to  the  Latin 
church;  for  there  was  no  such  order  in  the  Greek  church, 
during  the  four  first  cenluriis.  Their  name  signifies  (tt 
teiulants;  and  their  principal  office  was  to  light  the  can- 
dles of  the  church,  and  to  attend  the  ministers  with 
wine  for  the  eucharist.  The  ostiarii,  or  door-keepers, 
w I  re  appointed  to  open  and  shut  the  doors,  as  officers 
and  servants  under  the  deacons  and  snb-deacons;  to  give 
notice  of  the  times  of  prayer  and  church  assemblies, 
wliich,  in  time  of  persecution,  required  a  private  signal 
f)r  fear  of  discovery;  and  that,  probably,  was  the  first 
reason  for  instituting  this  order  in  the  church  of  Rome, 
whose  example,  by  degrees,  was  soon  followed  by  other 
churches. — The  readers  were  those  who  were  directed 
to  read  the  scripture  in  that  part  of  divine  service  to 
which  the  catechumens  were  admitted. — The  cxorcixts 
were  appointed  to  drive  out  evil  spirits  from  the  bodies 
of  persons  possessed;  they  had  been  long  known  in  the 
church,  but  were  not  erected  into  an  ecclesiastical  order 
before  the  latter  end  of  the  third  century. — The  copiatrr, 
or  fo^sarii,  were  an  order  of  the  inferior  clergy,  whose 
business  it  was  to  take  care  of  funerals,  and  to  provide 
for  the  decent  interment  of  the  dead.  In  vain  have  Ba- 
ronius  and  other  Romish  writers  assserted,  that  these  in 
ferior  orders  were  of  apostolical  institution.  The  con- 
trary is  evidently  proved,  since  these  offices  are  not  men-  | 
lioued  by  authentic  writers  as  having  taken  place  before  J 
the  third  century, and  the  origin  can  be  traced  no  higher 
than  the  fourth. 

t  Porphyrias,  ti{>  *7rt.-/,>ti,  lib-  iv.  p.  417.  I 


declarations,  that  nothing  passed  in  this  com- 
merce that  was  contrary  to  the  rules  of  chas- 
tity and  virtue.*  These  holy  concubines  were 
called,  by  the  Greeks,  i;vvf.iy.itT'..;  and  by  the 
I  Latins,  Mulieres  subintroductce.  This  indecent 
[custom  alarmed  the  zeal  of  the  more  pious 
I  among  the  bishops,  who  employed  the  utmost 
eftbrts  of  their  severity  and  vigilance  to  abolish 
it,  though  it  was  a  long  time  before  they  en- 
tirely effected  this  laudable  purpose. 

VII.  Thus  we  have  given  a  siiort,  tliough 
not  a  very  pleasing  view  of  the  rulers  of  the 
church  during  this  century;  and  we  ought  now 
to  mention  the  principal  writers  who  distin- 
guished ihemselves  in  it  by  their  learned  and 
pious  productions.  Tlie  most  eminent  of  tliese, 
whether  we  consider  the  extent  of  his  fame,  or 
the  multiplicity  of  his  labours,  was  Origen,  a 
presbyter  and  catechist  of  Alexandria,  a  man 
of  vast  and  uncommon  abilities,  and  tlie  rrreat- 
est  luminary  of  the  Christian  world  that  this 
age  exhii)itcd  to  view.  Had  the  soundness  of 
liis  judgment  been  equal  to  tlie  immensity  of 
his  genius,  the  fervour  of  his  piety,  his  inde- 
fatigable patience,  his  extensive  erudition,  and 
liis  other  eminent  and  superior  talents,  all  en- 
comiums must  have  fallen  short  of  his  merit. 
Yet  such  as  he  was,  his  virtues  and  his  iaboiu-s 
deserve  the  admiration  of  all  ages;  and  his 
name  will  be  transmitted  with  honour  tlirough 
the  annals  of  time,  as  long  as  learning  and  se- 
niiis  shall  be  esteemed  among  nien.f 

The  second  in  renown,  among  the  writers  of 
this  century,  was  Julius  Africanus,  a  native  of 
Palestine,  a  man  of  the  most  profound  erudi- 
tion, but  the  greatest  part  of  whose  learned 
labours  are  unhappily  lost. 
Hippolytus,  whoso  history  is  much  involved  in 
darkness, +  is  also  esteemed  among  the  inosl 
celebrated  authors  and  martyrs  of  this  age;  but 
those  writings  which  at  present  bear  his  name, 
are  justly  looked  upon  by  many  as  either  ex- 
tremely corrupted,  or  entirely  spurious. 

(rregory,  bishoj)  of  New-Ctesarea,  acquired, 
at  this  time,  the  title  of  Tliauinalurgus,  i.  e. 
wonder-worker,  on  account  of  the  variety  of 
great  and  signal  miracles,  which  he  is  said  to 
have  wrought  during  the  course  of  his  niini.s- 
try.  Few  of  his  works  liave  come  down  to 
our  times,  and  his  miracles  are  called  in  ques- 
tion by  many,  as  unsupported  iiy  stillicient  evi- 
dence.§ 

It  is  to  be  wished  that  we  had  more  of  the 
writings  of  Dionysius,  bishop  of  Alexandria, 
than  those  which  have  survived  tiie  ruins  of 
time,  since  the  i'ew  remaining  fragments  of  liis 
works  display  the  most  coiisiiriimate  wisdom 
and  prudence,  and  the  most  amiable  spirit  of 
moderation  and  candor,  and  thus  abundantly 


'  Crediit  Judtvus  ^pella.  Sec  however  I1odwell,Di«s. 
tertia  Cyprianica,  and  Lud.  .\n.  Miiratorius,  Diss,  de 
Syiiisactis  et  Agapetis,  in  his  Anccdot.  Grace,  p.  218;  as 
also  Baliizius  ad  Cypriani  Epistol. 

t  See  a  very  learned  and  useful  work  of  the  famous 
Huet,  bishop  of  Avranches,  entitled,  Origeniana.  See 
also,  Doucin,  Histoire  d'Origene  et  des  Aiouvemens  ar- 
rives dans  I'Eglise  au  sujet  dc  sa  Doctrine;  and  Baylc't 
Dictionary. 

I  The  benedictine  monks  have,  with  great  labour  and 
erudition,  endeavoured  to  dispel  this  darkness  in  their 
Histoire  Literairc  de  la  Kranre,  tom.  i.  p.  361. 

^  See  Van-Dale's  preface  to  his  Latin  treatise  concern 
ing  Oracles. 


86 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


vindicate  from  all  suspicion  of  flattery,  the  an^ 
cients  who  mentioned  him  under  the  title  of 
Dionysius  tlie  Great.* 

Methodius  appears  to  have  been  a  man  of 
great  piety,  and  iiighly  respectable  on  account 
of  his  eminent  virtue;  but  those  of  his  works 
wliich  are  yet  extant,  evince  no  great  degree 
of  penetration  and  acnteness  in  handling  con- 
troversy and  weighing  opinions. 

VIII.  Cyprian,  bisliop  of  Carthage,  a  man 
of  the  most  eminent  abilities  and  flowing  elo- 
quence, stands  foremost  in  the  list  of  Latin 
writers.  His  letters,  and  indeed  the  greater 
part  of  his  works  breathe  such  a  nol)le  and  pa- 
thetic spirit  of  piety,  that  it  is  impossible  to 
read  them  without  the  warmest  feelings  of  en- 
thusiasm. We  must  however  observe,  that  he 
would  have  been  a  better  writer,  had  he  been 
less  attentive  to  the  ornaments  of  rhetoric;  and 
a  better  bishop,  had  he  been  able  to  restrain 
the  vehemence  of  his  temper  and  to  distinguish 
with  greater  acuteness,  between  truth  and 
falsehood. 

The  dialogue  of  Minuci us,  Felix,  which  bears 
tlie  title  of  Octavius,  effaces  vi^ith  such  judg- 
ment, spirit  and  force,  the  calumnies  and  re- 
[iroachcs  that  were  cast  upon  the  Christians 
by  their  adversaries,  that  it  deserves  an  atten- 
tive perusal  from  those  who  are  desirous  of 
knowing  the  state  of  the  church  during  this 
century. 

The  seven  books  of  Arnobius,  the  African, 
written  against  the  Gentiles,  form  a  still  more 
copious  and  ample  defence  of  the  Christians, 
and,  tliough  obscure  in  several  places,  may  yet 
be  read  with  pleasure  and  with  profit.  It  is  true, 
that  this  rhetorician,  too  little  instructed  in  the 
Christian  religion,  when  he  wrote  this  work, 
has  mingled  great  errors  with  solemn  and  im- 
portant truths,  and  has  exhibited  Christianity 
under  a  certain  philosophical  form,  very  dif- 
ferent from  that  in  which  it  is  commonly  re- 
ceived. 

We  refer  onr  readers,  for  an  account  of  tlie 
authors  of  inferior  note,  who  lived  in  this  cen- 
tury, to  those  who  have  professedly  given  his- 
tories or  enumerations  of  the  Christian  writers. 

CHAPTER  HL 

Concerning  the  Doctrine  of  the  Chrifitian  Church 
in  this  Century. 
I.  The  principal  doctrines  of  Cln-istianit}' 
were  now  explained  to  the  people  in  their  na- 
tive purity  and  simplicity,  without  any  mixture 
of  abstract  reasonings  or  subtile  inventions;  nor 
were  the  feeble  minds  of  the  multitude  loaded 
with  a  great  variety  of  precepts. f  But  the 
Christian  doctors  who  had  applied  themselves 
to  the  study  of  letters  and  ])]iilosophy,  soon 
abandoned  the  freqnentfid  paths,  and  wandered 
in  the  devious  wilds  of  fancy.  The  Egyptians 
distinguished  themselves  in  this  new  method 
of  explaining  the  truth.  They  looked  upon  it 
as  a  noble  and  a  glorious  task  to  bring  the  doc- 
trines of  celestial  wisdom  into  a  certain  subjec- 


*  The  history  of  Dinnysius  is  particularly  illustrated 
by  Jaques  Basnage,  in  his  Histoire  de  I'Eplise,  tom.  i. 

t  See  Origeii,  in  Prscf.  Libro.  de  Principiis,  tom.  i.  op. 
p.  40,  and  lib.  i.  de  Principiis,  cap.  ii.  See  also  the  Ex- 
positio  Fidei  by  Gregorius  Neocsesariensis. 


tion  to  the  precepts  of  their  philosophy,  and  to 
make  deep  and  profound  researches  into  the 
intimate  and  hidden  nature  of  those  truths 
which  tlie  divine  Saviour  had  delivered  to  his 
disciples.  Origen  was  at  the  head  of  this 
speculative  tribe.  This  great  man,  enchanted 
by  the  charms  of  the  Platonic  philosophy,  set 
it  up  as  the  the  test  of  all  religion,  and  imagin- 
ed tliat  tlie  reasons  of  each  doctrine  were  to  be 
found  in  that  favorite  philosophy,  and  their 
nature  and  extent  to  be  determined  by  it.*  It 
must  be  confessed  tliat  he  handled  this  matter 
with  modesty  and  caution;  but  he  still  gave 
an  exam])le  to  his  disciples,  the  abuse  of  which 
could  not  fail  to  be  pernicious,  and  under  the 
authority  of  which,  they  would  naturally  in- 
dulge themselves  without  restraint  in  every 
wanton  fancy.  And  so,  indeed,  the  case  was; 
for  the  disciples  of  Origen,  breaking  forth  from 
the  limits  fixed  by  their  master,  interpreted,  in 
the  most  licentious  manner,  the  divine  truths 
of  religion  according  to  the  tenor  of  the  Pla- 
tonic philosophy.  From  tliese  teachers  the 
philosophical,  or  scholastic  theology,  as  it  is  call- 
ed, derived  its  origin;  and,  proceeding  hence,- 
passed  through  various  forms  and  modifications 
according  to  the  genius,  turn,  and  erudition  of 
those  who  embraced  it. 

II.  The  same  principles  gave  rise  to  another 
species  of  theology,  wluch  was  called  mystic- 
And  what  must  seem  at  first  sight  sui-prising 
here,  is,  that  this  mystic  theology,  though  form- 
ed at  the  same  time,  and  derived  from  the  same 
source  with  the  scholastic,  had  a  natural  ten- 
dency to  overturn  and  destroy  it.  Tlie  authors 
of  this  mystic  science  are  not  known;  but  the 
[irinciples  from  which  it  sprang  are  manifest. 
Its  first  promoters  argued  from  tlmt  known 
doctrine  of  the  Platonic  school,  which  also 
was  adopted  by  Origon  and  his  disciples  that  tlie 
divine  nature  was  diffused  through  all  human 
souls;  or  in  other  words  that  the  faculty  of 
reason,  from  whic.li  the  health  and  vigour  of 
the  mind  proceed,  was  an  emanation  from  God 
into  the  human  soul,  and  comprehended  in  it 
tlie  principles  and  elements  of  all  truth,  human 
and  divine.  They  denied  that  men  could,  by 
labour  or  study,  excite  this  celestial  flame  in 
their  breasts;  and,  therefore,  they  highly  dis- 
ajjproved  the  attempts  of  those  who,  by  defi- 
nitions, abstract  theorems,  and  profound  spe- 
culations, endeavourtd  to  fonn  distinct  notions 
of  truth,  and  to  discover  its  hidden  nature. 
On  the  contrary,  they  maintained,  that  silence, 
tranquillity,  repose,  and  solitude,  accf>mpanied 
with  such  acts  of  mortification  as  might  tend 
to  extenuate  and  exhaust  tlie  body,  were  the 
means  by  which  the  internal  word  was  excited 
to  produce  its  latent  virtues,  and  to  instruct 
men  in  the  knowledge  of  divine  things.  For 
tlins  they  reasoned:  "'They  who  behold  with 
a  noble  contempt  all  human  affairs,  the}'  who 
turn  away  their  eyes  from  terrestrial  vanities, 
and  shut  all  the  avenues  of  the  outward  senses 
against  the  contagious  iniiuences  of  a  material 
world,  must  necessarily  return  to  God,  when 
the  spirit  is  thus  disengaged  from  the  impedi- 
ments that  ])revented  that  happy  union;  and 


*  This  is  manifest  from  what  remains  of  his  Stromala; 
as  also  from  his  books  de  Principiis,  which  are  still  pre- 
served in  a  Latin  translation  of  them  by  Rufinus, 


Chap.  III. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


87 


in  this  blessed  frame,  they  not  only  enjoy  in- 
expressible raptures  from  their  communion 
with  the  Supreme  Beinfr,  but  are  also  invested 
with  the  inestimable  privilege  of  contemplating 
truth,  undisguised  and  uncorrnpted,  in  its  na- 
tive purity,  while  others  behold  it  in  a  vitiated 
and  delusive  form." 

III.  This  method  of  reasoning  produced 
strange  effects,  and  drove  many  into  caves  and 
deserts,  where  tliey  macerated  their  bodies 
with  hunger  and  thir.st,  and  submitted  to  all 
the  miseries  of  tlic  severest  discipline  that  a 
gloomy  iniagiualion  could  |)rescribe;  and  it  is 
not  improbable,  that  Paul,  liie  fust  hermit,  was 
rather  engaged  by  this  fanatical  system,  than 
by  the  persecution  under  Decius,  to  fly  into  the 
most  solitary  deserts  of  Thobais,  where  he  led, 
during  the  space  of  ninety  years,  a  life  more 
worthy  of  a  savage  animal  than  of  a  rational 
being.*  it  is,  however,  to  be  observed,  tiiat 
though  Paul  is  placed  at  the  head  of  the  order 
of  Hermits,  yet  that  insocial  manner  of  life 
was  very  common  in  Egypt,  Syria,  India,  and 
Mesopotamia,  not  only  long  before  his  time, 
but  even  before  the  coming  of  Christ;  and  it  is 
still  practised  among  the  JNIohammedans,  as 
well  as  the  Christians,  in  those  arid  and  burn- 
ing climates;!  for  the  glowing  atmosphere,  tiiat 
surrounds  these  countries,  is  a  natural  cause  of 
that  love  of  solitude  and  repose,  of  that  indo- 
lent and  melancholy  disposition,  which  are  re- 
markably common  among  their  languid  inha- 
bitants. 

IV.  But  let  us  turn  away  our  eyes  from 
these  scenes  of  fanaticism,  which  are  so  oppro- 
brious to  human  nature,  and  consider  some 
other  circumstances  that  belong  more  or  less 
to  tiie  history  of  the  Christian  doctrine  during 
this  century.  And  here  it  is  proper  to  mention 
tiie  useful  labours  of  those  who  manifested 
their  zeal  for  the  holy  scriptures  by  the  care 
they  took  to  have  accurate  copies  of  them  mul- 
tiplied every  where,  and  oflbrcd  at  such  mode- 
rate prices,  as  rendered  them  of  easy  purchase; 
as  also  to  have  them  translated  into  various 
languages,  and  published  in  correct  editions. 
Many  of  the  more  opulent  among  tiio  Chris- 
tians generously  contributed  a  great  part  of 
their  substance  to  the  prosecution  of  these  pi- 
ous and  excellent  undertakings.  Pierius  and 
Hesychius  in  Egypt,  and  Lucian  at  Antioch. 
employed  much  pains  in  correcting  the  copies 
of  the  Septuaginl;  and  Paniphilus  of  Cajsarea 
laboured  with  great  diligence  and  success  in 
works  of  the  same  nature,  until  a  glorious 
martyrdom  finisiied  his  course.  But  Origen 
surpassed  all  others  in  diligence  and  assiduity; 
and  his  famous  Hexapla,  though  almost  entire- 
ly destroyed  by  the  waste  of  time,  will,  even 
in  its  fragments,  remain  an  eternal  monument 
of  the  incnuliblc  application  with  which  that 
great  man  laboured  to  remove  those  obstacles 
which  retarded  the  progress  of  the  Gospel.]: 

V.  After  the  encomiums  we  have  given  to 
Origen,  who  has  an  undoubted  right  to  the  first 

*  The  life  of  this  lurinit  was  wiitlen  by  Jerome. 

f  See  the  travels  of  Lucas,  in  1714,  vol.  ii. 

t  The  fragments  that  yet  remain  of  Origen's  Hexapla, 
were  collected  and  piiblishtd,  by  the  learned  Montfaupon, 
in  folio,  at  Paris,  in  1713.  See  also  upon  this  head 
Buddei  Isagoge  iu  Theoloe-  torn  li.  and  Carpzovii  Ciiiic. 
Sacr.  Veter.  Testam.  p.  574. 


place  among  the  interpreters  of  the  Scriptures 
in  this  century,  it  is  not  without  a  deep  concern 
that  we  are  obliged  to  add,  that  he  also,  by  an 
uniiappy  method,  opened  a  secure  retreat  for 
all  sorts  of  errors  that  a  wild  and  irregular 
imagination  could  bring  forth.  Having  enter- 
tained a  notion  that  it  was  extremely  ditlicult, 
if  not  impossible,  to  defend  every  tJiing  con- 
tained in  the  sacred  writings  from  the  cavils  of 
heretics  and  infidels,  so  lung  as  they  were  e.\- 
plained  literally,  according  to  the  real  import 
of  the  terms,  he  had  recourse  to  the  fecundity 
of  a  lively  imagination,  and  maintained,  that 
they  were  to  be  interpreted  in  the  same  allego- 
rical manner  in  which  the  Platonists  explained 
the  history  of  the  gods.  In  consequence  of 
this  pernicious  rule  of  interpretation,  he  alleg- 
ed, that  the  words  of  Scripture  were,  in  many 
places,  absolutely  void  of  sense;  and  that 
tliough  in  others  there  were,  indeed,  certain 
notions  conveyed  under  the  outward  terms  ac- 
cording to  their  literal  force  <and  import,  yet  it 
was  not  in  these  that  the  true  meanings  of  the 
sacred  writers  were  to  be  sought,  but  in  a  mys- 
terious and  hidden  sense,  arising  from  the  na- 
ture of  the  things  themselves.*  This  hidden 
sense  he  endeavours  to  investigate  throughout 
his  commentaries,  neglecting  and  despising,  for 
the  most  part,  the  outward  letter;  and  in  this- 
devious  path  he  displays  the  most  ingenious 
strokes  of  fmcy,  though  generally  at  the  ex- 
pense of  truth,  whose  divine  simplicity  is  rare- 
ly discernible  through  the  cobweb  veil  of  alle- 
gory.f  Nor  did  the  inventions  of  Origen  end 
here.  He  divided  this  hidden  sense,  which  he 
pursued  with  such  eagerness  into  moral  and 
nuistical,  or  spiritual.  The  moral  sense  of 
Scripture  displays  those  doctrines  that  relate 
to  the  inward  state  of  the  soul  and  the  conduct 
of  life.  The  mystical  or  spiritual  sense  repre- 
sents the  nature,  the  laws,  and  the  history  of 
the  spiritual  or  my.stical  world.  We  are  not 
yet  at  the  end  of  the  labyrinth;  for  he  subdi- 
vided this  mystical  world  of  his  own  creatiou 
into  two  distinct  regions,  one  of  which  hecall- 


*  For  a  farther  illustration  of  this  matter,  the  reader 
may  consult  the  excellent  preface  of  M.  de  la  Rue,  to  the 
sicoiid  volume  of  the  works  of  Origen,  published  at 
Paris  in  1733.  An  accurate  and  full  account  of  Origen'* 
method  of  interpreting  the  Scripture  may  be  found  in  th« 
work  entitled  Commeutar.  de  rebus  Christian,  ante  Con- 
stautinum  M.  p.  629;  where  the  philosophy  and  theology 
of  that  great  man,  and  his  controversy  wilh  Demetriu* 
bishop  of  Alexandria,  arc  treated  of  professedly,  and  at 
large. 

t  Origen,  in  his  Slromata,  book  n.,  expresses  himself 
in  the  following  manner:  "  The  source  of  manjr  evils  lie» 
in  adhering  to  the  carnal  or  external  part  of  Scrijiture. 
Those  who  do  so,  shall  not  attain  to  the  kingdom  of  God. 
Let  us,  therefore,  seek  after  the  spirit  and  the  substantial 
fruit  of  the  word,  which  are  hidden  and  mysterious. '> 
And  again,  "  The  Scriptures  are  of  little  use  to  those 
who  understand  them  as  they  are  written."  One  woulrf 
think  it  impossible  that  such  expressions  should  drop 
from  the  ptii  of  a  wise  man.  But  the  [ihilosophy,  which 
this  great  man  embraced  with  such  r.eal,  was  one  of  the 
sources  of  his  delusion.  He  could  not  find  in  the  bible, 
the  opinions  he  had  adopted,  as  long  as  he  interpreted 
that  sacred  book  according  to  its  literal  sense.  But  Plato, 
Aristotle,  Zeno,  and,  indeed,  the  whole  philosophical 
tribe,  could  not  fail  to  obtain,  for  their  sentiments,  a 
place  in  the  Gospel,  when  it  was  interpreted  by  the  wan- 
ton inventions  of  fancy,  and  upon  the  supposition  of  a 
hidden  sense,  to  which  it  was  possible  to  give  all  sorts 
of  forms.  Hence  all  who  desired  to  model  Christianity 
according  to  their  fancy,  or  their  favourite  .system  of  phi- 
losophy, embraced  Origen's  method  of  interprelalioix. 


88 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


ed  the  superior,  i.  e.  heaven,  and  the  other  the 
inferior,  by  which  he  meant  the  church.  This 
led  to  another  division  of  the  mystical  sense 
into  an  earthly  or  allegorical  sense,  adapted  to 
the  inferior  world,  and  a  celestial  or  analogical 
one,  adapted  to  tlie  superior  region.  This  chi- 
merical method  of  explaining  the  Scripture 
was,  before  Origen,  received  by  many  Chris- 
tians, who  were  deluded  into  it  by  the  example 
of  the  Jews.  But,  as  this  learned  man  reduced 
it  into  a  s^'stem,  and  founded  it  upon  fixed  and 
determined  rules,  he  is,  on  that  account,  com- 
monly considered  as  its  principal  author. 

VI.  A  prodigious  number  of  interpreters, 
both  in  this  and  the  succeeding  ages,  followed 
the  method  of  Origen,  tliough  with  some  va- 
riations; nor  could  the  few,  who  explained  the 
sacred  writings  with  judgment  and  a  true 
spirit  of  criticism,  oppose  with  success  the  tor- 
rent of  allegory  that  was  overflowing  the 
church.  The  commentaries  of  Hippolytus, 
which  are  yet  extant,  show  manifestly,  that 
this  good  man  was  entirely  addicted  to  the  sys- 
tem of  Origen,  and  the  same  judgment  may  be 
hazarded  concerning  Victorinus'  explications 
of  certain  books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ment, though  these  explications  are,  long  since, 
lost.  Tiie  translation  of  the  Ecclesiastes  by 
Gregory  Thaumaturgus,  which  is  yet  remain- 
ing, is  not  chargeable  with  this  reproach,  not- 
withstanding the  tender  and  warm  attachment 
of  its  author  to  Origen.  The  book  of  Genesis 
and  the  Song  of  Solomon  were  explained  by 
Methodius,  wliose  work  is  lost;  and  Ammonius 
composed  a  Harmony  of  the  Gospels. 

VII.  The  doctrinal  part  of  theology  employ- 
ed the  pens  of  many  learned  men  in  this  cen- 
tury. In  his  Stromata,  and  his  four  books  of 
Elements,  Origen  illustrated  the  greatest  part 
of  the  doctrines  of  Cliristianity,  or,  to  speak 
more  properly,  rather  disguised  them  under 
the  lines  of  a  vain  philosophy.  These  books 
of  elements,  or  principles,  were  the  first  sketch 
that  appeared  of  the  scholastic  or  philosophi- 
cal theology.  Something  of  the  same  nature 
was  attempted  by  Theognostus,  in  his  seven 
books  of  Hypotyposes,  which  are  only  known 
at  present  by  the  extracts  of  tlieni  in  Photius, 
w"ho  represents  them  as  tlie  work  of  one  who 
was  infected  with  the  notions  of  Origen. — 
Gregory  Thaumaturgus  drew  up  a  brief  sum- 
mary of  the  Christian  religion,  in  his  Exposi- 
tion of  the  Faith;  and  many  treated,  in  a  more 
ample  manner,  particular  points  of  doctrine  in 
opposition  to  the  enemies  and  corruptors  of 
Christianity.  Thus  Hippolytus  wrote  of  the 
Deity,  the  resurrection,  Anti-Christ,  and  the 
end  of  the  world;  Methodius,  of  free-will;  and 
Lucian,  of  faith.  It  is  doubtful  in  what  class 
these  productions  are  to  be  placed,  as  most  of 
them  have  perished  among  the  ruins  of  time. 

VIII.  Among  the  moral  writers,  the  first 
place,  after  Tertullian,  of  whom  we  have  al- 
ready spoken,  is  due  to  Cyprian,  a  prelate  of 
eminent  merit,  who  published  several  treatises 
concerning  patience,  mortality,  works,  alms,  as 
also  an  exhortation  to  martyrdom.  In  these 
dissertations  there  are  many  excellent  things; 
but  they  are  destitute  of  order,  precision,  and 
method;  nor  do  we  alwaj's  fiiid  solid  proofs  in 


favour  of  the  decisions  they  contain.*  Origen 
has  written  many  treatises  of  this  kind,  and, 
among  others,  an  exhortation  to  suffer  martyr- 
dom for  the  truth;  a  subject  handled  by  many 
authors  in  this  centur}',  but  with  unequal  elo- 
quence and  penetration.  Methodius  treated 
of  chastity,  in  a  work  entitled,  Symposium 
Virgimun,  or,  the  Feast  of  Virgins:  but  this 
treatise  is  full  of  confusion  and  disorder. — 
Dionysins  handled  the  doctrine  of  penance  and 
temptations.  The  other  moral  writers  of  this 
period  are  too  obscure  and  trivial  to  render  the 
mention  of  them  necessary. 

IX.  The  controversial  writers  were  exceed- 
ingly numerous  in  this  century.  The  Pagans 
were  attacked,  in  a  victorious  manner,  by  Mi- 
nucius  Felix,  in  his  dialogue  called  Octavius; 
by  Origen;  in  his  writings  against  Celsus;  by 
Arnobius  in  his  seven  books  against  the  Gen- 
tiles; and  by  Cyprian,  in  his  treatise  concern- 
ing the  vanity  of  idols.  The  chronicle  of  Hip- 
polytus in  opposition  to  the  Gentiles,  and  the 
work  of  Methodius  against  Porphyr}',  that  bit- 
ter adversary  of  the  Christians,  are  both  lost. 

We  may  also  reckon,  in  the  number  of  the 
polemic  writers,  those  who  wrote  agamst  the 
philosophers,  or  who  treated  any  subjects  that 
were  disputed  between  different  sects.  Such 
was  Hippolytus,  who  wrote  against  Plato,  and 
who  also  treated  the  nicest,  the  most  difficult, 
and  the  most  controverted  subjects,  such  as 
fate,  free-will,  and  the  origin  of  evil,  which 
exercised,  likewise,  the  pens  of  Methodius  and 
other  acute  writers.  What  Hippolytus  wrote 
against  the  .Tews,  has  not  reached  our  times; 
but  the  work  of  Cyprian,  upon  that  subject,  yet 
remains.!  Origen,  Victorinus,  and  Hippoly- 
tus, attacked,  in  general,  the  various  sects  and 
heresies  that  divided  the  church;  but  their  la- 
bours in  that  immense  field  have  entirely  dis- 
appeared; and  as  to  those  who  only  turned 
their  controversial  arms  against  some  few  sects 
and  particular  doctrines,  we  think  it  not  neces- 
sary to  enumerate  them  here. 

X.  It  is,  however,  proper  to  observe,  that  the 
methods  now  used  of  defending  Christianity, 
and  attacking  Judaism  and  idolatry,  degenerat- 
ed much  from  the  primitive  simplicity,  and  the 
true  rules  of  controversy.  The  Christian  doc- 
tors, who  had  been  educated  in  the  sciioals  of 
the  rhetoricians  and  sophists,  raslily  employed 
the  arts  and  evasions  of  their  subtile  masters 
in  the  service  of  Christianity;  and,  intent  only 
upon  defeating  the  enemy,  they  were  too  little 
attentive  to  the  means  of  victory,  indifferent 
whether  they  acquired  it  by  artifice  or  plain 
dealing.  This  method  of  disputing,  which  the 
ancients  called  ceconoinical,l  and  which  had 
victory  for  its  object,  rather  than  truth,  was  in 
consequence  of  the  prevailing  taste  for  rhetoric 
and  sophistry,  almost  universally  approved. 
The  Platonists  contributed  to  the  support  and 
encouragement  of  this  ungenerous  method  of 


*  See  Barbbeyrac,  de  la  Morale  des  Peres,  chap.  viii. 

{igt-f  This  work  is  entitled  Testimonia  contra  Judaeos. 

}  Sou?erain,  Platonisme  deyoile,  p.  244.  Daille,  de 
vet,  usu  Palrum,  lib.  i.  p.  160.  Jo.  Clirist.  Wolfii  Casau- 
bon.  p.  100.  With  regard  to  the  t'amous  rule,  to  do  a 
thine,  y-xr'  oixovo^ixv,  or  economically,  see  particularly 
the  ampk  illustrations  of  Gataker,  ad  Marc.  Antoninum. 
lib.  xi. 


Chap.  III. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


89 


disputing,  by  that  maxim  which  asserted  the 
innocence  of  defending  the  truth  by  artifice  and 
falsehood.  This  will  appear  manifest  to  those 
who  have  read,  with  any  manner  of  penetra- 
tion and  judgment,  the  arguments  of  Origcn 
against  C'elsus,  and  those  of  the  other  Cliris- 
tian  disputants  against  the  idolatrous  Gentiles. 
The  metiiod  of  Tertullian,  who  used  to  plead 
prescri[)tion  against  erroneous  doctrines,  was 
not,  perhaps,  unfair  in  this  century;  but  they 
must  be  unacquainted  both  with  tlie  times,  and, 
indeed,  with  the  nature  of  things,  who  imagine 
that  it  is  always  allowable  to  employ  this 
method.* 

XI.  This  disingenuous  and  vicious  method 
of  surprising  their  adversaries  by  artifice,  and 
striking  them  down,  as  it  were,  by  lies  and  fic- 
tions, produced  among  other  disagreeable  ef- 
fects, a  great  number  of  books,  which  were 
falsely  attributed  to  certain  great  men,  in  order 
to  give  these  spurious  productions  more  credit 
and  weight;  for,  as  the  greatest  part  of  man- 
kind are  less  governed  by  reason  than  by  au- 
thority, and  prefer,  in  many  cases,  the  de- 
cisions of  fallible  mortals  to  the  unerring  dic- 
tates of  the  divine  word,  the  disputants,  of 
whom  we  are  now  speaking,  thought  they 
could  not  serve  the  truth  more  effectually  than 
by  opposing  illustrious  names  and  respectable 
authorities  to  the  attacks  of  its  adversaries. 
Hence  arose  the  book  of  ciinons,  which  certain 
artful  men  ascribed  falsely  to  the  apostles; 
hence,  the  apostolical  constitutions,  of  which 
Clement,  bishop  of  Rome,  is  said  to  have 
formed  a  collection;  hence  the  reccgnitions 
and  the  Clementina,  which  are  also  attributed 
to  Clement,!  and  many  other  productions  of 
that  nature,  which,  for  a  long  time,  were  too 
much  esteemed  by  credulous  men. 

Nor  were  the  managers  of  controversy  the 
only  persons  who  employed  these  stratagems; 
the  Mystics  had  recourse  to  the  same  pious 
frauds  to  support  their  sect.  And  accordingly, 
when  they  were  asked  from  what  chief  their 
establishment  took  its  rise,  to  get  clear  of  this 
perplexing  question,  they  feigned  a  chief,  and 
chose,  for  that  purpose,  Dionysius  the  Areopa- 
gite,  a  man  of  almost  apostolical  weight  and 
authority,  who  was  converted  to  Christianity, 
in  the  first  century,  by  the  preaching  of  St. 
Paul  at  Athens.  To  render  this  fiction  more 
specious,  they  attributed  to  this  great  man  va- 
rious treatises  concerning  the  monastic  life,  the 
mystic  theology,  and  other  subjects  of  that  na- 
ture, which  were  the  productions  of  some  sense- 
less and  insipid  writers  of  afler-times.  Thus 
it  happened,  through  the  pernicious  influence 


(J(J^  *  We  scarcely  know  any  case  in  which  the  plea 
of  prescription  can  be  admitted  as  a  satisfactory  argument, 
in  favour  of  religious  tenets,  or  articles  of  faith,  unless  by 
prescription  be  meant,  a  doctrine's  being  established  in 
the  time,  and  by  the  authority  of  the  apostles.  In  all 
other  cases,  prescription  is  no  argument  at  all:  it  cannot 
recommend  error,  and  truth  has  no  need  of  its  support. 

(jt^  1 1'  ''  lot  with  the  utmost  accuracy  that  Dr. 
Mosneim  places  the  recognitions  among  the  spurious 
works  of  antiquity,  since  they  are  quoted  by  Origen, 
Epiphanius,  and  Kufinus,  as  the  work  of  Clement.  It  is 
Irue,  indeed,  that  these  writers  own  them  to  have  been 
altered  in  several  places,  and  falsified  by  the  heretics;  and 
Epiphanius  particularly,  tells  us,  that  the  Ebionites 
f  carcely  left  any  thing  sound  in  them.  As  to  the  Clemeo- 
lina,  they  were  undoubtedly  s«uriou5. 

Vol.  I.— 12 


of  human  passions,  which  too  of\en  mingle 
themselves  with  the  execution  of  the  best  pur- 
poses and  the  most  upright  intentions,  that 
they,  who  were  desirous  of  surpassing  all 
others  in  piety,  looked  upon  it  as  lawful,  and 
even  laudable,  to  advance  the  cause  of  piety 
by  artifice  and  fraud. 

XII.  The  most  famous  controversies  that 
divided  the  Christians  during  this  century, 
were  those  concerning  the  Millennium,  or  reign 
of  a  thousand  years;  the  baptism  of  heretics, 
and  the  doctrine  of  Origen. 

Long  before  this  period,  an  opinion  had  pre- 
vailed, that  Christ  was  to  come  and  reiorn  a 
tliousand  years  among  men,  before  the  entire 
and  final  dissolution  of  tliis  world.  This 
opinion,  which  had  hitherto  met  with  no  op- 
position, was  variously  interpreted  by  diflferent 
persons:  nor  did  all  promise  themselves  the 
same  kind  of  enjoyments  in  that  future  and 
glorious  kingdom.*  But,  in  this  century,  its 
credit  began  to  decline,  principally  through  the 
influence  and  authority  of  Origen,  who  op- 
posed it  with  the  greatest  warmth,  because  it 
was  incompatible  with  some  of  his  favourite 
sentiments. t  Nepos,  an  Egyptian  bishop,  en- 
deavoured to  restore  this  opinion  to  its  former 
credit,  in  a  book  written  against  the  JIllrc:;orists, 
for  so  he  called,  by  way  of  contempt,  the  ad- 
versaries of  the  Millennarian  system.  This 
work,  and  the  hypothesis  it  defended,  were  ex- 
ceedingly well  received  by  great  numbers  in 
the  canton  of  Arsinoe;  and  among  others  by 
Coracion,  a  presbyter  of  no  mean  influence 
and  reputation.  But  Dionysius  of  Alexandria, 
a  disciple  of  Origen,  stopped  the  growing  pro- 
gress of  this  doctrine  by  his  private  discourse, 
and  also  by  two  learned  and  judicious  disser- 
tations concerning  the  divine  promises. J 

XIII.  The  disputes  concerning  the  baptism 
of  heretics  were  not  carried  on  ^'ith  that  ami- 
able spirit  of  candour,  moderation,  and  impar- 
tiality, with  which  Dionysius  opposed  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Millennium.  The  warmth  and 
violence  that  were  exerted  in  this  controversy, 
were  far  from  being  edifying  to  such  as  were 
acquainted  with  the  true  genius  of  Christianity, 
and  with  that  meekness  and  forbearance  that 
should  particularly  distinguish  its  doctors. 

As  there  was  no  express  law  which  deter- 
mined the  manner  and  form,  according  to 
which  those  who  abandoned  the  heretical  sects 
were  to  be  received  into  the  communion  of  the 
church,  the  rules  practised  in  thus  matter  were 
not  the  same  in  all  Christian  churches.  Many 
of  the  Oriental  and  African  Christians  placed 
recanting  heretics  in  the  rank  of  catechumens, 
and  admitted  them,  by  baptism,  into  the  com- 
munion of  the  faithful;  while  the  greatest  part 
of  the  European  churches,  considering  the 
baptism  of  heretics  as  valid,  used   no   other 


(flj~  *  See  the  learned  Treatise  concerning  Me  true 
Millennium,  which  Dr.  Whitby  has  subjoined  to  the 
second  volume  of  his  commentary  upon  the  New  Testa- 
ment. See  also,  for  au  account  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
ancient  Millennarians,  the  fourth,  fifth,  seventh,  aud 
ninth  volumes  of  Lardner's  Credibility,  &c. 

t  See  Origen,  de  Principiis,  lib.  ii.  cap.  xi.  p.  104.  torn. 
1.  op. 

}  See  Eusebius.  Hist.  Eecles.  lib.  vii.  cap.  Tiir.  p.  271, 
as  also  Gcnnadiut,  d«  dogmatibus  Ecclesiaiticis,  cap.  It. 
p.  33.  edit.  Elmenhorst. 


90 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


fonn  in  their  reception  than  the  imposition  of 
hands,  accompanied  with  solemn  prayer.  This 
diversity   prevailed   for  a   long  time  without 
exciting  contentions  or  animosities.     But,  at 
length,  charity  waxed  cold,  and  the  fire  of  ec-  i 
clesiastical  discord  broke  out.    In  this  century,  | 
the  Asiatic  Christians  came  to  a  determination  I 
in  a  point  that  was  hitlierto,  in  some  measure  | 
undecided;  and  in  more  than  one  council  cs- j 
tablished  it  as  a  law,  that  all  heretics  were  to 
be  re-baptised   before  their  admission  to  the  1 
communion  of  the  true  church.*     When  Ste-  | 
phen  bishop  of  Rome,  was  informed   of  this ; 
determination,  he  behaved  with  the  most  un- ; 
christian  violence  and   arrogance  toward  the ! 
Asiatic    Christians,    broke    communion    with  I 
them,  and  excluded  them  from  the  commu-  j 
nion  of  the  church  of  Rome.     These  haughty ! 
proceedings  made  no  impression  upon  Cyprian  . 
bishop  of  Carthage,  who,  notwithstanding  the  [ 
menaces  of  the  Roman  pontitf,  assembled  a  I 
council  on  this  occasion,  adopted  with  the  rest  | 
of  the  African  bishops,  the  opinion  of  the  Asiat- 
ics, and  gave  notice  thereof  to  the  imperious 
Stephen.    The  fury  of  the  latter  was  redoubled 
at  this  notification,  and  produced  many  threat- 
enings  and   invectives  against   Cyprian,  who 
replied  with  great  force  and  resolution,  and  in 
a  second  council  holden  at  Carthage,  declared 
the  baptism,  administered  by  lieretics,  void  of 
all  efficacy  and  validity.     Upon  this  the  wrath 
of  Stephen  was  inflamed  beyond  measure;  and, 
by  a  decree  full  of  invectives,  which  was  re- 
ceived with  contempt,  he  excommunicated  the 
African  bishops,  whose  moderation  on  the  one 
hand,  and  the  death  of  their  imperious  antago- 
nist on  the  other,  put  an  end  to  tiie  violent 
contest,  t 

XIV.  The  controversy  concerning  Origen 
was  set  in  motion  by  Demetrius,  bishop  of 
Alexandria,  animated  as  some  say,  by  a  princi- 
ple of  envy  and  hatred  against  that  learned 
man,  with  whom  he  had  formerly  lived  in  an 
intimate  friendship.  The  assertion,  however 
of  those  who  attribute  the  opposition  of  De- 
metrius to  this  odious  principle,  appears  more 
than  doubtful;  for,  in  the  whole  of  his  conduct 
toward  Origen,  there  are  no  visible  marks  of 
envy,  though  many  mdeed  of  passion  and  ar- 
rogance, of  violence  and  injustice.  Tlie  oc- 
casion of  all  this  was  as  follows.  In  the  year 
228,  Origen  having  set  out  for  Achaia,  was  in 
his  journey  thither,  received  with  singular 
marks  of  affection  and  esteem  by  the  bishops 
of  Csesarea  and  Jerusalem,  who  ordained  him 
presbyter  by  imposition  of  hands.  This  pro- 
ceeding gave  high  offence  to  Demetrius,  who 
declared  Origen  unworthy  of  the  priesthood, 
because  he  liad  castrated  himself,  and  main- 
tained, at  the  same  time,  that  it  was  not  law- 
ful to  advance,  to  a  higher  dignity,  the  princi- 
pal of  the  Alexandrian  school,  which  was 
under  his  episcopal  inspection,  without  his 
knowledge  and  approbation.  A  conclusion, 
however  was  put  to  these  warm  debates,  and 


*  Euseb.  lib.  vii.  cap.  r.  vii.  Firmilianus,  Epistol.  ad 
Cyprianum,  printed  among  Cyprian's  LeUers. 

t  Cyprian,  Epist.  Ixx.  Ixxiii.— Augustin,  de  Baptismo 
eontra  Donatistas,  lib.  v.  vii.  torn.  ix.  op.  where  are  to  be 
found  the  acts  of  the  council  of  Carthage,  A.  D.  256.— 
Prud.  Marani  vita  Cypriini,  p.  107. 


Origen  returned  to  Alexandria.  This  calm 
was  indeed,  but  of  short  duration,  being  soon 
succeeded  by  a  new  breach  between  him  and 
Demetrius,  the  occasion  of  which  is  not  known, 
but  which  grew  to  such  a  height  as  obliged 
Origen,  in  the  year  231,  to  abandon  his  charge 
at  Alexandria  and  retire  to  Casarea.  His  ab- 
sence, however,  did  not  appease  the  resent- 
ment of  Demetrius,  who  continued  to  perse- 
cute him  with  the  utmost  violence.  To  satisfy 
fully  his  vengeance  against  Origen,  he  assem- 
bled two  councils,  in  the  first  of  which  he  con- 
demned him  unheard,  and  deprived  him  of  his 
office,  and,  in  the  second,  procured  his  deirra- 
dation  from  the  sacerdotal  dignity.  It  is  pro- 
bable, that  in  one  of  these  councils,  especially 
the  latter,  Demetrius  accused  him  of  erroneous 
sentiments  in  matters  of  religion;  for  it  was 
about  this  time  tliat  Origen  publislied  his  Book 
of  Principles,  containing  several  opinions  of  a 
dangerous  tendency.*  The  greatest  part  of 
the  Christian  bishops  aj>}>roved  the  proceedings 
of  the  Alexandrian  council,  against  which  the 
bishops  of  the  cliurclies  of  Achaia,  Palestine, 
PlioBnicia,  and  Arabia,  declared  at  the  same 
time  the  highest  displeasure. f 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Concerning  the  Rites  and  Ceremonies  wed  in  the 

Church  during  this  Century, 

I.  All  the  records  of  this  century  mention 
the  multiplication  of  rites  and  ceremonies  in 
the  Christian  church.  Several  of  the  causes 
that  contributed  to  this,  have  been  already 
pointed  out;  to  which  we  may  add,  as  a  prin- 
cipal one,  the  passion  which  now  reigned  for 
the  Platonic  pliilosophy,  or,  rather,  for  the  po- 
pular Oriental  superstition  concerning  demons, 
adopted  by  the  Platonists,  and  borrowed  from 
them,  unhappily,  by  the  Christian  doctors. 
For  there  is  not  the  least  doubt,  that  many  of 
the  rites,  now  introduced  into  the  church,  de- 
rived their  origin  from  the  reigning  opinions 
concerning  the  nature  of  demons,  and  the 
powers  and  operations  of  invisible  beings. — 
Hence  arose  the  use  of  exorcisms  and  spells, 
the  frequency  of  fasts,  and  the  aversion  to 
wedlock;  hence  the  custom  of  avoiding  all  con- 
nexion with  those  who  were  not  as  yet  baptized, 
or  who  lay  under  tlie  penalty  of  excommuni- 
cation, as  persons  supposed  to  be  under  the 


(fQ~  *  This  work,  which  vi'as  a  sort  of  introduction  to 
theolugy,  has  only  come  down  to  us  in  the  translation  of 
Rufinus,  who  corrected  and  maimed  it,  in  order  to  ren- 
der it  more  conformable  to  the  orthodox  doctrine  of  the 
church  than  Origen  had  lel't  it.  It  contains,  however, 
even  in  its  present  form,  several  bold  and  singular 
opinions,  such  as  the  pre-existeuce  of  souls,  and  their 
fall  into  mortal  bodies,  in  consequence  of  their  deviation 
from  the  laws  of  order  in  their  first  state,  and  the  final 
restoration  of  all  intelligent  beings  to  order  and  happi- 
ness. Hufinus,  in  his  apology  for  Origen,  alleges,  that 
his  writings  were  maliciously  falsified  by  the  heretics; 
and  that,  in  consequence  thereof,  many  errors  were  at- 
tributed to  him  which  he  did  not  adopt;  as  also,  that  the 
opinions,  in  which  he  differed  from  the  doctrines  of  the 
church,  were  only  proposed  by  him  as  curious  conjectures. 

t  The  accounts  here  given  of  the  persecution  of  Origen, 
are  drawn  from  the  most  early  and  authentic  sources, — 
from  Eusebius'  History,  the  Bibliotheca  of  Photius, 
Jerome's  Catalogue  of  Ecclesiastical  Authors,  and  Origen 
himself;  and  they  differ  in  some  respects  from  those  which 
common  writers,  such  as  Doucin,  lluet,  and  others,  give 
of  this  matter. 


Chap.  IV. 


RITES  AND  CEREMONIES. 


91 


dominion  of  some  malignant  spirit;  and  hence 
the  rigour  and  severity  of  the  penance  imposed 
upon  those  who  had  incurred  by  their  immo 
rahties,  the  censures  of  the  church.* 

II.  In  most  of  the  provinces  there  were,  at 
this  time,  some  fi.\ed  places  set  apart  for  public 
worship  among  the  Christians  as  will  appear 
evident  to  every  impartial  inquirer  into  these 
matters.  Nor  is  it  absolutely  improbable,  that 
these  churches  were,  in  several  places,  embel- 
lished with  images  and  otlier  ornaments. 

With  respect  to  the  form  of  divine  wor.ship, 
and  the  times  appointed  for  its  celebration, 
there  were  few  innovations  made  in  this  cen- 
tury. Two  things,  however,  deserve  to  be 
noticed  here:  the  first  is,  that  the  discourses, 
or  sermons,  addressed  to  tlie  people,  were  very 
different  from  those  of  the  earlier  times  of  the 
church,  and  degenerated  much  from  the  an- 
cient simplicity;  for,  not  to  say  any  thing  of 
Origen,  who  introduced  long  sermons,  and  was 
the  first  who  explained  the  Scriptures  in  his 
discourses,  several  bishops,  who  had  received 
their  education  in  the  schools  of  the  rhetori- 
cians, were  e.xactly  scrupulous  in  adapting  tJieir 
public  exhortations  and  discourses  to  the  rules 
of  Grecian  eloquence;  and  tins  method  gained 
such  credit,  as  to  be  soon  almost  universally 
followed.  The  second  thing  that  we  proposed 
to  mention  as  worthy  of  notice,  is,  that  about 
this  time,  the  use  of  incense  was  introduced, 
at  least  into  many  churches.  This  has  been 
denied  by  some  men  of  eminent  learning;  the 
fact,  however,  is  rendered  evident  by  the  most 
unexceptionable  testimonies.! 

III.  Several  alterations  were  now  intro- 
duced in  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  supper, 
by  those  who  had  the  direction  of  divine  wor- 
ship. The  prayers,  used  upon  this  occasion, 
were  lengthened;  and  the  solemnity  and  pomp, 
with  which  this  important  institution  was  cele- 
brated, were  considerably  increased;  no  doubt, 
with  a  pious  intention  to  render  it  still  more 
respectable.  Those  who  were  in  a  penitential 
state  and  those  also  who  had  not  received  the 
sacrament  of  baptism,  were  not  admitted  to 
this  holy  supper;  and  it  is  not  difficult  to  per- 
ceive, that  these  exclusions  were  an  imitation 
of  what  was  practised  in  the  heathen  myste- 
ries. We  find,  by  the  accounts  of  PrudentiusJ 
and  others,  that  gold  and  silver  vessels  were 
now  used  in  the  administration  of  the  Lord's 
supper;  nor  is  there  any  reason  why  we  should 
not  adopt  this  opinion,  since  it  is  very  natural 
to  imagine,  that  those  churches,  which  were 
composed  of  the  most  opulent  members,  would 
readily  indulge  themselves  in  tiiis  piece  of  re- 
ligious pomp.  As  to  the  time  of  celebrating 
this  solemn  ordinance,  it  must  be  carefully  ob- 
served, that  there  was  a  considerable  variation 
in  different  churches,  arising  from  their  differ- 
ent circumstances,  and  founded  upon  reasons 


*  For  a  more  ample  account  of  this  matter,  the  reader 
may  consult  Porphyry's  treatise  concerning  abstinence, 
ana  compare  what  that  writer  has  6aid  on  the  subject, 
with  the  customs  received  among  the  Christians.  Several 
curious  tilings  are  also  to  be  found  in  Theodoret  and 
Cusebius  upon  this  head. 

t  See  Bishop  Beverege  ad  Canon,  iii.  Apostol.  p.  461; 
as  also  another  work  of  the  same  author,  entitled,  Codex 
Cauon.  vindicatus,  p.  78. 

\U((t  i$fxv.  Hymn  ii.  n.  60,  edit,  Heinsii. 


of  prudence  and  necessity.  In  some,  it  was 
celebrated  in  the  morning;  in  others,  at  noon; 
and  in  others,  in  tlie  evening.  It  was  also 
more  frequently  repeated  in  some  churches, 
than  in  others;  but  was  considered  in  all  as  of 
the  highest  importance,  and  as  essential  to  sal- 
vation; for  which  reason  it  was  even  thoucrht 
proper  to  administer  it  to  infants.  The  sacred 
feasts,  wliich  accompanied  this  venerable  in- 
stitution, preceded  its  celebration  in  some 
churches,  and  followed  it  in  others. 

IV.  There  were,  twice  a  year,  stated  times 
wiien  baptism  was  administered  to  such  as, 
after  a  long  course  of  trial  and  preparation, 
offered  themselves  as  candidates  for  the  pro- 
fession of  Christianity.  This  ceremony  was 
performed  only  in  tlKj  presence  of  such  as 
were  already  initiated  into  the  Christian  mys- 
teries. The  remission  of  sin  was  thought  to 
be  its  immediate  and  happy  fruit;  while  the 
bishop,  by  prayer  and  the  imposition  of  hands, 
was  supposed  to  confer  those  sanctifying  gifts 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  wliich  are  necessary  to  a 
life  of  righteousness  and  virtue.*  We  have 
already  mentioned  the  principal  rites  that  were 
used  in  t'le  administration  of^  baptism;  and  we 
have  only  to  add,  that  no  persons  were  admitted 
to  this  solemn  ordinance,  until,  by  the  me- 
nacing and  formidable  shouts  and  declamation 
of  the  exorcist,  they  had  been  delivered  from 
the  dominion  of  the  prince  of  darkness,  and 
consecrated  to  the  service  of  God.  The  origin 
of  this  superstitious  ceremony  may  be  easily 
traced,  when  we  consider  the  prevailing  opi- 
nions of  the  times.  The  Christians,  in  gene- 
ral, were  persuaded,  that  rational  souls,  deriv- 
ing their  existence  from  God,  must  conse- 
quently be  in  themselves  pure,  holy,  and  en- 
dowed with  the  noble  principles  of  liberty  and 
virtue.  But,  upon  this  supposition,  it  was  dif- 
ficult to  account  for  the  corrupt  propensities 
and  actions  of  men  in  any  other  way,  than  by 
attributing  them  either  to  the  malignant  na- 
ture of  matter,  or  the  influence  and  impulse  of 
some  evil  sjnrit,  who  was  perpetually  compell- 
ing them  to  sin.  The  former  opinion  was  em- 
braced by  the  Gnostics,  but  was  rejected  by 
true  Christians,  who  denied  the  eternity  of  mat- 
ter, considered  it  as  a  creature  of  God,  and 
therefore  adopted  the  latter  notion,  tliat  in  all 
vicious  persons  there  was  a  certain  evil  being, 
the  author  and  source  of  their  corrupt  dispo- 
sitionu  and  their  unrighteous  deeds. f     The  ex- 


*  That  such  was  the  notion  prevalent  at  this  time,  i> 
evident  from  testimonies  of  suMicirnt  weight.  And  as 
(his  point  is  of  great  consequence,  in  orofcr  to  our  un- 
dcrsUinding  the  theology  of  the  ancients,  which  diA'ers 
from  uurs  in  many  respects,  we  shall  mention  one  of 
these  testimonies,  even  tliat  of  Cyprian,  who,  in  his  73d 
letter,  expresses  himself  thus:  "It  is  manifest  where, 
and  by  whom  the  remission  of  sin,  conferred  in  baptism, 
is  administered. — They  who  are  presented  to  the  rulers 
of  the  church,  obtain,  by  our  prayers  and  imposition  of 
hands,  the  Holy  Ghost."  See  also  Euseb.  lib.  vii. 
cap.  viii. 

t  It  is  demonstrably  evident,  that  exorcism  was  added 
to  the  other  baptismal  riles  in  the  third  century,  after 
the  introduction  of  the  Platonic  philosophy  into  the 
church;  for,  before  this  time,  we  hear  no  mention  made 
of  it.  Justin  Martyr,  in  his  second  apology,  and  Ter- 
tullian,  in  his  book  concerning  the  military  crown,  give 
us  an  account  of  the  ceremonies  used  in  baptism  during 
the  second  century,  without  any  mention  of  exorcism. 
This  is  a  very  strong  argument  of  its  being  posterior  to 
these  two  great  men;  and  is  every  way  proper  to  per>utd« 


92 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II 


pulsion  of  this  demon  was  now  considered  as 
an  essential  preparation  for  baptism,  after  the 
administration  of  which,  the  candidates  re- 
turned home,  adorned  with  crowns,  and  array- 
ed in  white  garments,  as  sacred  emblems;  the 
former,  of  their  victory  over  sin  and  the  world; 
the  latter,  of  their  inward  purity  and  inno- 
cence. 

V.  Fasting  began  now  to  be  held  in  more 
esteem  than  it  had  formerly  been;  a  high  de- 
gree of  sanctity  was  attributed  to  this  prac- 
tice, and  it  was  even  looked  upon  as  of  mdis- 
pensable  necessity,  from  a  notion  that  the 
demons  directed  their  stratagems  principally 
against  those  who  pampered  themselves  with 
delicious  fare,  and  were  less  troublesome  to 
the  lean  and  hungry,  who  lived  under  the 
severities  of  a  rigorous  abstinence.*  The  Latins, 
contrary  to  the  general  custom,  fasted  on  the 
seventh  day  of  the  week;  and,  as  the  Greeks 
and  Orientals  refused  to  follow  their  example 
in  this  respect,  a  new  subject  of  contention 
arose  between  them. 

The  Christians  offered  up  their  ordinary 
prayers  at  three  stated  times  of  the  da)%  viz. 
at  the  third,  the  sixth,  and  the  ninth  hour,  ac- 
cording to  the  custom  observed  among  the 
Jews.  But,  beside  these  stated  devotions,  true 
believers  were  assiduous  in  their  addresses  to 
the  Supreme  Being,  and  poured  forth  fre- 
quently their  vows  and  supplications  before  his 
throne,  because  they  considered  prayer  as  the 
most  essential  duty,  as  well  as  the  noblest  em- 
ployment, of  a  sanctified  nature.  At  those 
festivals,  which  recalled  the  memory  of  some 
joyful  event,  and  were  to  be  celebrated  with 
expressions  of  thanksgiving  and  praise,  tliey 
prayed  standing,  as  they  thought  that  posture 
the  fittest  to  express  their  joy  and  their  confi- 
dence. On  days  of  contrition  and  fasting, 
they  presented  themselves  upon  their  knees 
before  the  throne  of  the  Most  High,  to  express 
their  profound  humiliation  and  self-abasement. 
Certain  forms  of  prayer  were,  undoubtedly, 
used  in  many  places  both  in  public  and  in  pri- 
vate; but  many  also  expressed  their  pious  feel- 
ing in  the  natural  effusions  of  an  unpremedi- 
tated eloquence. 

The  sign  of  the  cross  was  supposed  to  ad- 
minister a  victorious  power  over  all  sorts  of 
trials  and  calamities,  and  was  more  especially 
considered  as  the  surest  defence  against  the 
snares  and  stratagems  of  malignant  spirits; 
and,  hence  it  was,  that  no  Christian  undertook 
any  thing  of  moment,  without  arming  liimself 
with  the  influence  of  tliis  triumphant  sign. 

CHAPTER  V. 

Concerning  the  Divisions  and  Hei-esies  tliat  troitr 
bled  the  Church  during  this  Centwij. 

I.  The  same  sects  that,  in  the  former  ages, 
had  produced  such  disorder  and  perplexity  in 
the  Christian  church,  continued,  in  this,  to 
create  new  troubles,  and  to  foment  new  divi- 
sions. The  Montanists,  Valentinians,  Mar- 
cionites,   and  the   other   Gnostics,  continued 


us,  that  it  made  its  entrance  into  the  Christiiin  church  in 
the  third  century,  and  probably  first  in  Egypt. 

*  Clementin.  Homil.  is.  sect.  5.  Porphyr.  de  abstincn- 
tia,  lib.  ir. 


still  to  draw  out  their  forces,  notwithstanding 
the  repeated  defeats  they  had  met  with;  and 
their  obstinacy  remained  even  when  their 
strength  was  gone,  as  it  often  happens  in  reli- 
gious controversy.  Adelphius  and  Aquilinus, 
who  were  of  the  Gnostic  tribe,  endeavoured  to 
insinuate  themselves  and  their  doctrine  into  the 
esteem  of  the  public,  at  Rome,  and  in  other 
parts  of  Italy.*  They  were,  however,  check- 
ed, not  only  by  the  Christians,  but  also  by  Plo- 
tinus,  the  greatest  Platonic  philosopher  of  this 
age,  who,  followed  by  a  numerous  train  of  dis- 
ciples, opposed  these  two  chimerical  teachers, 
and  others  of  the  same  kind,  with  as  much  vi- 
gour and  success  as  the  most  enlightened  Chris- 
tians could  have  done.  The  philosophical 
opinions  which  this  faction  entertained  con- 
cerning the  Supreme  Being,  the  origin  of  the 
world,  the  nature  of  evil,  and  several  other 
subjects,  were  entirely  opposite  to  the  doctrines 
of  Plato.  Hence  the  disciples  of  Jesus,  and 
the  followers  of  Plotinus,  united  tjieir  efforts 
against  the  progress  of  Gnosticism:  and  tliere 
is  no  doubt  that  their  conjunct  force  soon  de- 
stroyed the  credit  and  authority  of  this  fantas- 
tic sect,  and  rendered  it  cont-emptible  in  the 
estimation  of  the  wise.f 

II.  While  the  Christians  were  struggling 
with  these  corrupters  of  the  truth,  and  upon 
the  point  of  obtaining  a  complete  and  decisive 
victory,  a  new  enemy,  more  vehement  and  odi- 
ous than  the  rest,  started  up  suddenly,  and  en- 
gaged in  the  contest.  This  was  Manes  (or 
Manichseus,  as  he  sometimes  is  called  by  his 
disciples,)  by  birth  a  Persian;  educated  among 
tlie  iVTagi,  and  himself  one  of  that  number,  be- 
fore he  embraced  the  profession  of  Christianity. 
Instructed  in  all  those  arts  and  sciences,  which 
the  Persians,  and  the  neiglibouring  nations, 
held  in  the  highest  esteem,  he  had  penetrated 
into  the  depths  of  astronomy  in  the  midst  of  a 
rural  life;  studied  the  art  of  healing,  and  ap- 
plied himself  to  painting  and  philosophy.  His 
genius  was  vigorous  and  sublime,  but  redun- 
dant and  ungoverned;  and  his  mind,  destitute 
of  a  proper  temperature,  seemed  to  border  on 
fanaticism  and  madness.  He  was  so  adventu- 
rous as  to  attempt  an  amalgamation  of  the 
doctrine  of  the  Magi  with  the  Christian  sys- 
tem, or  rather  the  explication  of  one  by  the 
other;  and,  in  order  to  succeed  in  tliis  audaci- 
ous enterprise,  he  affirmed  that  Christ  had  left 
the  doctrine  of  salvation  unfinished  and  imper- 
fect, and  tliat  he  was  the  comforter  whom  the 
departing  Saviour  had  promised  to  his  disci- 
ples to  lead  tliem  into  all  trutli.  Many  were 
deceived  by  the  eloquence  of  this  enthusiast, 
by  tlie  gravity  of  his  countenance,  and  the  in- 
nocence and  simplicity  of  his  manners;  so  that, 
in  a  short  time,  lie  formed  a  sect  not  utterly 
inconsiderable  in  point  of  number.  He  was 
put  to  death  by  Varanes  I.  king  of  the  Persians; 
tliough  historians  are  not  agreed  with  respect 
to  the  cause,  time,  and  manner,  of  his  execu- 
tion.! 


♦Porphyr.  vita  Plotini,  cap.  ivi.  p.  118. 

}  Plotinus' book  against  the  Gnostics  is  extant  in  his 
work,  Ennead.  ii.  lib.  ix. 

9lJ»  \  Some  allege,  that  Manes,  having  undertaken  to 
cure  tlie  son  of  the  Persian  monarch  of  a  dangerous  dis- 
ease, by  his  medicinal  art  or  his  miraculous  power,  failed 


That.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


!)3 


III.  The  doctrine  of  Manes  was  a  motley 
mi.\ture  of  the  tenets  of  Christianity  with  the 
ancient  philosophy  of  the  Persians,  in  which 
he  had  been  instructed  during  his  youth.  He 
combined  these  two  systems,  and  applied  and 
accommodated  to  Jesus  Christ  the  characters 
and  actions  which  the  Persians  attributed  to 
the  god  Mithras.  The  principal  doctrines  of 
Manes  are  comprehended  in  the  following  sum- 
mary: 

"  There  are  two  principles  from  which  all 
things  proceed;  the  one  is  a  most  pure  and  sub- 
tile matter,  called  Light;  and  the  other  a  gross 
and  corrupt  substance,  called  Darkness.  Both 
are  subject  to  the  dominion  of  a  superintend- 
ing being,  whose  existence  is  from  all  eternity. 
The  being  who  presides  over  the  light,  is  call- 
ed (lod;  he  that  rules  the  land  of  darkness, 
bears  the  title  of  Hyle  or  Demon.  The  ruler 
of  the  light  is  supremely  happy;  and,  in  con- 
sequence thereof,  benevolent  and  good;  the 
prince  of  darkness  is  unhappy  in  himself;  and, 
desiring  to  render  others  partakers  of  his  misery, 
is  evil  and  malignant.  These  two  beings  have 
produced  an  immense  multitude  of  creatures, 
resembling  themselves,  and  distributed  them 
through  their  respective  provinces. 

IV.  "The  prince  of  darkness  knew  not,  for 
a  long  series  of  ages,  that  light  existed  in  the 
universe;  and  he  no  sooner  perceived  it,  by  the 
means  of  a  war  that  was  kindled  in  his  domin- 
ions, than  he  bent  his  endeavours  toward  the 
subjection  of  it  to  his  empire.  The  ruler  of 
the  light  opposed  to  his  etforts  an  army  com- 
manded by  the  first  man,  but  not  with  the  high- 
est success;  for  the  generals  of  the  prince  of 
darkness  seized  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
celestial  elements,  and  of  the  light  itself,  and 
mingled  them  in  the  mass  of  corrupt  matter. 
The  second  general  of  the  ruler  of  tlie  light, 
whose  name  was  the  living  spirit,  made  war 
with  greater  success  against  the  prince  of  dark- 
ness, but  could  not  entirely  disengage  the  pure 
particles  of  the  celestial  matter,  from  the  cor- 
rupt mass  through  which  they  had  been  dis- 
persed. The  prince  of  darkness,  after  his  de- 
feat, produced  the  first  parents  of  the  human 
race.  The  beings  engendered  from  this  origi- 
nal stock,  consists  of  a  body  formed  out  of  the 
corrupt  matter  of  the  kingdom  of  darkness, 
and  of  two  souls;  one  of  which  is  sensitive  and 
lustful,  and  owes  its  existence  to  the  evil  prin- 
ciple; the  other  rational  and  immortal,  a  par- 

iii  the  attempt,  precipitated  the  death  of  the  prince,  and, 
thus  incurring  the  indignation  of  the  king  his  father, 
was  put  to  a  cruel  death.  This  account  is  scarcely  proba- 
ble, as  it  is  mentioned  by  none  of  the  Oriental  writers 
cited  by  M.  d'Herbelot,  and  as  liar-Hcbrseus  speaks  of  it 
in  terms  which  show  that  it  was  only  an  uncertain  ru- 
mour. The  death  of  Manes  is  generally  attributed  to 
another  cause  by  the  Oriental  writers.  They  tell  us, 
that  (after  having  been  protected  in  a  singular  manner  by 
HormizJas,  who  succeeded  Sapor  on  the  Persian  throne, 
but  who  was  not  able  to  defend  him, at  length, against  the 
united  hatred  of  the  Chri^ians^,  the  Magi,  the  Jews,  and 
the  Pagans)  he  was  shut  up  m  a  strong  castle,  which 
Hormizdas  had  erected  between  Bagdad  and  Susa,  to 
nerve  him  as  a  refuge  against  those  who  persecuted  him 
on  account  of  his  doctrine.  They  add,  that  after  the 
death  of  Hormizdas,  Varanes  I.,  his  successor,  first  pro- 
tectod  Manes,  but  afterwards  gave  him  up  to  the  fury  of 
the  Magi,  whose  resentment  against  him  arose  from  his 
having  adopted  the  Sadduccin  principles,  as  so/ne  say, 
while  others  attributed  it  to  his  having  mijigled  th.c  teucts 
of  the  Magi  with  the  doctrines  of  Chrislianity, 


tide  of  that  divine  light,  which  was  carried 
away  by  the  army  of  darkness,  and  immersed 
into  the  mass  of  malignant  matter. 

V.  "  Mankind  being  thus  formed  by  the 
prince  of  darkness,  and  those  minds  which 
were  the  productions  of  the  eternal  light,  be- 
ing united  to  their  mortal  bodies,  God  created 
the  earth  out  of  the  corrupt  mass  of  matter, 
by  that  living  spirit,  who  had  vanquished  the 
prince  of  darkness.  The  design  of  this  crea- 
tion was  to  furnish  a  dwelling  for  the  human 
race,  to  deliver,  by  degrees,  the  captive  souls 
from  their  corporeal  prisons,  and  to  extract  the 
celestial  elements  from  the  gross  substance  in 
which  they  were  involved.  In  order  to  carry 
this  design  into  execution,  God  produced  two 
beings  of  eminent  dignity  from  his  own  sub- 
stance, who  were  to  lend  their  auspicious  suc- 
cour to  imprisoned  souls;  of  these  sublime  en- 
tities one  was  Christ;  and  the  other,  the  Holy 
Ghost.  Christ  is  that  glorious  intelligence 
which  the  Persians  called  Mithras:  he  is  a  most 
splendid  substance,  consisting  of  the  brightness 
of  the  eternal  light;  subsisting  in  and  by  him- 
self, endowed  with  life,  and  enriched  with  in- 
finite wisdom;  and  his  residence  is  in  the  sun. 
The  Holy  Ghost  is  also  a  luminous  and  ani- 
mated body,  dilfused  throughout  every  part  of 
the  atmosphere  which  surrounds  this  terrestrial 
globe.  This  genial  principle  warms  and  illu- 
minates the  minds  of  men,  renders  also  the 
earth  fruitful,  and  draws  forth  gradually  from 
its  bosom  the  latent  particles  of  celestial  lire, 
which  it  wafts  up  on  high  to  their  primitive 
station. 

VI.  "When  the  Supreme  Being  had,  for  a 
long  time,  admonished  and  exhorted  the  cap- 
tive souls,  by  the  ministry  of  the  angels,  and 
of  the  holy  men,  appointed  for  that  purpose, 
he  ordered  Christ  to  leave  the  solar  regions, 
and  to  descend  upon  earth,  in  order  to  accele- 
rate the  return  of  those  iinprisoned  spirits  to 
their  celestial  country.  In  obedience  to  this 
divine  command,  Ciirist  appeared  among  the 
Jews,  clothed  witli  the  shadowy  form  of  a  hu- 
man body,  and  not  with  tlie  real  substance. 
During  his  ministry,  he  taught  mortals  how  to 
disengage  the  rational  soul  frohi  the  corrupt 
body,  and  to  conquer  the  violence  of  malignant 
matter;  and  he  demonstrated  his  divine  mission 
by  stupendous  miracles.  On  the  otiier  hand, 
the  prince  of  darkness  used  every  method  to 
inflame  the  Jews  against  this  divine  messen- 
ger, and  incited  them  at  lengtii  to  put  him  to 
death  with  ignominy  upon  a  cross;  wliioh  pun- 
ishment, however  he  suffered  not  in  reality, 
but  only  in  appearance,  and  in  tlie  opinion  of 
men.  When  Christ  liad  fulfilk^d  tlic  purposes 
of  his  mission  he  returned  to  his  tlirone  in  the 
sun,  and  appointed  a  certain  number  of  cho- 
sen apostles  to  propagate  through  the  world 
the  religion  he  had  taught  during  the  course 
of  his  ministry.  But  before  his  doparlure,  he 
promised,  that,  at  a  certain  time,  he  would 
send  an  apostle  superior  to  all  oMiers  in  emi- 
nence and  dignity,  whom  he  called  the  para- 
clete or  comforter,  who  should  add  many  things 
to  the  precepts  he  had  delivered,  and  dispel  all 
the  errors  under  which  his  servants  labom-ed 
concerning  divine  things.  Tiiis  comforter,  tlius 
expressly  promised  by  Christ,  is  Manes,  the 


94 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


Persian,  who,  by  the  order  of  the  Most  High, 
declared  to  mortals  the  whole  doctrine  of  sal- 
vation, without  exception,  and  without  con- 
cealing any  of  its  truths  under  the  veil  of 
metaphor  or  any  other  covering. 

V^II.  "  Those  souls,  who  believe  Jesus  Christ 
to  be  the  Son  of  God,  who  renounce  tiie  wor- 
ship of  the  God  of  the  Jews  (the  prince  of 
darkness,)  obey  tl)c  laws  delivered  by  Christ 
as  they  are  enlarged  and  illustrated  by  the 
comforter,  Manes,  and  combat,  with  perse- 
vering fortitude,  the  lusts  and  appetites  of  a 
corrupt  nature,  derive  from  this  faith  and  obe- 
dience the  inestimable  advantage  of  being  gra- 
dually purihed  from  the  contagion  of  matter. 
The  total  purification  of  souls  cannot,  indeed 
be  accomplished  during  this  mortal  life.  Hence 
it  is,  that  the  souls  of  men,  after  death,  must 
pass  through  two  states  more  of  probation  and 
trial,  by  water  and  tire,  before  thej'  can  ascend 
to  the  regions  of  light.  They  mount,  there- 
fore, first  into  the  moon,  which  consists  of  be- 
nign and  salutary  water;  whence,  after  a  lus- 
tration of  fifteen  da3's,  they  proceed  to  the 
sun,  whose  purifying  fire  entirely  removes  their 
corruption,  and  effaces  all  their  stains.  The 
bodies,  composed  of  malignant  matter,  which 
they  have  left  behind  them,  return  to  their 
first  state,  and  enter  into  their  original  mass. 

V^III.  "  On  the  other  hand,  those  souls  who 
have  neglected  the  salutary  work  of  their  pu- 
rification, pass,  after  death,  into  the  bodies  of 
animals,  or  other  natures,  where  they  remain 
until  they  have  expiated  their  guilt,  and  ac- 
complished their  probation.  Some,  on  account 
of  their  peculiar  obstinacy  and  perverseness, 
pass  through  a  severer  course  of  trial,  being 
delivered  over,  for  a  certain  time,  to  the  power 
of  serial  spirits,  who  torment  them  in  various 
ways.  When  the  greatest  part  of  the  captive 
souls  are  restored  to  liberty,  and  to  the  regions 
of  light,  then  a  devouring  fire  shall  break  forth 
at  the  divine  command,  from  the  caverns  in 
which  it  is  at  present  confined,  and,  shall  de- 
stroy and  consume  the  frame  of  the  world. 
After  this  tremendous  event,  the  prince  and 
powers  of  darkness  shall  be  forced  to  return  to 
their  primitive  seats  of  anguish  and  misery,  in 
which  they  shall  dwell  for  ever;  for,  to  prevent 
their  ever  renewing  this  war  in  the  regions  of 
light,  God  shall  surround  the  mansions  of  dark- 
ness with  an  invincible  guard,  composed  of 
those  souls  who  have  fallen  irrecoverably  from 
the  hopes  of  salvation,  and  who,  set  in  array, 
like  a  military  band,  shall  surround  tliose 
gloomy  seats  of  wo,  and  hinder  any  of  tlieir 
wretched  inhabitants  from  coming  forth  again 
to  the  light." 

IX.  In  order  to  remove  the  strongest  obsta- 
cles that  lay  against  the  belief  of  this  mon- 
strous system.  Manes  rejected  almost  all  the 
sacred  books  into  which  Christians  look  for 
the  sublime  truths  of  their  holy  religion.  He 
affirmed,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  Old  Testa- 
ment was  not  the  word  of  God,  but  of  the 
prince  of  darkness,  who  was  substituted  by  the 
Jews  in  the  place  of  the  true  God.  He  main- 
tained farther  that  the  Four  Gospels,  which 
contain  the  history  of  Christ,  were  not  written 
by  the  apostles,  or,  at  least,  that  they  were 
corrupted  and  interpolated  by  designing  and 


artful  men,  and  were  augmented  with  Jewish 
fables  and  fictions.  He  therefore  supplied  their 
place  by  a  gospel  wliich  he  said  was  dictated  to 
him  by  God  himself,  and  which  he  distinguish- 
ed by  the  title  of  Erteng.  He  rejected  also 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles;  and  though  he  ac- 
knowledged the  epistles,  that  are  attributed  to 
St.  Paul,  to  be  the  productions  of  that  divine 
apostle,  yet  he  looked  upon  them  as  grossly 
corrupted  and  falsified  in  a  variety  of  passages. 
We  have  not  any  certain  account  of  the  judg- 
ment which  he  formed  concerning  the  other 
books  of  the  New  Testament. 

X.  The  rules  of  life  and  manners  that  Manes 
prescribed  to  his  disciples  were  extravagantly 
rigorous  and  austere.  He  commanded  them 
to  mortify  and  macerate  the  body,  which  he 
looked  upon  as  intrinsically  evil,  and  essen- 
tially corrupt;  to  deprive  it  of  all  those  objects 
which  could  contribute  either  to  its  conveni- 
ency  or  delight;  to  extirpate  all  those  desires 
that  lead  to  the  pursuit  of  external  objects; 
and  to  divest  themselves  of  all  the  passions 
and  instincts  of  nature.  Such  were  the  unna- 
tural rules  of  practice  which  this  absurd  fana- 
tic prescribed  to  his  followers;  but  foreseeing, 
at  the  same  time,  that  his  sect  could  not  be- 
come numerous,  if  this  severe  manner  of  liv- 
ing should  be  imposed  without  distinction  upon 
all  his  adherents,  he  divided  his  disciples  into 
two  classes;  one  of  which  comprehended  the 
perfect  Christians,  under  the  name  of  the  elect; 
and  the  other,  the  imperfect  and  feeble,  under 
the  title  of  hearers.  The  elect  were  bound  to 
a  rigorous  and  entire  abstinence  from  flesh, 
eggs,  milk,  fish,  wine,  all  intoxicating  drink, 
wedlock,  and  all  amorous  gratifications,  and 
were  required  to  live  in  a  state  of  the  sharpest 
penury,  nourisliing  their  shrivelled  and  emaci- 
ated bodies  with  bread,  herbs,  pulse,  and 
melons,  and  depriving  themselves  of  all  the 
comforts  that  arise  from  the  moderate  indul- 
gence of  natural  passions,  and  also  from  a  va- 
riety of  innocent  and  agreeable  pursuits.  The 
discipline,  appointed  for  the  hearers,  was  of  a 
milder  nature.  They  were  allowed  to  possess 
houses,  lands,  and  wealth,  to  feed  upon  flesh, 
and  to  enter  into  the  bonds  of  conjugal  ten- 
derness; but  this  liberty  was  granted  to  them 
with  many  limitations,  and  under  the  strictest 
conditions  of  moderation  and  temperance. 

The  general  .Manicliean  assembly  was  head- 
ed by  a  president,  who  represented  Jesus 
Christ.  There  were  joined  to  him  twelve 
rulers,  or  masters,  who  were  designed  to  re- 
present the  twelve  apostles;  and  these  vi'ere 
followed  by  seventy-two  bishops,  the  images  of 
the  seventj^-two  disciples  of  our  Lord.  These 
bishops  had  presbyters  and  deacons  under 
them,  and  all  the  members  of  these  religious 
orders  were  chosen  out  of  the  class  of  the 
elect.* 

XI.  The  sect  of  the  Hieracites  was  formed 
in  Egypt,  toward  the  conclusion  of  this  century, 
by  Hierax  of  Leontium,  a  bookseller  by  pro- 
fession, distinguished  eminently  by  his  e.xten- 
sive  learning,  and  a  venerable  air  of  sanctity 
and  virtue.     Some  have  considered  this  as  a 


*  See  all   this  amply  proved  in  the  wnrk  entitled  Com- 
mentarii   dc    rebus   ('hristianorum    ante    ConstaQtinuc 

Magnum, 


Chap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


96 


branch  of  the  Maiiichsan  sect,  but  without 
foundation  ;  since,  notwithstanding-  the  agree- 
ment of  Manes  and  Hierax  in  some  points  of 
doctrine,  it  is  certain  tliat  they  differed  in  many 
respects.  Hierax  maintained,  that  the  prin- 
cipal object  of  Christ's  oflioe  and  ministry  was 
the  promnliTation  of  a  now  law,  more  severe 
and  perfect  tlian  that  of  Moses:  and  hence  he 
concluded,  tliat  the  use  of  (Ifs'i  and  wine,  wed- 
lock, and  other  t  liintjs  affreoahle  to  the  outward 
senses,  which  had  been  permitted  under  the 
Mosaic  dispensation,  were  absolutely  proiiibit- 
ed  and  abroo-ated  by  Clirist.  If,  indeed,  we 
look  attentively  into  his  doctrine,  we  shall  find, 
that,  like  Manes,  he  did  not  think  that  these 
austere  acts  of  self-denial  were  imposed  by 
Christ  indiscriminately  upon  all,  but  on  such 
only  as  were  ambitious  of  aspirintr  to  tlie  high- 
est summit  of  virtue.  To  this  leading  error 
he  added  some  others,  which  were  partly  tiic 
consequences  of  this  illusion,  and  were,  in 
part,  derived  from  other  sources.  He  excluded, 
for  example,  from  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  chil- 
dren who  died  before  they  had  arrived  at  the 
use  of  reason,  upon  the  supposition  that  God 
was  bound  to  administer  the  rewards  of  futu- 
rity to  those  only  who  had  fairly  finished  their 
victorious  conflict  with  tlie  body  of  its  lusts. 
He  maintained  also,  that  Melchizedec,  king  of 
Salem,  who  blessed  Abraham,  was  the  Holy 
Ghost ;  denied  the  resurrection  of  the  body  ; 
and  cast  a  cloud  of  obscurity  over  the  sacred 
scriptures  by  his  allegorical  fictions.* 

XII.  The  controversies  relating  to  the  divine 
Trinity,  which  took  their  rise  in  the  former 
century,  from  tlie  introduction  of  the  Grecian 
philosophy  into  the  Christian  church,  were  now 
spreading  with  considerable  vigor,  and  pro- 
duced various  methods  of  explaining  that  in- 
explicable doctrine.  One  of  the  first  who  en- 
gaged in  this  idle  and  perilous  attempt  of  ex- 
plaining what  every  mortal  must  acknowledge 
to  be  incomprehensible,  was  Noetus  of  Smyrna, 
an  obscure  man,  and  of  mean  abilities.  He 
affirmed,  that  the  Supreme  God,  whom  he 
called  the  Father,  and  considered  as  absolutely 
indivisible,  united  himself  to  the  man  Christ, 
whom  he  colled  the  Son,  and  was  born,  and 
crucified  with  him.  From  this  opinion,  Noetus 
and  his  followers  were  distinguished  by  the 
title  of  Patripassians,  i.  e.  persons  who  believe 
that  the  Supreme  Father  of  the  universe,  and 
not  any  other  divine  per.son,  had  expiated  the 
guilt  of  the  human  race;  and,  indeed,  tiiis  ap- 
pellation belongs  to  them  justly,  if  the  accounts 
which  ancient  writers  give  us  of  their  opinions 
be  accurate  and  impartial. f 

XIII.  About  the  middle  of  this  century  arose 
Sabeilius,  an  African  bishop  or  presbyter,  who 
m  Pentapolis,  a,  province  of  Cyrenaica,  and  in 
Ptolemais  or  Barre,  its  principal  city,  explain- 
ed, in  a  manner  very  little  different  from  that 
of  Noetus,  the  doctrine  of  Scripture  concern- 
ing the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost.  This 
dogmatist  had  a  considerable  number  of  fol- 
lowers, who  adliered  to  him,  notwithstanding 


*.Epiphan.  Hwros.  Ixvii.  Hipracitarum,  p.  710.  &c. 

t  Sec  the  discourse  of  llippolytiis  aaainst  the 
Heresy  of  Noi-tus,  in  the  secoml  vohime  of  his  works, 
published  by  Fabricius,  as  also  Epiphaii.  Hieres.  Ivii. 
torn,  i.;  and  Theodoret.  Haeret.  Fabul.  lib.  iii  rap.  lii. 


that  his  opinions  were  refuted  by  Dionysius, 
bishop  of  Alexandria.  His  sentiments  were, 
in  some  respects,  different  from  those  of  Noe- 
tus; for  the  latter  was  of  opinion,  that  the 
person  of  the  Father  had  assumed  the  human 
nature  of  Christ;  whereas  Sabeilius  maintain- 
ed, that  a  certain  energy  only,  proceeding  from 
the  Supreme  Parent,  or  a  certain  portion  of 
the  divine  nature,  was  united  to  the  Son  of 
God,  the  man  Jesus;  and  he  considered,  in  the 
same  manner,  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  a  portion  of 
the  everlasting  Father.*  Hence  it  appears, 
tliat  the  SabcUians,  tiiough  they  might  with 
justice  be  called  Patripassians,  were  yet  called 
so  by  the  ancients  in  a  diiferent  sense  from  that 
in  which  this  name  was  given  to  the  Noetians. 

XIV.  At  this  same  period,  Beryllus  an  Ara- 
bian, bishop  of  Bozrali,  and  a  man  of  eminent 
piety  and  learning,  taught  that  Christ,  before 
his  birth,  had  no  proper  suDsistence,  nor  any 
other  divinity,  than  that  of  the  Father;  wiiich 
opinion,  when  considered  with  attention, 
amounts  to  this:  that  Christ  did  not  exist  be- 
fore Mary,  but  that  a  sjiirit  issuing  from  God 
himself,  and  therefore  superior  to  all  human 
souls,  as  being  a  portion  of  tlie  divine  nature, 
was  united  to  him,  at  tiie  time  of  his  birth. 
Beryllus,  however,  was  refuted  by  Origen, 
with  such  a  victorious  power  of  argument  and 
zeal,  that  he  yielded  up  the  cause,  and  returned 
into  the  bosom  of  the  church. f 

XV.  Paul  of  Samosata.  bishon  of  Antioch. 
and  also  a  magistrate,  or  civil  judge,  was  very 
different  from  the  pious  and  candid  Beryllus, 
both  in  point  of  morals  and  doctrine.  He  was 
a  vain  and  arrogant  man,  whom  riches  had  ren- 
dered insolent  and  self-sufficient. j:  He  intro- 
duced great  confusion  and  trouble  into  the 
eastern  churches,  by  his  new  explication  of  the 
doctrine  of  tlie  Gospel  concerning  the  nature 
of  God  and  Christ,  and  left  beliind  him  a  sect, 
that  assumed  the  title  of  Paulians,  or  Paulian- 
ists.  As  far  as  we  can  judge  of  his  doctrine, 
by  the  accounts  of  it  that  have  been  transmit- 
ted to  us,  it  seems  to  have  amounted  to  this : — 
"  That  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Ghost  exist  in 
God,  in  the  same  maimer  as  the  faculties  of 
reason  and  activity  do  in  man;  that  Christ  was 
born  a  mere  man;  but  that  the  reason  or  wis- 
dom of  the  Father  descended  into  him,  and  by 
him  wrought  miracles  upon  earth,  and  instruct- 
ed the  nations ;  and  finall)',  that,  on  account 
of  this  union  of  the  divine  word  with  the  man 
Jesus,  Christ  might,  though  improperly,  be 
called  God." 

Such  were  the  real  sentiments  of  Paul.  He 
involved  them,  however,  in  such  deep  obscu- 
rity, by  the  ambiguous  forms  of  speech  with 
which  he  affected  to  explain  and  defend  them, 
tliat,  in  several  councils  convoked  for  an  inqui- 


*  Almost  all  the  historians,  vvhopive  accounts  of 
the  ancient  heresies,  have  made  particular  mention 
(if  Sabeilius.  Among  others,  see  Euseb.  Hist  Eccles. 
lib.  vi.  cap.  vi.  p.  252.  Athiinus.  Lib.  de  sententia 
Uionysii.  All  the  passaces  of  the  ancient  authors,  re- 
lating to  Sabeilius,  are  carefully  collected  by  the  learn- 
ed Christopher  Wormius,  in  his  Historia  Pabelliana. 

t  Euseb.  lib.  vi.  cap.  xx.  xx.\iii.  Hieronyin.  Catalog. 
Scriptor.  Eccles.  cap.  Ix.  Socrates,  Hist.  Eccles.  lib. 
iii.  cap.  vii.;  and,  among  the  moderns,  le  Clerc,  Ars 
Critica,  vol.  i.  part  ii.  sect.  i.  cap  xiv.  Chauffepied, 
Nouveau  Diction.  HJst.  et  Grit.  torn.  i. 

\  Euseb.  lib.  vii.  cap.  xxx. 


96 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


ry  into  his  errors,  he  could  not  be  convicted  of 
heresy.  At  length,  however,  a  council  was 
assembled  in  the  year  269,  in  which  Malchion, 
the  rhetorician,  drew  him  forth  from  his  obscu- 
rity, detected  his  evasions,  and  exposed  him  in 
his  true  colours;  in  consequence  of  which  he 
was  degraded  from  the  episcopal  order.* 

XVI.  It  was  not  only  in  the  point  now  men- 
tioned, that  tlie  doctrine  of  the  Gospel  suffer- 
ed, at  this  time,  from  the  erroneous  fancies  of 
wrong-headed  doctors;  for  there  sprang  up 
now,  in  Arabia,  a  certain  sort  of  minute  phi- 
losophers, the  disciples  of  a  master,  whose  ob- 
scurity has  concealed  him  from  tlie  knowledge 
of  after-ages,  who  denied  the  immortality  of 
the  soul,  and  believed  tliat  it  perished  with  the 
body;  but  maintained,  at  the  same  time,  that  it 
vi^as  to  be  recalled  to  life  with  the  body,  by  the 
power  of  God.  The  pliilosophers,  who  held 
this  opinion,  were  denominated  Arabians  from 
their  country.  Origen  was  called  from  Egypt, 
to  make  head  against  this  rising  sect,  and  dis- 
puted against  them,  in  a  full  council,  with  such 
remarkable  success,  that  they  abandoned  their 
erroneous  sentiments,  and  returned  to  the  re- 
ceived doctrine  of  the  church. 

XVII.  Among  the  sects  that  arose  in  this 
century,  we  place  that  of  the  Novatians  the 
last.  This  sect  cannot  be  charged  with  having 
corrupted  the  doctrine  of  Christianity  by  their 
opinions;  their  crime  was,  that,  by  the  unrea- 
sonable severity  of  their  discipline,  they  gave 
occasion  to  the  most  deplorable  divisions,  and 
made  an  unhappy  schism  in  the  church.  No- 
vatian,  a  presbyter  of  the  church  of  Rome,  a 
man  of  uncommon  learning  and  eloquence, 
but  of  an  austere  and  rigid  character,  enter- 
tained the  most  unfavourable  sentiments  of 
those  who  had  been  separated  from  the  com- 
munion of  the  church.  He  indulged  his  in- 
clination to  severity  so  far,  as  to  deny  that  such 
as  had  fallen  into  the  commission  of  grievous 
transgressions,  especially  those  who  had  apos- 
tatised from  the  faith,  under  the  persecution 
set  on  foot  by  Decius,  were  to  be  again  receiv- 
ed into  the  bosom  of  the  church.  The  great- 
est part  of  the  presbyters  were  of  a  different 
opinion  in  this  matter,  especially  Cornelius, 
whose  credit  and  influence  were  raised  to  the 
highest  pitch  by  the  esteem  and  admiration 
which  his  eminent  virtues  so  naturally  excited. 
Hence  it  happened,  that  when  a  bishop  was  to 
be  chosen,  in  the  year  250,  to  succeed  Fabianus 
in  the  see  of  Rome,  Novatian  opposed  the 
election  of  Cornelius,  with  the  greatest  activity 
and  bitterness.  His  opposition,  however,  was 
in  vain;  for  Cornelius  was  chosen  to  that  emi- 


*  Epistol.  Concil.  Antioch.  ad  Paulum  in  Bibliotheca 
Patrum,  torn.  xi.  p.  302.  Dionysii  Alex.  Ep.  ad  Paulum. 
Pecem  Pauli  Samosateiii  Q,uaestioDcs. 


nent  office  of  which  his  distinguished  merit 
rendered  him  so  highly  worthy.  Novatian, 
upon  this,  separated  himself  from  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  Cornelius,  who,  in  his  turn,  called  a 
council  at  Rome,  in  the  year  251,  and  cut  off 
Novatian  and  his  partisans  from  the  commu- 
nion of  the  church.  This  turbulent  man,  be- 
ing thus  excommunicated,  erected  a  new  so- 
ciety, of  which  he  was  the  first  bishop;  and, 
which,  on  account  of  the  severity  of  its  discip- 
line, \vas  followed  by  many,  and  flourished, 
until  the  fifth  century,  in  the  greatest  part  of 
those  provinces  which  had  received  f:ne  Gospel. 
The  chief  person  who  assisted  him  in  this  en- 
terprise was  Novatus,  a  Carthagenian  presby- 
ter, a  man  of  no  sound  principles,  who,  during 
the  heat  of  this  controversy,  had  come  from 
Carthage  to  Piome,  to  escape  the  resentment 
and  excommunication  of  Cyprian,  his  bishop, 
with  whom  he  was  higlily  at  variance. 

XVIII.  There  was  no  difference,  in  point 
of  doctrine,  between  the  Novatians  and  other 
Christians.  What  peculiarly  distinguished 
them,  was  their  refusing  to  re-admit,  to  the 
communion  of  the  church,  those  who,  after 
baptism,  had  fallen  into  the  commission  of 
heinous  crimes,  though  they  did  not  pretend, 
that  even  such  were  excluded  from  all  possi- 
bility or  hopes  of  salvation.  They  considered 
the  Christian  church  as  a  society  where  virtue 
and  innocence  reigned  universally,  and  none 
of  whose  members,  from  their  entrance  into,  it, 
had  defiled  themselves  with  any  enormous 
crime;  and,  in  consequence,  they  looked  upon 
every  society,  which  re-admitted  heinous  of- 
fenders to  its  communion,  as  unworthy  of  the 
title  of  a  true  Christian  Church.  For  that 
reason,  also,  they  assumed  the  title  of  Cathari, 
i.  e.  the  pure;  and  what  showed  a  still  more 
extravagant  degree  of  vanity  and  arrogance, 
they  obliged  such  as  came  over  to  them  from 
the  general  body  of  Christians,  to  submit  to  be 
baptised  a  second  time,  as  a  necessary  prepa- 
ration for  entering  into  their  society;  for  such 
deep  root  had  their  favourite  opinion  concern- 
ing the  irrevocable  rejection  of  heinous  of- 
fenders taken  in  their  minds,  and  so  great  was 
its  influence  upon  the  sentiments  they  enter- 
tained of  other  Christian  societies,  that  they 
considered  the  baptism  administered  in  those 
churches,  which  received  the  lapsed  to  their 
communion,  even  after  the  most  sincere  and 
undoubted  repentance,  as  absolutely  divested 
of  the  power  of  imparting  the  remission  of 
sins.* 


'  Eusebius,  lib.  ri.  cap.  xliii.  Cyprianus,  in  variis 
Epistolis,  xlix.  &c.  Albaspinaeus,  Observat.  Eccles.  lib. 
ii.  cap.  XX.  xxi.  Jos.  Aug.  Orsi,  de  Criminum  capital, 
inter  veteres  Christianos  Absolutione,  p.  254.  Kenckel, 
de  Hatred  Novatiana. 


AN 

ECCLESIASTICAL,  HISTORY; 

BOOK  THE  SECOND, 
CONTAINING  THE  STATE  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH 

FROM    THE    TIME    OF 

CONSTANTINE  THE  GREAT  TO  CHARLEMAGNE. 


THE  FOURTH  CENTURY, 


PART  I. 


THE  EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Concerning  the  prosperous  and  calamitous  Events 
which  happened  to  the  Church  during  this 
Century. 

I.  That  I  may  not  separate  facts,  which  are 
intimately  connected  with  each  other,  I  have 
judged  it  expedient  to  combine,  in  the  same 
chapter,  the  prosperous  and  calamitous  events 
that  happened  to  the  church  during  this  cen- 
tury, instead  of  treating  theni  separately,  as  I 
have  hitherto  done.  This  combination,  which 
presents  things  in  their  natural  relations,  as 
causes  or  elTects,  is  undoubtedly  the  principal 
circumstance  that  renders  history  truly  interest- 
ing. In  following,  however,  this  plan,  the  or- 
der of  time  shall  also  be  observed  witli  as  much 
accuracy  as  the  combination  of  events  will 
allow. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  century,  the  Roman 
empire  was  under  the  dominion  of  four  chiefs, 
of  whom  two,  Diocletian  and  Maximian  Her- 
culius,  were  of  superior  dignity,  and  were  se- 
verally distinguished  by  the  title  of  Augustus; 
while  the  other  two,  Constantius  Chlorus  and 
Maximian  Galcrius,  were  in  a  certain  degree 
of  subordination  to  the  former,  and  were  ho- 
noured witii  the  appellation  of  (!a3sars.  Under 
these  four  emperors,  the  church  enjoyed  an 
agreeable  calm.*  Diocletian,  though  much  ad- 
dicted to  superstition,  did  not  entertain  any 
aversion  to  the  Christians;  and  Constantius 
Chlorus,  who,  following  the  dictates  of  reason 
alone  in  the  worship  of  the  Deity,  had  abandon- 
ed the  absurdities  of  polytheism,  treated  them 


*  Eusebius,  lib.  viii   "ap.  i  p  291,  &c 

Vol.  I.— 13 


with  condescension  and  benevolence.  This 
alarmed  the  pagan  priests,  whose  interests  were 
so  closely  connected  with  the  continuance  of  the 
ancient  superstitions,  and  who  apprehended, 
not  v/ithout  cause,  that  to  their  great  detri- 
ment the  Christian  religion  would  become 
daily  more  general  and  triumphant  throughout 
the  empire.  Under  these  anxious  fears  of  the 
downfall  of  tlieir  authority,  they  addressed 
themselves  to  Diocletian,  whom  they  knew  to 
be  of  a  timorous  and  credulous  disposition,  and 
by  fictitious  oracles,  and  other  perfidious  stra- 
tagems, endeavoured  to  engage  him  to  perse- 
cute the  Christians.* 

II.  Diocletian,  however,  stood  for  some  time 
unmoved  by  the  treacherous  arts  of  these  self- 
ish and  superstitious  priests,  who,  when  they 
perceived  the  ill  success  of  their  cruel  efforts, 
addressed  themselves  to  Maximian  Galerius, 
one  of  the  Caisars,  and  also  son-in-law  to  Dio- 
cletian, in  order  to  accomplish  their  unrighte- 
ous purposes.  This  prince,  whose  gross  igno- 
rance of  every  thing  but  military  affairs  was 
accompanied  with  a  fierce  and  savage  temper, 
was  a  proper  instrument  for  e.xecuting  their 
designs.  Set  on,  therefore,  by  the  malicious 
insinuations  of  the  heathen  priests,  the  sug- 
gestions of  a  superstitious  mother,  and  the  fe- 
rocity of  his  own  natural  disposition,  ho  soli- 
cited Diocletian,  with  such  urgent  and  inde- 
fatigable importunity,  for  an  edict  against  the 
Christians,  that  he,  at  length,  obtained  his 
horrid  purpose;  for  in  the  year  303,  when  this 
emperor  was  at  Nicomedia,  an  order  was  ob- 


*  Eusebius,  de  vita  Constantini,  lib.  ii.  cap.  i.  p.  467. 
Lactaatii  Institut.  divio.  lib.  ir.  cap.  xxvii.  et  de  Morti- 
bu9  rerjK^uutorum,  cap.  i. 


98 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  I. 


tained  from  him  to  pull  down  the  churches  of 
the  Christians,  to  burn  all  their  books  and 
writings,  and  to  take  from  them  all  their  civil 
rights  and  privileges,  and  render  them  incapa- 
ble of  any  honours  or  civil  promotion.*  This 
first  edict,  though  rigorous  and  severe,  extend- 
ed not  to  the  lives  of  the  Christians,  for  Dio- 
cletian was  extremely  averse  to  slaughter  and 
bloodshed;  it  was,  however,  destructive  to 
many  of  them,  particularly  to  those  who  re- 
fused to  delivier  the  sacred  books  uito  the  hands 
of  the  magistrates-t  Many  Christians,  there- 
fore, and  among  them  several  bishops  and 
presbyters,  seeing  the  consequences  of  this  re- 
fusal, delivered  up  all  the  religious  books,  and 
other  sacred  things  that  were  in  their  posses- 
sion, in  order  to  save  their  lives.  This  con- 
duct was  highly  condemned  by  the  most  steady 
and  resolute  Christians,  who  looked  upon  this 
compliance  as  sacrilegious,  and  branded  those 
who  were  giiilty  of  it  with  the  ignominious 
appellation  of  traditors.l 

111.  Not  long  after  the  publication  of  this 
first  edict  against  the  Christians,  a  fire  broke 
out  twice  in  the  palace  of  Nicomedia,  where 
Galerius  lodged  with  Diocletian.  The  Chris- 
tians were  accused,  by  their  enemies,  as  the 
authors  of  this  conflagration;^  and  the  credu- 
lous Diocletian,  too  easily  persuaded  of  the 
truth  of  this  charge,  caused  vast  numbers  of 
them  to  suffer,  at  Nicomedia,  the  punishment 
of  incendiaries,  and  to  be  tornnented  in  the 
most  inhuman  and  infamous  manner. ||  About 
the  same  time,  there  arose  tumults  and  sedi- 
tions in  Armenia  and  in  Syria,  which  were 
also  attributed  to  the  Christians  by  their  irre- 
concilable enemies,  who  took  advantage  of 
those  disturbances  to  inflame  the  emperor's 
fury.  And,  accordingly,  Diocletian,  by  a  new 
edict,  ordered  all  the  bishops  and  ministers  of 
the  Christian  church  to  be  thi-own  into  prison. 
Nor  did  his  inhuman  violence  end  here;  for  a 
third  edict  was  soon  issued,  by  which  it  was  or- 
dered, that  all  sorts  of  torments  should  be  em- 
ployed, and  the  most  insupportable  punish- 
ments invented,  to  force  these  venerable  cap- 
tives to  renounce  their  profession,  by  sacrificing 
to  the  heathen  gods;1I  for  it  was  hoped,  that,  if 
the  bishops  and  doctors  of  the  church  could  be 
brought  to  yield,  their  respective  flocks  would 
be  easily  induced  to  follow  their  example.  An 
immense  number  of  persons,  illustriously  dis- 
tinguished by  their  piety  and  learning,  became 
the  victims  of  this  cruel  stratagem  through  the 
whole  Roman  empire,  Gaul  excepted,  which 
was  under  the  mild  and  equitable  dominion  of 


'  Laotaiitius,  de  Mortibus  PcTsequutorum,  c.  xi.  Eu5c- 
bi  IS,  lib.  viii.  cap.  ii. 

j  Augiistinus,  Brev.  collat.  cum  Donatistis,  cap.  xv. 
xvii.  Baluzii  Miscellaii.  torn.  li. 

J  Optatus  Milevit.  de  Schismate  Donatistarum,  lib.  i. 
sect.  xiii. 

(J35-  §  Laetantius  assures  us,  that  Galerius  caused  fire 
to  be  privately  set  to  the  palace,  that  he  might  lay  the 
blame  of  it  upon  the  Christians,  and  thus  incense  Diocle- 
tian still  more  against  them;  in  which  horrid  stratagem 
he  succeeded;  for  never  was  any  persecution  so  bloody 
and  inhuman,  as  that  which  this  credulous  emperor  now 
«t  on  foot  against  them. 

11  Euseb.  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  viii.  cap.  vi.  Lactant.  de 
Mortibus  Perscquut.  cap.  xis.  Constant.  Mag.  Oratio  ad 
eanctor.  CcEtum,  cap.  xxv. 

^  Euseb.  Hist,  Ercles.  lib.  viii.  cap.  vii.  et  de  Martyri- 
l>ue  PaJ^stiUcE. 


Constantius  Chlorus.*  Some  were  punished 
in  such  a  shameful  manner,  as  the  rules  of  de- 
cency oblige  us  to  pass  in  silence;  some  were 
put  to  death  after  having  had  their  constancy 
tried  by  tedious  and  inexpressible  tortures;  and 
some  were  sent  to  the  mines  to  draw  out  the 
remains  of  a  miserable  life  in  poverty  and 
bondage. 

IV.  In  the  second  year  of  this  horrible  per- 
secution, the  304th  of  the  Christian  sera,  a 
fourth  edict  Wcis  published  by  Diocletian,  at  the 
instigation  of  Galerius,  and  the  other  invete- 
rate enemies  of  the  Christian  name.  By  it  the 
magistrates  were  ordered  and  commissioned  to 
force  all  Christians,  without  distinction  of  rank 
or  sex,  to  sacrifice  to  the  gods,  and  were  au- 
thorised to  employ  all  sorts  of  torments,  in  or- 
der to  drive  them  to  this  act  of  apostasy.] — 
The  diligence  and  zeal  of  the  Roman  magis- 
trates, in  tiie  execution  of  this  inhuman  edict, 
nearly  proved  fatal  to  the  Christian  cause. J 

Galerius  now  made  no  longer  a  mystery  of 
the  ambitious  project  which  he  had  been  re- 
volving in  his  mind.  Finding  his  scheme  ripe 
for  exectition,  he  obliged  Diocletian  and  Maxi- 
mian  Herculius  to  resign  the  imperial  dignity, 
and  declared  himself  emperor  of  the  east; 
leaving  in  the  west  Constantius  Chlorus,  with 
the  ill  state  of  whose  health  he  was  well  ac- 
quainted. He  chose  colleagues  according  to 
his  own  fmcy;  and  rejecting  the  proposal  of 
Diocletian,  who  recommended  Maxentius  and 
Constantino  (the  son  of  Constantius)  to  that 
dignity,  he  made  choice  of  Severus  and  Daza, 
his  sister's  son,  to  whom  he  had  a  little  before 
given  the  name  of  Maximin.§  This  revolu 
tion  restored  peace  to  those  Christians  who 
lived  in  the  western  provinces,  under  the  ad- 
ministration of  Constantius;||  while  those  of 
the  east,  under  the  tyranny  of  Galerius,  had 
their  sufferings  and  calamities  dreadfully  aug- 
mented. IT 

V.  Tlie  divine  providence,  however,  was 
preparing  more  serene  and  happy  days  for  the 
church.  In  order  to  this,  it  confounded  the 
schemes  of  Galerius,  and  brought  his  counsels 
to  nothing.  In  the  year  306,  Constantius 
Chlorus  dying  in  Britain,  the  army  saluted, 
with  the  title  of  Augustus,  his  son  Constan- 
tine,  surnamed  afterwards  the  Great  on  account 
of  his  illustrious  exploits,  and  forced  him  to 
accept  the  purple.  This  proceeding,  which 
must  have  stung  the  tyrant  Galerius  to  tlie 
heart,  he  was,  nevertheless,  obliged  to  bear  with 
patience,  and  even  to  confirm  with  the  out- 
ward marks  of  his  approbation.  Soon  after, 
a  civil  war  broke  out,  the  occasion  of  which 
was  as  follows:  Maximian  Galerius,  mwardly 
enraged  at  the  election  of  Constantine  by  the 
soldiers,  sent  him,  indeed,  the  purple,  but  gave 
him  only  the  title  of  Ceesar,  and  created  Seve- 
rus emperor.  Maxentius,  the  son  of  Maxi- 
mian Herculius,  and  son-in-law  to  Galerius, 
provoked  at  the  preference  given  to  Severus, 

*  Lactantius,  cap.  xv. — Euseb.  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  viii. 
cap.  xiii.  xviii. 

f  Eusebius,  de  Martyribus  Patestinae,  cap.  iii. 
\  Lactantius,  histitut.  divin.  lib.  v.  cap.  xi. 
§  Lactant.  de  Mortibus  fersequut.  cap.  xvii.  x\. 
II  Euseb.  de  Martyribus  Paleestinse,  cap.  xtii. 
TT  Lactant.  cap.  xxi. 


Chap.  1. 


PROSPEROUS  AND  CALAMITOUS  EVENTS. 


99 


assumed  the  imperial  dignity,  and  found  the 
less  difficulty  in  making  good  tliis  usurpation, 
as  the  Roman  people  hoped,  by  his  means,  to 
deliver  themselves  from  the  insupportable  ty- 
ranny of  Galerius.  Having  caused  himself 
to  be  proclaimed  emperor,  he  chose  his  father 
Maximian  for  his  colleague,  who,  receiving  the 
purple  from  the  hands  of  his  son,  was  univer- 
sally acknowledged  in  that  character  by  the 
senate  and  the  people.  Amidst  all  these  trou- 
bles and  commotions,  Constantine,  beyond  all 
human  expectation,  made  his  way  to  the  impe- 
rial throne. 

The  western  Christians,  tliose  of  Italy  and 
Africa  excepted,*  enjoyed  some  degree  of  tran- 
quillity and  liberty  during  tliese  civil  tumults. 
Those  of  the  east  seldom  continued  for  an}' 
considerable  time  in  the  same  situation.  They 
were  subject  to  various  changes  and  revolu- 
tions; their  condition  was  sometimes  adverse 
and  sometimes  tolerably  easy,  according  to  the 
different  scenes  that  were  presented  by  the  fluc- 
tuating state  of  public  affairs.  At  length, 
however,  Maximian  Galerius,  who  had  been 
the  author  of  their  heaviest  calamities,  being 
brought  to  the  brink  of  the  grave  by  a  most 
dreadful  and  lingering  diseaswf  whose  compli- 
cated horrors  no  language  (;an  express,  pub- 
lished, in  the  year  311,  a  solemn  edict,  order- 
ing the  persecution  to  cease,  and  restoring  free- 
dom and  repose  to  the  Christians,  against 
whom  he  had  exercised  such  horrible  cruelties.]: 

VI.  After  the  death  of  Galerius,  his  domin- 
ions fell  into  tlie  hands  of  Maximin  and  Lici- 
nius,  who  divided  between  them  tiie  p;-ovinces 
he  had  possessed.  At  the  same  time,  Maxen- 
tius,  who  had  usurped  the  government  of 
Africa  and  Italy,  determined  to  inake  war  upon 
Constantine  (who  was  now  master  of  Spain 
and  Gaul,)  with  tlie  ambitinue  view  of  reduc- 
ing, under  his  dominion,  the  whole  western 
empire.  Constantine,  apprised  of  this  design, 
marched  with  a  part  of  his  army  into  Italj', 
eave  battle  to  Maxentius  at  a  small  distance 
from  Rome,  and  totally  defeated  that  abomi- 
nable tyrant,  who,  in  liis  ]trecipitat«  fligiit,  fell 
into  the  Tiber,  and  was  drowned.  After  this 
victory,  which  happened  in  the  year  31..',  Con- 
stantine, imd  his  colleague  Licinlus,  immedi- 
ately gra>  ted  to  the  Christians  a  full  power  of 
living  according  to  their  own  laws  and  institu- 
tions; which  power  was  specified  still  more 
clearly  in  another  edict,  drawn  up  at  Milan,  in 
the  foUowing  )'ear.§  Maximin,  indeed,  who 
ruled  in  the  ta.st,  was  preparing  new  calami- 
ties for  the  Christians,  and  threatening  also 
R'ith  destruction  tiie  western  emperors.  But 
his  projects  were  disconcerted  by  the  victory 
which  Licinius  gained  over  his  army,  and, 
through  distraction  and  despair,  he  ended  his 
life  by  poison,  in  the  year  313. 

VII.  About  the  same  time,  Constantine  the 
Great,  wlvo  had  hitherto  manifested  no  reli- 
gious principles  of  any  kind,  embraced  Chris- 


Q(J-  *  The  reason  of  this  exception  i«,  that  the  pro- 
vinces of  Italy  and  Africa,  though  nominally  under  the 
government  of  Severus,  were  yet  in  fact  ruled  by  Galerius 
with  an  iron  sceptre. 

{JQH  t  See  a  lively  description  of  the  disease  of  Ga- 
lerius in  the  Universal  History. 

Eust.h.  lib.  viii.  cap.  xvi.     Lactantim,  cap.  xitiii. 

9  Euseb.  lib.  X.  tap.  v.— Lactaut.  cap.  xlviii. 


tianity,  in  consequence,  as  it  is  said,  of  a  mi- 
raculous cross,  which  appeared  to  him  in  the 
air,  as  he  was  marching  toward  Rome  to  at- 
tack Maxentiiis.  But  that  this  extraordinary 
event  was  the  reason  of  his  conversion,  is  a 
matter  that  has  never  yet  been  placed  in  such 
a  light,  as  to  dispel  all  doubts  and  difficulties. 
For  the  first  edict  of  Constantine  in  favour  of 
the  Christians,  and  many  other  circumstances 
tiiat  might  be  here  alleged,  show,  indeed,  that 
he  was  well-disposed  to  them  and  to  their  wor- 
ship, but  are  no  proof  that  ho  looked  upon 
Christianity  as  the  only  true  religion;  which, 
however,  would  have  been  the  natural  effect 
of  a  miraculous  conversion.  It  appears  evi- 
dent, on  the  contrary,  that  this  emperor  con- 
sidered the  other  religions,  and  particularly 
that  which  was  handed  down  from  the  an- 
cient Romans,  as  also  true  and  useful  to 
mankind;  and  declared  it  to  be  his  intention  and 
desire,  that  tliey  should  all  be  exercised  and 
professed  in  the  empire,  leaving  to  each  indi- 
vidual the  liberty  of  adhering  to  that  which 
he  thought  the  best.  It  is  true  that  he  did  not 
remain  always  in  this  state  of  indifference.  In 
process  of  time,  he  acquired  more  extensive 
views  of  the  excellence  and  importance  of  the 
Christian  religion,  and  gradually  arrived  at  an 
entire  persuasion  of  its  bearing  alone  the  sa- 
cred marks  of  celestial  truth  and  a  divine  origin. 
Hfi  was  convinced  of  the  falsehood  and  im- 
piety of  all  other  religious  institutions;  and, 
acting  in  consequence  of  this  conviction,  he 
exhorted  earnestly  all  his  subjects  to  embrace 
the  Gospel,  and  at  length  employed  all  the 
force  of  his  authority  in  the  abolition  of  the 
ancient  superstition.  It  is  not,  indeed,  easj', 
nor  perhaps  is  it  possible,  to  fix  precisely  the 
time  when  the  religious  sentiments  of  Constan- 
tine were  so  far  changed,  as  to  render  all  re- 
ligions, but  that  of  Christ,  the  objects  of  his 
aversion.  All  that  we  know,  with  certainty, 
concerning  this  matter  is,  that  this  change  was 
first  published  to  the  world  by  the  laws  and 
edicts*  which  he  issued  in  the  year  324,  when, 
after  the  defeat  and  deatji  of  Licinius,  he 
reigned  as  the  sole  lord  of  the  Roman  empire. 
His  designs,  however,  with  respect  to  the  abo- 
lition of  the  ancient  religion  of  the  Romans, 
and  the  toleration  of  no  other  form  of  worship 
tlian  tlie  Christian,  wore  only  made  known 
toward  the  latter  end  of  his  life,  by  his  edicts 
for  destroying  the  heathen  temples,  and  pro- 
hibiting sacrifices.! 

VIlI.  The  sincerity  of  Constantine's  zeal 
for  Christianity  can  scarcely  be  doubted,  unless 
it  be  maintaino(l,that  the  outward  actions  of 
men  are,  in  no  degree,  a  proof  of  their  inward 
sentiments.  It  must,  indeed,  bo  confessed, 
tiiat  the  life  and  actions  of  this  prince  were  not 
such  as  the  Christian  religion  demands  from 
those  who  profess  to  believe  its  sublime  doc- 
trines. It  is  also  certain,  that,  from  his  con- 
version to  the  last  period  of  his  life,  he  con- 
tinued in  the  state  of  a  catechumen,  and  was 
not  received  by  baptism  into  the  number  of  the 
faithful,  until  a  few  days  before  his  death,  when 
that  sacred  rite  was  administered  to  him  &t 


*  Eusebius,  de  vita  Constant,  lib.  ii.  cap.  xx.,  xllv. 
t  Sec  Godofred  ad  f'odii:.  Throdosiau.  tom,  vi.  part  i. 


100 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  I. 


Nicomedia,  by  Eusebius,  bishop  of  tliat  place.* 
But  these  circumstances  are  not  sufficient  to 
prove  that  he  doubted  the  divinity  of  Die  Chris- 
tian religion,  or  that  his  professkin  of  the  G  os- 
pel  was  an  act  of  mere  dissimulation;  for  it 
was  a  custom  with  many,  in  this  century,  to 
put  off  their  baptism  to  the  last  hour,  that  thus, 
immediately  after  receiving  by  this  rite  the  re- 
mission of  their  sins,  they  might  ascend  pure 
and  spotless  to  the  mansions  of  life  and  immor- 
tality. Nor  are  the  crimes  of  C'onstantine  any 
proof  of  the  insincerity  of  his  profession,  since 
nothing  is  more  evident,  though  it  be  strange 
and  unaccountable,  than  that  many  wlio  be- 
lieve, in  the  firmest  manner,  the  trutli  and  di- 
vinity of  tlie  Gospel,  violate  its  laws  by 
repeated  transgressions,  and  live  in  contradic- 
tion to  their  ovi'n  inward  principles.  Another 
question  of  a  dilTerent  nature  might  be  propos- 
ed here,  viz.  Whether  motives  of  a  worldly 
kind  did  not  contribute,  in  a  certain  measure, 
to  give  Christianity,  in  the  esteem  of  Constan- 
tino, a  preference  to  all  other  religious  systems? 
It  is  indeed  probable,  that  this  prince  perceived 
the  admirable  tendency  of  the  Christian  doc- 
trine and  precepts  to  promote  the  stability  of 
government,  by  preserving  the  citizens  in  their 
obedience  to  the  reigning  powers,  and  in  the 
practice  of  those  virtues  which  render  a  state 
happy;  and  he  must  naturally  have  observed, 
how  defective  the  Roman  superstition  was  in 
this  important  point.f 

IX.  The  doubts  and  difficulties  that  natu- 
rally arise  in  the  mind,  concerning  the  miracu- 
lous cross  that  Constantine  solemnly  declared 
he  had  seen,  about  noon,  in  the  air,  are  many 
and  considerable.  It  is  easy,  indeed,  to  refute 
the  opinion  of  those  who  look  upon  this  pro- 
digy as  a  cunning  fiction,  invented  by  the  em- 
peror to  animate  his  troops  in  the  ensuing  bat- 
tle, or  who  consider  the  narration  as  wholly 
fabulous. I  The  sentiment  also  of  tliose,  who 
imagine  that  this  pretended  cross  was  no  more 


i  than  a  natural  phsnomenon  in  a  solar  halo,  is, 
!  perhaps,  more  ingenious,  than  solid  and  con- 
j  vincing.*  Nor,  in  the  third  place,  do  we  think 
I  it  sufficiently  proved,  that  the  divine  power  in- 
j  terposed  here  to  confirm  the  wavering  faith  of 
Constantine  by  a  stupendous  miracle.  The 
only  hypothesis,  then,t  which  remains,  is,  that 
we  consider  this  famous  cross  as  a  vision  repre- 
sented to  the  emperor  in  a  dream,  with  the  re- 
markable inscription,  Hac  vince,  i.  e.  In  this 
conquer;  and  this  opinion  is  maintained  by 
authors  of  considerable  weight.  J 

X.  The  joy  with  which  the  Christians  were 
elated  on  account  of  the  favourable  edicts  of 
Constantine  and  Licinius,  was  soon  interrupt- 
ed by  the  war  whicli  broke  out  between  these 
princes.  Licinius,  being  defeated  in  a  pitched 
battle,  in  the  year  314,  concluded  a  treaty  of 
peace  with  Constantine,  and  observed  it  during 
the  space  of  nine  years.  But  his  turbulent 
spirit  rendered  him  an  enemy  to  repose;  and 
his  natural  violence,  seconded,  and  still  farther 
incen.sed,  by  the  suggestions  of  the  heathen 
priests,  armed  him  against  Constantine,  in  the 
year  324,  for  the  second  time.  During  this 
war,  he  endeavoured  to  engage  in  his  cause  all 
who  remained  attaclied  to  the  ancient  supersti- 
tion, that  thus  he  might  oppress  his  adversary 


*  Eusebius,  de  vita  Constantini,  lib.  iv.  cap.  Ixi.  Ixii. 
Those  who,  upon  tlie  authority  of  certain  records 
(whose  date  is  modern,  and  whose  credit  is  extremely  du- 
bious) affirm,  that  Constantine  was  baptised  in  the  year 
324,  at  Rome,  by  Sylvester,  the  bishop  of  that  city,  are 
evidently  in  an  error.  Those,  even  of  the  Romish 
church,  who  are  the  most  eminent  for  their  learning  and 
sagacity,  reject  this  notion.  See  Noris,  Hist.  Donatist. 
torn.  iv.  op.  p.  6.50.  Thorn.  Mariae  Mamachii  Origin,  et 
Antiquit.  Christian,  torn.  ii.  p.  232. 

f  Eusebius,  de  vita  Constant,  lib.  i.  cap.  jixvii.  0(J=  ll 
has  been  sometimes  remarked  by  the  more  eminent  wri- 
ters of  the  Rojnan  historj',  that  the  superstition  of  that 
people,  contrary  to  what  Dr.  Mosheim  here  observes, 
had  a  great  influence  in  keeping  them  in  their  subordina- 
tion and  allegiance.  It  is  more  particularly  observed, 
that  in  no  other  nation  was  the  so]g:mn  obligation  of  an 
oath  treated  with  such  respect,  or  fulfilled  with  such  a 
religious  circumspection,  and  such  an  inviolable  fidelity. 
But,  notwithstanding  all  this,  it  is  certain,  that  supersti- 
tion, if  it  maybe  dexterously  turned  to  good  purposes, 
may  be  equally  employed  to  bad.  The  artifice  of  an  au- 
gur could  have  rendered  superstition  as  useful  to  the  in- 
fernal designs  of  a  Tarquin  and  a  Catiline, as  to  the  noble 
and  virtuous  purposes  of  a  Fublicola,  or  a  Trajan.  But 
true  Christianity  can  animate  or  encourage  to  nothing 
except  what  is  just  and  good.  It  tends  to  support  go- 
vernment by  the  principles  of  piety  and  justice,  and  not 
by  the  ambiguous  flight  of  birds,  or  the  like  delusions. 

{  Hornbeck.  Comment,  ad  Bullain  Urbani  viii.  de 
Imagin.  cuitu,  p.  182.  Oiselius,  Thesaiir.  JVumism. 
Antiq.  p.  463.  Tollius,  Preface  to  the  French  Transla- 
tion of  Longinus,  as  also  his  Adnot.  ad  Lactantium  de 
Mort.  Perscquut.  cap.  xliv.  Chr.iil.  Thomasius,  Observat. 
Hallens.  turn.  i.  p.  380. 


*  Jo.  And.  Schmidius,  Disser.  de  luna  in  Cruce  visa. 
Jo.  Alb.  Fabricius,  Disser.  de  Cruce  a  Constantino  visa. 

Ojy»  f  This  hypothesis  of  Dr.  Mosheim  is  not  more 
credible  than  the  real  appearance  of  a  cross  in  the  air. — 
Both  events  are  recorded  by  the  same  authority;  and,  if 
the  veracity  of  Constantine  or  of  Eusebius  be  questioned 
with  respect  to  the  appearance  of  a  cross  in  the  day,  they 
can  scarcely  be  confided  in  with  respect  to  the  truth  of 
the  nocturnal  vision.  It  is  very  surprising  to  see  the 
learned  authors  of  the  Universal  History  adopt,  without 
exception,  all  the  accounts  of  Eusebius,  concerning  this 
cross,  which  arc  extremely  liable  to  suspicion,  which 
Eusebius  himself  seems  to  nave  believed  but  in  part,  and 
for  the  truth  of  all  which  he  is  careful  not  to  make  him- 
self answerable.  (See  that  author's  Life  of  Constantine, 
lib.  ii.  cap.  ix.) 

This  whole  story  is  attended  with  difficulties  which 
render  it,  l>:tth  as  a  miracle  and  as  a  fact,  extremely  dubi- 
ous, to  say  no  more. — It  will  necessarily  be  asked,  whence 
it  comes  to  pass,  that  the  relation  of  a  fact,  which  is  said 
to  have  been  seen  by  the  whole  army,  is  delivered  by 
Eusebius,  upon  the  sole  credit  of  Constantine.'  This  is 
the  more  unaccountable,  as  Eusebius  lived  and  conversed 
with  many  who  must  have  been  spectators  of  this  event, 
had  it  really  happeued,  and  whose  unanimous  testimony 
would  have  prevented  the  necessilv  of  Constantine's  con- 
firming it  to  him  by  an  oath.  The  sole  relation  of  one 
man,  concerning  a  public  appearance,  is  not  sufficient  to 
give  complete  conviction;  nor  does  it  appear,  that  this 
story  was  generally  believed  by  the  Christians,  or  by 
others,  since  several  ecclesiastical  historians,  who  wrote 
after  Eusebius,  particularly  Rufin  and  Sozomen,  make  no 
mention  of  this  appearance  of  a  cross  in  the  heavens. 
The  nocturnal  vision  was,  it  must  be  confessed,  more 
generally  known  and  believed;  u|X)n  which  Dr.  Lardnci- 
makes  this  conjecture,  that  when  Constantine  first  in- 
forn)ed  the  people  of  the  reason  that  induced  him  to  make 
use  of  the  sign  of  the  cross  in  his  army,  he  alleged 
nothing  but  a  dream  lor  that  purpose;  but  that,  in  the 
latter  part  of  his  life,  when  he  was  acquainted  with 
Eusebius,  he  added  (he  other  particular,  of  a  lumiiwus 
cro^s.  seen  someuliere  by  him  and  his  army  in  the  day- 
time (for  the  place  is  not  mentioned;)  and  tliat,  the  empe- 
ror having  related  this  in  the  most  solemn  manner,  Eu- 
sebius thought  himself  obliged  to  mention  it. 

I  All  the  writers,  who  have  given  any  accounts  of  Con- 
stantine the  Great,  are  carefullyenumerated  by  J.  A.  Fa- 
bricius, in  his  Lux  Salut.  Evang.  toti  Orbi  exor.  cap.  xii. 
p.  260,  who  also  mentions,  cap.  xiii.  p.  237,  the  laws  con- 
cerning religious  matters,  which  were  enacted  by  this 
emperor,  and  digested  into  four  parts.  For  a  full  ac 
count  of  these  laws,  see  Jac.  Gndofred.  Adnotat.  ad 
Codic.  Theodos.,  and  Balduinus  in  his  Constantiu.  Magu 
seu  de  L'fibiii  Cuuslanliui  eccleii.  ct  civilibus.  lib.  ii. 


ClIAP.  I. 


PROSPEROUS  A^'D  CALAMITOUS  EVENTS. 


ini 


with  numbers;  and,  in  order  to  tliis,  he  perse-  jj  himself  master,  by  force,  of  several  places  be- 
cuted  the  Christians  in  a  cruel  manner,  and  i!  longing   to    Constans,   this  occasioned   a  war 


put  to  death  many  of  tlieir  bishoj)s,  after  try- 
ing them  with  torments  of  the  most  barbarous 
nature.*  But  all  his  enterprises  proved  abor- 
tive; for,  after  several  unsuccessful  battles,  he 
was  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  throvvijig  him- 
self at  the  victor's  feet,  and  imploring  his  cle- 
menc}';  which,  iiowever,  he  did  not  long  enjoj'; 
for  he  was  strangled,  by  the  order  of  Constan- 
tine,  in  the  year  325.  After  the  defeat  of  Li- 
cinius,  the  empire  was  ruled  by  Constantine 
alone  until  his  death;  and  the  Christian  cause 
experienced,  in  its  happy  progress,  the  eilects 
of  his  auspicious  admiuislration.  This  zealous 
prince  employed  all  the  resources  of  his  genius, 
all  tlie  authority  of  his  laws,  and  all  the  engaging 
charms  of  his  munificence  and  liberality,  to 
efface,  by  degrees,  the  superstitions  of  Pagan- 
ism, and  to  propagate  Christianity  in  every 
corner  of  tiie  Roman  empire.  He  had  learn- 
ed, no  doubt,  from  the  disturbances  continually 
excited  by  Licinius,  that  neither  himself  nor 
the  empire  could  enjoy  a  fi.ved  state  of  tran- 
quillity and  safety  as  Ions;  as  the  ancient  super- 
stitions subsisted;  and  therefore,  from  this 
period,  he  openly  opposed  the  sacred  rites  of 
Paganism,  as  a  religion  detrimental  to  the  in- 
terests of  the  state. 

XI.  After  the  death  of  Constantine,  which 
happened  in  the  year  33T,  his  three  sons,  Con- 
stantine II.  Constantius,  and  Constans,  were, 
in  consequence  of  his  appointment,  put  in  pos- 
session of  the  empire,  and  were  all  saluted  as 
emperors  and  Jlu^iisti  by  the  Roman  senate. 
There  were  yet  living  two  brothers  of  the  late 
emperor,  namely,  Constantius  Dalmatius  and 
Julius  Constantius,  and  they  had  many  sons. 
These  the  sons  of  Constantine  ordered  to  be 
put  to  death,  lest  their  ambitious  views  sliould 
e.xcite  troubles  in  tlie  empire;!  and  they  all  fell 
victims  to  this  barbarous  order,  except  Gall  us 
and  Julian,  the  sons  of  Julius  Constantius,  the 
latter  of  whom  rose  afterwards  to  the  imperial 
dignity.  The  dominions  allotted  to  Constan- 
tine were  Britain,  Gaul,  and  Spain;  but  he  did 
not  possess  them  long;  for,  when  he  had  made 


•  Eusebius,  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  x.  cap.  viii.  et  de  vit^i 
Constant  ini,  hb.  i.  cap.  xlix.  Julian  fiiinsell',  whose  bit- 
ter aversion  to  Cunstariliiie  gives  a  singular  degree  of 
credibility  to  his  testimony  in  this  matter,  could  nut  lulii 
confessing  that  Licinius  was  an  infamous  lyranl  and  a 
profligate, abandoned  to  all  sortsof  wickedness.  See  the 
Caesars  of  Julian.  .\nd  here  1  beg  leave  lo  make  a  re- 
mark which  has  escaped  the  learned.  Aiirelius  Victor, 
in  his  book  de  Caesaribns,  cap.  xli.  has  mentiimed  the 
persecution  under  Licinius  in  the  following  terms:  "  Li- 
cinio  ne  insontiiim  quidcm  ac  nobilium  ]>hilosophorum 
rervili  more  cruciatns  adhibiti  nioduni  fi'cere."  The 
|)hilosophcrs,  whom  Licinius  is  here  said  to  have  tor- 
mented, were,  doubtless,  the  Christians,  whom  many, 
through  Ignorance,  looked  upon  as  a  philosophical  sect. 
This  passage  of  .^urelius  has  not  been  touched  by  the 
commentators,  who  are  generally  more  intent  upon  the 
knowledge  of  words  than  of  things. 

(S(^  i  It  is  more  probable  that  the  principal  de«ign  of 
this  massacre  was  to  recover  the  provinces  of  Thrace, 
Macedon,  and  .\chaia,  which,  in  the  division  of  the  em- 
pire, Constantine  the  Great  had  given  to  young  Uahnalius, 
son  to  his  brother  of  the  same  name;  and  also  I'ontusand 
Cappadocia,  which  he  had  granted  to  Annibalianus,  the 
brother  of  young  Dalmatius.  Be  that  as  it  will.  Dr. 
Mosheim  has  attributed  this  massacre  equally  to  the 
three  sons  of  Constantine;  whereas,  alnmsl  all  authors 
agree,  that  neither  young  Constantine,  tior  Coustaiis,  had 
any  concern  in  it. 


between  the  brothers,  in  the  year  340,  in  which 
Constantine  lost  his  life.  Constans,  who  had 
received  at  first,  for  his  portion,  Illyricum, 
Italy,  and  Africa,  added  now  the  dominions  of 
the  deceased  prince  to  liis  own,  and  tiius  be- 
came solo  master  of  all  the  western  provinces. 
He  remained  in  possession  of  this  vast  territory 
until  the  year  350,  when  he  was  cruelly  assas- 
sinated by  the  order  of  Magnentius,  one  of 
Jiis  commanders,  who  had  revolted  and  de- 
clared liimsolf  emperor.  Magnentius,  in  hi.s 
turn,  met  with  the  fate  he  deserved:  transport- 
ed with  rage  and  despair  at  his  ill  success  in 
the  war  against  Constantius,  and  apprehend- 
ing the  most  terrible  and  ignominious  death 
from  the  just  resentment  of  the  conqueror,  he 
laid  violent  hands  upon  himself  Thus  Con- 
stantius, who  had,  before  this,  possessed  the 
provinces  of  Asia  Minor,  SjTia,  and  Eo-ypt, 
became,  in  the  year  353,  sole  lord  of  the  Ro- 
man empire,  which  he  ruled  until  the  year  361, 
when  he  died  at  Mopsucrene,  on  the  borders 
of  Cilicia,  as  he  was  marching  against  Julian. 
None  of  tiiese  three  brothers  possessed  the 
spirit  and  genius  of  their  father.  They  all, 
indeed,  followed  his  example,  in  continuing  to 
abrogate  and  efface  the  ancient  superstitions 
of  the  Romans  and  other  idolatrous  nations, 
and  to  accelerate  the  progress  of  the  Christian 
religion  tliroughout  the  empire.  This  zeal 
was,  no  doubt,  laudable;  its  end  was  e.Kcel  lent; 
but,  in  the  means  used  to  accomplish  it,  there 
were  many  things  not  altogether  laudable. 

XII.  Tliis  nourishing  progress  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion  was  greatly  interrupted,  and  the 
church    reduced  to   the  brink   of  destruction, 
when   Julian,  the  son  of  Julius  Constantius, 
and  the  only  remaining  branch  of  the  imperial 
family,  was  placed  at  the  head  of  affairs.    This 
active   and   adventurous   prince,  after   having 
been  declared   emperor   by  tlie  armv,  in    tiisi 
year  360,  in  ctjn.sequcncc  of  his  exploits  among 
the  Gauls,  was,  tipon  the  death  of  Constantius, 
in  the  following  year,  confirmed  in  the  undi- 
vided   possession   of  the   empire.      No   event 
could  be  less  favourable  to  the  Christians;  for, 
though  he  had  been  educated  in  the  principles 
of  Christianity,  he  apostatised  from  that  divine 
religion,  and  employed  all  his  ellbrts  to  restore 
the   expiring    superstitions  of   polytheism    to 
their  former  vigour,  credit,  and  lustre.      His 
apostasy  was  imputable,  partly  to  his  aversion 
to  the  Constantine  family,  who  had  mtu'derod 
his  father,  brother,  and  kinsmen;  and  partly  to 
the  artifices  of  tlie  Platonic   philoisophers,  who 
abused   his  credulity,  and  tlattcred  his  ambi- 
tion, by  fictitious  miracles,  and  pompous  pre- 
dictions.    It  is  true,  this  prince  seemed  averse 
to  the  use  of  violence,  in  propagating  super- 
stition, and  suppressing  the  trutii:  indeed,  he 
carried  tlie  appearances  of  moderation  and  im- 
parliahty  so  far,  as  to  allow  his  subjects  a  full 
power  of  judging  for  themselves  in   religious 
matters,  and  of  worshipping  the  Deity  in  the 
manner  they  thought  the  most  rational.     But, 
under  this  mask  of  moderation,  he  attacked 
Cliristianity  with  the  utmost  bitterness,  and,  at 
the  same  time,  with  the  most  consummate  de.x- 
terity      Ty  art  and  stratfltfem  lie  undermined 


102 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  1. 


the  church,  annulling  the  privileges  wliich  had 
been  oranted  to  Cliristians  and  their  spiritual 
rulers;  shutting  up  the  schools  in  wliich  they 
taught  philosophy  and  the  liberal  arts;  en- 
couraging the  sectaries  and  schismatics,  who 
brouo-ht  dishonour  upon  the  Gospel  by  their 
divisions;  composing  books  against  the  Chris- 
tians, and  using  a  variety  of  other  means  to 
bring  the  religion  of  .lesns  to  ruin  and  con- 
tempt. Julian  extended  his  views  yet  farther, 
and  was  meditating  projects  of  a  still  more  for- 
midable nature  against  the  Christian  church, 
which  would  have  felt,  no  doubt,  the  fatal  or 
ruinous  effects  of  his  inveterate  hatred,  if  he 
liad  returned  victorious  from  the  Pereian  war, 
into  which  he  entered  immediately  after  his 
accession  to  the  empire.  But  in  this  war, 
which  was  rashly  undertaken  and  imprudently 
conducted,  he  iell  by  the  lance  of  a  Persian 
soldier,  and  expired  in  his  tent  in  the  32d  year 
of  his  age,  having  reigned,  alone,  after  the 
death  of  Constantius,  twenty  months.* 

XIII.  It  is  to  me  just  matter  of  surprise,  to 
find  Julian  placed,  by  many  learned  and  judi- 
cious writers,!  among  tlie  greatest  heroes  that 
sliine  forth  in  the  annals  of  time,  and  even  ex- 
alted above  all  the  princes  and  legislators  who 
liave  been  distinguished  by  the  wisdom  of  their 
government.  Such  writers  must  either  be  too 
far  blinded  bv  prejudice,  to  perceive  the  truth; 
,')r  they  cannot  have  perused,  with  any  degree 
of  attention,  those  works  of  Julian  which  are 
still  extant;  or,  if  neither  of  these  be  their 
case,  they  must,  at  least,  be  ignorant  of  that 
v.'hich  constitutes  true  greatness.  The  real 
character  of  Julian  has  few  lines  of  that  un- 
common merit  which  has  been  attributed  to  it; 
for,  if  we  set  aside  his  genius,  of  which  his 
works  give  no  very  high  idea;  if  we  except, 
moreover,  his  military  courage,  his  love  of  let- 
ters, and  his  acquaintance  vi'ith  that  vain  and 
fanatical  philosophy  which  was  known  by  the 
name  of  modern  Platonism,  we  sliall  find 
nothing  remaining,  that  is  in  any  measure 
worth)'  of  praise,  or  productive  of  esteem. 
Besides,  the  qualities  now  mentioned,  were, 
in  him,  counterbalanced  by  the  most  oppro- 
brious defects.  He  was  a  slave  to  supersti- 
tion, than  which  nothing  is  a  more  evident 
mark  of  a  narrow  soul,  of  a  mean  and  abject 
spirit.  His  thirst  of  glory  and  eagerness  for 
popular  applause  were  excessive,  even  to  pue- 
rility; his  credulity  and  levity  surpass  the 
I)owers  of  description;  a  low  cunning,  and  a 
profound  dissimulation  and  duplicity,  had  ac- 
quired, in  his  mind,  the  force  of  predominant 
habits;  and  all  this  was  accompanied  with  a 
total  iirnorance  of  true  philosophy.^  so  that. 


*  For  a  full  accmint  of  this  emperor,  it  will  be  proper 
to  consult  (beside  Tilleinont  and  other  common  writers) 
La  Vie  de  Julieii,  par  I'Abbe  Bleterie,  which  is  a  most 
accurate  and  elegant  production.  See  also  The  Lile  and 
Character  of  Julian,  illustrated  in  seven  Dissertations  by 
Des-Voeus;  Eiech.  Spanheim,  Prsefat.  et  adnot.  ad  op. 
Juliani;  and  Fabricius,  Lux  E\angel.  toti  orbi  exoriens, 
cap.  xiv.  p.  294. 

■f  Montesquieu,  in  chap.  x.  of  the  twenty-fourth  book 
of  his  work,  entitled,  L'Esprit  des  Loix,  speaks  of  Julian 
in  the  following  terms:  "  11  n'y  a  point  eu  apres  lui  de 
prince  plus  digne  de  gouvcrner  des  hommes." 

JJ^  j  Nothing  can  afford  a  more  evident  proof  of  Juli- 
an's iijnoranee  of  tlie  true  philosophy,  than  his  known 
attachment  to  the   >tudy   of  magic,  which  Dr.  Mosheim 


though,  in  some  things,  Julian  may  be  allow- 
ed to  have  excelled  the  sons  of  Constantine 
the  Great,  yet  it  must  be  granted,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  he  was,  in  many  respects,  inferior 
to  Constantine  himself,  whom,  upon  all  occa- 
sions, he  loads  with  the  most  licentious  invec- 
tives, ajid  treats  with  the  utmost  disdain. 

XIV'.  As  Julian  affected,  in  general,  to  ap- 
pear moderate  in  religious  matters,  unwilling 
to  trouble  any  on  account  of  their  faith,  or  to 
seem  averse  to  any  sect  or  party,  so  to  the  Jews, 
in  particular,  he  extended  so  far  the  marks  of 
his  indulgence,  as  to  permit  them  to  rebuild 
the  temple  of  Jerusalem.  The  Jews  set  about 
this  nnportant  work;  from  which,  however, 
they  were  obliged  to  desist,  before  they  had 
even  begun  to  laytlte  foundations  of  the  sacred 
edifice;  for,  while  they  were  removing  the  rub- 
bish, formidable  balls  of  fire,  issuing  out  of  the 
ground  with  a  dreadful  noise,  dispersed  both 
the  works  and  the  workmen,  and  repeated 
earthquakes  filled  the  spectators  of  this  phee- 
nomenon  with  terror  and  dismay.  This  signal 
event  is  attested  in  a  manner  that  renders  its 
evidence  irresistible,*  though,  as  usually  hap- 
pens in  cases  of  that  nature,  the  Christians 
have  embellished  it  by  augmenting  rashly  the 
number  of  the  miracles  which  are  supposed  to 
have  been  wrought  upon  that  occasion.  The 
causes  of  this  phtenomenon  may  furnish  matter 
of  dispute;  and  learned  men  have,  in  effect, 
been  divided  upon  that  point.  All,  however, 
who  consider  tlie  matter  vcith  attention  and 
impartiality,  will  perceive  the  strongest  rea- 
sons for  embracing  the  opinion  of  those  who 
attribute  this  event  to  the  almighty  interposi- 
tion of  the  Supreme  Being;  nor  do  the  argu- 
ments offered  by  some,  to  prove  it  the  effect  of 
natural  causes,  or  those  alleged  by  others  to 
persuade  us  that  it  was  the  result  of  artifice 
and  imposture,  contain  any  thinff  that  may  not 
be  refuted  with  the  utmost  facility. f 

XV.  Upon  the  death  of  Julian,  the  suffrages 
of  the  army  were  united  in  favour  of  Jovian, 
who,  accordingly,  succeeded  him  in  the  impe- 
rial dignity.  After  a  reign  of  seven  months, 
Jovian  died  in  the  year  364,  and,  therefore, 
had  not  time  to  execute  any  tiling  of  import- 
ance.+  The  emperors  who  succeeded  him,  in 
this  century,  were  \'alentiiiian  I.,  Valens,  Gra- 
tian,  Valentinian  II.,  and  Honorius,  who  pro- 
fessed Christianity,  promoted  its  progress,  and 
endeavoured,  though  not  all  with  equal  zeal, 
to  root  out  entirely  the  Gentile  superstitions. 
In  this  they  were  all  surpassed  by  the  last  of 


has  omitted  in  his  enumeration  of  the  defects  and  extra- 
vagances of  tliis  prince. 

*  See  Ju.  Alb.  Fabricii  Lux  Evang.  toti  orbi  exorieni, 
p.  124,  where  all  the  testimonies  of  this  remarkable  event 
are  carefully  assembled;  see  also  Moyle's  Posthumous 
Works. 

t  Tlie  truth  of  this  miracle  is  denied  by  the  famous 
Basnage,  Hisloire  des  Juifs,  torn,  iv.,  against  whom 
Cujier  has  taken  the  affirmative,  and  defended  it  in  his 
Letters  publislied  by  Bayer.  A  most  ingenious  discourse 
was  published,  in  defence  of  this  miracle,  by  the  learned 
Dr.  Warburton,  under  the  title  of  Julian,  or  a  Discourse 
concerning  the  Earthquake  and  Fiery  Eruption,  &c.,  in 
which  the  objections  of  Basnage  are  particularly  ex- 
amined and  refuted. 

t  See  Bleterie,  Vie  de  Jovien,  vol.  ii.  in  which  the 
Life  of  Julian,  by  the  same  author,  is  farther  illustrated, 
and  some  productions  of  that  emperor  are  traushtcd  into 
French. 


Chap.  I. 


PROSPEROUS  AND  CALAMITOUS  EVENTS. 


1 03 

rangucs,  and  Eunapius,  in  hi.s  lives  of  the  plii- 
losopliers,  exhausted  all  their  rage  and  bitter- 
ness in  their  ellorts  to  defame  the  Christiarj 
religion,  while  the  calumnies  that  abounded  ia 
the  discourses  of  the  one,  and  the  writings  of 
the  other,  passed  unpunished. 

XVIII.  The  prf^Judice  which  the  Christian 
cause  received  in  this  century,  from  the  stra- 
tagems of  these  philosophers  and  rhetoricians, 
who  were  elated  with  a  presum])tuou.s  notion 
of  their  knowledge,  and  prepossessed  with  a 
bitter  aversion  to  the  Gospel,  was  certainly 
very  considerable.  Many  examples  concur  to 
prove  this  point;  and  particularly  that  of  Ju- 
lian, who  was  seduced  l)y  the  artifices  of  these 
corrupt  sophists.  The  effects  of  their  disputes 
and  declamations  were  not,  indeed,  the  same 
upon  all;  some  who  assuinwl  the  appeajance 
of  superior  wisdom,  and  wha,  cither  from  mo- 
deration or  indifference,  professed  to  pursue  a 
middle  way  in  these  religious  controversies, 
composed  matters  in  the  following  manner: 
they  so  far  listened  to  the  interpretations  and 
discourses  of  the  rhetoricians,  as  to  form  to 
themselves  a  middle  kind  of  religion,  between 
the  ancient  theology  and  the  new  doctrine  thai 
was  now  propagated  in  the  empire;  and  they 
persuaded  themselves,  that  the  same  truths 
which  Christ  taught,  had  been  for  a  long  time 
concealed  by  the  priests  of  the  gods,  under 
the  veil  of  ceremonies,  fables,  and  allegorical 
representations.*  Of  this  number  were  Ain- 
mianus  Marcellinus,  a  man  of  singular  merit; 
Themistius,  an  orator  highly  distinguished  by 
his  uncommon  eloquence  and  the  eminence  of 
his  station;  Chalcidius,  a  philosopher,  and 
others,  who  were  all  of  opinion,  that  the  two 
religions,  when  properly  interpreted  and  under- 
stood, agreed  perfectly  welli  in  the  main  points, 
and  that,  therefore,  neither  tlie  religion  of 
Christ,  nor  that  of  the  gods,  ought  to  be  treated 
with  contempt. 

XIX.  The  zeal  and  diligence  with  which 
Constantine  and  his  successors  exerted  them- 


the  emperors  who  reigned  in  this  century,  viz. 
Theodosius  the  Great,  who  began  to  reign  in 
the  year  379,  and  died  in  39.').  As  long  as 
this  prince  lived,  he  exerted  himself,  in  the 
most  vigorous  and  effectual  manner,  for  the 
extirpation  of  tlie  pagan  superstitions  through- 
out all  the  provinces,  and  enacted  .severe  laws 
and  penalties  against  sucli  as  adhered  to  them. 
His  sons,  Arcadius  and  Honorius,  pursued 
with  zeal,  and  not  without  success,  the  same 
end;  so  that,  toward  the  conclusion  of  this 
century,  the  Gentile  religions  declined  apace, 
and  had  also  no  prospect  left  of  recovering 
their  primitive  authority  and  s])lendour. 

XVI.  It  is  true,  tliat,  notviithstanding  all 
this  zeal  and  severity  of  the  Christian  empe- 
rors, there  still  temained  in  several  places,  and 
especialh^  in  the  remoter  provinces,  temples 
and  religious  rites,  consecrated  to  the  service 
of  the  pagan  deities.  And,  indeed,  when  we 
look  attentively  into  the  matter,  we  shall  find, 
that  the  execution  of  those  rigorous  laws, 
which  were  enacted  against  the  worshippers  of 
the  gods,  was  rather  levelled  at  the  multitude, 
than  at  persons  of  eminence  and  distinction; 
for  it  appears,  that,  both  during  the  reign,  and 
after  the  death  of  Theodosius,  many  of  the 
most  honourable  and  important  posts  were 
filled  by  persons,  whose  aversion  to  Christi- 
anity and  attachment  to  Paganism  were  suffi- 
ciently known.  The  example  of  Libanius 
alone  is  an  evident  proof  of  this,  since,  not- 
withstanding his  avowed  and  open  enmity  to 
the  Christians,  he  was  raised  by  Theodosius 
himself  to  the  high  dignity  of  prajfect,  or  chief 
of  the  Prtntorian  guards.  It  is  extremely  pro- 
bable, therefore,  that,  in  the  execution  of  the 
severe  laws  enacted  against  the  Pagans,  there 
was  an  exception  made  in  favour  of  philoso- 
phers, rhetoricians,  and  military  leaders,  on  ac- 
count of  the  important  services  which  they  were 
supposed  to  render  to  the  state,  and  that  they 
of  consequence  enjoyed  more  liberty  in  reli- 
gious matters,  than  tlie  inferior  orders  of  men. 

XVII.  This  peculiar  regard  shown  to  the 
philosophers  and  rhetoricians  will,  no  doubt, 
appear  surprising  when  it  is  considered,  that 
all  the  force  of  their  genius,  and  all  the  re- 
sources of  their  art,  were  employed  against 
Christianity;  and  that  those  very  sages,  whose 
schools  were  reputed  of  such  utility  to  the 
state,  were  the  very  persons  who  opposed  the 
progress  of  the  truth  with  the  greatest  vehe- 
mence and  contention  of  mind.  Ilierocles, 
the  great  ornament  of  the  Platonic  school, 
wrote,  in  the  beginning  of  this  century,  two 
books  against  the  Christians,  in  which  he  went 
fio  far  as'  to  draw  a  parallel  between  Jesus 
Christ  and  Apollonius  TyansEus.  This  pre- 
sumption was  chastised  with  great  spirit,  by 
Eusebius,  in  a  treatise  written  expressly  in  an- 
swer to  Hierocles.  Lactantius  takes  notice 
of  another  philosopher,  who  composed  three 
books  to  delect  the  protended  errors  of  the 
Christians,*  but  does  not  mention  his  name. 
After  the  time  of  Constantine  the  Great, 
beside  the  long  and  laborious  work  which 
Julian  wrote  against  the  followers  of  Christ, 
Himeriusf   and  Libanius,  in  their  public  ha- 

*  h.^titut.  Divin.  lib.  v.  rap.  li.  p.  53.5. 

t  S'e  Photius,  Bibliotli.  Cod.  cap.  Ixv.  p.  355. 


(tt7=- *  This  notion,  absurd  M  id  is,  has  been  revived, 
in  tlie  most  extravagant  manner,  in  a  wojk  published  at 
Ilardervvjk,  in  1757,  by  Mr.  Slruchtmeycr,  professor  of 
eloqnencc  and  languages  in  that  university.  In  this  work, 
which  bears  the  title  of  the  Symbolieal  Hercules,  the 
learned  but  wrong-headed  author  maintains  (as  he  had 
also  done  in  a  preceding  work,  entitled,  An  Explication 
of  the  Pagan  Theology,)  that  all  the  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity were  emblematically  represented  in  the  Hcatheo 
mythology;  and  not  only  so,  but  that  the  inventors  of  that 
mythology  knew  that  the  Son  of  God  was  to  descend 
upon  earth;  believed  in  Christ  as  the  only  fountain  of 
salvation;  were  persuaded  of  his  future  incarnation, 
death,  and  resurrection;  and  had  acquired  all  this  know- 
ledge and  faith  by  the  perusal  of  a  Bible  much  older  than 
either  the  time  ef  Moses  or  Abraham,  &c.  The  pagan 
doctors,  thus  instructed  (according  to  Mr.  Slruchtmeyer) 
in  the  mysteries  of  Christianity,  taught  these  truths  un- 
der the  veil  of  emblems,  types,  and  figures.  Jupiter  re- 
presented the  true  God;  Juno,  who  was  obstinate  and 
ungovernable,  was  the  emblem  of  the  ancient  Israel; 
the  chaste  Diana  was  a  type  of  the  Christian  church; 
Hercules  was  the  figure  or  foir  runner  of  Christ;  Am- 
phitryon was  Joseph;  the  two  Serpents,  killed  bv  Her- 
cules in  his  cradle,  were  the  Pharisees  and  Sadducces, 
&c.  Such  are  the  principal  tines  of  Mr.  Siruchtmeyer'a 
system,  which  shows  the  sad  havock  that  a  warm  imagi- 
nation, undirected  by  a  just  and  solid  judgment,  make* 
in  religion.  It  is,  however,  honourable  perhaps  to  the 
present  age.  that  a  system,  from  which  Ammianus  Mar- 
cellinus and  other  ancient  philosophers  derived  applause, 
will  be  generally  looked  upon,  at  present,  as  entitling  lU 
restorer  to  a  place  in  Bethlehem  hospital. 


104 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  I. 


selves  in  the  cause  of  Christianity,  and  in  ex- 
tending the  limits  of  the  church,  prevent  our 
surprise  at  the  number  of  barbarous  and  un- 
civilised nations,  which  received  the  Gospel.* 
It  appears  liighly  probable,  from  many  circum- 
-stances,  that  both  the  Major  and  the  Minor 
Armenia  were  enliglitened  with  the  know- 
ledge of  the  trutli,  not  long  after  the  promulga- 
tion of  Christianity.  Tlie  Armenian  church 
was  not,  however,  completely  formed  and  es- 
tablished before  this  century,  in  "the  com- 
mencement of  which,  Gregory,  theson  of  Anax, 
who  is  commonly  called  the  Enlighlener,  from 
his  having  dispelled  the  darkness  of  the  Arme- 
nian superstitions,  converted  to  Cliristianity 
Tiridates,  king  of  Armenia,  and  all  the  nobles 
of  his  court.  In  consequence  of  this,  Gregory 
was  consecrated  bishop  of  the  Armenians,  bv 
Leontius,  bishop  of  Cappadocia;  and  his  minis- 
try was  crowned  with  such  success,  that  the 
whole  province  was  soon  converted  to  the  Chris- 
tian faith. t 

XX.  Toward  the  middle  of  this  century,  a 
certain  person,  named  Frumentius,  went  from 
Egypt  to  Abyssinia  or  Ethiopia,  whose  inhabi- 
tants derived  the  name  of  Axumitse  from 
A.xuma,  the  capital  city  of  that  country.  He 
made  known  among  this  people  the  Gospel  of 
Christ,  and  administered  the  sacrament  of  bap- 
tism to  their  king,  and  to  several  persons  of  the 
first  distinction  at  his  court.  As  he  was  re- 
turning into  Egypt,  he  received  consecration, 
as  the  first  bishop  of  the  Axumitse,  or  EtJiiopi- 
ans,  from  Atlianasius;  and  this  is  the  reason 
why  the  Ethiopian  church  has,  even  to  our 
times,  been  considered  as  the  daugliter  of  the 
.Alexandrian,  from  which  it  also  receives  its 
bishop. + 

The  light  of  the  Gospel  was  introduced  into 
Iberia,  a  province  of  Asia  (now  called  Georgia,) 
in  the  following  manner:  a  certain  woman  was 
carried  into  that  country  as  a  captive,  durin 
the  reign  of  Constantine;  and  by  the  grandeur 
of  her  miracles,  and  the  remarkable  sanctity 
of  her  life  and  manners,  she  made  such  an  im- 
pression upon  the  king  and  queen,  that  they 
abandoned  their  false  gods,  embraced  the  fait! 
of  the  Gospel,  and  sent  to  Constantinople  for 
proper  persons  to  give  them  and  their  people  a 
more  satisfactory  and  complete  knowledge  of 
the  Christian  religion. § 

XXI.  A  considerable  part  of  the  Goths,  who 
iiad  inhabited  Thrace,  Mcesia,  and  Dacia,  had 
received  the  knowledge  and  embraced  the  doc- 
trines of  Christianity  before  this  century;  and 
Theophilus,  their  bishop,  was  present  at  the 


*  Gaudent.  viia  Philastrii,  sect.  3.  Philast.  de  haeres. 
Pricf.  Socrat.  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  i.  cap.  xix.  Georg. 
Cedren.  Chronograph. 

f  Narratio  de  rebus  Armenia!  in  Franc.  Comdefisii 
.A.uctario  Biblioth.  Patrum  Graecor.  torn.  ii.  p.  287.  Mich. 
Lequien,  Orieiis  Christi.inus,  torn.  i.  p.  419,  1356.  Jo. 
Joach.  .Schrod.  Thrsaur.  linguae  Armenics,  p.  149. 

{  Athanasius,  Apolog.  ad  Constanlium,  torn.  i.  op.  part 
ii.  p.  315,  edit.  Benedict.  Socrates  et  Sozomen,  Hist. 
Eccles.  buok  i.  chap,  xix.of  the  former,  book  ii.  ch.  xxiv. 
of  the  latter.  Theodoret.  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  i.  cap.  xxiii. 
p.  54.  Ludolf,  Comment,  ad  Hist,  ^thiopic.  p.  281. 
Hier.  Lobo,  Voyage  d'Abyssinie,  torn.  ii.  p.  13.  Justus 
Fontaninus,  Hist.  Liter.  Aquileiae,  p.  174. 

§  Rutinus,  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  i.  cap.  x.  Sozomen,  Hist. 
Eccles.  lib.  ii.  cap.  v.  Lequien,  Oriens  Christ,  tom.  i.  p. 
1333. 


council  of  Nice.  Constantine,  after  having 
vanquished  them  and  the  Sarmatians,  engaged 
great  numbers  of  them  to  become  Christians:* 
yet  a  large  body  continued  in  tlieir  attachment 
to  their  ancient  superstition,  until  the  time  of 
the  emperor  Valens.  This  prince  permitted 
them,  indeed,  to  pass  the  Danube,  and  to  in- 
habit Dacia,  Moesia,  and  Thrace;  but  it  was 
on  condition  that  they  should  live  in  subjec- 
tion to  the  Roman  laws,  and  embrace  the  pro- 
fession of  Christianity;!  which  stipulations 
were  accepted  by  their  king  Fritigern.  The 
celebrated  Ulphilas,  bishop  of  those  Goths 
who  dwelt  in  Mcesia,  lived  in  this  century,  and 
distinguished  himself  by  his  genius  and  piety. 
Among  other  eminent  services  which  he  ren- 
dered to  his  country,  he  invented  a  set  of  let- 
ters for  their  peculiar  use,  and  translated  the 
Scriptures  into  the  Gothic  language.]; 

XXII.  There  remained  still,  in  the  Euro- 
pean provinces,  an  incredible  number  of  per- 
sons who  adhered  to  the  worship  of  the  gods; 
and  though  the  Christian  bishops  continued 
their  pious  efforts  to  gain  them  over  to  the  Gos- 
pel, yet  the  success  was,  by  no  means,  propor- 
tionable to  their  diligence  and  zeal,  and  the 
work  of  conversion  went  on  but  slowly.  In 
Ganl,  the  great  and  venerable  Martin,  bishop 
of  Tours,  set  about  this  important  work  with 
tolerable  success;  for,  in  his  various  journeys 
among  tlie  Gauls,  he  converted  many,  every 
where,  by  the  energy  of  his  discourses,  and 
by  the  power  of  his  miracles,  if  we  may  rely 
upon  the  testimony  of  Sulpitius  Severus.  He 
destroyed  also  the  temples  of  the  gods,  pulled 
down  their  statues, §  and  on  all  these  accounts 
merited  the  high  and  honourable  title  of  Apos- 
tle of  the  Gauls. 

XXIII.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  victories 
of  Constantine,  the  fear  of  punishment,  and 
the  desire  of  pleasing  this  mighty  conqueror 
and  his  imperial  successors,  were  the  weighty 
arguments  that  moved  whole  nations,  as  well 
as  particular  persons,  to  embrace  Christianity. 
None,  however,  tiiat  have  any  acquaintance 
with  the  transactions  of  this  period  of  time, 
will  attribute  the  whole  progress  of  Christi- 
anity to  these  causes;  for  it  is  undeniably  mani- 
fest, that  the  indefatigable  zeal  of  the  bishops 
and  other  pious  men,  the  innocence  and  sanc- 
tity which  shone  forth  with  such  lustre  in  the 
lives  of  many  Christians,  the  translations  that 
were  published  of  tlie  sacred  writings,  and  the 
intrinsic  beauty  and  excellence  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  made  as  strong  and  deep  impres- 
sions upon  some,  as  worldly  views  and  selfish 
considerations  did  upon  otliers. 

As  to  the  miracles  attributed  to  Antony, 
Paul  the  Hermit,  and  Martin,  I  give  them  up 
without  the  least  difficulty,  and  join  with  those 
who  treat  these  pretended  prodigies  with  the 


*  Socrat.  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  i.  cap.  xviii. 

f  Socrat.  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  iv.  cap.  xxxiii.  Lequien, 
Oriens  Christ,  tom.  i.  p.  1240.  Eric.  Benzelius,  Praef. 
ad  Quatuor  Evangelia  Gothica,  quae  Ulphilae  tribuuntur, 
cap.  V.  p.  18,  published  at  Oxford,  in  1750. 

}  Jo.  Jac.  Mascovii  Historia  Germanorum,  tom.  i.  p. 
317;  tom.  ii.  not.  p.  49.  Acta  SS.  Martii,  tom.  iii.  p. 
619.  Benzelius,  cap.  viii. 

§  See  Sulpit.  Severus,  Dial.  i.  de  Vita  Martini,  cap. 
xiii.  XV.  xvii.  et  Dial.  ii. 


Chap.  I 


LEARNING  AND  PHILOSOPHY. 


105 


contempt  they  deserve.*  I  am  also  willing  to 
grant,  that  many  events  have  been  rashly 
deemed  miraculous,  which  were  the  result  of 
the  ordinary  laws  of  nature;  and  also,  that 
pious  frauds  were  sometimes  used,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  giving  new  degi'ees  of  weight  and  dig- 
nity to  the  Christian  cause.  But  1  cannot,  on 
the  other  hand,  assent  to  the  opinions  of  those 
who  maintain,  that,  in  tliis  century,  miracles 
had  entirely  ceased;  and  that,  at  this  period, 
the  Christian  church  was  not  favoured  with 
any  extraordinary  or  supernatural  mark  of  a 
divine  power  engaged  in  its  cause. f 

XXIV.  The  Christians,  who  lived  under  the 
Roman  government,  were  not  afflicted  witli 
any  severe  calanlities  from  the  time  of  Con- 
stantine,  except  '  those  which  they  sufiered 
during  the  troubles  and  commotions  raised  by 
Licinius,  and  under  tlic  transitory  reign  of  Ju- 
lian. Their  tranquillity,  however,  was,  at  dif- 
ferent times,  disturbed  in  several  places. — 
Among  others,  Athanaric,  king  of  the  Goths, 
persecuted,  for  some  time,  with  great  bitter- 
ness, that  part  of  the  Gothic  nation  which  had 
embraced  Christianity. +  In  the  remoter  pro- 
vinces, the  Pagans  often  defended  their  ancient 


*  Hier.  a  Prato,  in  his  Preface  to  Sulpitius  Severus, 
disputes  warmly  in  favour  of  the  miracles  of  Martin,  and 
also  of  the  other  prodigies  of  tifis  century. 

t  See  Eusebius' book  against  Hicrocles,  chap.  iv.  and 
Henry  Dodvvell's  Diss.  ii.  in  Ireuaiuni,  sect.  55,  p.  195. 
CX?-  See  Dr.  Middleton's  Free  Inquiry  into  (he  Miracu- 
lous Powers  which  are  said  to  liave  subsisted  in  the 
Christian  Church,  &c.  in  which  a  very  ditferent  opinion 
is  maintained.  Sec,  however,  on  the  other  side,  the 
answers  of  Church  and  Dodwell  to  Middleton's  Inquiry. 

t  See  Acta  Martyr,  sincera,  published  by  Ruinart,  and 
(in  that  collection,)  Acta  S.  Saba;,  p.  598. 


superstitions  by  the  force  of  arms,  and  massa- 
cred the  Christians,  who,  in  the  propagation 
of  their  religion,  were  not  always  sufficiently 
attentive,  either  to  the  rules  of  prudence,  or 
the  dictates  of  humanity.*  The  Christiiins 
who  lived  beyond  the  limits  of  the  Roman  em- 
pire, had  a  harder  fate:  Sapor  II.,  king  of  Per- 
sia, vei:ted  his  rage  against  those  of  his  domin- 
ions, in  three  dreadful  persecutions.  The  first 
of  these  happened  in  the  eighteenth  year  of 
the  reign  of  that  prince;  tiie  second,  in  the 
thirtieth;  and  the  tliird  in  the  thirty-first  year 
of  the  same  reign.  This  last  was  the  most 
cruel  and  destructive  of  the  tliree;  it  carried 
ofl:'  an  incredible  number  of  Christians,  and 
continued  during  the  space  of  forty  years,  hav- 
ing commenced  in  the  year  3.30,  and  ceased 
only  in  370.  It  was  not,  however,  the  religion 
of  the  Christians,  but  the  ill-grounded  suspi- 
cion of  their  treasonable  designs  against  the 
state,  that  drew  upon  them  this  tcrrijjle  calam- 
ity; for  the  Magi  and  the  Jews  persuaded  the 
Persian  monarch,  tliat  all  the  Christians  were 
devoted  to  the  interest  of  tlie  Roman  emperor, 
and  that  Simeon,  archbishop  of  Seleucia  and 
of  Ctesiphon,  sent  to  Constantinople  intelli- 
gence of  all  that  passed  in  Persia.f 


*  See  Ambrosius,  de  Officiis,  lib.  i.  cap.  xlii.  sect.  17. 

f  See  Sozomen.  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  ii.  cap.  i.  xiii.  There 
is  a  particular  and  express  account  of  this  persecution  in 
the  Bibliothec.  Oriental.  Clement.  Vatican,  toni.  i.  p.  6, 
16,  181;  tom.  iii.  p.  52;  with  which  it  will  be  proper  to 
compare  the  preface  to  the  .\cta  Martyrum  Orientalium 
et  Occideutalium,  by  the  learned  Assemani,  who  has 
published  the  Persian  Martyrology  in  Syriac,  with  a 
Latin  translation,  and  enriched  this  valuable  work  <vUVk 
many  excellent  observations. 


PART  II. 


THE  INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Wliich  contains  the  History  of  Learning  and 
Philosophy. 

I.  Philology,  eloquence,  poetry,  and  his- 
tory, were  the  branches  of  learning  particu- 
larly cultivated  at  this  time,  by  those  among 
the  Greeks  and  Latins,  who  were  desirous  of 
acquiring  fame.  But,  though  several  persons 
of  both  nations  obtained  reputation  by  their 
literary  pursuits,  they  came  all  far  short  of  tiie 
simmiit  of  fame.  The  best  poets  of  tiiis  pe- 
riod, such  as  Ansonius,  appear  insipid,  harsh, 
and  inelegant,  when  compared  with  the  sub- 
lime bards  of  the  Augustan  age.  The  rheto- 
ricians, departing  now  from  the  noble  simpli- 
city and  majesty  of  the  ancients,  instructed  the 
youth  in  the  fallacious  art  of  pompous  decla- 
mation; and  the  majority  of  historical  writers 
were  more  intent  upon  embellishing  their  nar- 
rations with  vain  and  tawdry  ornaments,  than 
upon  rendering  them  interesting  by  their  order, 
perspicuity,  and  truth. 

II.  Almost  all  the  philosophers  of  this  age 
were  of  that  sect  which  we  have  already  dis- 

VoL.  I.— 14 


tinguished  by  the  title  of  Modern  Platonists. 
It  is  not  therefore  surprising,  that  we  find  the 
principles  of  Platonism  in  all  the  writings  of 
the  Christians.  Of  these  philosophers,  how- 
ever, the  number  was  not  so  considerable  in  the 
west  as  in  the  eastern  countries.  Jamblichus 
of  Chalcis  explained,  in  Syria,  the  philosophy 
of  Plato,  or  rather  propagated  his  own  parti- 
cular opinions  under  that  respectable  name. 
He  was  an  obscure  and  credulous  man,  and  his 
turn  of  mind  was  highly  superstitious  and  chi- 
merical, as  his  writings  abundantly  testify.* 
His  successors  were,  ^Edesius,  Maxinius,  and 
others,  whose  follies  and  puerilities  are  exposed 
at  length  by  Eunapius.  Hypatia,  a  female 
philosopher  of  distinguished  merit  and  learn- 
ing, Isidorus,  Olympiodorus,  Synesius,  after- 
wards a  Semi-Christian,  with  others  of  infe- 
rior reputation,  were  the  principal  persons con- 

*  Dr.  Mosheim  speaks  here  of  only  one  Jamblichus, 
though  there  were  three  persons  who  bore  that  name. 
It  is  not  easy  to  determine  which  of  them  wrote  the 
works  that  have  reached  our  times  under  the  name  of 
Jamblichus;  but,  whoever  it  was,  he  does  not  certainly 
deserve  so  mean  a  character  as  our  learned  historian  here 
gives  him. 


lee 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II 


cerned  in  propagating  this  new  niodilication  of 
Platonisni. 

III.  As  the  emperor  Jiihan  was  passionately 
attached  to  this  sect  (which  his  writings  abun- 
dantly prove,)  he  employed  every  method  to 
increase  its  authority  and  lustre;  and,  for  that 
purpose,  engaged  in  its  cause  several  men  of 
learning  and  genius,  who  vied  witii  each  other 
in  exalting  its  merit  and  excellence.*  But, 
after  his  death,  a  dreadful  storm  of  persecution 
arose,  in  the  reign  of  Valentinian,  against  the 
Platonists;  many  of  whom,  being  accused  of 
magical  practices,  and  other  heinous  crimes, 
were  capitally  convicted.  During  these  com- 
motions, Maximus,  the  master  and  favourite  of 
Julian,  by  whose  persuasions  this  emperor  had 
been  engaged  to  renounce  Christianity,  and  to 
apply  himself  to  the  study  of  magic,  was  put 
to  deatli  with  several  others,  f  It  is  probable, 
indeed,  that  the  friendship  and  intimacy  tiiat 
had  subsisted  between  the  apostate  emperor 
and  these  pretended  sages  were  greater  crimes, 
in  the  eye  of  Valentinian,  than  either  their 
philosophical  system  or  their  magic  arts;  and 
hence  it  happened,  that  such  of  the  sect  as 
lived  at  a  distance  from  the  court,  were  not  in- 
volved in  tlie  dangers  or  calamities  of  this  per- 
secution. 

IV.  From  the  time  of  Constantine  the  Great, 
the  Christians  applied  themselves  with  greater 
zeal  and  diligence  to  the  study  of  philosophy 
and  of  the  liberal  arts,  than  they  had  formerly 
done.  The  emjjerors  encouraged  this  taste  for 
the  sciences,  and  left  no  means  unemployed  to 
excite  and  maintain  a  spirit  of  literary  emula- 
tion among  the  professors  of  Christianity.  For 
this  purpose,  scliools  were  established  in  many 
cities:  libraries  were  also  erected,  and  men  of 
learning  and  genius  were  nobly  recompensed 
by  the  honours  and  advantages  that  were  at- 
tached to  the  culture  of  the  sciences  and  arts.j 
All  this  was  indispens;ibly  necessary  to  the  suc- 
cessful execution  of  the  scheme  that  was  laid 
for  abrogating,  by  degrees,  the  worship  of  the 
gods;  for  the  ancient  religion  was  maintained, 
and  its  credit  supported  by  the  erudition  and 
talents  vvhicli  distinguished  in  so  many  places 
the  sages  of  Paganism;  and  there  was  just  rea- 
son to  appreliend,  that  the  truth  might  sutfer, 
if  the  Christian  youth,  for  want  of  proper  mas- 
ters and  instructors  of  their  own  religion, 
should  have  recourse,  for  their  education,  to 
the  schools  of  tlie  pagan  philosophers  and  rhe- 
toricians. 

V.  From  what  has  been  here  said  concern- 
ing the  state  of  learning  among  tlie  Christians, 
let  not  any  reader  conclude,  that  an  acquaint- 
ance with  the  sciences  had  become  universal  in 
the  church  of  Cln-ist;  for,  as  yet,  there  was  no 
law  enacted,  which  excluded  the  ignorant  and 


*  See  the  learned  Spanheim's  Prelaee  to  tl>e  works  of 
Julian;  and  that  also  which  he  has  prefixed  to  his  French 
translation  of  Julian's  Caesars,  and  his  Annotations  to  the 
latter;  see  also  Bleterie,  Vie  de  I'Empcreur  Julien,  lib. 
i.  n.  26. 

T  Ammian.  Marcellin.  Hist.  lib.  xxix.  cap.  i.  p.  ."556. 
edit.  Valesii.  Bleterie,  Vie  de  Julien,  p.  30—155,  159, 
and  Vie  de  Jovien,  torn.  i.  p.  194. 

}  See  Godofred.  ad  Codicis  Theodos.  titulos  de  Profes- 
soribus  et  Artibus  Liberaiibus.  Franc.  Balduinus  in 
Constantino  M.  p.  192.  Herm.  Conring.  Dissert,  de 
Stiidiis  Roniie  el  Constantinop.  at  the  end  of  his  Antiqui- 
talti  Acadeniicx. 


illiterate  from  ecclesiastical  preferments  and 
offices,  and  it  is  certain  tliat  the  greatest  part, 
both  of  the  bishops  and  presbyters,  were  men 
entirely  destitute  of  learning  and  education. 
Besides,  that  savage  and  illiterate  party,  who 
looked  upon  all  sorts  of  erudition,  particularly 
that  of  a  philosophical  kind,  as  pernicious,  and 
even  destructive  of  true  piety  and  religion,  in- 
creased both  in  number  and  authority.  The 
ascetics,  monks,  and  hermits,  augmented  the 
strength  of  this  barbarous  faction;  and  not  only 
the  women,  but  also  all  who  took  solemn  looks, 
sordid  garments,  and  a  love  of  solitude,  for  real 
piety  (and  in  this  number  we  comprehend  the 
generality  of  mankind,)  were  vehemently  pre- 
possessed in  their  favour. 

CHAPTER  II. 

Concerning  the  Government  of  the  Church,  and 
the  Christian  Doctors,  dwing  this  Century. 

I.  Constantine  the  Great  made  no  essen- 
tial alterations  in  the  form  of  government  that 
took  place  in  the  Christian  cluirch  before  his 
time;  he  only  corrected  it  in  some  particulars, 
and  gave  it  a  greater  extent.  Although  he  per- 
mitted the  church  to  remain  a  body-politic,  dis- 
tinct from  that  of  the  state,  as  it  had  forinerly 
been,  yet  he  assumed  to  himself  the  supreme 
power  over  this  sacred  body,  and  the  right  of 
modelling  and  governing  it  in  such  a  manner  as 
should  be  most  conducive  to  the  public  good. 
This  riglit  he  enjoyed  without  any  opposition, 
as  none  of  the  bishops  presumed  to  call  his  au- 
thority in  question.  The  people  therefore  con- 
tinued, as  usual,  to  choose  freely  their  bishops 
and  their  teachers.  The  bishop  governed  the 
clmrch,  and  managed  the  ecclesiastical  affairs 
of  the  city  or  district,  where  he  presided  in 
council  with  the  presbyters,  not  without  a  due 
regard  to  the  suffrages  of  the  whole  assembly 
of  the  people.  The  provincial  bishops  also 
deliberated  together  upon  those  matters  which 
related  to  the  interests  of  the  churches  of  a 
wliole  province,  as  also  concerning  religious 
controversies,  the  forms  and  rites  of  divine  ser- 
vice, and  other  things  of  like  moment.  To 
these  minor  councils,  which  were  composed  of 
the  ecclesiastical  deputies  of  one  or  more  pro- 
vinces, were  afterwards  added  acumenical  coun- 
cils, consisting  of  commissioners  from  all  the 
churches  in  the  Christian  world,  and  which, 
consequently,  represented  the  church  universal. 
These  were  establislied  by  the  authority  of  the 
emperor,  who  assembled  the  first  of  these  coun- 
cdsat  Nice.  This  prince  thought  it  equitable, 
that  questions  of  superior  importance,  and  such 
as  intimately  concerned  the  interests  of  Chris- 
tianity in  general,  should  be  examined  and  de- 
cided in  assemblies  that  represented  the  whole 
body  of  the  Christian  church;  and  in  this  it  is 
highl}'  probable,  that  his  judgment  vs'as  direct- 
ed by  that  of  the  bishops.  There  were  never,, 
indeed,  any  councils  holden,  which  could,  with 
strict  propriety,  be  called  universal;  those, 
however,  whose  laws  and  decrees  were  approv- 
ed and  admitted  by  the  universal  church,  or  the 
greatest  i>art  of  that  sacred  body,  are  connnon- 
ly  called  cecrunenical  or  general  councils. 

II.  The  rights  and  privileges  of  the  several 
ecclesiastical  orders  were,  however,  gradually 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


changed  and  diminished,  from  the  time  that 
the  church  began  to  be  torn  with  divisions,  and 
agitated  with  those  violent  dissensions  and  tu- 
mults, to  which  the  elections  of  bishops,  the 
diversity  of  religioiLs  opinions,  and  other  things 
of  a  like  nature,  too  frequently  gave  rise.  In 
these  religious  quarrels,  the  weaker  generally 
fled  to  the  court  for  protection  and  succour; 
and  thereby  furnished  the  emperors  with  op- 
portunities of  setting  limits  to  the  power  of  the 
bishops,  of  infringing  the  liberties  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  of  modifying,  in  various  ways,  the  an- 
cient customs  according  to  tlieir  pleasure. — 
And,  indeed,  even  the  bisliops  themselves, 
whose  opulence  and  authority  were  considera- 
bly increased  since  the  reign  of  Constantine, 
began  to  introduce  innovations  into  the  forms 
of  ecclesiastical  discipline,  and  to  change  the 
ancient  government  of  the  church.  Their  first 
step  was  an  entire  exclusion  of  tlie  people 
from  all  part  in  the  administration  of  ccclesi- i 
astical  affairs;  and,  afterwards,  they  by  degrees 
divested  even  the  presbyters  of  their  ancient  | 
privileges,  and  their  primitive  authority,  that 
they  might  have  no  importunate  protesters  toj 
control  their  ambition,  or  oppose  their  proceed- j 
ings;  and,  principally,  that  they  might  either 
engross  to  tlicmselves,  or  distribute  as  they  | 
thought  proper,  the  possessions  and  revenues  i 
of  the  church.  Hence,  at  the  conclusion  of  j 
this  centur)',  there  remained  no  more  than  a 
mere  shadow  of  the  ancient  government  of  the 
church.  Many  of  the  privileges  which  had 
formerly  belonged  to  the  presbyters  and  people, 
were  usurped  by  the  bishops;  and  many  of  tb.o 
rights,  which  had  been  formerly  vested  in  the 
universal  church,  were  transferred  to  the  em- 
perors, and  to  subordinate  officers  and  magis- 
trates. 

III.  Constantine,  in  order  to  prevent  civil 
commotions,  and  to  fix  his  authority  upon  solid 
and  stable  foundations,  made  several  changes, 
not  only  in  the  laws  of  the  empire,  but  also  in 
the  form  of  the  IJoman  government;*  and  as 
there  were  many  important  reasons,  which  in- 
duced him  to  suit  tlic  administration  of  the 
church  to  these  changes  in  the  civil  constitu- 
tion, this  necessarily  introduced,  among  the 
bishops,  new  degrees  of  eminence  and  lank. 
Three  prelates  had,  before  this,  enjoyed  a  cer- 
tain degree  of  pre-eminence  over  the  rest  of 
the  episcopal  order,  riz.  the  bishops  of  Rome, 
Antioch,  and  Alexandria;  and  to  these  the 
bishop  of  Constantinople  was  added,  when  the 
imperial  residence  was  transferred  to  that  city. 
These  four  prelates  answered  to  the  four  Prae- 
torian prffifects  created  by  Constantine;  and  it 
is  possible  that,  in  this  very  century,  they  were 
distinguished  by  the  Jewisli  title  of  patriarchs. 
After  these,  followed  the  exarchs,  who  had  the 
inspection  over  several  provinces,  and  answer- 
ed to  the  appointment  of  certain  civil  officers 
who  bore  the  same  title.  In  a  lower  class 
were  the  metropolitans,  who  had  only  the  go- 
vernment of  one  province;  under  whom  were 
the  archbishops,  whose  inspection  was  confined 
to  certain  districts.  In  this  gradation,  the 
bishops  brought  up  the  rear;  the  sphere  of  their 

*  See  Bos,  Histoire  de  la  Monarchie  Francoisc,  torn. 
1.  p.  64.     Giamione,  Historia  di  IVapoli,  vol.  i. 


_L2Z 

authority  was  not,  in  all  places,  equally  exten- 
sive; being  iu  some  considerably  ample,  and  in 
others  confined  within  narrow  limits.  To  these 
various  ecclesiastical  orders,  we  might  add  that 
of  the  clinrephco])i,  or  superintondants  of  the 
country  churches;  but  this  order  was,  in  most 
places,  suppressed  by  the  bishops,  with  a  desiffii 
to  extend  tiicir  own  authority,  and  enlarge  the 
sphere  of  their  power  and  jurisdiction.* 

IV.  The  administration  of  the  church  was 
divided,  by  Constantine  himself,  into  an  exter- 
nal and  an  internal  inspection. f  The  latter, 
wiiich  was  committed  to  bishops  and  councils, 
related  to  religious  controversies,  the  forms  of 
divine  worship,  the  offices  of  the  priests,  the 
vices  of  the  ecclesiastical  orders,  &c.  The  ex- 
ternal administration  of  the  church,  the  em- 
peror assumed  to  himself  This  comprehended 
all  tiiose  things  which  relate  to  the  outward 
state  and  discipline  of  the  church;  it  likewise 
extended  to  all  contests  and  debates  that  miirht 
arise  among  the  ministers  of  the  church,  supe- 
rior as  well  as  inferior,  concerning  tlieir  pos- 
sessions, their  reputation,  their  rights  and  pri- 
vileges, their  offisnces  against  the  laws,  and 
things  of  a  like  nature;};  but  no  controversies 
that  related  to  matters  purely  religious  were 
cognisable  by  this  external  inspection.  In  con- 
sequence of  this  artful  division  of  the  ecclesi- 
astical government,  Constantine  and  his  suc- 
cessors called  councils,  presided  in  them,  ap- 
pointed the  judges  of  religious  controversies, 
terminated  the  difforcnces  which  arose  between 
the  bishops  and  tlie  people,  fixed  the  limits  of 
the  ecclesiastical  provinces,  took  cognisance  of 
the  civil  causes  that  subsisted  between  the 
ministers  of  the  church,  and  punished  the 
crimes  committed  against  the  laws  by  the  or- 
dinary judges  appointed  for  that  purpose;  leav- 
ing all  causes  purely  ecclesiastical  to  the  cog- 
nisance of  bishops  and  councils.  Rut  this  fa- 
mous division  of  the  administration  of  the 
church  was  never  explained  with  perspicuity, 
or  determined  with  a  sufficient  degree  of  accu- 
rac}^  and  precision;  so  that,  both  in  this'  and 
the  following  centuries,  we  find  many  transac- ' 
tions  that  seem  absolutely  inconsistent  with 
it.  We  find  the  emperors,  for  example,  fre- 
quently determining  matters  purely  ecclesias- 
tical, which  belonged  to  the  internal  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  church;  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
nothing  is  more  frequent  than  the  decisions  of 
bishops  and  cotmcils  concerning  things  that 
relate  merely  to  the  external  form  and  govern- 
ment of  the  church.         , 

V.  In  the  episcopal  order,  the  bishop  of 
Rome  was  the  first  in  rank,  and  was  distin- 
gnislied  by  a  sort  of  pre-eminence  over  all 
other  prelates.  Prejudices,  arising  from  a  great 
variety  of  causes,  contrii)uted  to  establish  this 
superiority;  but  it  was  chiefiy  owing  to  certain 
circumstances  of  grandeur  and  opulence,  by 
which  mortals,  for  the  most  part,  form  their 
ideas  of  pre-eminence  and  dignity,  and  which 
they  generally  confound  with  the  reasons  of  a 

*  Tliis  appears  from  several  passages  in  the  useful  work 
of  Lud.  Ttiomassinus,  entitled,  Disciplina  Ecclcsise  ret. 
el  novae  circa  Bcnefiria,  torn.  i. 

t  Euseb.  de  vita  Constantini,  lib.  iv.  cap.  xxiv.  p.  S36. 

t  See  the  imperial  laws  both  in  Justinian's  Code,  and 
in  the  Thcodosian;  asalso  Godofred.  ad  Codic.  Tlieodns. 
torn.  vi. 


108 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


just  and  legal  authority.  The  bishop  of  Rome 
surpassed  all  his  brethren  in  the  magnificence 
and  splendour  of  the  church  over  which  he 
presided;  in  the  riches  of  his  revenues  and  pos- 
sessions; in  the  number  and  variety  of  Ins 
ministers;  in  his  credit  with  the  people;  and 
in  his  sumptuous  and  splendid  manner  of  liv- 
ing.* These  dazzling  marks  of  human  power, 
these  seeming  proofs  of  true  greatness  and  fe- 
licity, had  such  a  mighty  influence  upon  the 
minds  of  the  multitude,  that  the  see  of  Rome 
became,  in  this  century,  a  most  seducing  ob- 
ject of  sacerdotal  ambition.  Hence  it  hap- 
pened, that  when  a  new  pontiff  was  to  be 
elected  by  the  suffrages  of  the  presbyters  and 
the  people,  the  city  of  Rome  was  generally 
agitated  with  dissensions,  tumults,  and  cabals, 
whose  consequences  were  often  deplorable  and 
fatal.  The  intrigues  and  disturbances  that 
prevailed  in  that  city  in  the  year  366,  when, 
upon  the  death  of  Liberius,  another  pontiff 
was  to  be  chosen  in  his  place,  are  a  sufficient 
proof  of  what  we  have  now  advanced.  Upon 
this  occasion,  one  faction  elected  Damasus  to 
that  high  dignity,  while  the  opposite  party 
chose  Ursicinus,  a  deacon  of  the  vacant  church, 
to  succeed  Liberius.  This  double  election  gave 
rise  to  a  dangerous  schism,  and  even  to  a  civil 
war  within  the  city  of  Rome,  which  was  car- 
ried on  with  the  utmost  barbarity  and  fury, 
and  produced  the  most  cruel  massacres  and 
desolation.  This  inhuman  contest  ended  in 
the  victory  of  Damasus;  but  whether  his 
cause  was  more  just  than  that  of  Ursicinus, 
is  a  question  not  so  easy  to  determine. f  To 
neither,  indeed,  can  we  attribute  such  princi- 
ples as  constitute  a  good  Christian,  much  less 
tliat  exemplary  virtue  which  should  distinguish 
a  Christian  bishop. 

VI.  Notwithstanding  the  pomp  and  splen- 
dour that  surrounded  the  Roman  see,  it  is  cer- 
tain that  the  bishops  of  that  city  had  not  ac- 
quired, in  this  centurj',  that  pre-eminence  of 
power  and  jurisdiction  in  the  church  which 
,lhey  afterwards  enjoyed.  In  the  ecclesiastical 
commonwealth,  they  were,  indeed,  the  most 
eminent  order  of  citizens;  but  still  they  were 
citizens,  as  well  as  their  brethren,  and  subject, 
like  them,  to  the  edicts  and  laws  of  the  em- 
perors. All  religious  causes  of  extraordi- 
nary importance  were  examined  and  deter- 
mined, either  by  judges  appointed  by  the  em- 
perors, or  in  councils  assembled  for  that  pur- 
pose, while  those  of  inferior  moment  were 
decided,  in  each  district,  by  its  respective 
bishop.  The  ecclesiastical  laws  were  enacted, 
either  by  the  emperor,  or  by  councils.  None 
of  the  bishops  acknowledged  that  they  derived 
their  authority  from  the  permission  and  ap- 
pointment of  the  bishop  of  Rome,  or  that  they 
were  created  bishops  by  the  favour  of  the  apos- 
tolic see.  On  the  contrary,  they  all  main- 
tained, that  they  were  the  ambassadors  and 
ministers  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  that  their  au- 
thority  was  derived   from   above.];     It  must, 


"  Ammianus  Marcelliiius  gives  a  striking  description  of 
the  luxury  in  which  the  hishops  of  Rome  lived.  See 
his  Hist.  lib.  xxvii.  cap.  iii. 

f  Among  tlie  other  writers  of  the  papal  history,  see 
Bower's  History  of  the  Popes,  vol.  i. 

J  Those  w'no  desire  a  more  ample  account  of  this 
matter,  may  consult  Pet.  dc  Marca,  de  Concordia  Sacer- 


however,  be  observed,  that,  even  in  this  cen- 
tury, several  of  those  steps  were  laid,  by  which 
the  bishops  of  Rome  mounted  afterwards  to 
the  summit  of  ecclesiastical  power  and  despo- 
tism. These  steps  were  partly  laid  by  the 
imprudence  of  the  emperors,  partly  by  the 
dexterity  of  the  Roman  prelates  themselves, 
and  partly  by  the  inconsiderate  zeal  and  pre- 
cipitate judgment  of  certain  bishops.*  The 
fourth  canon  of  the  council,  holden  at  Sardis 
in  the  year  347,  is  considered,  by  the  votaries 
of  the  Roman  pontiff,  as  the  principal  step  to 
his  sovereignty  in  the  church;  but,  in  my 
opinion,  it  ought  by  no  means  to  be  looked 
upon  in  this  point  of  view;  for,  not  to  insist 
upon  the  reasons  that  prove  the  authority  of 
this  council  to  be  extremely  dubious,  or  upon 
those  which  have  induced  some  to  regard  its 
laws  as  grossly  corrupted,  and  others,  to  con- 
sider them  as  entirely  fictitious  and  spurious,! 
it  will  be  sufficient  to  observe  the  impossibility 
of  proving,  by  the  canon  in  question,  that 
the  bishops  of  Sardis  were  of  opinion,  that,  in 
all  cases,  an  appeal  might  be  made  to  the  bishop 
of  Rome,  in  quality  of  supreme  judge:*;  but  if 
we  suppose,  for  a  moment,  that  this  was  their 
opinion,  what  would  follow.'  Surely  that  pre- 
text for  assuming  a  supreme  authority,  must 
be  very  slender,  which  arises  only  from  the 
decree  of  one  obscure  council. 

VII.  Constantine  the  Great,  by  removing 
the  seat  of  the  empire  to  Byzantium,  and 
building  the  city  of  Constantinople,  raised  up, 
in  the  bishop  of  this  new  metropolis,  a  formi- 
dable rival  to  the  Roman  pontiff,  and  a  bul- 
wark which  menaced  his  growing  authority 
with  vigorous  apposition;  for,  as  the  emperor, 
in  order  to  render  Constantinople  a  second 
Rome,  enriched  it  with  all  the  rights  and  privi- 
leges, honours,  and  ornaments,  of  the  ancient 
capital  of  the  world;  so  its  bishop,  measuring 
his  own  dignity  and  rank  by  the  magnificence 
of  the  new  city,  and  by  its  eminence,  as  the 


dotii  et  Imperii;  Du-Pin,  de  antiqua  Ecclesise  disciplina; 
and  the  very  learned  and  judicious  work  of  Blondel,  de 
la  Frimaute  dans  I'Eglise. 

*  (t(3=  Tlie  imprudence  of  the  emperor,  and  the  pre- 
cipitation of  the  bishops,  were  singularly  discovered  in 
the  following  event,  which  favoured  extremely  the  rise 
and  the  ambition  of  the  Roman  pontiff.  About  the  year 
372,  Valentinian  enacted  a  law,  empowering  the  occu- 
pant of  the  see  of  Rome  to  examine  and  judge  other 
l)ishops,  that  religious  disputes  might  not  be  decided  by 
profane  or  secular  judges.  The  bishops  assembled  in 
council  at  Rome  in  378,  not  considering  the  fatal  conse- 
quences that  must  arise,  from  this  imprudent  law,  both 
to  themselves  and  to  the  church,  declared  their  appro- 
bation of  it  in  the  strongest  terms,  and  recommended 
the  execution  of  it  in  an  address  to  the  emperor  Gratian. 
— Some  think,  indeed,  that  this  law  authorised  the  Ro- 
man prelate  to  judge  only  the  bishops  within  the  limits 
of  his  jurisdiction,!,  e.  those  of  tlie  suburbicarian  pro- 
vinces. Others  are  of  opinion,  that  this  power  was 
given  only  for  a  time,  and  extended  to  those  bishops 
alone,  who  were  concerned  in  the  present  schism.  The 
latter  notion  seems  probable:  but  still  this  privilege  was 
an  excellent  instrument  iu  tVie  hands  of  sacerdotal  am- 
bition. 

f  See  Mich.  Geddes,  Diss,  de  Canonibus  Sardicensibus, 
among  his  Miscellaneous  Tracts,  tom.  ii. 

t  Ov?"  The  fourth  canon  of  the  council  of  Sardis,  sup- 
posing it  genuine  and  authentic,  related  only  to  the  par- 
ticular «ase  of  a  bishop's  being  deposed  by  the  neigh- 
bouring prelates,  and  demanding  permission  to  make  his 
defence.  In  that  case,  this  canon  prohibited  the  election 
of  a  successor  to  the  deposed  individual,  before  the  pou- 
tilThad  examined  the  cause,  and  pronounced  sentence. 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


109 


august  residence  of  the  emperor,  assumed  an 
equal  degree  of  dignity  with  the  bishop  of 
Rome,  and  claimed  a  superiority  over  all  the 
rest  of  the  episcopal  order.  Nor  did  the  em- 
perors disapprove  these  hi<rh  pretensions,  since 
they  considered  their  own  digtiity  as  connected, 
in  a  certain  measure,  with  tliat  of  the  bishop 
of  their  imperial  city.  Accordingly,  in  a  coun- 
cil convoked  at  Constantino[>le  in  the  year  381, 
by  the  authority  of  Theodosius  the  Great,  the 
bishop  of  that  city  was,  during  the  alisence  of 
the  bishop  of  Alexandria,  and  against  the  con- 
sent of  the  Roman  prelate,  placed,  by  tlie  thii-d 
canon  of  tiiat  council,  in  the  first  rank  after 
the  bishop  of  Rome,  and,  consequently,  above 
those  of  Alexandria  and  Antioch.  Nect.arius 
was  the  firet  who  enjoyed  these  new  honours 
accumulated  upon  the  see  of  Constantinople. 
His  successor,  the  celebrated  John  Chrysos- 
tom,  extended  the  privileges  of  that  see,  and 
subjected  to  its  jurisdiction  all  Thrace,  Asia 
Minor,  and  Pontus;*  nor  were  the  succeeding 
bishops  of  that  imperial  city  destitute  of  a  fer-  j 
vent  zeal  for  the  augmentation  of  tiieir  privi-  ' 
leges  and  the  extension  of  their  dominion. 

This  sudden  revolution  in  the  ecclesiastical 
government,  and  tliis  unexpected  promotion  | 
of  the  bishop  of  Byzantium  to  a  higher  rank,  i 
to  the  detriment  of  other  prelates  of  the  first  | 
eminence  in  the  cluircii,  were  productive  of  the 
most  disagreeable  eftccts;  for  this  promotion 
not  only  filled  the  bishops  of  Alexandria  with  i 
the  bitterest  aversion  to  those  of  Constantino- , 
pie,  but  also  excited  those  deplorable  conten- ; 
tions  and  disputes  between  the  latter  and  the  t 
Roman  pontilTs,  wliich  were  carried  on,  for] 
many  ages,  with  such  various  success,  and 
concluded,  at  length,  in  tlie  entire  separation  j 
of  the  Latin  and  Greek  cliurches. 

VIII.  The  additions  made  by  the  emperors  I 
and  others  to  tlie  wealth,  honours,  and  advan- 
tages of  the  clergy,  were  followed  by  a  pro- 
portionable augmentation  of  vices  and  luxury, 
particularly  among  those  of  that  sacred  order, 
who  lived  in  great  and  opulent  cities;  and  that 
many  such  additions  were  made  to  that  order 
after  the  time  of  Constantine,  is  a  matter  that 
admits  no  dispute.  The  bishops,  on  one 
hand,  in  the  most  scandalous  manner,  mu- 
tually disputed  the  extent  of  jurisdiction;  while, 
on  the  other,  they  trampled  upon  the  rights  of 
the  people,  violated  the  privileges  of  the  infe- 
rior ministers,  and  imitated,  in  their  conduct 
and  in  their  manner  of  living,  the  arrogance, 
voluptuousness,  and  luxury  of  magistrates  and 
princes. t  This  pernicious  exam])lc  was  soon 
imitated  by  the  several  ecclesiastical  orders. 
The  presbyters,  in  many  places,  assumed  an 
equality  with  the  bishops  in  point  of  rank  and 


*  See  Pet.  de  Marca,  Diss,  de  Constantinop.  Patriar- 
chatus  Institutioiie,  subjoined  to  his  book  de  Concordia 
Sacerdotii  et  Imperii;  and  Mich.  Lcquitn,  OrieiisCliris- 
tianus,  lorn.  i.  S<ee  aUo  an  Account  of  the  Government 
of  the  Christian  Church  for  tlie  first  six  hundred  years, 
by  Dr.  Parker,  bishop  of  Oxford. 

t  See  Sulpit.  Sever.  Hist.  Sacr.  lib.  i.  cap.  xxiii.  lib.  ii. 
cap.,  xxxii.  Dialog,  i.  cap.  xxi.  Add  to  this  the  account 
given  by  Clarkson  (in  his  Discourse  upon  Liturgies)  of 
the  corrupt  and  profligate  manners  of  the  clergy,  and, 
particularly,  of  the  unbounded  ambition  of  the  prelates, 
to  enlarge  the  sphere  of  their  inllucuce  and  authority. 


I  authority.  We  find  also  many  complaints 
{ made,  at  this  time,  of  the  vanity  and  efl'emi- 
na.cy  of  the  deacons.  Those  presbyters  and 
i  deacons,  more  particularly,  who  filled  the  fu-st 
stations  of  these  orders,  carried  their  preten- 
sions to  an  extravagant  length,  and  were  of- 
fended at  the  notion  of  being  placed  upon  an 
i  equal  footing  witli  their  colleagues.  For  this 
j  reason,  they  not  only  assumed  the  titles  of 
I  archpresbyters  and  archdeacons,  but  also  claim- 
ed a  degree  of  authority  and  power  much  su- 
I  perior  to  that  which  was  vested  in  the  other 
I  members  of  their  respective  orders. 
I  IX.  Several  writers  of  great  reputation  lived 
in  this  century,  and  were  shining  ornaments  to 
the  countries  to  which  they  belonged.  Among 
those  who  flourished  in  Greece,  and  in  the 
eastern  provinces,  the  following  seem  to  de- 
serve the  first  rank: 

Eusebius  Pampliilus,  bishop  of  Csesarea  in 
Palestine,  was  a  man  of  immense  reading, 
justly  famous  for  his  profound  knowledge  of 
ecclesiastical  history,  and  singularly  versed  in 
other  branches  of  literature,  more  especially 
in  all  the  different  parts  of  sacred  erudition. 
These  eminent  talents  and  acquisitions  were, 
however,  accompanied  with  errors  and  defects, 
and  he  is  said  to  have  inclined  toward  the  sen- 
timents of  those,  who  looked  upon  the  three 
persons  in  the  Godhead  as  ditlerent  from  each 
other  in  rank  and  dignity.  Some  have  repre- 
sented this  learned  prelate  as  a  thorough  Arian, 
but  without  foundation,  if  by  an  Arian  be 
meant  one  who  embraces  the  doctrine  taught 
by  .\rius,  presbyter  of  Alexandria.* 

Peter  of  Alexandria  is  mentioned  by  Euse- 
bius with  the  highest  encomiums,  j 

Athana.sius,  patriarch  of  Alexandria,  is  cele- 
brated on  account  of  his  learned  and  pious  la- 
bours, and  particularly  fiimous  for  his  warm 
and  vigorous  opposition  to  the  Arians.J 

Basil,  surnamed  the  Great,  bishop  of  Caesa- 
rea,  in  point  of  genius,  controversial  skill,  and 
a  rich  and  flowing  eloquence,  was  surpas.sed 
by  very  few  in  this  century.  § 

Cyril,  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  left  some  cate- 
chetical discourses,  which  he  delivered  in  that 
city:  he  has  been  accused  by  many  of  intimate 
connexions  with  the  Semi-Arians.|| 

John,  surnamed  Chrysostom  on  accoiuit  of 

*  No  writer  has  accused  Eusebius  of  Arianism,  with 
more  bitterness  and  erudition,  than  Le  Clerc,  in  the  second 
of  his  Epist.  Eccles.  el  Crit.  and  Natalis  Alexander,  Hist. 
Eccles.  Nov.  T.  Sa;c.  iv.  All,  however,  that  these  wri- 
ters prove,  is,  that  Eusebius  maintained  that  a  certain 
disparity  and  subordination  subsisted  between  (he  per- 
sons of  the  Godhead,  if  we  suppose  Ibis  to  have  been 
his  opinion,  it  will  not  thence  follow  that  he  was  an 
Arian,  unless  that  word  be  taken  -n  a  very  extensive  and 
improper  sense.  iVothing  is  more  common  than  the 
abusive  application  of  this  term  to  persons,  who  have  en- 
tertained opinions  opposite  to  those  of  Arius,  though 
perhaps  they  may  have  erred  in  other  respects. 

t  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  ix.  cap.  vi. 

i  Eusebius  Reuaudot,  in  his  History  of  the  Patriarchs 
of  Alexandria,  has  collected  all  the  accounts  which  the 
Oriental  writers  give  of  Alhanasius.of  whose  works  the 
learned  and  justly  celebrated  Benedictine,  Bernard  de 
Montfaucon,  gave  a  splendid  edition. 

^  The  works  of  Basil  were  published  at  Paris  by  Julian 
Gamier,  a  learned  Benedictine. 

II  The  later  editions  of  the  works  of  this  prelate,  are 
those  published  by  Mr.  Millesand  by  Augustus  Toulee, 
a  Benedictine  monk. 


110 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


his  extraordinary  eloquence,  a  man  of  a  noble 
genius,  governed  successively  the  churches  of 
Antioch  and  Constantinople,*  and  left  several 
monuments  of  his  profound  and  extensive  eru- 
dition; as  also  discourses!  which  he  had  preach- 
ed with  great  applause. 

Epiphanius,  bishop  of  Salamis,  in  the  isle  of 
Cyprus,  wrote  a  booji:  against  all  the  heresies 
that  had  sprang  up  in  the  church  until  his 
time.  This  work  has  little  or  no  reputation, 
as  it  is  full  of  inaccuracies  and  errors,  and  be- 
trays in  almost  every  page  the  levity  artd  ig- 
norance of  its  author. J 

Gregory  Nazianzen  and  Gregory  of  Nyssa 
have  obtained  a  very  honourable  place  among 
the  celebrated  theological  and  polemic  writers 
of  this  century,  and  not  without  foundation, 
as  their  works  sufficiently  testify. §  Their  re- 
putation, indeed,  would  have  been  yet  more 
confirmed,  had  they  been  less  attached  to  the 
writings  of  Origen,||  and  less  infected  with  the 
falseTind  vicious  eloquence  of  the  sophists. 

Ephraim  the  Syrian  acquired  an  immortal 
name  by  the  sanctity  of  his  conversation  and 
manners,  and  by  tlie  multitude  of  those  excel- 
lent works  in  whicli  he  combated  the  sectaries, 
explained  the  sacred  writings,  and  unfolded 
the  moral  duties  and  obligations  of  Christians. IT 

Beside  the  learned  men  now  mentioned, 
there  are  several  others,  of  whose  writings  but 
a  small  number  have  survived  the  ruins  of  time; 
such  as  Pamphilus,  a  martyr,  and  an  intimate 
friend  of  Eusebius;  Diodorus,  bishop  of  Tarsus; 
Hosius,  of  Cordova;  Didymus,  of  Alexandria; 
Eustathius,  bishop  of  Antioch;  Amphilochius, 
bishop  of  Iconium;  Palladins,  the  writer  of  the 
Lausiac  History;**  Macarius,  the  older  and  the 
younger;  Apollinaris  the  elder;  and  some  others, 
who  are  frequently  mentioned  on  account  of 
their  erudition,  and  the  remarkable  events  in 
wliich  they  were  concerned. 

X.  The  Latins  also  v>'ere  not  without  wri- 
ters of  considerable  note,  the  principal  of  whom 
we  shall  point  out  here. 


*  It  must  not  be  understood  by  this,  that  Chrysostom 
was  bishop  of  both  these  churches;  he  was  preacher 
at  Aniiocli  (a  function,  indeed,  which  before  hiiii  was  al- 
ways attached  to  the  episcopal  dignity,)  and  afterwards 
patriarch  of  Coi\s(anlinople. 

t  The  best  edition  of  the  works  of  Chrysostom,  is  that 
published  by  Montfaucon,  in  eleven  volumes  folio. 

I  The  works  of  Eiiiphauius  were  translated  into  Latin, 
and  published  with  notes,  by  the  learned  Petan.  His 
life,  written  by  Gcrvase,  ajipt  ared  at  Paris  in  1738. 

^  There  are  some  good  editions  of  these  two  writers, 
which  we  owe  to  the  care  and  industry  of  two  learned 
French  editors  of  the  seventeenth  century, — JjJ- namely, 
the  abbot  Billy,  who  published  the  works  of  Gregory 
Na/.ianzen  at  Paris,  in  1609,  with  a  Latin  translation  and 
learned  notes,  and  father  Fronton  du  Due,  who  published 
those  of  Gregory  c)f  Nyssa  in  1605. 

QlJ=-  II  The  charge  of  Origenism  seems  to  have  been 
adduced  by  the  aucieut  writers  only  against  Gregory  of 
Nyssa. 

ir  There  is  a  large  and  accurate  account  of  this  excel- 
lent writer  in  the  Biblioth.  Oriental.  Vatic,  of  Joseph 
Simon  Asseman,  torn.  i.  Several  works  of  Kphraim 
were  published  at  Osford  in  Greek;  and  of  these  Gerard 
Vossius  has  given  a  Latin  translation.  An  edition  of  the 
same  works,  in  t^yriac,  appeared  at  Rome,  under  the 
auspices  of  Steph.  Euod.  Asseman. 

(tij-'"  This  is  the  history  of  the  solitaries, or  hermits, 
which  derived  the  name  of  Lausiac  history  from  Lausus, 
governor  of  Cappadocia,  at  whose  request  it  was  com- 
posed, and  to  whom  it  was  dedicated  by  Palladius. 


Hilary,  bishop  of  Poictiers,  acquired  a  name 
by  twelve  books  concerning  the  Trinity,  whiclt 
he  wrote  against  the  Arians,  and  several  other 
productions.  He  was  a  man  of  penetration 
and  genius;  notwithstanding  which,  he  has,  for 
tlie  most  part,  rather  copied  in  his  writings 
Tertullian  and  Origen,  than  given  us  the  fruits 
of  his  own  study  and  invention.* 

Lactantius,t  the  most  eloquent  of  the  Latin 
writers  in  tills  century,  exposed  the  absurdity 
of  the  pagan  superstitions  in  his  Divine  insti- 
tutions, which  are  written  with  uncommon 
purity  and  elegance.  He  wrote  also  upon  other 
subjects,  but  was  much  more  successful  in  re- 
futing the  errors  of  others,  than  careful  in  ob- 
serving and  correcting  his  own. J 

Ambrose,  praefect,  and  afterwards  bishop  of 
Milan,  was  not  destitute  of  a  certain  degree  of 
elegance  both  of  genius  and  style;  his  senti- 
ments of  things  were,  by  no  means,  absurd; 
but  he  did  not  escape  the  prevailing  defect  of 
that  age,  a  want  of  solidity,  accuracy,  and 
order.§ 

Jerome,  a  monk  of  Palestine,  rendered,  by 
his  learned  and  zealous  labours,  such  eminent 
services  to  the  Christian  cause,  as  will  hand 
down  his  name  with  honour  to  the  latest  pos- 
terity. But  this  superior  and  illustrious  merit 
was  accompanied,  and,  in  some  measure,  ob- 
scured, by  very  great  defects.  His  complexion 
was  excessively  warm  and  choleric,  his  bitter- 
ness against  those  who  differed  from  him  ex- 
tremely keen,  and  his  thirst  of  glory  insatiable. 
He  was  so  prone  to  censure,  that  several  per- 
sons, whose  lives  were  not  only  irreproachable, 
but  even  exemplarjr,  became  the  objects  of  his 
unjust  accusations.  All  this,  joined  to  his  su- 
perstitious turn  of  mind,  and  the  enthusiastic 
encomiums  which  he  lavished  upon  a  false  and 
degenerate  sort  of  piety  which  prevailed  in  his 
time,  sunk  his  reputation  greatly,  even  in  the 
esteem  of  the  candid  and  the  wise.  His  writ- 
ings are  voluminous,  but  not  all  equally  adapt- 
ed to  instruct  and  edify.  His  interpretations 
of  the  holy  scriptiu-es,  and  his  epistles,  are 
those  of  his  productions  which  seem  the  most 
proper  to  be  read  with  profit.  || 

The  fame  of  Augustin,  bishop  of  Hippo  in 
Africa,  filled  the  whole  Christian  world;  and 
not  without  reason,  as  a  variety  of  great  and 


*  There  is  a  very  accurate  and  ample  account  of  Hilary, 
in  the  Histoire  Literaire  de  la  France,  tom.  i.  The  best 
edition  we  have  of  his  works  is  that  published  by  the 
French  Benedictines. 

t  See  a  complete  account  of  Lactautius,  Histoire  Lite- 
raire de  la  France,  tom.  i. 

{{(^  }  Lactautius  considers  Christ's  mission  as  having 
no  other  end,  than  that  of  leading  mankind  to  virtue  by 
the  most  sublime  precepts  and  the  most  perfect  example. 
The  charge  of  Manicheism,  brought  against  this  eminent 
writer,  is  refuted  in  the  most  evident  and  satisfactory 
manner  by  Dr.  Lardner,  in  the  seventh  volume  of  his 
Credibility  of  the  Gospel  History,  where  the  reader  may 
find  an  ample  and  interesting  account  of  his  character  and 
writings.  Among  those  who  have  been  editors  of  the 
works  of  Lactantius,  the  most  reputed  are  Bunemann, 
Heumann,  Walchius,  and  Lenglet  du  Fresnoy. 

§  The  works  of  St.  Ambrose  have  been  published,  by 
the  Benedictines,  in  two  volumes  in  folio. 

II  The  defects  of  Jerome  are  exposed  by  Le  Clerc,  iu 
his  Q.ua;sl.  Hieronym.  published  at  Amsterdam  in  1700. 
The  Benedictine  monks  have  given  an  edition  of  the 
works  of  this  ftther  in  five  volumes,  republished  at  Ve- 
roua  by  Vallarsius  with  considerable  additions. 


Chap.  III. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Ill 


shining  qualities  were  united  in  the  chamcter 
of  that  ilhistrious  man.  A  siibhme  genius,  an 
uninterrupted  and  zealous  pursuit  of  truth,  an 
indefatigable  apphcation,  an  invincible  pa- 
tience, a  sincere  piety,  and  a  subtile  and  lively 
wit,  conspired  to  cstabhsh  his  fame  upon  the 
most  lasting  foundations.  It  is,  however,  cer- 
tain, that  the  accuracy  and  solidity  of  his  judg- 
ment were,  by  no  moans,  proportionable  to  tlie 
eminent  talents  now  mentioned;  and  that,  on 
many  occasions,  he  was  more  guided  by  the 
violent  impulse  of  a  warm  imagination,  than 
by  the  cool  dictates  of  reason  and  prudence. 
Hence  arose  that  ambiguity  which  appears  in 
his  writings,  and  which  has  sometimes  render- 
ed the  most  attentive  readers  uncertain  with 
respect  to  his  real  sentiments;  and  hence  also 
the  just  complaints  which  many  have  made  of 
the  contradictions  that  are  so  frequent  in  his 
works,  and  of  the  levity  and  precipitation  witli 
which  he  set  himself  to  write  upon  a  variety 
of  subjects,  before  he  had  examined  them  with 
a  sufficient  degree  of  attention  and  dilig-ence.* 

Optatus,  bishop  of  Milcvi  in  Numidia,  ac- 
quired no  small  degree  of  reputation,  by  a  work 
which  he  wrote  against  the  schism  of  the  Do- 
natists.f 

Paulinus,  bishop  of  Nola,  wrote  some  poems 
and  epistles,  which  are  still  extant.  They  are 
not  remarkable  eitlier  for  their  excellence  or 
their  meanness. + 

Rufinus,  presbyter  of  Aquileia,  is  famous  on 
account  of  his  Latin  translations  of  Ongen 
and  other  Greek  writers,  his  commentaries  on 
several  books  of  the  holy  scriptures,  and  his 
bitter  contest  with  Jerome.  He  would  have 
obtained  a  very  honourable  place  among  the 
Latin  writers  of  this  century,  had  it  not  been 
his  mistbrtune  to  have  tlie  powerful  and  foul- 
mouthed  Jerome  for  his  adversary. § 

As  to  Philastrius,  Damasus,  Juvencus,  and 
other  writers  of  that  obscure  class,  we  refer  the 
reader,  for  an  account  of  them,  to  those  au- 
thors whose  principal  object  is  to  give  an  e.xact 
enumeration  of  the  Christian  writers.  We 
shall  add,  nevertheless,  to  the  list  already  given, 
Sulpitius  Severus,  by  birth  a  Gaul,  and  the 
most  eminent  historical  writer  of  this  century;|| 
as  also  Prudentius,  a  Spaniard,  a  poet  of  a 
happy  and  elegant  genius. 

*  All  accurale  and  splendid  edition  of  the  works  of 
St.  Augustin,  lias  been  given  by  llie  Benedictines,  since 
that  of  the  divines  of  Louvain.  This  elegant  edition 
bears  the  title  of  .\ntwerp,  wliere  it  was  published,  with 
some  augmentations,  by  Le  Clerc,  under  the  fictitious 
name  of  Jo.  Phcveponus.  The  Jesuits,  however,  pretend 
to  have  found  many  defects  in  this  edition. 

t  Since  the  edition  of  Optatus,  published  by  Albas- 
pinseus,  another  has  appeared,  which  we  owe  to  the  care 
and  industry  of  M.  Du-Pin,  doctor  of  the  Sorbonne. 

{  The  best  edilion  of  Paulinus  is  that  which  was  pub- 
lished at  Paris,  in  1085,  by  Le  Brun. 

glj=  ^  Kufiniis  and  Jerome  had  lived  for  many  years  in 
the  most  intimate  and  tender  friendship,  which  ended  in 
a  violent  rupture,  on  occasion  of  a  translation  which  the 
former  made  ofsomcof  the  worksof  Origen,  particularly 
his  Book  of  Principles.  For  an  account  of  Rufinus,  see 
Rich.  Simon,  Critique  de  la  Bibliothuque  des  Anteurs 
Eccles.  par  M.  Du-Pin,  torn.  i.  .\n  ample  account  of 
the  same  writer  is  given  by  Justus  Kontaninus,  Hist.  Lite- 
rar.  Aquilcicns.  lib.  v. 

II  See  Histoire  Litcraire  de  la  France,  torn,  ii.;  and 
consult  also  Hieron.  a  Prato,  who  has  written,  with  great 
accuracy   the  life  of  this  historian. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Concerning  the  Doctrine  of  the  Christian  Church 
in  this  Century. 

I.  The  fundamental  principles  of  the  Chris- 
tian doctrine  were  preserved  liitherto  incorriip* 
and  entire  in  most  cimrches,  though  it  must  be 
confessed,  that  they  were  often  explained  and 
defended  in  a  manner  that  discovered  the  great- 
est ignorance,  and  an  utter  confusion  of  ide<is. 
The  disputes  carried  on  in  the  council  of  Nice, 
concerning  the  three  persons  in  the  Godhead, 
afford  a  remarkable  example  of  this,  jjarticu- 
larly  in  the  language  and  explanations  of  those 
who  approved  the  decisions  of  that  council. 
So  little  liglit,  precision,  and  order,  reigned  in 
their  discourses,  that  they  appeared  to  substi- 
tute three  gods  in  the  place  of  one. 

Nor  did  the  evil  end  here;  for  those  vain  fic- 
tions, which  an  attachment  to  the  I'latonic  phi- 
losophy, and  to  popular  opinions,  had  engaged 
the  greatest  part  of  the  Christian  doctors  to 
adopt,  before  the  time  of  Const:intinc,  were 
now  confirmed,  eidarged,  and  embellished,  in 
various  ways.  Hence  arose  that  extravagant 
veneration  for  departed  saints,  and  those  ab- 
surd notions  of  a  certain  ^j'e  destined  to  purify 
separate  souls,  that  now  prevailed,  and  of 
which  the  public  marks  were  every  where  to  be 
seen.  Hence  also  the  celibacy  of  priests,  the 
worship  of  images  and  relics,  which,  in  pro- 
cess of  time,  almost  utterly  destroyed  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  or  at  least  eclipsed  its  lustre,  and 
corrupted  its  very  essence  in  the  most  deplora- 
ble manner. 

II.  An  enormous  train  of  different  supersti- 
tions were  gradually  substituted  for  true  reli- 
gion and  genuine  piety.  Tiiis  odious  revolu- 
tion proceeded  from  a  variety  of  causes.  A 
ridiculous  precipitation  in  receiving  new  opin- 
ions, a  preposterous  desire  of  imitating  the 
pagan  rites,  and  of  blciKJing  tlieui  with  the 
Christian  worship,  and  that  idle  propensity, 
wliich  the  generality  of  mankind  have  toward 
a  gaudy  and  ostentatious  religion,  all  contribut- 
ed to  establish  the  reign  of  superstition  upon 
the  ruins  of  Christianity.  Accordingly,  fre- 
quent pilgrimages  were  imdertaken  to  Pales- 
tine, and  to  the  tombs  of  the  martyrs,  as  if 
there  alone  the  sacred  i)rinciples  of  virtue  and 
the  certain  hope  of  salvation,  were  to  be  ac- 
quired.* The  reins  being  once  let  loose  to  su- 
perstition, whicii  knows  no  bounds,  absurd  no- 
tions and  idle  ceremonies  nuiltiplied  almost 
everyday.  Quantities  of  dust  and  earth  brought 
from  Palestine,  and  other  places  remarkable 
for  their  supposed  sanctity,  were  handed  about 
as  the  most  powerful  remedies  against  the  vio- 
lence of  wicked  spirits,  and  were  sold  and 
bought  every  where  at  enormous  prices.f  The 
public  processions  and  supplicatiims,  by  whicli 
the  Pagans  endeavoured  to  appease  their  gods, 

*  See  Gregor.  Nysseni  Orat.  ad  cos  qui  Hierosolymam 
adeuntjtom.  iii.  op. — Hieronym.  Epist.  xlii.  ad  Paulinum 
de  instituto  Monachi,  tom.  i. — Jac.  Godofrcd.  ad  Codicem 
Theodosian.  tom.  vi.— Petri  WesselinEii  Dissertat.  de 
causis  Percgrinal.  Hierosolymit.  quam  Itinerario  Burdi- 
galensi  prxmisit,  inter  Vetera  Komaiior.  Itincraria,  p. 
537. 

I  Auguslinus,  de  Civilatc  Dei,  lib.  xxii.  cap.  viii.  secl.6. 


112 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  IJ. 


were  now  adopted  into  the  Christian  worship, 
and  celebrated  in  many  places  with  great  pomp 
and  magnificence.  The  virtues  which  had  for- 
merly been  ascribed  to  the  heathen  temples, 
to  their  lustrations,  to  the  statues  of  their  gods 
and  heroes,  were  now  attributed  to  Christian 
churches,  to  water  consecrated  by  certain  forms 
of  prayer,  and  to  the  images  of  holy  men. 
And  the  same  privileges,  that  the  former  en- 
joyed under  the  darkness  of  Paganism,  were 
conferred  upon  the  latter  under  the  light  of  the 
Gospel,  or,  rather,  under  that  cloud  of  super- 
stition which  was  obscuring  its  glory.  It  is 
true,  that,  as  yet,  images  were  not  very  com- 
mon; nor  were  there  any  statues  at  all.  But 
it  is,  at  the  same  time,  as  undoubtedly  certain, 
as  it  is  extravagant  and  monstrous,  that  the 
worship  of  the  martyrs  was  modelled,  by  de- 
grees, according  to  the  religious  services  that 
were  paid  to  the  gods  before  the  coming  of 
Christ.* 

From  these  facts,  which  are  but  small  speci- 
mens of  the  state  of  Christianity  at  this  time, 
the  discerning -reader  will  easily  perceive  what 
detriment  the  church  received  from  the  peace 
and  prosperity  procured  by  Constantine,  and 
from  the  imprudent  methods  employed  to  al- 
lure the  different  nations  to  embrace  the  Gos- 
pel. The  brevity  we  have  proposed  to  observe 
in  this  history,  prevents  our  entering  into  an 
ample  detail  of  the  dismal  effects  that  arose 
from  the  progress  and  the  baneful  influence  of 
superstition,  which  had  now  become  universal. 

111.  This,  indeed,  among  other  unhappy  ef- 
fects, opened  a  wide  door  to  the  endless  frauds 
of  those  odious  impostors,  who  were  so  far  des- 
titute of  all  principle,  as  to  enrich  themselves 
by  the  ignorance  and  errors  of  the  people. 
Rumors  were  artfully  spread  abrwid  of  prodi- 
gies and  miracles  to  be  seen  in  certain  places 
(a  trick  often  practised  by  the  heathen  priests;) 
and  the  design  of  these  reports  was  to  draw 
the  populace,  in  multitudes,  to  these  places, 
and  to  impose  upon  their  credulity.  These 
stratagems  were  generally  successful;  for  the 
ignorance  and  slowness  of  apprehension  of  the 
people,  to  whom  every  thing  that  is  new  and 
singular  appears  miraculous,  rendered  them 
easily  the  dupes  of  this  abominable  artifice. | 
Nor  was  tliis  all;  certain  tombs  were  falsely 
given  out  for  the  sepulchres  of  saints]:  and  con- 
ifessors;  the  list  of  the  saints  was  augmented 
with  fictitious  names,  and  even  robbers  were 
converted  into  martyrs.  §  Some  buried  the 
bones  of  dead  men  in  certain  retired  places, 
and  then  affirmed,  that  they  were  divinely  ad- 
monished, by  a  dream,  that  the  body  of  some 
friend  of  God  lay  there. ||  Many,  especially  of 
the  monks,  travelled  through  the  different  pro- 
vinces; and  not  only  sold,  with  the  most  front- 
less  impudence,  their  fictitious  relics,  but  also 
deceived  the  eyes  of  the  multitude  with  ludi- 
crous combats  with  evil  spirits  or  genii.H     A 


*  Kor  a  full  account  of  Ihis  matter,  see  Beausobre, 
Hist,  du  Manicheisine,  toin.  ii. 

f  Henry  Dodwell,  Dissert,  ii.  in  Irenaeum,  sect.  56. 
LeClerc,  in  his  Appendix   Aiigustinian.  p.  492,  550,575. 

\  Concil.  Cartliag.  v.  Can.  xiv. 

§  Sulpitius  Severus,  de  vita  S.  Martini,  cap.  viii. 

II  .\ugustin.  Serm.  cccxviii.  sect.  i.  torn.  v.  op. 

IT  See  Godofred.  ad  cod.  Thtod.  torn.  iii. — Augustin. 
de  opere  Monachor.  cap.  xiviii.  sect.  36. — Hieronymi. 
Epist.  ad  Rusticuin,  torn.  i.  op. 


whole  volume  would  be  requisite  to  contain  an 
enumeration  of  the  various  frauds  which  artful 
knaves  practised,  with  success,  to  delude  the 
ignorant,  when  true  religion  was  almost  en- 
tirely superseded  by  horrid  superstition. 

IV.  Many  of  the  learned,  in  this  century, 
undertook  translations  of  the  Scriptures;  but 
few  succeeded  in  this  arduous  enterprise. — 
Among  the  many  Latin  versions  of  the  sacred 
books,  that  of  Jerome  was  distinguished  by  its 
undoubted  superiority.*  The  same  ingenious 
and  indefatigable  writer,  whose  skill  in  the  lan- 
guages was  by  no  means  inconsiderable,  em- 
ployed much  pains  upon  the  Greek  version  of 
the  seventy  interpreters,  in  order  to  give  a  more 
coiTect  edition  of  it  tlian  had  appeared  before 
his  time;  and  it  is  said,  that  Eusebius,  Athana- 
sius,  and  Euthalius,  had  embarked  in  an  un- 
dertaking of  the  same  nature. f  Of  interpre- 
ters the  number  was  very  considerable,  among 
whom  Jerome,  Hilary,  Eusebius,  Diodorus  of 
Tarsus,  Rufinus,  Ephraim  the  Syrian,  Theo- 
dore of  Heraclea,  Chrysostom,  Athanasius, 
and  Didymus,  are  generally  esteemed  worthy 
of  the  first  rank.  It  is  however  certain,  that, 
even  of  these  first-rate  commentators,  few  have 
discovered  a  just  discernment,  or  a  sound  judg- 
ment, in  their  laborious  expositions  of  the  sa- 
cred writings.  Rufinus,  Theodore,  and  Dio- 
dorus, with  some  others,  have,  indeed,  follow- 
ed the  natural  signification  of  the  words;}:  the 
rest,  after  the  example  of  Origen,  are  labori- 
ous in  the  search  of  far-fetched  interpretations^ 
and  pervert  the  expressions  of  Scripture,  which 
they  very  imperfectly  understand,  by  applying 
them,  or  rather  straining  them,  to  points  with 
which  they  have  no  connexion. §  St.  Augus- 
tin  and  Tychonius  endeavoured  to  establish 
plain  and  wise  rules  for  the  interpretation  of 
Scripture;  but  their  efforts  were  unsuccessful. || 

V.  The  doctrines  of  Christianity  had  not  a 
better  fate  than  the  sacred  writings  irom  which 
they  are  drawn.  Origen  was  the  great  model 
whom  the  most  eminent  of  the  Christia,n  doc- 
tors followed  in  their  explications  of  the  truths 
of  the  Gospel,  which  were  consequently  ex- 
plained, according  to  the  rules  of  the  Platonic 
philosophy,  as  it  was  corrected  and  m.odified 
by  tliat  learned  father  for  the  instruction  of  the 
youth.  Those  who  desire  a  more  ample  and 
accurate  account  of  this  matter,  may  consult 
Gregorj'  Nazianzen  among  the  Greeks,  and 
Augustin  among  the  Latins,  who  were  follow- 
ed, for  a  long  time,  as  the  only  po.tterns  worthy 
of  imitation^  and  who,  next  to  Origen,  may  be 
considered  as  the  parents  and  supporters  of  the 
philosophical  or  scholastic  theology.  They  w^ere 
both  zealous  Platonists;  and  holding,  for  cer- 
tain, all  the  tenets  of  that  philosopher  which 
were  not  totally  repugnant  to  the  truths  of 
Christianity,  they  laid  them  down  as  funda- 
mental principles,  and  drew  from  them  a  great 

''  Jo.  Franc.  Buddei   Uagoge  ad  Theologiam,  torn.   ii. 

t  Frickius,  de  Canone  N.  T. 

{  Simon,  Critique  de  la  Bibliotheque  des  Auteurs  Ec- 
clesiast.  par  Du-Pin,  torn.  i.  iv.  as  also  Hist.  Critique  des 
principaux  Commentateurs  du  N.  T.  cap.  vi. 

§  See  Gregor.  Nazianz.  Carmen  de  Seipso,  in  Tollius' 
Insignia  Itineris  Italici. 

II  This  may  be  seen  in  the  six  books  which  Augustin 
wrote  concerning  the  Christian  doctrine,  and  in  the  rules 
of  interpretation  laid  down  by  Tychonius,  which  are  to 
be  found  in  the  Biblioth.  Patr.  Maxim,  torn.  vi. 


Chap.  III. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


113 


variety  of  subtile  conclusions,  which  neither 
Clirist  nor  Plato  ever  thought  of. 

This,  however,  was  not  the  only  sect  tliat 
flourished  at  this  time.  That  order  of  fana- 
tics, who  maintained  that  the  knowledge  of 
divine  truth  was  to  be  acquired,  not  by  reason- 
ing, but  by  still  contemplation,  and  by  turniiig 
the  eye  of  the  mind  upon  itself  in  an  entire 
absence  from  all  external  and  sensible  objects, 
became  now  much  more  numerous.  This  ap- 
pears from  many  circumstances,  particularly 
from  the  swarms  of  monks  that  almost  over- 
spread the  Christian  world,  and  also  from  the 
books  of  Dionvsius,  the  pretended  cliief  of 
the  Mystics,  whicli  seem  to  have  been  forged 
in  this  century,  under  that  venerable  name,  by 
some  member  of  that  fanatical  tribe. 

VI.  Among  the  writers  of  this  century,  who 
published  expositions  of  the  Christian  doctrine, 
the  first  place  is  due  to  Cyril  of  Jerusalem, 
justly  celebrated  for  his  catechetical  discourses, 
which  nothing  but  a  partial  blindness  to  tiie 
truth  could  have  induced  any  to  attribute  to  a 
more  modern  author.*  Some  have  ranked 
Lactantius  in  the  class  of  writers  now  under 
consideration,  but  without  reason,  since  it  is 
well  known,  that  the  laboiu-s  of  that  eloquent 
author  were  rather  employed  in  refuting  tlie 
errors  of  idolatry,  than  in  explaining  the  truths 
of  the  Gospel.  The  system  of  Doctrine  ad- 
dressed to  the  Clergy  and  Laity,  which,  by 
many,  has  been  attributed  to  Atlianasius, 
seems  to  be  of  a  much  later  date.  There  are, 
however,  many  things  in  the  works  of  Chry- 
sostom,  Atlianasius,  the  Gregories,  and  others, 
by  which  we  may  be  enabled  to  form  a  just 
idea  of  the  manner  in  wliich  the  principal 
points  of  the  Cliristian  doctrine  were  explain- 
ed by  learned  men  in  this  century.  We  may 
more  particularly  be  assisted  in  this  matter 
by  tiie  twelve  books  of  Hilary,  concerning  the 
Trinity;  the  Ancoratus  of  Epiphanius,  in  which 
the  doctrine  of  Scripture,  concerning  Christ 
and  the  Holy  Ghost,  is  explained  at  large;  the 
treatise  of  Pacian,  concerning  baptism,  ad- 
dressed to  the  catechnmens;  and  the  two  books 
of  Chrysostom  on  the  same  subject.  We  need 
not  mention  here  the  various  works  of  Jerome 
and  Augustin,  in  which  appear  the  laborious 
and  noble  efforts  of  those  great  men  to  inspire 
into  the  minds  of  the  people  just  notions  of 
religion,  and  to  detect  and  refute  the  errors  of 
those  wlio  were  enemies  of  the  truth. 

VII.  The  controversial  writings,  that  were 
levelled  against  those  wlio  were  considered  as 
heretics,  were  entirely  destitute  of  that  ancient 
simplicity,  which  is  the  natural  and  the  beau- 
tiful garb  of  truth.  That  simplicity  was  now 
succeeded  by  logical  subtilties,  acute  sophisms, 
sharp  invectives,  and  other  disingenuous  arts, 
more  worthy  of  the  patrons  of  error,  than  of 
the  defenders  of  tiiat  "  wisdom  which  is  from 
above."  We  find,  accordingly,  many  great 
and  eminent  men  complaining  of  this  abuse, 
and  endeavouring  in  vain  to  oppose  the  rnuddy 
torrent  of  scurrility  and  dialectic  that  was 
overflowing  the  Cliristian  schools. I    I  pass  in 


*  See  Jo.  Fechtii  Comment,  de  Origine  Missarum  in 
Honorem  Sanctorum,  p.  404. 

f  Methodius  apud  Epiphanium,  Haeres.  Ixiv.  torn.  i.  op. 
— Gregor.  Naiian.  in  many  places;  and  others. 
Vol..  I— 15 


silence  those  rhetorical  figures  and  ornaments 
by  which  many  evaded  the  arguments  of  their 
adversaries,  and  artfully  perplexed  the  true 
state  of  the  case;  that  odious  custom,  also, 
observed  by  some,  of  exciting  the  popular  re- 
sentment against  those  who  ditfered  from  tliem, 
and  the  total  want  of  order  and  of  perspicuity, 
chargeable  upon  almost  all.  Several  writers 
of  this  age  are  so  far  from  disowning  these  in- 
decorous qualities,  tliat  tlicy  seem,  on  the  con- 
trary, to  glory  in  tliem.  It  must,  indeed,  be 
observed,  that  the  adversiiries  of  the  truth 
used  the  same  inglorious  arms,  tliough  this 
does  not  in  the  least  diminish  tlie  reproach 
whicli  is  on  that  account  due  to  its  friends. 

VIII.  New  methods  of  disputing  were  also 
added  to  those  which  were  practised  in  former 
times:  for  the  trutli  of  a  doctrine  was  now 
proved  by  the  number  of  martyrs  that  had 
professed  it,  by  miracles,  by  the  confession  of 
dccmons,  i.  e.  of  persons  possessed  with  evil 
spirits.  The  suiallest  degree  of  discernment 
will  persuade  any  one  how  ambiguous  this 
method  of  reasoning  was;  how  dangerous  to 
the  truth,  by  furjiishing  innumerable  occasions 
for  the  exercise  of  fraud  and  imposture;  and  1 
apprehend,  that  the  greatest  part  of  those- who 
used  sucli  arguments,  however  illustrious  and 
respectable  they  may  have  been,  will  be  found, 
upon  examination,  chargeable  with  the  dan- 
gerous and  criminal  design  of  imposing  upon 
their  brethren.  Ambrose,  in  his  disputes  with 
the  Arians,  produced  men  possessed  with 
devils,  who,  on  tlie  approach  of  the  relics  of 
Gervasius  and  Protasius,  were  obliged  to  ac- 
knowledge, with  loud  cries,  that  the  doctrine 
of  the  council  of  Nice,  concerning  the  three 
persons  of  the  godhead,  was  true;  and  that  of 
the  Arians  not  only  false,  but  also  of  most 
dangerous  consequence.  This  testimony  of 
the  prince  of  darkness  was  regarded,  by  Am- 
brose, as  an  unexceptionable  argument  in  fa- 
vour of  his  hypothesis.  The  Arians,  on  the 
other  hand,  held  this  prodigy  in  the  utmost  de- 
rision, and  maintained  tliat  Ambrose  had  sub- 
orned these  infernal  witnesses  by  a  weighty 
bribe;*  and  I  make  no  doubt,  that  many  will 
be  more  disposed  to  believe  the  Arians,  than 
to  credit  Ambrose,  though  he  be  enrolled  in 
the  order  of  the  saints,  and  they  stigmatised  in 
the  list  of  heretics.] 

IX.  There  were,  in  this  century,  several 
controversialists  of  considerable  note;  for,  be- 
side Apollinaria,  Gregory  Nazianzen,  Cyril  of 
Alexandria,  and  others  who  distinguislied  them- 
selves in  the  lists  agtiinst  tho  emperor  Julian, 
many  others  disputed,  with  victorious  force  and 
a  happy  success,  against  the  worshippers  of  the 
gods.  Of  this  number  were,  Lactantius,  Atha- 
nasius,  Julius  Firmicus  Matemus,  ApoUinaris 
the  younger,  whose  excellent  writings  against 
Porpliyry  are  unhappily  lost;  Augustin,  in 
those  books  of  the  City  of  G(||,  and  in  the 
tliree  books  against  the  Pagans,  which  have 
also  perished;  and,  above  all,  Eusehius  of 
Ctesarea,  in  his  Evangelical  Preparation,  and 
his  book  against  Hierocles.     Eusebius  Emese- 


*  Ambros.  Epist.  xxii.     Paulinus,  vita  Ambrosii,  p.  81. 

t  See  Le  Clerc,  Appendix  Augustiniana,|i.  375.  Grejjor. 
Nyss.  vitaGregorii  Neocaesariensis,  torn.  li.  op.  Sulpitius 
Scverus,  Hist.  Sacr.  lib.  ii.  cap.  uxriii. 


114 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


nus,  Diodorus  of  Tarsus,  and  St.  Chrysostom, 
whose  treatise  on  the  subject  is  still  extant, 
employed  their  learned  labours  to  bring-  over 
the  Jews  to  the  profession  of  Christianity. 
Ephraim  the  Syrian,*  James  of  Kisibis,  Didy- 
mus  and  Audentius,  attacked  the  whole  body 
of  heretics;  as  did  also  Epiplianius,  in  his  vo- 
luminous work  concerning  lieresies,  entitled 
Panarium,  and  Gregory  Nazianzen  with  more 
brevity  in  his  discourse  concerning  faith.  Tl)e 
books  of  Augustin  and  Philastrius,  on  the 
same  subject,  contain  rather  a  list  than  a  refu- 
tation of  the  several  sects. 

X.  If  the  growth  and  perfection  of  a  science 
were  to  be  estimated  by  the  multitude  of  wri- 
ters it  produces,  that  of  «io)-aZs  must  have  flour- 
ished greatly  at  this  time;  for  a  very  consider- 
able number  of  persons  applied  themselves  to 
that  excellent  study.  Among  the  eastern  wri- 
ters, James,  bishop  of  Nisibis,t  and  Ephraim, 
bishop  of  Syria,  became  eminent  for  their  zeal 
and  assiduity  in  inculcating  the  precepts  of 
morality.  The  writings  of  Basil  the  Great, 
Gregory  of  Nj-ssa,  Chrysostom,  Ambrose,  Au- 
gustin, and  several  others,  upon  moral  subjects, 
are  neither  wortiiy  of  high  encomiums,  nor  of 
entire  contempt,  as  they  contain  a  strange  mix- 
ture of  excellent  reflections,  and  insipid  details, 
concerning  the  duties  of  the  Christian  life. 
Among  the  productions  of  these  writers,  many 
give  the  preference  to  the  three  books  of  Am- 
brose, concerning  the  duty  of  the  ministers  of 
the  church,  which  are  written  in  the  manner 
of  Cicero,  and  are  justly  commended  for  the 
pious  intention  they  discover,  and  the  beauti- 
ful sentiments  they  contain,  though  tliere  be 
many  things  m  them  worthy  of  reprehension. 
But  Macarius,  an  Egyptian  raonk,;t  undoubt- 
edly deserves  the  first  rank  among  the  practi- 
cal writers  of  this  time,  as  his  works  display, 
some  few  things  excepted, §  the  brightest  and 
most  lovely  portraiture  of  sanctity  and  virtue. 

XI.  It  must,  however,  be  observed,  that  al- 
most all  the  writers  of  this  class  are  defective 
in  several  respects.  They  have  been  entirely 
negligent  of  order  in  their  compositions,  and 
have  taken  no  sort  of  care  to  treat  with  method 
and  precision  the  subjects  they  undertook  to 
explain.  The}'  seldom  defiue  their  terms,  and 
pour  out  their  pious  but  incoherent  ideas  in  for- 
tuitous combinations,  just  as  tliey  ofler  them- 
selves. They,  moreover,  neglect  deducing  the 
duties  of  mankind  from  their  true  principles, 
and  even  sometimes  derive  them  from  doctrines 
and  precepts  which  are  either  manifestly  false, 
or,  at  least,  -whose  nature  and  meaning  are  not 
determined  with  any  degree  of  accuracy.  And 
hence  it  is,  that  tlie  greatest  part  of  them  are 


*  See  Jos.  Sim.  Asseinan.  Bibliolli.  Orit-iiLdl.  Cle- 
ment. Vatic,  torn.  i.  p.  118,  125.  From  the  extract*, 
which  this  learned  compiler  has  given  of  the  works  of 
Ephraim,  it  appears,  that  he  was  more  distinguished  by 
his  pieij'  and  geuius,  than  by  his  skill  in  the  mnnagement 
of  controversy,  i 

t  Jos.  Sim.  Assemanus,in  the  work  quoted  in  the  pre- 
ceding note,  torn,  i.,  thinks,  that  the  writings  attributed 
to  the  bishop  of  Nisibis,  belong  rather  to  the  bishop  of 
Saruga;  he  however  corrects,  in  some  measure,  this  no- 
tion in  his  Addenda,  p.  558. 

}  Sec  the  Acta  Sanctorum,  tom.  i.  Januar.  p.  1005. 

(K^^The  things  here  excepted  by  Dr.  Mosheim,  are 
bome  superstitious  tenets  that  are  to  be  found  in  the 
writings  ol"  Macarius,  and  also  certain  opinions  that  teem 
tainted  with  Oris^enism 


extremely  defective,  when  they  come  to  de- 
monstrate the  obligations  of  virtue,  and  the  in- 
congruity and  unfitness  of  vice.  These  pre- 
tended demonstrations,  instead  of  being  deduc- 
ed by  proper  conclusions  from  the  reason  of 
things  and  tlie  divine  laws,  are  notliing  more 
than  a  collection  of  airy  fancies,  cold  and  in- 
sipid allegories,  quaint  and  subtile  conceits, 
vvliicJ!  are  more  proper  to  afford  amusement 
to  the  imagination,  than  light  to  the  under- 
standing, or  conviction  to  the  judgment. 

XII.  But,  however  defective  tliis  method  of 
inculcating  the  duties  of  morality  may  have 
been,  it  was  much  more  tolerable  than  that 
which  was  followed  by  the  amphibious  disci- 
ples of  Christ  and  Plato,  those  Alexandrian 
philosophers,  of  whom  Ammonius  Sacca  was 
the  chief.  The  double  doctrine  of  morals 
which  they  invented,  and  which  was  com- 
pounded of  two  systems,  one  surpassing  the 
other  in  perfection,  gained  much  ground  in  this 
century,  to  the  great  detriment  of  true  reli- 
gion. A  circumstance  that  strongly  tends  to 
convince  us  of  the  growth  and  progress  of  this 
fanatical  sect  is,  tiiat  those  who  in  former 
times  had  inculcated  a  secret  doctrine  concern- 
ing divine  things,  totally  different  from  that 
which  was  publicly  propagated  among  the  mul- 
titude, gave  now  the  finishing  touch  to  this 
doctrine,  and  formed  it  into  a  system.  The 
famous  Grecian  fanatic,  who  declared  himself 
to  be  Dionysius  the  Areopagite,  disciple  of  St. 
Paul,  and  who,  under  the  protection  of  this 
venerable  name,  gave  laws  and  instructions  to 
such  as  were  desirous  of  raising  their  souls 
above  all  human  things,  in  order  to  unite  them 
to  their  great  source  by  sublime  contemplation, 
lived  most  probably  in  this  centurj',  though 
some  place  him  before,  others  after  the  present 
period.*  No  sooner  were  the  writings  and  in- 
structions of  this  fanatic  handed  about  among 
the  Greeks  and  Syrians,  and  particularly 
among  the  solitaries  and  monks,  than  a  gloomy 
cloud  of  religious  darkness  began  to  spread  it- 
self over  the  minds  of  many.  An  incredible 
number  of  proselytes  joined  those  chimerical 
sectaries,  wlio  maintained  that  communion 
with  God  was  to  be  sought  by  mortifying  the 
senses,  by  witlidrawing  the  mind  from  all  ex- 
ternal objects,  by  macerating  the  body  with 
hunger  and  labour,  and  by  a  holy  sort  of  indo- 
lence, which  confined  all  the  activity  of  the 
soul  to  a  lazy  contemplation  of  things  spiritual 
and  eternal. 

XIII.  The  progress  of  this  sect  appears  evi- 
dently from  the  prodigious  number  of  solitary 
monks  and  sequestered  virgins,  which,  upon 
the  return  of  tranquillity  to  the  church,  had 


*  Those  who  have  written  concerning  this  impostor, 
are  enumerated  by  Jo.  Franc.  Buddeus,  in  his  Isagoge  ad 
Theologiam,  lib.  ii.  cap.  iv.  See  also  Jo.  Launou  Ju- 
dicium de  Scriptis  Dionysii,  tom.  ii.  op.  part  i.  La  Croze 
(in  hisHistoiredu  Christianisme  d'Ethicpie,)  endeavour* 
to  prove,  that  Synesius,  an  Egyptian  bisljop,  and  also  the 
most  celebrated  philosopher  of  the  fifth  century,  com- 
posed the  writings  attributed  to  Diouysius,  inorder  to 
defend  the  doctrine  of  those  who  held,  that  Christ  only 
possessed  one  nature.  The  arguments,  however,  of  La 
Croze  are  weak.  Nor  are  those  more  satisfactory,  which 
the  learned  Baratier  has  employed,  in  a  dissertation  added 
to  his  book  de  Successione  Rom.  Episcop.  p.  286,  to  prove 
that  Dionysius  of  Alexandria  was  the  true  author  of 
the  writings  in  question. 


I 


Chap.  III. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


IIS 


overrun  the  whole  Christian  world  with  an 
amazing  rapidity.  Many  of  this  order  of  men 
had,  for  a  long  time,  been  known  among  the 
Christians,  and  had  led  silent  and  solitary  lives 
in  tlie  deserts  of  Egypt;  but  Antony  was  the 
first  who  formed  them  into  a  regular  body,  en- 
gaged them  to  live  in  society  with  ea,ch  other, 
and  prescribed  rules  to  them  for  the  direction 
of  their  conduct.*  These  regulations,  which 
Antony  brought  forward  in  F,gypt,  in  305, 
were,  in  the  year  following,  introduced  into 
Palestine  and  Syria,  by  his  disciple  Hilarion. 
Almost  about  the  same  time,  Aones  and  Euge- 
nius,  with  their  companions,  Gaddanas  and 
Azyzus,  instituted  the  monastic  order  in  Meso- 
potamia and  the  adjacent  countries;!  and  their 
example  was  followed  with  such  rapid  success, 
that,  in  a  short  time,  the  east  was  filled  with  a 
lazy  set  of  mortals,  who,  abandoning  all  hu- 
man connexions,  advantages,  pleasures,  and  I 
concerns,  wore  out  a  languishing  and  misera- 
ble life,  amidst  the  hardships  of  want  and  va- 
rious kinds  of  suffering,  in  order  to  arrive  at 
a  more  close  and  rapturous  communion  witli 
God  and  angels.  The  Christian  clnu-cli  would 
never  have  been  disgraced  by  tins  cru'l  and 
insocial  enthusiasm,  nor  would  any  have  .jhcu 
subjected  to  those  keen  torments  of  mind  and 
body  to  which  it  gave  rise,  had  not  many  Chris- 
tians been  unwarily  caught  by  the  specious  ap- 
pearance and  the  pompous  sound  of  lliat  maxim 
of  the  ancient  philosophy,  "That,  in  order  to 
the  attainment  of  true  felicity  and  communion 
with  God,  it  was  necessary  that  tlie  soul  should 
be  separated  from  the  body,  even  here  below, 
and  that  the  body  was  to  be  macerated  and 
mortified  for  tliis  purpose." 

XIV.  From  the  east  this  gloomy  institution 
passed  into  the  west,  and  first  into  Italy,  and 
its  neighbouring  islands,  though  it  is  utterly 
uncertain  who  transplanted  it  thither.}:  ^''t. 
Martin,  tlie  celebrated  bishop  of  Toiu-s,  erect- 
ed the  first  monasteries  in  Gaul,  and  recom- 
mended this  religious  s<-ilitude  with  such  power 
and  eflicacy,  both  by  his  instructions  and  his 
example,  tliat  his  funeral  is  saiil  to  have  been 
attended  by  no  less  than  two  thousand  monks. § 
Thence,  the  monastic  discipline  gradually  ex- 
tended its  progress  through  the  other  provinces 
and  countries  of  Europe. 

It  is,  however,  proper  to  observe,  that  there 


*  For  a  full  account  of  .\ntony,  and  the  discipline  es- 
tablished by  him,  sec  the  Acta  Sanctorum,  torn.  ii.  Jauuar. 
ad  d.  17. 

t  See  Jos.  Siinon.  Asscman.  Biblioth.  Oriental.  Clement. 
Vatican,  torn.  iii.  part  ii. 

[  Most  writers,  following  the  opinion  of  Baronius, 
maintain  that  St.  Athanasius  brought  the  monastic  insti- 
tution from  Kgypt  into  llaly,  about  the  year  M40,  and  was 
lilt  first  who  built  a  monxstcry  at  Rome.     See  Mabillon, 

Praif.  ad  .\cta  Sanctorum  Ord.  Bcued.  torn.  i. The 

learned  Muratori  ( Aniiq.  Ilal.  torn,  v.)  combats  this  opin- 
ion, and  pretends  thai  the  first  monastery,  known  in  Eu- 
rope, was  erected  at  Milan;  and  Just.  Kontaninus,  in  his 
Hist.  Liter.  Aquilcicns.  affirms,  that  the  first  society  of 
monks  was  formed  at  Aquileia.  But  these  writers  do  not 
produce  unexceptionable  evidence  for  their  opinions.  If 
we  may  give  credit  to  the  Ballerini  (Dissert,  ii.  ad  Zeno- 
uem  Veronensem,)  the  first  convent  of  nuns  was  erected 
toward  the  end  of  this  century,  at  Verona,  by  Zeno, 
bishop  of  that  city. 

<)  See  Sulpit.  Sever,  de  vita  Martiui,  cap.  x.  p.  17,  edit. 
Veron.,  where  the  method  of  living,  used  by  the  Mar- 
tinian  mouks,  is  accurately  described.  See  also  Histoire 
Literaire  de  la  France,  torn.  i.  part  ii.  p.  4-2. 


was  a  great  difference  in  point  of  austerity  be- 
tween the  western  and  oriental  monks;  the  for- 
mer of  whom  could  never  be  brought  to  bear 
the  severe  rules  to  which  the  latter  voluntarily 
submitted.  And,  indeed,  the  reason  of  this 
difference  may  be  partly  derived  from  the  na- 
ture of  the  respective  climates  in  which  they 
dwelt.  The  European  countries  abound  not 
so  much  with  delirious  fanatics,  or  with  persons 
of  a  morose  and  austere  complexion,  as  those 
arid  regions  that  lie  toward  the  burning  east; 
nor  are  our  bodies  capable  of  supporting  that 
rigid  and  abstemious  method  of  living,  wliich 
is  familiar  and  easy  to  those  who  are  placed 
under  a  glowing  firmament,  and  breathe  in  a. 
sultry  and  scorching  atmosphere.  It  was,  there- 
fore, rather  the  name  only  than  the  thing  itself, 
which  was  tran.sported  into  the  European  coun- 
tries,* though  this  name  was  indeed  accompa- 
nied with  a  certain  resemblance  or  distant  imi- 
tation of  the  monastic  life  instituted  by  Anto- 
ny and  others  in  the  east. 

XV^.  The  monastic  order,  of  which  we  have 
been  taking  a  general  view,  was  distributed 
into  several  classes.  It  was  first  divided  into 
two  distinct  orders,  of  which  one  received  the 
ilciiornination  of  Coenobites,  the  other  that  of 
Eremites.  Tlie  former  lived  together  in  a  fix- 
ed habitation,  and  made  up  one  large  commu- 
nity under  a  chief,  whom  they  called  fatlier,  or 
abbot,  which  signifies  tlie  same  thing  in  the 
Egyptian  language.  The  latter  drew  out  a 
wretched  life  in  perfect  solitude,  and  were  scat- 
tered here  and  tliere  in  caves,  in  deserts,  in  the 
cavities  of  rocks,  sheltered  from  the  wild  beasts 
only  by  the  cover  of  a  miserable  cottage,  in 
which  each  lived  sequestered  from  the  rest  of 
his  species. 

The  Anachoretes  were  yet  more  excessive 
in  the  austerity  of  their  manner  of  living  than 
the  Eremites.  They  frequented  the  wildest 
deserts  witliout  either  tents  or  cottages;  nour- 
islied  themselves  with  the  roots  and  herbs 
which  grew  spontaneously  out  of  the  unculti- 
vated ground-,  wandered  about  witliout  hav- 
ing any  fixed  abode,  reposing  wherever  the  ap- 
proach of  night  happened  to  find  them;  and  all 
this,  that  they  might  avoid  the  view  and  the 
society  of  mortals.f 

Another  order  of  monks  were  those  wan- 


*  This  ditference  between  the  discipline  of  the  eastern 
and  western  monks,  and  the  cause  of  it,  have  been  in 
geniously  remarked  by  Sulpitius  Severus,  Di:il.  i.  de  Vila 
Martini,  where  one  of  the  interlocutors,  in  the  dialogue, 
having  mentioned  the  abstemious  and  wretched  diet  of 
the  Egyptian  monks,  adds  what  follows:  "  I'lacclne  libi 
prandium,  fasciculus  herbarum  et  pauis  dimidius  vir-i 
quinque.'"  To  this  question  tlie  Gaul  answers,  " Faci\ 
too  more,  qui  nuIL'im  occasionera  omittis,  quiii  nos  (i.e.) 
(the  Gallic  monks)  edacitalis  fatiges.  Sed  facis  in- 
humane, qui  nos  GaJlos  homines  cogiscxemploangelorum 
Tivcre — Sed  contentus  sit  hoc  [j^xunrfio]  Cj  reiien>i»  ille, 
cui  vel  nercssitas  vel  natura  est  esurire:  iios,  ^uorf  libi 
sape  tcstittussum,  Galli  sumits."  The  same  speaker, 
in  the  above  mentioned  dialogue,  cap.  viii.  reproaches 
Jerome  with  having  accused  the  monks  of  gluttony;  and 
proceeds  thus:  "Sentio  de  orientalibus  ilium  poliui 
monachis,  quam  de  occidentalibus  dispulasse;  nam  edaci- 
tas  in  Grajcis  et  Orientalibus  gula  est,  in  Gallis  natura." 
It  appears,  therefore,  that,  immediately  after  the  intro- 
duction of  the  monastic  order  into  Europe,  the  western 
differed  greatly  from  the  eastern  monks  in  their  manners 
and  discipline,  and  were,  in  consequence  of  this,  accu«ed 
by  the  latter  of  voraciousness  and  gluttony. 

t  See  Sulpit.  Sever.  Dial.  i.  de  vita  Martini,  cap.  x. 


116 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


dering  fanatics,  or  rather  impostors,  whom  tlie 
Egyptians  called  Sarabaites,  wlio,  instead  of 
procuring  a  subsistence  by  honest  industry, 
travelled  through  various  cities  and  provinces, 
and  gained  a  maintenance  by  fictitious  mira- 
cles, by  selling  relics  to  the  multitude,  and 
other  frauds  of  a  like  nature. 

Many  of  the  Coenobites  were  chargeable 
with,  tnrious  and  scandalous  practices.  This 
ord«r,  however,  was  not  so  generally  corrupt 
as  that  of  the  Sarabaites,  who  were  for  the 
most  part  profligates  of  the  most  abandoned 
kind.  As  to  the  Eremites,  they  seem  to  have 
deserved  no  other  reproach  than  that  of  a  de- 
lirious and  extravagant  fanaticism.*  All  these 
different  orders  were  hitherto  composed  of  tlie 
laity,  and  were  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  and 
the  inspection  of  the  bishops.  But  many  of 
them  were  now  adopted  among  the  clergy, 
even  by  the  command  of  the  emperors;  and 
the  fame  of  monastic  piety  and  sanctity  became 
so  genera],  that  bishops  were  frequently  chosen 
out  of  that  fanatical  order.f 

XVI.  If  the  enthusiastic  phrensy  of  the 
monks  exaggerated,  in  a  manner  pernicious  to 
the  interests  of  morality,  the  discipline  that  is 
obligatory  upon  Christians,  the  interests  of  vir- 
tue and  true  religion  suffered  yet  more  griev- 
ously by  two  monstrous  errors  which  were 
almost  universally  adopted  in  this  century,  and 
became  a  source  of  innumerable  calamities 
and  mischiefs  in  the  succeeding  ages.  Of  these 
maxims  one  was,  "  That  it  was  an  act  of  vir- 
tue to  deceive  and  lie,  when  by  such  means 
the  interests  of  the  church  might  be  promoted;" 
and  the  second,  equally  horrible,  though  in 
another  point  of  view,  was,  that  errors  in  re- 
ligion, when  maintained  and  adhered  to  after 
proper  admonition,  were  punishable  with  civil 
penalties  and  corporal  tortures."  Of  these 
erroneous  maxims  the  former  was  now  of  a 
long  standing;  it  had  been  adopted  for  some 
ages  past,  and  had  produced  an  incredible  num- 
ber of  ridiculous  fibles,  fictitious  prodigies,  and 
pious  frauds,  to  the  unspeakable  detriment  of 
that  glorious  cause  in  which  they  were  em- 
ployed. And  it  must  be  franlvly  confessed, 
that  the  greatest  men,  and  most  eminent  saints 
of  this  century,  were  more  or  less  tainted  with 
the  infection  of  this  con-upt  principle,  as  will  i 
appear  evidently  to  such  as  look  with  an  at- ' 
tentive  eye  into  their  writings  and  their  ac- 
tions. We  would  willingly  except,  from  this  j 
charge,  Ambrose  and  Hilary,  Augustin,  Gre- 
gory Naziauzen,  and  Jerome ;  but  truth, 
which  is  more  respectable  tlian  these  vener-  i 
able  fathers,  obliges  us  to  involve  them  in  \ 
the  general  accusation.  We  may  add  also, 
that  it  was,  probably,  the  contagion  of  this : 
pernicious  maxim,  that  engaged  Sulpitius  Se-  i 
verus,  who  is  far  from  being,  in  general,  a  i 
puerile  or  credulous  historian,  to  attribute  so 
'. '. ' — "■ ^ 

*  Whoever  is  desirous  of  a  more  ample  account  of  the 
vices  of  the  monks  in  this  century,  may  consult  the  above 
mentioned  dialogue  of  Sulp.  Sever,  cap.  viii.  p.  69,  70. 
cap.  xxi.  p.  88,  where  he  particularly  chastises  the  arro- 
gance and  ambition  of  those  who  aspired  to  clerical 
honours.  See  also  Dial.  ii.  cap.  viii.  and  also  cap.  xv., 
and  Consultat.  Apollonii  et  Zachaei,  published  by  Dache- 
rius,  Spicilec;.  tom.  i.  lib.  iii.  cap.  iii. 

f  See  J.  Godofred.  ad  Codicem  Tbeodosianum,  tom.  vi. 


many  miracles  to  St.  Martin.  The  other 
maxim,  relating  to  the  justice  and  expediency 
of  punishing  error,  was  introduced  in  those 
serene  and  peaceful  times  which  the  accession 
of  Constantino  to  the  imperial  throne  procured 
to  the  church.  It  was  from  that  period  ap- 
proved by  many,  enforced  by  several  examples 
durincr  the  contests  that  arose  with  the  Priscil- 
lianists  and  Donatists,  confirmed  and  establish- 
ed by  the  authority  of  Augustin,  and  thus 
transmitted  to  the  following  ages. 

XVII.  When  we  cast  an  eye  toward  the 
lives  and  morals  of  Christians  at  this  time,  we 
find,  as  formerly,  a  mi.xture  of  good  and  evil; 
some  eminent  for  their  piety,  others  infamous 
for  their  crimes.  The  number,  however,  of 
immoral  and  unworthy  Christians  began  so  to 
increase,  that  the  examples  of  real  piety  and 
virtue  became  extremely  rare.  When  the  ter- 
rors of  persecution  were  totally  dispelled; 
when  the  church,  secured  from  the  efforts  of 
its  enemies,  enjoyed  the  sweets  of  prosperity 
and  peace;  when  the  major  part  of  the  bishops 
exhibited  to  their  flock  the  contagious  exam- 
ples of  arrogance,  lu.xury,  effeminacy,  animos- 
ity, and  strife,  with  other  vices  too  numerous 
to  mention;  when  the  inferior  rulers  and  doc- 
tors of  the  church  fell  into  a  slotloful  and  op- 
probrious negligence  of  the  duties  of  their 
respective  stations,  and  employed,  in  vain 
wranglings  and  idle  disputes,  that  zeal  and  at- 
tention which  vi'ere  due  to  the  culture  of  piety 
and  to  the  instruction  of  their  people;  and 
when  (to  complete  the  enormity  of  this  horrid 
detail)  multitudes  were  drawn  into  the  profes- 
sion of  Christianity,  not  by  the  power  of  con- 
viction and  argument,  but  by  the  prospect  of 
gain  or  by  the  fear  of  punishment;  then  it  was, 
indeed,  no  wonder  that  the  church  was  con- 
taminated with  shoals  of  profligate  Christians, 
and  that  the  virtuous  few  were,  in  a  manner,  op- 
pressed and  overwhelmed  by  the  superior  num 
hers  of  the  wicked  and  licentious.  It  is  true, 
tliat  the  same  rigorous  penitence,  which  hao 
taken  place  befoj-e  the  time  of  Constantino 
continued  now  in  full  force  against  flagrant 
transgressors;  but,  when  the  reign  of  corruption 
becomes  universal,  the  vigour  of  the  law  yields 
to  its  sway,  and  a  weak  execution  defeats  the 
purposes  of  the  most  salutaiy  discipline.  Such 
was  now  unhappily  the  case:  the  age  was  gra- 
dually sinking  from  one  period  of  corruption 
to  another;  the  great  and  the  powerful  simied 
with  impunity;  and  the  obscure  and  the  indi- 
gent alone  felt  the  severity  of  the  laws. 

XVIII.  Religious  controversies  among  Chris- 
tians were  frequent  in  this  century;  and,  as  it 
often  happens  in  the  course  of  civil  affairs,  ex- 
ternal peace  gave  occasion  and  leisure  for  the 
excitation  of  intestine  troubles  and  dissensions. 
We  shall  mention  some  of  the  principal  of  these 
controversies,  which  produced  violent  and  ob- 
stinate schisms,  not  so  much,  indeed,  by  their 
natural  tendency,  as  by  incidental  occurrences. 

In  the  beginning  of  this  century,  about  the 
year  306,  arose  the  famous  Meletian  contro- 
versy, so  called,  from  its  author,  and  whicii, 
for  a  loner  time,  divided  the  church.  Peter, 
bishop  of  Alexandria,  had  deposed,  from  the 
episcopal  office,  Meletius,  bishop  of  Lycopolis 


Chap.  HI. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


117 


in  the  Upper  Egypt.  The  reasons  that  occa- 
sioned this  violent  act  of  authority,  have  not 
been  sufFiciently  explained. 

The  partisans  of  Peter  allege,  that  Mnletius 
had  sacrificed  to  the  gods,  and  ciiargc  him  also 
with  various  crimes;*  while  others  affirm,  that 
his  only  failing  was  an  excessive  severity 
against  the  lapsed. f  However  that  may  be, 
Meletius  treated  the  sentence  of  Peter  with 
the  utmost  contempt,  and  not  only  continued 
to  perform  all  tiic  duties  of  tlie  episcopal  func- 
tion, but  even  assumed  the  right  of  consecrat- 
ing presbyters;  a  privilege,  which,  by  the  laws 
of  Egypt,  belonged  only  to  the  bishop  of  Alex- 
andria. The  venerable  gravity  and  eloquence 
of  Meletius  drew  many  to  his  party;  and, 
among  others,  a  considerable  number  of  monks 
adhered  to  his  cause.  The  council  of  Nice 
made  several  ineffectual  attempts  to  heal  this 
breach;  the  Meletians,  on  the  other  hand,  *vhose 
chief  aim  was  to  oppose  the  authority  of  the 
bishop  of  Alexandria,  joined  themselves  to  the 
Arians,  who  were  his  irreconcilable  enemies. 
Hence  it  happened,  that  a  dispute,  which  had 
for  its  first  object  the  authority  and  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  bishop  of  Alexandria,  gradually  de- 
generated into  a  religious  controversy.  The 
Sleletian  party  was  yet  subsisting  in  the  fifth 
century. J 

XIX.  Some  time  after  this,  a  certain  person 
named  Eustathius,  was  the  occasion  of  great 
disorders  and  divisions  in  Armenia,  Pontus, 
and  the  neighbouring  countries;  and  he  was 
consequently  condemned  and  excommunicated 
by  the  council  of  Gangra,  which  soon  follow- 
ed that  of  Nice.  Whether  tb.is  was  the  same 
Eustathius,  who  was  bishop  of  Sebastia  in  Ar- 
menia, and  the  chief  of  the  Semi-Arians;  or 
whether  the  ancient  historians  have  confound- 
ed two  different  persons  of  the  same  name,  is 
a  matter  extremely  difficult  to  determine. § 
However  that  may  be,  the  leader  of  the  Eusta- 
thian  sect  does  not  seem  so  much  chargeable 
with  the  corruption  of  any  religious  doctrine, 
as  with  having  set  up  a  fanatical  form  of  sanc- 
tity, an  extravagant  system  of  practical  dis- 
cipline, destructive  of  the  order  and  liappiness 
of  society;  for  he  prohibited  marriage,  the  use 
of  wine  and  flesh,  feasts  of  charity,  and  other 
things  of  that  nature.  He  prescribed  imme- 
diate divorce  to  those  who  were  joined  in  wed- 
lock, and  is  said  to  have  granted  to  ciiildren 
and  servants  the  liberty  of  violating  the  com- 
mands of  their  parents  and  masters  upon  pre- 
texts of  a  religious  nature. || 

XX.  Lucifer,  bishop  of  Cagliari  in  Sardinia, 
a  man  remarkable  for  his  prudence,  the  aus- 
terity of  his  character,  and  the  steadiness  of 
his  resolution  and  courage,  was  banished  by 
the  emperor  Constantius,  for  having  defended 
the  Nicene  doctrine,  concerning  the  three  per- 


*  Athanasiiis,  Apologia  seciinda,  torn.  i.  op. 

t  Epiphanius,  Hajrcs.  Ixviii.  torn.  i.  op.  Sre  also  Dion. 
Petavms,  Not.  in  Epiplianiuin,  torn.  ii.  and  Sam.  Bas- 
nagii  Excrpitat.  de  Rebus  sarris  contra  Baronium. 

{Socrates,  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  i.  c.  vi.  p.  14.     Theodo- 
ret.  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  i.  cap.  viii.  p.  ,548. 
■  §  See  Sam.  Basnage,  Annnl.  Polit.  Eccles.  torn.  ii. 

II  Socrates,  lib.  i.  cap.  xliii. — So/.omen,  lib.  iii.cap.  xiv. 
lib.  iv.  cap.  xxiv. — Epiphan.  Hssrcs.  Ixvi. — Philostorgius, 
Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  iii.  cap.  xvi. — Wolfg.  Oundling,  Not. 
ad  Convilium  Gangrense. 


sons  in  the  Godhead.  He  broke  the  bonds  of 
fraternal  communion  with  Eusebius,  bishop  of 
Verceil,  in  the  year  361?,  because  the  latter  had 
consecrated  Paulinus,  bishop  of  Antioch;  and 
he  afterwards  separated  liimself  from  the 
whole  church,  on  account  of  the  absolution 
which  it  had  decreed  in  favour  of  those  who, 
under  Constantius,  liad  deserted  to  the  Arians.* 
The  small  tribe,  at  least,  that  followed  this  pre- 
late, under  the  title  of  Luciferians,  scrupu- 
lously and  obstinately  avoided  all  commerce 
and  fellowship,  both  with  those  bishops  who 
had  declared  themselves  in  favour  of  the  Arians, 
and  with  those  also  who  consented  to  an  abso- 
lution for  such  as  returned  from  this  desertion, 
and  acknowledged  their  error;  and  thus  of  con- 
.sequence  they  dissolved  the  bonds  of  their  com- 
munion with  the  church  in  general. f  The  Lu- 
ciferians are  also  said  to  have  entertained  erro- 
neous notions  concerning  the  human  soul, 
whose  generation  the}'  considered  as  of  a  car- 
nal nature,  and  maintained,  that  it  was  trans- 
fused from  the  parents  into  the  children.  + 

XXI.  About  this  time  jErius,  a  presbyter 
monk,  and  a  Somi-.\rian,  erected  a  new  sect, 
and  e.xcited  divisions  throughout  Armenia, 
Pont  as,  and  Cappadocia,  by  propagating  opin- 
ions different  from  those  which  were  com- 
monly received.  His  principal  tenet  was,  that 
bishops  were  not  distinguished  from  presbyters 
by  any  divine  right,  but  that,  according  to  the 
institution  of  the  New  Testament,  their  offices 
and  authority  were  absolutely  the  same.  How 
far  jErius  pursued  this  opinion,  through  its  na- 
tural consoquences,  is  not  certainly  known;  but 
we  know,  with  certainty,  that  it  was  highly 
agreeable  to  many  good  Christians,  who  were 
no  longer  able  to  bear  the  tyranny  and  arro- 
gance of  the  bishops  of  this  century.  Tliere 
were  other  things  in  which  .■Erius  differed  from 
the  common  notions  of  the  time;  he  condemn- 
ed prayers  for  the  dead,  stated  fasts,  the  cele- 
bration of  Easter,  and  other  rites  of  that  na- 
ture, in  which  the  multitude  erroneously  ima- 
gine that  the  life  and  soul  of  religion  consists. § 
His  great  purpose  seems  to  have  been  that  of 
reducing  Christianity  to  its  primitive  simplicity; 
a  purpose,  indeed,  laudable  and  noble  when  con- 
sidered in  itself,  though  the  principles  whence 
it  springs,  and  the  means  by  which  it  is  exe- 
cuted, may  in  some  respects  deserve  censure.  || 


*  Rulin.  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  i.  cap.  xxx. — Socrates,  lib. 
iii.cap.  ix.  .See  also  Tillemont's  Memoires  poor  servir 
a  I'Histoire  de  I'Eglise,  torn.  vii. 

t  See,  in  the  works  of  Sirmond,  a  book  of  Prayers, 
addressed  to  Tlieodosius  by  Marcelliiius  and  Faustiiius, 
who  were  Luciferians. 

I  Augustin.  do  Haercs.  cap.  Ixxxi.with  the  observations 
of  Lamb.  Dana:us,  p.  346. 

§  Epiphauitis,  Hreres.  Ixxv.  p.  90,5. — Augustin.  de 
Hipres.  cap.  liii. 

Oj^  II  The  desire  of  reducing  religions  worship  to  the 
greatest  possible  simplicity,  however  rational  it  may  ap- 
pear in  itself,  when  abstractedly  considered,  will  be  con- 
siderably moderated  in  such  as  bestow  a  moment's  atten- 
tion upon  the  imperfection  and  infirmities  of  human  na- 
ture in  its  present  state.  Mankind,  generally  speaking, 
have  too  little  elevation  of  mind  to  be  much  affected  with 
those  forms  and  methods  of  worship,  in  which  there  is 
nothing  striking  to  the  outward  senses.  The  great  dif- 
ficulty lies  in  determining  the  lengths,  which  it  is  pru- 
dent to  go  in  the.  accommodation  of  religious  ceremoniei 
to  human  infirmity;  and  the  grand  point  is,  to  fix  a  medium, 
in  which  a  due  regard  may  be  shown  to  the  seD-ses  and 
imagination,  without  violating  the  dictates  of  right  rea- 


118 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


XXII.  Tlie  progress  of  superstition  in  this 
century,  and  the  erroneous  notions  that  pre- 
vailed concerning  the  true  nature  of  rehgion, 
excited  the  zeal  and  the  efforts  of  many  to  stem 
the  torrent.  But  their  labours  only  exposed 
them  to  infamy  and  reproach.  Of  these  wor- 
thy opposers  of  the  reigning  superstitions,  the 
most  eminent  was  .Tovinian,  an  Italian  monk, 
who,  toward  the  conclusion  of  this  century, 
taught  first  at  Rome,  and  afterwards  at  Milan, 
that  all  those  who  kept  tlie  vows  they  made  to 
Christ  at  their  baptism,  and  lived  according  to 
tlie  rules  of  piety  and  virtue  laid  down  in  the 
Gospel,  had  an  equal  title  to  the  rewards  of 
futurity;  and  that,  consequently,  those  who 
passed  their  days  in  insocial  celibacy,  and  se- 
vere mortifications  and  fastings,  were  in  no  re- 
spect more  acceptable  in  the  eye  of  God,  than 
those  who  lived  virtuously  in  the  bonds  of  mar- 
riage, and  nourished  their  bodies  with  modera- 
tion and  temperance.  These  judicious  opin- 
ions, which  many  began  to  adopt,  were  first 
condemned  by  the  church  of  Rome,  and  after- 
wards by  Ambrose,  in  a  council  holden  at  Mi- 
lan in  the  year  390.*  The  emperor  Honorius 
seconded  the  authoritative  proceedings  of  the 
bishops  by  the  violence  of  the  secular  arm,  an- 
swered the  judicious  reasonings  of  Jovinian  by 
the  terror  of  coercive  and  penal  laws,  and  ban- 
ished this  pretended  heretic  to  the  island  of 
Boa.  Jovinian  published  his  opinions  in  a 
book,  against  which  Jerome,  in  the  following 
century,  wrote  a  most  bitter  and  abusive  trea- 
tise, still  extant. t 

XX III.  Among  all  the  religious  controver- 
.sies  that  divided  the  church,  tiiemost  celebrat- 
ed, both  for  their  importance  and  tlieir  dura- 
tion, were  those  relating  toOrigen  and  liis  doc- 
trine. 

Tliis  illustrious  man,  though  he  had  been, 
for  a  long  time,  charged  with  many  errors,  was 
deemed,  by  the  generality  of  Christians,  an  ob- 
ject of  high  veneral  ion;  and  his  name  was  so 
sacred  as  to  give  weight  to  the  cause  in  which 
it  appeared.  The  Arians,  who  were  sagacious 
in  searching  for  succours  on  all  sides  to  main- 
tain their  sect,  affirmed  that  Origen  had  adopt- 
ed their  opinions.  In  this  they  were  believed 
by  some,  who  consequently  included  tliis  great 
man  in  tlie  hatred  which  they  entertained 
against  the  sect  of  the  Arians.  But  several 
writers  of  the  first  learning  and  note  opposed 
this  report,  and  endeavoured  to  vindicate  the 
honour  of  their  master  from  these  injurious  in- 
sinuations.    Of  these  the  most  eminent  was 


son,  or  tariiis'iiing  the  purity  of  true  religion.  It  has 
been  said,  that  the  Romish  church  has  gone  thus  far 
solely  ill  condescension  to  the  inlirmities  of  mankind;  and 
this  is  what  the  ablest  defenders  of  its  motley  worsliip 
have  alleged  in  its  behalf.  But  this  observaliou  is  not 
just:  the  church  of  Rome  has  not  so  much  accommodated 
itself  to  human  weakness,  as  it  has  abused  that  weakness 
by  taking  occasion  from  it  to  establish  an  absurd  variety 
of  ridiculous  ceremonies,  destructive  of  true  religion, 
and  only  adapted  to  promote  the  riches  and  despotism  of 
the  clergy,  and  to  keep  the  multitude  still  hoodwinked 
in  their  ignorance  and  superstition.  How  far  a  just 
antipathy  to  the  church  puppet-shows  of  the  Papists  has 
unjustly  driven  some  Protestant  churches  into  the  op- 
posite cvtreme,  is  a  matter  that  I  shall  not  now  examine, 
though  it  certainly  deserve? a  serious  consideration. 

*  Hieronynius  in  Jovinianum,  torn.  ii.  op.  -Auguslin. 
de  Haeres.  cap.  Uxxii. — Ainbros.  Epist.  vi. 

f  Codex  Tbeodcianus,  torn.  iii.  vi. 


Eusebius,  bishop  of  Csesarea,  as  appears  by  his 
learned  work,  entitled.  An  Apology  for  Ori- 
gen. It  is  extremely  probable,  that  these  cla- 
mours raised  against  the  memory  and  reputa- 
tion of  a  man,  whom  the  whole  Christian  world 
beheld  with  respect,  would  have  been  soon 
liushed,  had  it  not  been  for  the  rise  of  new 
commotions,  which  proceeded  from  another 
source,  and  of  which  we  shall  treat  in  the  fol- 
lowing section. 

XXIV..  The  monks  in  general,  and  the  Egyp- 
tian monks  in  particular,  were  enthusiastically 
devoted  to  Origen,  and  spared  no  labour  to 
propagate  his  opinions  in  all  places.  Their 
zeal,  however,  met  with  opposition,  nor  could 
they  convince  all  Christians  of  the  truth  and 
soundness  of  the  notions  invented  or  adopted 
by  that  eminent  writer.  Hence  arose  a  con- 
troversy concerning  the  reasons  and  founda- 
tions of  Origenism,  which  was  at  first  manag- 
ed in  a  private  manner,  but  afterwards,  by  de- 
grees, broke  out  into  an  open  flame.  Among 
the  numerous  partisans  of  Origen,  was  John, 
bishop  of  Jerusalem;  which  furnished  Epipha- 
nius  and  Jerome  with  a  pretext  to  cast  an 
odium  upon  this  prelate,  against  whom  they 
had  been  previously  exasperated  on  other  ac- 
counts. But  the  ingenious  bishop  conducted 
matters  with  such  admirable  dexterity,  that,  in 
defending  himself,  he  vindicated,  at  the  same 
time,  the  reputation  of  Origen,  and  di-ew  to 
his  party  the  whole  monastic  body,  and  also  a 
prodigious  number  of  those  who  were  specta- 
tors of  this  interesting  combat.  This  was 
merely  the  beginning  of  the  vehement  contests 
concerning  the  doctrine  of  Origen,  that  were 
carried  on  both  in  the  eastern  and  western  pro- 
vinces. Tliese  contests  were  particularly  fo- 
mented in  the  west  by  Rufinus,  a  presbyter  of 
Aquileia,  who  translated  into  Latin  several 
books  of  Origen,  and  insinuated,  with  suffi- 
cient plainness,  that  he  acquiesced  in  the  sen- 
timents they  contained,*  wliich  drew  upon  liim 
the  implacable  rage  of  the  learned  and  choleric 
Jerome.  But  these  commotions  seemed  to 
cease  in  the  west  after  tlie  death  of  Rufinus, 
and  in  consequence  of  the  etforts  which  men 
of  the  first  order  made  to  check,  both  by  their 
authority  and  by  their  writings,  the  progress  of 
Origenism  in  those  parts. 

XXV.  The  troubles  which  the  writings  and 
doctrines  of  Origen  e.vcited  in  the  east  were 
more  grievous  and  obstinate.  Theophilus, 
bishop  of  Alexandria,  irritated  for  several  rea- 
sons against  the  Nitrian  monks,  represented 
tliera  as  infected  with  tlie  contagion  of  Origen- 
ism, and  ordered  them  to  give  up  and  abandon 
all  the  productions  of  Origen.  The  monks  re- 
fused obedience  to  this  command,  and  alleged 
in  their  defence  two  considerations:  one  was, 
that  the  passages  in  the  writings  of  this  holy 
and  venerable  man,  wliich  seemed  to  swerve 
from  the  truth,  were  inserted  in  them  by  ill- 
designing  heretics;  and  the  other,  that  a  few 
censurable  things  were  not  sufficient  to  justify 
the  condemnation  of  the  rest.  Matters  were 
more  exasperated  by  this  refusal  of  submission 
to  the  order  of  Theophilus;  for  this  violent  pre- 


*  Sec  Just.  Fontaninus,  Historia  Literar.  Aquileieusis, 
lib.  iv.  cap.  iii. 


Chap.  IV. 


RITES  AND  CEREMONIES. 


119 


late  called  a  council  at  Alexandria,  in  the  year 
399,  in  which,  having  condemned  the  followers 
of  Origen,  he  sent  a  band  of  soldiers  to  drive 
the  monks  from  their  residence  on  mount  Ni- 
tria.  The  poor  monks,  thus  scattered  abroad 
by  an  armed  force,  fled  first  to  Jerusalem, 
whence  they  retired  to  Scythopolis;  and,  find- 
ing that  they  could  not  live  here  in  socin-ity 
and  peace,  determined,  at  length,  to  set  sail  for 
Constantinople,  and  there  plead  their  cause  in 
presence  of  the  emperor.*  The  issue  of  these 
proceedings  will  come  under  the  history  of  the 
following  century. 

It  is,  however,  necessary  to  observe  here, 
that  we  must  not  reduce  to  the  same  class  all 
those  who  are  called  Origenists  in  the  records 
of  this  century;  for  this  ambiguous  title  is  ap- 
plied to  persons  who  differed  widely  in  tlieir 
religious  notions.  Sometimes  it  merely  signi- 
fies such  friends  of  Origen,  as  acknowledged 
his  writings  to  have  been  adulterated  in  many 
places,  and  who  were  far  from  patronising  the 
errors  of  which  he  was  accused;  in  other  places, 
this  title  is  attributed  to  those  who  confess  Ori- 
gen to  be  the  author  of  all  the  doctrines  which 
are  imputed  to  him,  and  who  resolutely  sup- 
port and  defend  his  opinions;  of  which  latter 
there  was  a  considerable  number  among  the 
monastic  orders. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Concerning  the  Rites  and  Ceremonies  used  in  the 

Church  during  this  Century. 

I.  While  the  Roman  emperors  were  studi- 
ous to  promote  the  honour  of  Christianity  by 
the  auspicious  protection  they  afforded  to  the 
church,  and  to  advance  its  interests  by  their 
most  zealous  efforts,  the  inconsiderate  and  ill- 
directed  piety  of  the  bis]io|)s  cast  a  cloud  over 
the  beauty  and  simplicity  of  the  Gospel,  by  the 
prodigious  number  of  rites  and  ceremonies 
which  they  had  invented  to  embellish  it.  And 
here  we  may  apply  that  well-known  saying  of 
Augustin,f  tiiat  "  tlie  yoite  under  which  the 
Jews  formerly  groaned,  wns  more  tolerable 
than  that  imposed  upon  many  Christians  in  his 
time."  The  rites  and  institutions,  by  which 
the  Greeks,  Romans,  and  other  nations,  had 
formerly  testified  their  religious  veneration  for 
fictitious  deities,  were  now  adopted,  v/ith  some 
slight  alterations,  by  Christian  bisliops,  and 
employed  in  the  service  of  the  true  God.  We 
have  already  mentioned  the  reasons  alleged  for 
this  imitation,  so  likely  to  disgust  all  who  have 
a  just  sense  of  the  native  beauty  of  geimine 
Christianity.  These  fervent  heralds  of  tlic 
Gospel,  whose  zeal  outran  their  candour  and  in- 
tegrity, imagined  that  the  nations  would  re- 
ceive Ciiristianity  with  more  facility,  wiien  they 
saw  the  rites  and  ceremonies  to  which  they 
were  accustomed,  adopted  in  the  church,  and 
the  same  worship  paid  to  Christ  and  liis  mar- 
tyrs, which  thoy  had  formerly  offered  to  tlicir 
idol  deities,     llence  it  happened,  that,  in  these 

*  See  Pierre  Daniel  Huet,  Origeniana,  lib.  ii.  cap.  iv. — 
Louis  Doucin,  Histoire  de  I'On'Konisme,  livr.  iii. — Hier. 
a  Prato,  Diss.  vi.  in  Sulpitium  Severum  de  Monarhis  ob 
Origcnis  nomen  ex  Nitria  totaque -Kgypto  piilais,  p.  273. 

t  Au^iistin.  Epist.  cxix.  ad  Jannarium,  according  to 
the  ancient  division. 


times,  the  religion  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans 
differed  very  little,  in  its  external  appearance, 
from  that  of  the  Christians.  They  had  both 
a  most  pompous  and  splendid  ritual.  Gorge- 
ous robes,  mitres,  tiaras,  wa.x-tapers,  crosiers,* 
processions,!  lustrations,  images,  gold  and  sil- 
ver vases,  and  many  such  circumstances  of  pa- 
giitt'itry,  were  equally  to  be  seen  in  the  heathen 
temples  and  in  the  Christian  churches. 

II.  No  sooner  had  Constantino  abolished  the 
superstitions  of  his  ancestors,  than  magnificent 
churches  were  every  wliere  erected  for  the 
Christians,  which  were  richly  adorned  with 
pictures  and  images,  and  bore  a  striking  re- 
semblance to  the  pagan  temples,  both  in  their 
outward  and  inward  form.;J;  Of  these  churches 
some  were  built  over  the  tombs  of  martyrs, 
and  were  frequented  only  at  staled  times;  while 
others  were  set  apart  for  the  ordinary  assem- 
blies of  Christians  in  divine  worship.  The 
former  were  called  Maiiyria,  from  the  places 
where  they  were  erected;  and  the  latter  Tituli.^ 
Both  of  them  were  consecrated  with  great 
pomp,  and  with  certain  rites  borrowed  mostly 
from  the  ancient  laws  of  the  Roman  pontiflTs. 

But  our  wonder  will  not  cease  liore;  it  will 
rather  be  augmented  when  we  learn,  that,  at 
this  time,  it  was  looked  upon  as  an  essential 
part  of  religion,  to  have  in  every  country  a 
nultitude  of  churches;  and  here  we  must  look 
fur  the  true  origin  of  what  is  called  the  right 
of  patronage,  which  was  introduced  among 
Christians  with  no  other  view  than  to  encour- 
age the  opulent  to  erect  a  great  number  of 
churciies,  by  giving  them  the  privilege  of  ap- 
pointing the  ministers  that  were  to  officiate  in 
them. II  This  was  a  new  instance  of  that  ser- 
vile imitation  of  the  ancient  superstitions  which 
reigned  at  this  time;  for  it  was  a  very  common 
nt>tion  among  the  people  of  old,  that  nations 
and  provinces  were  happy  and  i'ree  from  dan- 
ger, in  proportion  to  the  number  of  fanes  and 
temples,  which  they  consecrated  to  the  worsliip 
of  gods  and  heroes,  whose  protection  and  suc- 
cour could  not  fail,  as  it  was  thought,  to  be 


(fij=-  *  The  lituus,  which,  among  the  ancient  Romans, 
was  the  chief  ensign  of  the  augurs,  and  derived  its  naDK 
from  its  resemblance  to  the  military  trumpet,  became  a 
mark  of  episcopal  dignity.  We  call  it  the  crosier,  or 
bishop's  staff. 

(ilj-  t  The  word  supjdie'ilione.^, -which  I  hare  rendered 
by  Ihal  of  processiojw, signified,  among  the  pagans,  those 
solemn  and  public  acts  of  gratiUidc  for  national  blessings, 
or  deprecation  of  national  calamities,  which  were  ex- 
pressed by  the  whole  body  of  the  people  by  a  religious 
approach  to  the  temples  of  the  gods,  which,  by  a  decree 
of  the  senate,  were  open  to  all  without  distinction.  See 
Cic.  Catil.  iii.  6.  Liv.  x.  23. 

}  Sec  Ezek.Spanhfim,  Preuves  snrlesCcsarsde  Julien, 
and  particularly  Le  Brun's  Explication  litcrale  et  histori- 
(|»e  des  (;ereinonies  de  la  Messe,  torn.  ii.  A  description 
of  these  churches  may  be  found  in  Eusebius,  devita  Con- 
stantini  M.  lib.  iii.  cap.  xxxv.  and  an  exact  plan  of  their 
interior  structure  is  accurately  engraven  in  bishop  Bever- 
ege's  Adnolationes  in  Pandectas  Canonum,  torn,  ii.aiid  in 
Frederic  Spanheim's  Institut.  Hist.  Eccles.  It  must 
also  be  observed,  that  certain  parts  of  the  Christian 
churches  were  formed  ader  the  model  of  the  Jewish  tem- 
ples.    See  Camp.  Vitringa  de   Synagoga  vetere,  lib.  iii. 

^  Jo.  Mabillon,  Mus.  Ital.  torn.  li.  in  Comment,  ad 
ordin.  Roman,  p.  xvi.  (tij-  The  Tituli  were  the  smaller 
churches,  so  called  from  this  circumstance,  that  the 
presbyters,  who  officiated  in  them,  were  called  by  the 
names  of  the  places  where  they  were  erected,  t.  e.  re- 
ceived titles,  which  fixed  them  to  those  particular  cures. 

II  Just.  Hen.  Bohmeri  Jus  Eccles.  Protestant,  torn.  iii. 
p.  466.— Bibliotheque  Italique,  torn.  v.  p.  166. 


120 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


shed  abundantly  upon  those  who  worshipped 
them  with  sucli  zeal,  and  honoured  them  with 
so  many  marks  of  veneration  and  respect.  The 
Christians  unhappily  contracted  the  same  erro- 
neous way  of  thinking.  The  more  numerous 
were  the  temples  which  tliey  erected  in  honour 
of  Christ,  and  his  chosen  friends  and  followers, 
the  more  sanguine  did  their  expectations  gii^-v 
of  powerful  succours  from  them,  and  of  a  pe- 
culiar interest  in  the  divine  protection.  They 
were  so  weak  as  to  imagine,  that  God,  Christ, 
and  celestial  intelligences,  were  delighted  with 
tiiose  marks  and  testimonies  of  respect,  which 
captivate  the  hearts  of  wretched  mortals. 

III.  The  Christian  worship  consisted  in 
hymns,  prayers,  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  a  discourse  addressed  to  the  people;  and 
concluded  with  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's 
supper.  To  these  were  added  various  rites, 
more  adapted  to  please  the  eyes,  and  strike  the 
imagination,  than  to  kindle  in  the  heart  the 
pure  and  sacred  flame  of  genuine  piety.*  We 
are  not,  however,  to  think,  that  the  same 
method  of  worship  was  uniforml3'  followed  in 
every  Christian  society;  for  this  was  far  from 
being  the  case.  Every  bishop,  consulting  his 
own  private  judgment,  and  taking  into  consi- 
deration the  nature  of  the  times,  the  genius  of 
the  country  in  which  he  lived,  and  the  character 
and  temper  of  those  whom  he  was  appointed 
to  rule  and  instruct,  formed  such  a  plan  of  di- 
vine worship  as  he  thought  the  wisest  and  the 
best.  Hence  arose  that  variety  of  liturgies 
which  were  in  use,  before  the  bishop  of  Rome 
had  usurped  the  supreme  power  in  religious 
matters,  and  persuaded  the  credulous  and  un- 
thinking, that  the  model,  both  of  doctrine  and 
worship,  was  to  be  given  by  the  mother-church, 
and  to  be  followed  implicitly  tliroughout  the 
Christian  world. 

IV.  It  would  be  almost  endless  to  enter  into 
a  minute  detail  of  all  the  diiferent  parts  of 
public  worship,  and  to  point  out  the  disadvan- 
tageous changes  they  underwent.  A  few  ob- 
servations will  he  sufficient  upon  this  head. 
The  public  prayers  had  lost  much  of  the  solemn 
and  majestic  simplicity  that  characterised  them 
in  the  primitive  times,  and  which  now  began 
to  degenerate  into  a  vain  and  swelling  bom- 
bast. The  Psalms  of  David  were  now  receiv- 
ed among  the  public  hymns  that  were  smig  as 
a  part  of  divine  service-!  The  sermons,  or 
public  discourses  addressed  to  the  people,  were 
composed  according  to  the  rules  of  human 
eloquence,  and  rather  adapted  to  excite  the 
stupid  admiration  of  the  populace,  who  delight 
in  vain  embellishments,  than  to  enlighten  the 
understanding,  or  to  reform  the  heart.  It 
would  even  seem  as  if  all  possible  means  had 
been  industriously  used,  to  give  an  air  of  folly 
and  extravagance  to  the  Christian  assemblies; 
for  the  people  were  permitted,  and  e-ren  ex- 
horted by  the  preacher  himself,  to  crown  his 


*  For  a  full  account  of  the  forms  of  public  worship,  or 
the  liturgies  of  this  century,  the  reader  will  do  well  to 
consult  the  twenty-second  catechetical  discourse  of  Cyril 
of  Jerusalem,  and  the  apostolical  constitutions,  which 
are  falsely  attributed  to  Clement  of  Rome.  These  wri- 
ters are  most  learnedly  illustrated  and  explained  by 
Pierre  Le  Brun,  in  his  Explication  literale  et  historique 
de  laMessc,  tom.  ii. 

f  Beausobre,  Hist,  du  Manicheisme,  tom.  ii.  p.  614. 


talents  with  clapping  of  hands  and  loud  accla- 
mations of  applause;*  a  recompense  that  was 
liitherto  peculiar  to  the  actors  on  the  theatre, 
and  the  orators  in  the  forum.  How  men,  set 
apart  by  their  profession  to  exliibit  examples 
of  the  contempt  of  vain  glory,  and  to  demon- 
strate to  others  the  vanity  and  emptiness  of  all 
temporal  things,  could  indulge  such  a  senseless 
and  indecent  ambition,  is  difficult  to  be  con- 
ceived, though  it  is  highly  to  be  deplored. 

V.  The  first  day  of  the  week,  which  was  the 
ordinary  and  stated  time  for  the  public  assem- 
blies of  Christians,  was,  in  consequence  of  a 
peculiar  law  enacted  by  Constantino,  observed 
with  greater  solemnity  than  it  had  formerly 
been.f  The  festivals  celebrated  in  most  of  the 
churches,  were  five  in  number.  They  were  ap- 
pointed in  conuuemoration  of  the  birth,  the 
sutferings  and  death,  the  resurrection  and  the 
ascension  of  the  divine  Saviour;  and  also  the 
effusion  of  the  Holy  Ghost  upon  the  apostles 
and  first  heralds  of  the  Gospel  on  the  day  of 
Pentecost.  Of  these  festivals,  the  Christians 
kept  none  with  so  much  solemnity  and  respect 
as  the  fourteen  days  that  were  appointed  for  the 
coimueraoration  of  the  resurrection. + 

The  eastern  Christians  celebrated  the  memo- 
ry of  Christ's  birth  and  baptism  in  one  festival, 
which  was  fixed  on  the  sixth  of  January;  and 
this  day  was  by  them  called  the  Epiphany,  as 
on  it  tiie  immortal  Saviour  was  manitested  to 
the  world. §  On  the  other  hand,  the  Christians 
of  the  west  seem  to  have  always  celebrated  the 
birth  of  our  Lord  on  the  25th  of  December; 
for  there  appears  to  be  very  little  certainty 
in  the  accounts  of  those  who  allege,  that  the 
Roman  pontiif,  Julius  I.,  removed  the  festival 
of  Christ's  birth  from  the  6  th  of  January  to  the 
26th  of  December. II 

The  unlucky  success  which  some  had  in  dis- 
covering the  carcasses  and  remains  of  certain 
holy  men,  multiplied  the  festivals  and  com- 
memorations of  the  martyrs  in  the  most  extra- 
vagant manner.  The  increase  of  these  festivals 
would  not  have  been  oifensive  to  the  wise  and 
the  good,  if  Christians  had  employed  the  time 
they  took  up,  in  promoting  their  spiritual  in- 
terests, and  in  forming  habits  of  sanctity  and 
virtue.  But  the  contrary  happened.  These 
days,  which  were  set  apart  for  pious  exercises, 
were  squandered  away  in  indolence,  voluptu- 
ousness, and  criminal  pursuits,  and  were  less 
consecrated  to  the  service  of  God,  than  em- 
ployed in  the  indulgence  of  sinful  passions.  It 
is  well  known,  among  other  things,  what  op- 
portunities of  sinning  were  offered  to  the  licen- 
tious, by  what  were  called  the  vigils  of  Easter 
and  Whitsimtide,  or  Pentecost. 

VI.  Fastingwas  considered,  in  this  century, 
as  the  most  effectual  and  powerful  means  of 
repelling  the  force,  and  disconcerting  the  strat- 
agems of  evil  spirits,  and  of  appeasing  the  an- 
ger of  an  offended  Deity.  Hence  we  may 
easily  understand  what  induced  the  rulers  of 


*  Franc.  Bern.  Ferrarius,  de  Veterum  Acclainationi- 
bus  et  Plausu,  p.  66. 

t  Jac.  Godofred.  ad  Codicem  Theodos.  tom.  i.  p.  135. 

}  Godofred.  tom.  i.  p.  143. 

\  Beausobre,  Hist,  du  Manicheisme,  tom.  ii.  p.  693. 

II  See  Jos.  Sim.  Asseman.  Biblioth.  Orient.  Clement. 
Vatican,  tom.  ii.  and  Alph.  des  Vignoles,  Diss,  dans  la 
Bibliotheqne  Germanique,  torn.  ii. 


Chap.  V 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


121 


the  church  to  estabUsh  this  custom  by  express 
laws,  and  to  impose,  as  an  indispensable  duty, 
an  act  of  humiliation,  the  observance  of  which 
had  hitherto  been  left  to  every  one's  choice. 
The  Quadragesimal  or  Leiit-fast  was  regarded 
as  more  sacred  than  all  the  rest,  though  it  was 
not  yet.  confined  to  a  fixed  number  of  days.* 
We  must,  however,  remark,  that  the  fasts  ob- 
served in  this  century,  were  very  different  from 
those  which  were  solemnised  in  the  preceding 
times.  Formerly  those  who  submitted  them- 
selves to  the  discipline  of  fasting  abstained 
wholly  from  meat  and  drink;  but  now  a  mere 
abstinence  from  flesh  and  wine  was,  by  many, 
judged  sufficient  for  the  purposes  of  fasting,! 
and  the  latter  opinion  prevailed  from  this  time, 
and  became  universal  among  the  Latins. 

VII.  Baptismal  fonts  were  now  erected  in 
the  porch  of  each  church,  for  the  more  com- 
modious administration  of  that  initiating  sa- 
crament. Baptism  was  administered  during 
the  vigils  of  Easter  and  Whitsuntide,  v.'ith 
lighted  tapers,  by  the  bishop,  and  the  presby- 
ters commissioned  by  liim  for  that  purpose. 
In  cases,  however,  of  urgent  necessity,  and  in 
such  only,  a  dispensation  was  granted  for  per- 
forming this  sacred  rite  at  other  times  than 
those  now  mentioned.  In  some  places  salt  was 
employed,  as  a  symbol  of  purity  and  wisdom, 
and  was  thrown,  with  this  view,  into  the  mouth 
of  tiie  person  baptised;  and  a  double  unction 
was  everywhere  used  in  the  celebration  of  tliis 
ordinance,  one  preceding  its  administration, 
and  the  other  following  it.  The  persons  who 
were  admitted  into  the  church  by  baptism, 
were  obliged,  after  the  celebration  of  that  holy 
ordinance,  to  go  clothed  in  white  garments 
during  the  space  of  seven  days.  Many  other 
rites  and  ceremonies  might  be  mentioned  here; 
but,  as  they  neither  acquired  stability  by  their 
duration,  nor  received  the  sanction  of  univer- 
sal approbation  and  consent,  we  shall  pass  them 
over  in  silence. 

VIII.  The  institution  of  catechumens,  and 
the  discipline  through  wiiich  they  passed,  suf- 
fered no  variation  in  this  century,  but  contiim- 
ed  upon  its  ancient  footing.  It  appears  far- 
ther, by  innumerable  testimonies,  that  the 
Lord's  supper  was  administered,  (in  some  pla- 
ces two  or  three  times  in  a  week,  in  others  on 
Sunday  only,)  to  all  those  who  were  assem- 
bled to  worship  God.  It  was  also  sometimes 
celebrated  at  the  tombs  of  martyrs  and  at  fu- 
nerals; which  custom,  undoubtedly,  gave  rise 
to  the  masses,  that  were  afterwards  performed 
in  lionour  of  the  saints,  and  for  the  benefit  of 
the  dead.  In  many  places,  the  bread  and  wine 
were  holden  up  to  view  before  their  distribu- 
tion, that  they  might  be  seen  by  the  people, 
ajid  contemplated  witii  religious  respect;  and 
hence,  not  long  after,  the  adoration  of  the  sym- 
bols was  unquestionably  derived.  Neither 
catechumens,  i>enitents,  nor  those  who  were 
supposed  to  be  under  the  influence  and  impulse 
of  evil  spirits,  were  admitted  to  this  holy  or- 
dinance; nor  did  the  sacred  orators  in  their 
public  discourses  ever  dare  to  unfold  its  true 
and  genuine  nature  with  freedom  and  simpli- 

*  Jo.  Dallxiis,  de  Jejuniis  et  Quadragesima,  lib.  it. 
f  See  Barbeyrac,  de  la  Morale  des  Peres,  p.  250, 

Vol.  I.— 16 


citj'.  The  reason  of  thus  concealing  it  from 
the  knowledge  and  observation  of  many,  was  a 
very  mean  and  shameful  one,  as  we  have  al- 
ready observed:  many,  indeed,  ofler  a  much 
more  decent  and  satisfactory  argument  in  fa 
vour  of  this  custom,  wlien  they  allege,  that, 
by  these  mysterious  proceedings,  the  desire  of 
the  catechumens  would  naturally  bum  to  pene- 
trate, as  soon  as  was  possible,  the  sublime  se- 
cret, and  that  they  would  thereby  be  animated 
to  prepare  themselves  with  double  diligence 
for  receiving  this  privilege. 

CHAPTER  V. 

Conceiiiing  the  Divisions  and  Heresies  that  trou- 
bled the  Church  durivg  this  CeiifrnT/. 

I.  The  sects  which  had  sprung  up  in  the  pre- 
ceding ages,  transmitted  their  contagious  prin- 
ciples to  this  century.  Many  of  them  yet  re- 
mained, particularly  in  the  east,  and,  notwith- 
standing their  absurdity,  continued  to  attract 
followers.  The  Manichean  faction  surpassed 
the  rest  in  its  influence  and  progress.  The 
very  turpitude  and  enormity  of  its  doctrines 
seemed  to  seduce  many  into  its  snares;  and, 
what  is  still  more  surprising,  men  of  genius 
and  penetration  were  deluded  by  its  enchant- 
ments, as  the  example  of  Augustin  sufficiently 
testifies.  It  is  true,  the  wisest  and  most  learn- 
ed writers  of  the  times  (and,  among  others, 
Augustin,  when  he  returned  from  his  errors,) 
endeavoured  to  oppose  the  growth  of  this 
spreading  pestilence;  nor  were  their  efforts  en- 
tirely unsuccessful.  But  the  root  of  tins  hor- 
rible disease  was  deep;  and  neither  tlie  force  of 
argument,  nor  the  severity  of  the  most  rigour- 
ous  laws,  were  suflicient  to  extirpate  it  tho- 
roughly.* For  some  time,  indeed,  it  seemed 
to  disappear,  and  many  thought  it  utterly  era- 
dicated; but  it  gathered  force  secretly,  and 
broke  out  afterwards  viith  new  violence.  To 
avoid  the  severity  of  the  laws,  the  Manicheans 
concealed  themselves  under  a  variety  of  names, 
whicli  they  adopted  successively,  and  changed, 
in  proportion  as  they  were  discovered  under 
them.  Thus  they  assumed  the  names  of  En- 
cratites,  Apotactics,  Saccophori,  Hydroparas- 
tates.  Solitaries,  and  several  others,  under 
which  they  lay  concealed  for  a  certain  time, 
but  could  not  long  escape  the  vigilance  of  their 
enemies.f 

II.  The  state  had  little  danger  to  apprehend 
from  a  sect,  which  the  force  of  severe  laws  and 
of  penal  restraints  could  not  fail  to  undermine, 
gradually,  throughout  the  Roman  empire.  But 
a  new  and  much  more  formidable  faction  start- 
ed up  in  Africa,  which,  though  it  arose  from 
small  beginnings,  afflicted  most  grievously  both 
the  church  and  state  for  more  than  a  century. 
Its  origin  was  as  follows: 

Mensurius   (bishop  of  Carthage)    dying  in 


*  The  severe  laws  enacted  by  the  emperors  against  the 
Manicheans,  are  to  be  found  in  the  Theodosian  code,  vol. 
vi.  part  i.  In  372,  Valcntinian  the  elder  prohibited  their 
assemblies,  and  imposed  heavy  penalties  on  their  doctor*. 
In  381,  Thcodosius  the  Great  branded  them  with  infamy, 
and  deprived  thera  of  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of 
citizens.  Add,  to  these,  several  edicts  more  dreadful, 
which  may  be  seen  in  pages  137,  138,  170,  of  the  above- 
mentioned  work. 

\  See  the  law  of  Theodojius,  torn.  ti.  p.  IS'l,  !ic. 


122 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


the  year  311,  the  greatest  part  of  the  clergy 
and  the  people  chose,  in  liis  place,  the  arcli- 
deacon  Ccecilianns,  who,  without  waiting  for 
the  assembly  of  the  Niimidian  bishops,  was 
consecrated  by  those  of  Africa  Minor  alone. 
This  hasty  proceeding  was  the  occasion  of 
much  trouble.  The  Numidian  prelates,  who 
had  always  been  present  at  the  consecration  of 
the  bishops  of  Carthage,  were  highly  offended 
at  their  being  excluded  from  this  solemn  cere- 
mony, and.  a.ssembling  at  Carthage,  called  Cte- 
cilianus  before  them,  to  give  an  account  of  his 
conduct.  The  flame,  thus  kindled,  was  greatly 
augmented  by  several  Cartliagiiiian  presbyters, 
who  were  competitors  with  Caecilianus,  parti- 
cularlj'  Botrus  and  Celesius.  Lucilla,  also,  an 
opulent  lady,  who  had  been  reprimanded  by 
Cfficilianus  for  her  superstitious  practices,  and 
had  conceived  against  him  a  bitter  enmity  on 
that  account,  was  active  in  exasperating  the 
spirits  of  his  adversaries,  and  distributed  a  large 
sura  of  money  among  the  Numidians,  to  en- 
courage them  in  their  opposition  to  the  new 
bishop.  In  consequence  of  all  this,  Cascilianus, 
refusing  to  submit  to  the  judgment  of  the  Nu- 
midjans,  was  condemned  in  a  council,  assem- 
bled by  Secundus,  bishop  of  Tigisis,  consisting 
of  seventy  prelates,  who,  with  the  consent  of 
a  considerable  part  of  tlie  clergy  and  people, 
declared  him  unwortliy  of  the  episcopal  dig- 
nity, and  chose  his  deacon  Majorinus  for  his 
successor.  By  this  proceeding,  the  Carthagi- 
nian church  was  divided  into  two  factions,  and 
groaned  under  the  contests  of  two  rival  bish- 
ops, Caecilianus  and  Majorinus. 

III.  The  Numidians  alleged  two  important 
reasons  to  justify  their  sentence  against  CfEci- 
lianus;  first,  that  Felix  of  Aptungus,  the  cliief 
of  the  bishops  who  assisted  at  his  consecration, 
was  a  traditor  (i.  e.  oue  of  those  who,  daring 
the  persecution  under  Diocletian,  had  deliver- 
ed the  sacred  writings  and  the  pious  books  of 
the  Christians  to  the  magistrates  in  order  to  be 
burned;)  and  tliat,  as  he  had  thus  apostatised 
from  the  service  of  Clirist,  it  was  not  possible 
that  he  could  impart  the  Holy  Ghost  to  the 
new  bishop.  A  second  reason  for  their  sen- 
tence against  Ca3cilianus  was  drawn  from  tlie 
harshness  and  even  cruelty  that  he  had  discov- 
ered in  his  conduct,  while  he  was  a  deacon,  to- 
wards the  Cliristian  confessors  and  martyrs 
during  the  persecution  above-mentioned,  whom 
he  aba)idoned,  in  the  most  merciless  manner, 
to  all  the  extremities  of  hunger  and  want, 
leaving  them  without  food  in  their  prisons,  and 
precluding  the  grant  of  relief  from  those  who 
were  willing  to  succour  them.  To  these  accu- 
sations they  added  the  insolent  contumacy  of 
the  new  prelate,  who  refused  to  obey  their  sum- 
mons, and  to  api)ear  before  them  in  council  to 
justify  his  conduct. 

There  was  none  of  the  Numidians  who  op- 
posed Csecilianus  witii  such  bitterness  and  ve- 
hemence, as  Donatus,  bishop  of  Casee  Nigrse, 
and  hence  the  whole  faction  was  called  after 
him,  as  most  writers  think;  though  some  are 
of  opinion,  that  they  derived  this  name  from 
another  Donatus,  wliom  the  Donatists  surnam- 
ed  the  Great.*     This  controversy,  in  a  short 


*  In  the  taction  ol"  the  DouatisU,  there  were  two  emiueut 


time,  spread  far  and  wide,  not  only  throughout 
Numidia,  but  even  through  all  the  provinces 
of  Africa,  which  entered  so  zealously  into  this 
ecclesiastical  war,  that  in  most  cities  there  were 
two  bishops,  one  at  the  head  of  CiEcilianus's 
party,  and  the  other  acknowledged  by  the  fol- 
lowers of  RIajorinus. 

IV.  The  Donatists  having  brought  this  con- 
troversy before  Constantine,  that  prince,  in  the 
year  313,  connnissioned  Melchiades,  bishop  of 
Rome,  to  examine  the  matter,  and  named  threo 
bishops  of  Gaul  to  assist  him  in  this  inquiry 
The  result  of  this  examination  was  favourablfs 
to  Caecilianus,  wlio  wa^  entirel}'  acquitted  of 
the  crimes  laid  to  his  charge.  The  accusations 
adduced  against  Felix,  by  whom  he  was  conse- 
crated, were  at  that  time  left  out  of  the  ques- 
tion; but,  in  the  year  314,  the  cause  of  that 
prelate  v»as  examined  separately  by  JClian,  pro- 
consul of  Africa,  by  whose  decision  he  was  ab- 
solved. The  Donatists,  whose  cause  necessa- 
rily suffered  by  tliese  proceedings,  complained 
niucli  of  the  judgment  pronounced  by  Melchi- 
ades and  iElian.  The  small  number  of  bish- 
ops, that  had  been  appointed  to  examine  their 
cause  jointly  with  Melchiades,  excited,  in  a  par- 
ticular manner,  their  reproaches,  and  even  their 
contempt.  Tiiey  looked  upon  the  decision  of 
seventy  venerable  Numidian  prelates  as  infi- 
nitely more  respectable  than  that  pronounced 
by  nineteen  bishops  (for  such  was  the  number 
assembled  at*^  Rome,)  who,  besides  the  infe- 
riority of  their  number,  were  not  sufficiently 
acquainted  with  tlie  African  affairs  to  be  com- 
petent judges  in  the  present  question.  The  in- 
dulgent emperor,  willing  to  remove  these  spe- 
cious complaints,  ordered  a  second  and  a  much 
more  numerous  assembly  to  meet  at  Aries  in 
the  year  314,  composed  of  bishops  from  vari- 
ous provinces,  from  Italy,  Gaul,  Germany,  and 
Spain.  Here  again  the  Donatists  lost  their 
cause,  but  renewed  tlieir  efforts  by  appealing 
to  the  immediate  judgment  of  the  emperor,  who 
condescended  so  far  as  to  admit  their  appeal; 
and,  in  consequence  thereof,  examined  the 
whole  affair  himself  in  the  year  316,  at  Milan, 
in  presence  of  the  contending  parties.  The 
issue  of  this  third  trial  was  not  more  favourable 
to  the  Donatists  than  that  of  the  two  preceding 
councils,  whose  decisions  the  emperor  confirm- 
ed by  the  sentence  he  pronounced. f     Hence 


persons  of  the  name  of  Donatus;  one  was  a  Numidian, 
and  bishop  of  Casse-Nigrre;  the  other  succeeded  Majori- 
nus, oishop  of  Cartilage,  as  leader  of  the  Donatists,  and 
received  from  this  sect,  on  account  of  his  learning  and  vir- 
tue, the  title  of  Donatus  tlie  Great.  Hence  it  has  been  a 
question  among  the  learned,  from  which  of  these  the  sect 
derived  its  name?  The  arguments  that  support  the  dif- 
ferent sides  of  this  trivial  question  are  nearly  of  equal 
force;  and  why  may  we  not  decide  it  by  supposing  that 
the  Donatists  were  so  called  from  them  both.' 

(p^  *  The  emperor,  in  his  letter  to  Melchiades,  named 
no  more  than  three  prelates,  viz.  Maternus,  Rheticius, 
and  Marinus,  bishops  of  Cologne,  Autun,  and  Aries,  to 
sit  with  him  as  judges  of  this  controversy;  but  afterward* 
he  ordered  seven  more  to  be  added  to  the  number,  and  as 
many  as  could  soon  and  conveniently  assemble;  so  that 
there  were  at  last  nineteen  in  all. 

t  The  proofs  of  the  supreme  power  of  the  emperors,  in 
religious  matters,  appear  so  incontestable  in  this  contro- 
versy, that  it  is  amazing  it  sliould  ever  have  been  called 
in  question.  Certain  it  is,  that,  at  this  time,  the  notion 
of  a  supreme  judge  set  over  the  church  universal,  by  the 
appointment  of  Christ,  never  had  entered  into  any  inie's 
head.     The  assemblies  of  the  clergy  at  Rome  and  Arlei 


Chap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


ri3 


this  perverse  sect  loaded  Constantine  with  tlie 
bitterest  reproaches,  and  mahciously  complain- 
ed that  Osius,  bishop  of  Cordova,  who  was 
lionoured  with  his  friendship,  and  was  inti- 
mately connected  with  Cieciliaiius,  had,  by  cor- 
rupt insinuations,  engaged  him  to  pronounce 
an  unrighteous  sentence.  The  emperor,  ani- 
mated with  a  just  indig-nation  at  sucli  odious 
proceedings,  deprived  tiie  Donatists  of  their 
churches  in  Africa,  and  sent  into  banishment 
their  seditious  bisliops;  and  he  carried  his  re- 
sentment so  far  as  to  put  some  of  them  to  death, 
probabl}'  on  account  of  the  intolerable  petu- 
lance and  malignity  they  discovered,  l>oth  in 
their  writings  and  in  their  discourses.  Hence 
arose  violent  commotions  and  tumults  in  Africa, 
as  the  Uonatists  were  exceedingly  powerful  and 
numerous  in  that  part  of  tlie  empire.  Con- 
stantine endeavoured,  by  ambassies  and  nego- 
tiations, to  allay  these  disturiiances;  but  his  ef- 
forts were  fruitless. 

V.  These  unhappy  commolirms  gave  rise,  no 
doubt,  to  a  horrible  confederacy  of  desperate 
ruffians,  who  passed  under  the  name  of  Cir- 
cumcelliones.  This  furious,  fenrlcss,  and  bloody 
set  of  men,  composed  of  the  rough  and  savage 
populace,  who  embraced  the  party  of  t!ie  Do- 
natists, maintained  their  cause  by  the  force  of 
arms,  filled  the  African  provinces  with  slaugh- 
ter and  rapine,  and  committed  the  most  enor- 
mous acts  of  perfidy  and  cruelty  against  tb.e 
followers  of  Ceeciliaiius.  This  outrageous 
multitude,  whom  no  prospect  of  sutT'erings 
could  terrify,  and  who,  upon  urgent  occasions, 
faced  death  itself  witli  the  most  audacious 
temerity,  contributed  to  render  tlie  sect  of  the 
Donatists  an  object  of  the  utmost  abhorrence; 
though  it  cannot  be  proved,  by  any  records  of 
undoubted  authority,  that  tb.e  bishops  of  that 
faction  (those,  at  least,  Vv'ho  had  any  reputation 
for  piety  and  virtue)  either  approved  the  pro- 
ceedintrs,  or  stirred  up  the  violence  of  tliis 
odious  rabble.  In  the  mean  time,  the  flame  of 
discord  gathered  strength  daily,  and  seemed  to 
portend  tlie  approaching  horrors  of  a  civil  war; 
to  prevent  wiiich,  Constantine,  having  tried  in 
vain  every  other  method  of  accommodation, 
abrogated  at  last,  by  the  advice  of  tiie  govern- 
ors of  Africa,  the  laws  that  had  been  enacted 
against  the  Donatists,  and  allowed  to  the  peo- 
ple a  full  liberty  of  adhering  to  that  party 
which  they  in  their  minds  preferred. 

VI.  After  the  death  of  Constantine  the 
Great,  his  son  Constans,  to  whom  Africa  was 
allotted  in  the  division  of  the  empire,  sent  Ma- 
earins  and  Paulus  into  that  province,  witii  a 
view  to  heal  this  deplorable  schism,  and  to  en- 
gage the  Donatists  to  conclude  a  peace.  Their 
principal  bishop  opposed  all  methods  of  recon- 
ciliation with  t!ie  utmost  vehemence,  and  his 
example  was  followed  by  the  other  prelates  of 
the  party.  Tlie  Circumcelliones  also  continued 
to  support  tiie  cause  of  the  Donatists  by  assas- 
sinations and  massacres,  e.Kecuted  with  the 
most  unrelenting  fur3^  They  were,  however, 
stopped  in  their  career,  and  were  defeated  by 
Macarins  in  the  battle  of  Bagnia.  Upon  this, 
the  affairs  of  the  Donatists  rapidly  declined: 


are  commonly  called  council':,  but  improperly,  since,  in 
reality,  they  were  nothing  more  than  meetings  of  judges 
or  commias^irics  appointed  by  the  emperor. 


I  and  Macarius  no  longer  used  the  soft  voice  of 
persuasion  to  engage  them  to  an  accommoda- 
!  tion,  but  employed  his  authority  for  that  pur 
1  pose.  A  few  submitted;  the  greatest  part  saved 
I  themselves  by  flight;  numbers  were  sent  into 
1  banishment,  among  whom  was  Donatns   the 
Great;  and  many  of  them  were  punished  with 
the   utmost  severity.     During  these  troubles, 
i  which  continued   near  thirteen  years,  several 
steps  were  taken  against  the  Donatists,  \Vhich 
the  equitable  and  impartial  will  be  at  a  loss  to 
reconcile  with   the  dictates   of  humanity  and 
!  justice;  nor,    indeed,   do  the  Catliolics  tlicm- 
'  selves  deny  the  truth  of  this  assertion.*     Such 
'  treatment  naturally  excited,  among  the  Dona- 
tists, loud  complaints  of  the  cruelty  of  their  ad- 
I  vorsaries.f  ' 

I      VII.  Theemperor  Julian,  upon  his  accession 
!  to  th.-^  throne  in  the  year  362,  permitted  the 
I  exiled  Donatists  to  return  to  their  country,  and 
restored  them  to  the  enjoyment  of  their  former 
liberty.     This  step  so  far  renewed  their  vigour, 
that  they  brought  over,  in  a  short  time,  the 
majority  of  the  African  provincials  to  their  in- 
I  tercsts.      (iratian,    indeed,    published   several 
edicts  against  them,  and,  in  the  year  377,  de- 
prived tbem  of  tlieir  churches,  and  prohibited 
'  all  their  assemblies  public  and  private.  But  the 
fury  of  the  Circumcelliones,  who  may  be  con- 
sidered as  the  soldiery  of  the  Donatists,  and 
!  the  apprehension  of  intestine  tumults,  prevent- 
ed, no  doubt,  the  vigorous  execution  of  these 
laws.      This   appears   from   the    number    of 
churches  which  this  people  had  in  Africa  to- 
ward the  conclusion  of  the  century,  and  which 
were   served   by   no   less   tlian   four  hundred 
bishops.      Two   things,    however,   diminished 
I  considerably  tiie  power  and  lustre  of  this  flour- 
I  ishing  sect,  and  made  it  decline  apace  about  the 
lend  of  this  century:  one  was,  a  violent  divi- 
j  sion  tiiat  arose  among  them,  on  account  of  a 
person  named  Maximin;  and  this  division,  so 
i  proper  to  weaken  tlie  common  cause,  was  tlie 
most  effectual  instrument  the  Catholics  could 
I  use  to  combat  the  Donatists.     But  a  second 
circumstance  which  i>recipitated  their  decline, 
j  was  the  zealous  and  fervent  opposition  of  Au- 
'  gustin,  fir.st  presbyter,  and  afterwards  bishop 
of  Hippo.     This  learned  and  ingenious  prelate 
'  attacked  the  Donatists  in  every  way.     In  liis 
j  writings,  in  his  public  discourses,  and  in    his 
j  private  conversation,  lie  exposed  the  dangerous 
'  and  seditious   principles   of  this  sect   in  the 
strongest  manner;  and  as  he  was  of  a  warm 
and  active  spirit,  he  animated  against  them  the 
whole  Christian  world,  as  well  a-s  the  imperial 
court. 

VIII.  The  doctrine  of  the   Donatists  was 


*  The  testimony  of  Optatus  of  Milevi  is  beyond  eierp- 
lion  in  this  mitttcr;  it  is  quoted  from  the  third  book  of 
his  treatise,  de  Schismale  Donatistarum,  and  runs  thus: 
"  Ab  operariis  Unitatis  (i'.  c.  the  emperor's  ambassadors 
Macarius  and  Paulus)  multa  quidem  aspere  ijesia  snnt. 
Kusrerunt  omnes  episcopi  cum  clericis  suis;  aliqui  >unt 
mortuitqiii  fortiores  fuerunt,capli  ellonge  relegatisunl." 
Optatus,  through  the  whole  of  this  work,  endeavour*  to 
excuse  the  severities  committed  against  the  Uonatists,  of 
which  he  lays  the  principal  fault  upon  that  sect  itself, 
confessing,  however,  that,  in  some  instances,  the  proceed- 
ings against  them  were  too  rigorous  to  deserve  approba- 
tion, or  admit  an  excuse. 

)  See  CoUat.  Carthag.  diei  tertiae,  lect.  2o8,  «t  the  eni 
of  Optatus. 


124 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  11- 


conformable  to  that  of  the  church,  as  even 
their  adversaries  confess;  nor  were  their  hves 
less  exemplary  than  those  of  other  Christian 
societies,  if  we  except  the  enormous  conduct 
of  the  Circumcelliones,  which  the  greatest  part 
of  the  sect  regarded  with  the  utmost  detesta- 
tion and  abhorrence.  The  crime,  therefore,  of 
the  Donatists  lay  properly  in  the  following 
points;  in  their  declaring  the  church  of  Africa, 
which  adhered  to  Csecilianus,  fallen  from  the 
dignitj'  and  privileges  of  a  true  church,  and 
deprived  of  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  on  ac- 
count of  the  offences  with  which  the  new 
bishop,  and  Felix,  who  had  consecrated  him, 
were  charged;  in  their  pronouncing  all  the 
churches,  which  held  communion  with  that  of 
Africa,  corrupt  and  polluted;  in  maintaining, 
that  the  sanctity  of  their  bishops  gave  their 
community  alone  a  full  right  to  be  considered 
as  the  true,  the  pure,  and  holy  church;  and  in 
their  avoiding  all  communication  with  other 
churches,  from  an  apprehension  of  contracting 
their  impurity  and  corruption.  This  erroneous 
principle  was  the  source  of  that  most  shocking 
uncharitableness  and  presumption  which  ap- 
peared in  their  conduct  to  other  churches. 
Hence  they  pronounced  the  sacred  rites  and  in- 
stitutions void  of  all  virtue  and  efficacy  among 
those  Christians  who  were  not  precisely  of 
their  sentiments,  and  not  only  re-baptised  those 
who  came  over  to  their  party  from  other 
churches,  but,  even  with  respect  to  those  who 
had  been  ordained  ministers  of  the  Gospel, 
they  observed  the  severe  custom,  either  of  de- 
priving them  of  their  office,  or  obliging  tliem 
to  be  ordained  a  second  time.  This  schismatic 
pestilence  was  almost  wholly  confined  to  Afri- 
ca: for  the  few  pitiful  assemblies,  which  the 
Donatists  had  formed  in  Spain  and  Italy,  had 
neither  stability  nor  duration.* 

IX.  The  faction  of  the  Donatists  was  not 
the  only  one  that  troubled  the  church  during 
this  century.  In  the  year  317,  a  contest  arose 
in  Eg3'pt  upon  a  subject  of  much  higher  im- 
portance, and  its  consequences  were  of  a  yet 
more  pernicious  nature.  The  subject  of  this 
warm  controversy,  which  kindled  such  deplo- 
rable divisions  throughout  the  Christian  world, 
was  the  doctrine  of  three  persons  in  the  God- 
head; a  doctrine  which,  in  the  three  preceding- 
centuries,  had  happily  escaped  the  vain  curiosi- 
ty of  human  researches,  and  been  left  undefin- 
ed and  undetermined  by  any  particular  set  of 
ideas.  The  church,  indeed,  had  frequently 
jlecided,  against  the  Sabellians  and  others, 
that  there  was  a  real  difference  between  the 
Father  and  tlie  Son,  and  that  the  Holy  Ghost 
was  distinct  from  both;  or,  as  we  commonly 
speak,  that  three  distinct  persons  exist  in  the 
Deity;  but  the  exact  relation  of  these  persons 
to  each  other,  and  the  nature  of  the  distinction 


"  A  more  sniple  account  of  the  Donatists  will  be  found 
in  the  following  writers;  Henr.  Valesius,  dissert,  de 
Schismate  Donatistarum,  (subjoined  to  his  edition  of  the 
ecclesiastical  history  of  Eusebius.) — Thorn.  Utigius'  His- 
tory of  Donatism,  published  in  the  Appendix  to  his  book 
concerning  the  Heresies  of  the  apostolic  age. — Herm. 
Witsius,  Miscellanea  Sacra,  torn.  i.  lib.  iv.;  Henr.  Noris, 
Hist.  Donat.  augmented  by  the  Ballerini,  op.  torn.  iv. — 
Long's  History  of  the  Donatists,  London,  1677.  These 
are  the  sources  whence  we  have  drawn  the  accounts  that 
we  halt  givtn  of  this  troublesome  sect. 


that  subsists  between  them,  are  matters  that 
hitherto  were  neither  disputed  nor  explained, 
and  with  respect  to  which  the  church  had,  con- 
sequently, observed  a  profound  silence.  No- 
ttiing  was  dictated  on  this  head  to  the  faith  of 
Christians,  nor  were  there  any  modes  of  ex- 
pression prescribed  as  requisite  to  be  used  in 
speaking  of  this  mystery.  Hence  it  happened, 
that  the  Christian  doctors  entertained  different 
sentiments  upon  this  subject  without  giving 
the  least  offence,  and  discoursed  variously,  con- 
cerning the  distinctions  in  the  Godhead,  each 
following  his  respective  opinion  with  the  utmost 
liberty.  In  Egypt,  and  the  adjacent  countries, 
the  greatest  part  embraced,  in  this  as  well  as 
in  other  matters,  the  opinion  of  Origen,  who 
held  that  the  Son  was,  in  God,  that  which  rea- 
son is  in  man,  and  that  the  Holy  Ghost  was 
nothing  more  than  the  divine  energy,  or  active 
force.  Tliis  notion  is  attended  with  many  dif- 
ficulties; and,  when  it  is  not  proposed  with  the 
utmost  caution,  tends,  in  a  particular  manner, 
to  remove  all  real  distinction  between  the  per- 
sons in  the  God-head,  or,  in  other  words,  leads 
directly  to  Sabellianism. 

X.  In  an  assembly  of  the  presbyters  of  Alex- 
andria, the  bishop  of  that  city,  whose  name 
was  Alexander,  expressed  his  sentiments  on 
this  subject  with  a  high  degree  of  freedom  and 
confidence,  maintaining,  among  other  things, 
that  the  Son  was  not  only  of  the  same  emi- 
nence and  dignity,  but  also  of  the  same  essence, 
with  the  Father.*  This  assertion  was  opposed 
by  Arius,  one  of  the  presbyters,  a  man  of  a 
subtile  turn,  and  remarkable  for  his  eloquence. 
Whether  his  zeal  for  his  own  opinions,  or  per- 
sonal resentment  against  his  bishop,  was  the 
motive  that  influenced  him,  is  not  very  certain. 
Be  that  as  it  will,  he  first  treated,  as  false,  the 
assertion  of  Alexander,  on  account  of  its  affi- 
nity to  the  Sabellian  errors,  which  had  been 
condemned  by  the  church;  and  then,  rushing 
into  the  opposite  extreme,  he  maintained,  that 
the  Son  was  totally  and  essentially  distinct 
from  the  Father;  that  he  was  the  first  and  no- 
blest of  tliose  beings,  whom  God  had  created 
out  of  nothing,  the  instrument  by  whose  sub- 
ordinate operation  the  Almighty  Father  form- 
ed the  universe,  and  therefore  inferior  to  the 
Father,  both  in  nature  and  in  dignity.  His 
opinions  concerning  the  Holy  Ghost  are  not  so 
well  known.  It  is  however  certain,  that  his 
notion  concerning  the  Son  of  God  was  accom- 
panied and  connected  with  other  sentiments, 
that  were  very  different  from  those  commonly 
received  among  Christians,  though  none  of  the 
ancient  writers  have  given  us  a  complete  and 
coherent  system  of  those  religious  tenets  which 
Arius  and  his  followers  really  held.f 


*  See  Socrates,  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  i.  cap.  v.  and  Theodo- 
ret,  lib.  i. 

t  For  an  account  of  the  Arian  controversy,  the  curious 
reader  must  consult  the  Life  of  Constantine,  by  Eusebins; 
the  various  libels  of  Athanasius,  which  are  to  be  found 
in  the  first  volume  of  his  works;  the  Ecclesiastical  Histo- 
ries of  Socrates,  Sozomen,  and  Theodoret,  the  sixty  ninth 
Heresy  of  Epiphanius,  and  other  writers  of  this  and  the 
following  age.  But,  among  all  these,  there  is  not  one  to 
whom  the  merit  of  impartiality  can  be  attributed  with 
justice;  so  that  the  Arian  history  stands  yet  in  need  of  a 
pen  guided  by  integrity  and  candour,  and  unbiassed  by 
affection  or  hatred.  Both  sides  have  deserved  reproach 
upon  this  head;  aud  those  who  have  hitherto  written  the 


Chap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


125 


XI.  The  opinions  of  Arius  were  no  sooner 
divulged,  than  they  found  in  Eg'vpt,  and  the 
neighbouring  provinces,  a  multitude  of  abet- 
toi-s,  and,  among  these,  many  wlio  were  distin- 
guished as  much  by  the  superiority  of  their 
learning  and  genius,  as  by  the  eminence  of 
their  rank  and  station.  Alexander,  on  the 
other  hand,  in  two  councils  assembled  at  Alex- 
andria, accused  Arius  of  impiety,  and  caused 
him  to  be  expetled  from  the  communion  of  the 
cluirch.  Arius  received  this  severe  and  igno-  \ 
minious  shock  with  great  firmness  and  constan- 
cy of  mind;  retired  into  Palestine;  and  thence 
wrote  several  letters  to  the  most  eminent  men 
of  those  times,  in  which  he  endeavoured  to 
demonstrate  the  truth  of  his  opinions,  and  that 
witii  such  surprising  success,  that  vast  numbers 
were  drawn  over  to  his  party;  and  among 
these  Eusebius,  bishop  of  Nicomedia,  a  man 
distinguished  in  the  church  by  his  influence  and 
authority.  The  emperor  Constantine,  looking 
upon  the  subject  of  this  controversy  as  a  mat- 
ter of  small  importance,  and  as  little  connect- 
ed with  the  fundamental  and  essential  doctrines 
of  religion,  contented  himself  at  first  with  ad- 
dressing a  letter  to  the  contending  parties,  in 
which  he  admonished  them  to  put  an  end  to 
their  disputes.  But  when  the  prince  saw  tliat 
his  admonitions  were  without  efl'ect,  and  that 
the  troubles  and  commotions,  which  the  pas- 
sions of  men  too  often  mingle  with  religious 
disputes,  were  spreading  and  increasing  daily 
throughout  the  empire,  he  convoked,  in  the 
year  325,  a  great  council  at  Nice  in  Bithynia, 
hoping  and  desiring  that  the  deputies  of  tlic 
church  universal  would  put  an  end  to  this  con- 
troversy. In  this  general  assembly,  after  many 
keen  debates,  and^  violent  efforts  of  the  two 
parties,  the  doctrine  of  Arius  was  condemned; 
Christ  was  declared  consnbstnntial*  or  of  the 
same  essence  with  the  Father;  the  vanquished 
presbyter  was  banished  among  the  Illyrians, 
and  his  followers  were  compelled  to  give  tiieir 
assent  to  the  creed, f  or  confession  of  faith, 
which  was  composed  on  this  occasion. 

XII.  The  council  assembled  by  Constantine 
at  Nice,  is  one  of  the  most  famous  and  interest- 
ing events  that  are  presented  to  us  in  ecclesias- 
tical history;  and  yet,  what  is  most  surprising, 
scarcely  any  part  of  the  history  of  the  church 
has  been  unfolded  with  such  negligence,  or  ra- 
ther passed  over  with  such  rapidity. +  The  an- 
cient writers  are  neither  agreed  with  respect  to 
the  time  or  place  in  which  it  was  assembled, 

history  of  the  Arlan  controversy  liave  only  espied  the 
faults  of  one  side;  e.  ».  it  is  a  common  opinion,  that  Arius 
was  too  much  attached  to  the  opinions  of  Plato  and  Ori- 
gen  (see  Petav.  Dogm.  Tlieol.  lorn.  ii.  lib.  i.  cap.  viii.;) 
but  this  common  opinion  is  a  \ulgar  error.  Oripen  and 
Plato  entertained  notions  entirely  different  from  (hose  of 
Arius;  whereas  .Alexander,  his  antagonist,  undoubtedly 
followed  the  manner  of  Origcn,in  explaining  the  doctrine 
of  the  three  persons.  See  Cudworth's  Intellectual  Sys- 
tem of  the  Universe. 

*  'O.«0»o-<  =  ,-. 

t  John  Christ.  Suicer  has  illustrated  this  famous 
creed  from  several  important  and  ancient  records,  in  a 
>ery  learned  book  published  at  Utrecht  in  1718. 

{-See  Ittigius,  Hist.  Concilii  Nicsni.— Le  Clerc,  Bibli- 
olheque  Histor.  et  Universelle,  torn.  x.  xxii. — Beausobre, 
Ilistoire  du  Manicheismc,  tiun.  i.  The  accounts,  which 
the  Oriental  writers  h.ive  given  of  this  council,  have  been 
collected  by  Kuseb.  RenauUot,  in  his  history  of  the 
Palriarchs  of  .VlexaiKlria. 


the  nuinber  of  those  who  sat  in  the  council, 
nor  the  bishop  who  presided  in  it;  and  no  au- 
thentic acts  of  its  famous  sentence  are  now  ex- 
tant.* 

The  eastern  Christians  differ  from  all  others 
both  with  regard  to  the  number  and  the  nature 
of  the  laws  which  were  enacted  in  this  cele- 
brated council.  The  latter  mention  only  twen- 
ty canons;  but,  in  the  estimate  of  the  former, 
they  amount  to  a  much  greater  number. f  It 
appears,  however,  by  those  laws  which  all  par- 
ties have  admitted  as  genuine,  and  also  from 
other  authentic  records,  not  only  that  Arius 
was  condemned  in  tiiis  council,  but  that  some 
other  points  were  determined,  and  certain  mea- 
sures agreed  upon,  to  calm  the  religious  tu- 
mults tliat  had  so  long  troubled  the  church. — 
The  controversy  concerning  the  time  of  cele- 
brating Easter  was  terminated;!  the  troubles 
which  Novatian  had  excited,  by  opposing  the 
re-admission  of  the  lapsed  to  the  communion 
of  the  cimrch,  were  composed;  the  Meletian 
schism  was  condemned, §  and  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  greater  bishops  preci.sely  defined  and  de- 
termined,||  with  several  other  matters  of  alike 
nature.  But,  while  these  good  prelates  were 
employing  all  their  zeal  and  attention  to  cor- 
rect tlie  errors  of  others,  they  were  upon  the 
point  of  falling  into  a  very  capital  one  them- 
selves; for  they  had  almost  come  to  a  resolu- 
tion of  imposing  upon  the  clergy  the  yoke  of 
perpetual  celibacy,  whenPaphnutius  put  a  stop 
to  their  proceedings,  and  warded  off  that  un- 
natural law.1I 

XIII.  But,  notwithstanding  all  these  deter- 
minations, the  commotions  excited  by  this  con- 
troversy remained  yet  in  the  minds  of  many, 


*  See  the  annotations  of  Valesius  upou  the  Ecclesiasti- 
cal History  of  Eusebius,  and  Jos.  Sim.  Asseman.  Bibl. 
Oriental.  Clement.  Vatican,  torn.  i.  The  history  of  thi» 
oniincil  was  written  by  Maruthas,  a  Syrian,  but  is  lon^ 
since  lost. 

I  Th.  Ittigius,  Supplem.  op.  Clement.  Alex. — J.  S. 
Asseman.  torn.  i. — Euseb.  Renaudot. 

(J(^  {  Tlie  decision,  with  respect  to  Easier,  was  in 
favour  of  the  custom  of  the  western  churches;  and  ac- 
cordingly all  churches  were  ordered  to  celebrate  that 
festival  on  the  Sunday  which  immediately  followed  Q\e 
14th  of  the  first  moon  that  happened  after  the  vernal 
equinox. 

{iCr'  5  Meletius,  bishop  of  Lycopolis  in  Egypt,  was 
accused  and  convicted  of  having  offered  incense  to  idols; 
and,  in  consequence  thereof,  was  deposed  by  Peter,  bishop 
of  Alexandria,  whose  jurisdiction  extended  over  all 
Egypt.  Meletius,  upon  this,  became  the  head  of  a  schism 
in  tlie  church,  by  assuming  to  himself  the  power  of 
ordination,  which  was  vested  in  the  bishopof  Alexandria, 
and  exercised  by  him  in  all  the  Egyptian  churches.-— 
Epiphanius  attributes  the  dissensions  between  Mcletias 
and  Peter  to  another  cause  (Hser.  68.:)  he  alleges,  that 
the  vigorous  proci-ediiigsof  Peter  against  Meletius  were 
occasioned  by  the  latter's  refusing  to  readmit  into  the 
church  those  who  had  fallen  from  the  faith  during  Dio- 
cletian's persecution,  before  (heir  penitential  trial  was 
entirely  Hnished.  Tlie  former  opinion  is  maintained  by 
Socrates  and  Theodorel,  whose  authority  is  certainly 
more  respectable  than  that  of  Epiphanius. 

(jij-  II  The  confusion  that  Meletius  introduced,  by  pre- 
suming (as  was  observed  in  the  preceding  note)  to  violate 
the  jurisdiction  of  Peter,  the  .netropolitan  of  .Alexandria, 
by  conferring  ordination  in  a  province  where  he  alone 
had  a  right  to  ordain,  was  rectified  by  the  council  of 
Nice,  which  determined,  (hat  the  metropolitan  bishops, 
in  their  respective  provinces,  should  have  the  same  power 
and  authority  that  the  bishops  of  Rome  exercised  over 
the  suburbicarian  churches  and  countries. 

U  Socrates,  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  i.  cap.  viii.  compared 
with  Franc.  Balduinus,  in  Constant.  Magn.  and  tieorge 
Calixtus,  de  Conjugio  Clericorum. 


126 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


and  the  spirit  of  dissension  triumphed  both 
over  the  decrees  of  the  council  and  the  authori- 
ty of  the  emperor.  For  tliosc  who,  m  the  main, 
were  far  from  being  attached  to  the  party  of 
Arius,  found  many  things  reprehensible,  both 
in  the  decrees  of  the  council,  and  in  the  forms 
of  expression  which  it  employed  to  explain  the 
controverted  points;  wliile  the  Arians,  on  the 
other  hand,  left  no  means  untried  to  heal  their 
wounds,  and  to  recover  their  place  and  their 
credit  in  the  church.  And  their  efforts  were 
crowned  with  tlie  desired  success:  for,  a  few 
years  after  the  council  of  Nice,  an  Arianpriest, 
who  had  been  recommended  to  the  emperor,  in 
the  d3ing  words  of  his  sister  Constantia,  found 
means  to  persuade  him,  that  the  condemnation 
of  Arius  was  utterly  unjtjst,  and  was  rather 
occasioned  by  the  malice  of  his  enemies,  than 
by  their  zeal  for  the  truth.  In  consequence  of 
this,  the  emperor  recalled  him  from  banish- 
ment in  the  year  330,*  repealed  the  laws  that 
had  been  enacted  against  him,  and  permitted 
his  chief  protector  Eusebiusof  Nicomedia,  and 
his  vindictive  faction,  to  vex  and  oppress  the 
partisans  of  the  Nicene  council  in  various 
ways.  Athanasius,  bishop  of  Alexandria,  was 
one  cf  those  who  suffered  most  from  the  vio- 
lent measures  of  the  Arian  parly.  Invincibly 
firm  in  his  purpose,  and  deaf  to  the  most  pow- 
erful solicitations  and  entreaties,  he  obstinately 
refused  to  restore  Arius  to  his  former  rank  and 
otiiee.  On  this  account  he  was  deposed,  by  the 
council  liolden  at  Tyre,  in  the  year  336,  and 
was  aJ'tcrwards  banished  into  Gaul,  while  Arius 
and  his  followers  were,  with  great  solemnity, 
reinstated  in  their  privileges,  and  received  into 
the  communion  of  the  church.  The  people  of 
Alexandria,  unmoved  by  these  proceedings  in 
favour  of  Arius,  persisted  in  refusing  to  grant 
Iiim  a  place  among  tiieir  presbyters;  upon  which 
the  emperor  invited  him  to  Constantinople  in 
tiie  year  336,  and  ordered  Alexander,  tlie  bishop 
of  that  city,  to  admit  him  to  his  communion. 
But,  before  this  order  could  be  put  in  execu- 
tion, Arius  died  in  the  imperial  city  in  a  very 
dismal  manner;!  and  his  sovereign  did  not  long 
survive  him. 


((IJ=*  The  precise  time  in  which  Anus  was  recalled  from 
banishment,  has  not bien  lixed  with  such  perfect  certainty 
as  to  prevent  a  diversity  of  sentiment  on  lliat  head.  The 
Annotationsof  the  learned  Valesius  (or  Valois)  upon  Sozo- 
meu's  History,  will  throw  some  light  upon  this  matter, 
and  make  it  probable,  that  Dr.  Mosheim  has  placed  the 
reciU  of  Arius  too  lale,  at  least  by  two  years.  Valesius 
has  proved,  from  the  authority  of  Philostorgius,  and  from 
other  most  respectable  monuments  and  records,  that 
Kusebius  of  Nicomedia,  and  I'heognis.  who  were  ba- 
nished by  the  emperor  about  three  mouths  after  the 
council  of  Nice  {i.  e.  in  3-J5)  were  recalled  in  328.  Now, 
in  the  writing  by  which  they  obtained  their  return,  they 
pleaded  the  restoration  of  Arius,  as  an  argument  for 
theirs,  which  proves  that  he  was  recalled  before  the  year 
330.  The  same  Valesius  proves,  that  Arius,  the  first 
head  of  the  Arian  sect,  was  dead  before  the  council  of 
Tyre,  which  was  transferred  to  Jerusalem;  and  that  the 
letters  which  Constantine  addressed  to  that  council  in 
favour  of  Arius  and  his  followers,  were  in  behalf  of  a 
second  chief  of  that  name,  who  put  himself  at  the  head 
of  the  Arians,  and  who,  in  conjunction  with  Kuzoins, 
presented  to  Constantine  such  a  confession  of  thfn-  faith, 
as  made  him  imagine  their  doctrine  to  be  orthodox,  and 
procured  their  reconciliation  with  the  church  at  the 
council  of  Jerusalem. 

(j(^  f  The  dismal  manner  in  which  Arius  is  said  to 
have  expired,  by  his  entrails  falling  out  as  he  was  discharg- 
ing one  of  the  natural  functions,  is  a  fact  that  has  Ictu  cail- 


XIV.  After   the  death  of  Constantine  the 
Great,  one  of  his  sons,  Constantius,  who,  in  the 
division  of  the  empire,  became  ruler  of  the  east, 
was  warmly  attached  to  the  Arian  party,  whose 
principles  were  also  zealously  adopted  by  the 
empress,  and,  indeed,  by  the  whole  court.    On 
the  other  hand,  Constantine  and  Constans,  em- 
perors of  the  west,  maintained  the  decrees  of 
the  council  of  Nice  in  all  tiie  provinces  over 
which    their    jurisdiction    extended.      Hence 
arose  endless  animosities  and  seditions,  treache- 
rous plots,  and  open  acts  of  injustice  and   vio- 
lence between  the  contending  parties.     Council 
was  assembled  against  council;  and  their  jar- 
ring and  contradictory  decrees  spread  perplex- 
ity and  confusion  through  the  Cliristian  world. 
In  the  year  350,  Constans  was  assassinated; 
and,  about  two  years  after  this,  a  great  part  of 
the  western   empire,  particularly   Rome  and 
Italy,  fell  into  the  hands  of  Constantius.    This 
change  was  extremely  unfavourable  to  those 
who  adhered  to  the  decrees  of  the  coimcil  of 
Nice.     The  emperor's  attachment  to  the  Ari- 
ans animated   him   against  their  adversaries, 
whom  he  involved  in  various  troubles  and  ca- 
lamities; and   he   obliged   many  of  them,  by 
threats  and  punishment,  to  come  over  to  the 
sect  which  he  esteemed  and  protected.     One 
of  tliese   forced  proselytes  was   Liberius,  the 
Roman  pontiff,  wlio  was  compelled  to  embrace 
Arianism  in  the  year  357.     The  Nicene  party 
meditated  reprisals,  and  waited  only  a  conve- 
nient time,  a  fit  place,  and  a  proper  occasion, 
for  executing  their  resentment.     Thus  the  his- 
torj'  of  the   church,  under  the  emperor  Con- 
stantius, presents  to   the   reader  a  perpetual 
scene  of  tumult  and  violence,  and  the  deplora- 
ble spectacle  of  a  war,   carried   on   between 
brothers,  without  religion,  justice,  or  humanity. 
XV.  Tiie  death  of  Constantius,  jn  the  year 
36i,  changed  considerably  the  face  of  religious 
affairs,  and  diminished  greatly  tlie  strength  and 
influence  of  the  Arian  party.    Julian,  who,  b}' 
his  principles,  was  naturally  prevented  from 
taking  a  part  in  tlie  controversy,  bestowed  his 
protection  on  neither   side,  but  treated   them 
both  with  an  impartiality  which  was  the  result 
of  a  perfect  indifference.     Jovian,  his  succes- 
sor, declared  himself  in  favour  of  the  Nicene 
doctrine;    and   immediately  the   whole   west, 
with  a  considerable  part  of  the  eastern  pro- 
vinces, changed  sides,  conformed  to  the  decrees 
of  the  council  of  Nice,  and  abjured  the  Arian 
system. 

The  scene,  however,  changed  again  in  the 
year  364,  when  Valcntinian,  and  his  brother 
Valens,  were  raised  to  the  empire.  Valentinian 


ed  in  question  by  some  modern  writers,  though  without 
foundation,  since  it  is  confirmed  by  the  unexceptionable 
lestimouiesof  Socrates,  Sozomen,  Athanasius, and  others. 
The  causes  of  this  tragical  death  have,  however,  furnish- 
ed much  matter  of  dispute.  The  ancient  writers,  who 
considered  this  event  as  a  judgment  of  Heaven,  miracu- 
lously drawn  down,  by  the  prayers  of  the  just  to  punish 
the  impiety  of  Arius,  will  find  little  credit  in  our  times, 
among  such  as  have  studied  with  attention  and  impar- 
tiality tne  history  of  Arianism.  After  having  considered 
this  matter  with  the  utmost  care,  it  appears  to  me  ex- 
tremely probable,  that  this  unhappy  man  was  a  victim  to 
the  resentment  oi^  his  enemies,  and  was  destroyed  by  poi- 
son, or  some  such  violent  method.  A  blind  and  fanatical 
zeal  for  certain  systems  of  faith,  has  in  all  ages  produced 
such  horrible  acts  of  cruelty  aud  injustice. 


Chap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  TfERESIES. 


127 


adhered  to  the  decrees  of  the  Nicene  council; 
and  hence  the  Arian  sect,  a  few  churches  ex- 
cepted, suffered  extirpation  in  the  west.  Va- 
lens,  on  the  other  hand,  favoured  theArians; 
and  his  zeal  for  their  cause  exposed  tliuir  ad- 
versaries, the  Nicenians,  in  the  eastern  pro- 
vinces, to  many  severe  trials  and  sufferings. 
These  troubles,  however,  ended  with  the  rei^n 
of  this  emperor,  who  fell  in  a  battle  which  was 
fought  against  the  Goths  in  the  year  318,  and 
was  succeeded  by  Gratian,  a  friend  to  the  Nice- 
nians, and  tlie  restorer  of  their  tranquillity.  His 
zeal  for  tlieir  interests,  though  fervent  and  ac- 
tive, was  surpassed  by  that  of  his  successor, 
Theodosius  the  Great,  who  raised  the  secular 
arm  against  the  Arians,  with  a  terrible  degree 
of  violence;  drove  them  from  their  ciuuchcs; 
enacted  laws,  whose  severity  exposed  them  to 
the  greatest  calamities;*  and  rendered,  through- 
out his  dominions,  the  decrees  of  the  council 
triumphant  over  all  opposition;  so  that  the 
public  profession  of  the  Arian  doctrine  was 
confined  to  the  barbarous  and  unconquered  na- 
tions, such  as  the  Burgundians,  Goths,  and 
Vandals. 

During  this  long  and  violent  contest  be- 
tween the  Nicenians  and  Arians,  the  attentive 
and  impartial  will  acknowledge,  that  unjustifi- 
able measures  were  taken,  and  great  excesses 
committed  on  both  sides:  so  that  when,  ab- 
stractedly from  the  merits  of  the  cause,  we 
only  consider  with  what  temper,  and  by  what 
means  the  parties  defended  their  respective 
opinions,  it  will  be  difficult  to  determine  which 
of  the  two  exceeded  most  the  bounds  of  pro- 
bity, charity,  and  moderation. 

XVI.  The  efforts  of  the  Arians  to  maintain 
their  cause,  would  have  been  much  more  pre- 
judicial to  the  church  than  tliey  vvere  in  effect, 
had  not  the  members  of  that  sect  been  divided 
among  themselves,  and  torn  into  factions, 
which  viewed  each  other  with  the  bitterest 
aversion.  Of  these  the  ancient  writers  make 
mention  under  the  names  of  Semi- Arians,  Eu- 
sebians,  Aetians,  Eunomians,  Acacians,  Psathy- 
rians,  and  others;  but  they  may  all  be  ranked 
with  propriety  in  three  classes.  The  first  of 
these  were  the  primitive  and  genuine  Arians, 
who,  rejecting  all  those  forms  and  modes  of  ex- 
pression which  the  moderns  had  invented  to 
render  their  opinions  less  shocking  to  the 
Nicenians,  taught  simply,  "  That  the  Son  was 
not  begotten  of  the  Father  (i.  e.  produced  out 
of  his  substance,)  but  was  only  created  out  of 
nothing."  This  class  was  opposed  by  the 
Semi-Arians,  who,  in  their  turn,  were  aban- 
doned by  the  Eunomians,  or  Anoinseans,  the 
disciples  of  Aetius  and  Eunomius,  of  whom 
the  latter  was  eminent  for  his  knowledge  and 
penetration.  The  Semi-Arians  held,  that  the 
Son  was  -uoivti  ,,  i.  e.  similar  to  the  Father  in 
his  essence,  not  by  nature  but  by  a  jjcculiar 
privilege;  and  the  leading  men  of  this  i)arty 
were  George  of  Ijaodicea  and  Basilius  of  An- 
cyra.f  The  Eunomians,  who  were  also  called 
Aetians  and  Exucontians,  and  may  be  reckon- 
ed in  the  number  of  pure  Arians,  maintained. 


*  See  the  Tlifodosian  Code,  torn.  vi.  p.  5,  10,  130,  146; 
at  also  Godofred's  annotations  upon  it. 

t  See  Priid.  Maran's  Dissert,  siir  les  Semi-Arians,  pub- 
lished in  Voigt's  Biblioth.  H«rcsiolog.  torn.  ii. 


that  Christ  was -rspoBtnci.,  or  Ki-.t<'i-,,  i.  e.  un- 
like the  Father,  as  well  in  his  essence,  as  in 
other  respects.*  Under  this  general  division, 
many  other  subordinate  sects  were  compre- 
hended, whose  subtilties  and  refinements  have 
not  been  clearly  developed  by  the  ancient 
writers.  The  Arian  cause  suffered  as  much  from 
tiic  discord  and  animosities  that  reigned  among 
these  sects,  as  from  the  laboured  confutations 
and  the  zealous  elforts  of  the  orthodox  party. 

XVII.  The  Arian  controvers)'-  produced 
new  sects,  occasioned  by  the  indiscreet  lengths 
to  which  the  contending  parties  pusjied  their 
respective  opinions;  and  such,  indeed,  are  too 
generally  the  unliappy  effects  of  disputes,  in 
whicli  human  passions  have  so  lai^ge  a  part. 
Some,  while  they  were  careful  in  avoiding,  and 
zealous  in  opposing,  the  sentiments  of  Arius,  ran 
headlong  into  systems  of  doctrine  of  an  equal- 
ly dangerous  and  pernicious  nature.  Others, 
in  defending  the  Arian  notions,  went  farther 
than  their  chief,  and  thus  fell  into  errors  much 
more  extravagant  than  those  which  he  main- 
tained. Thus  does  it  generally  happen  in  re- 
ligious controversies:  the  human  mind,  amidst 
its  present  imperfection  and  infirmity,  and  its 
unhappy  subjection  to  the  empire  of  imagina- 
tion and  the  dictates  of  sen.se,  rarely  follows 
the  middle  way  in  the  search  of  truth,  or  con- 
templates spiritual  and  divine  things  with  that 
accuracy  and  simplicity,  that  integrity  and 
moderation,  which  alone  can  guard  against 
erroneous  extremes. 

Among  those  who  fell  into  such  extremes 
by  their  inconsiderate  violence  in  opposing  the 
Arian  system,  ApolliHaris  the  younger,  bishop 
of  Laodicea,  may  be  justly  placed,  though 
otherwise  a  man  of  distingaislied  merit,  and 
one  whose  learned  labours  had  rendered  to  reli- 
gion the  most  important  services.  lie  streim- 
ously  defended  the  divinitij  of  Christ  against 
the  Arians;  but,  by  indulging  himself  too  freely 
in  philosopliical  distinctions  and  subtilties,  ho 
was  carried  so  far  as  to  deny,  in  some  measure, 
his  kumanity.  He  maintained,  that  tiie  body 
which  Christ  assumed,  was  endowed  with  a 
sensitive,  and  not  a  rational,  soul;  and  that  the- 
Divine  Nature  performed  the  functions  of  rea- 
son, and  supplied  the  place  of  what  we  call  the 
mind,  the  sjjiritual  and  intellectual  principle  in 
nan;  and  from  tiiis  it  seemed  to  follow,  as  a. 
natural  consequence,  that  the  divine  nature  in 
Christ  was  blended  with  the  human,  and  sufler- 
ed  with  it  the  pains  of  crucifixion  and  death 
itselft  This  great  man  was  led  astray,  not 
only  by  his  love  of  disputing,  but  also  by  an 
immoderate  attachment  to  the  Platonic  doc- 
trine, concerning  the  two-fold  nature  of  the 
soul,  whicii  was  too  generally  adopted  by  the 
divines  of  this  age;  and  which,  undoubtedl)', 
perverted  their  judgment  in  several  respects, 

*  Sec  Basnage's  Dissert,  dc  Eunomio,  in  the  Lectiones 
Antiquae  of  Canisius,  loin.  i.  where  we  find  the  confes- 
sion and  apoloRy  of  Eunomins  yet  extant.  See  also  Jo. 
Alb.  Fabric.  Bibliotheca  Gra;c.  vol.  riii.  and  the  Codex 
Theodos.  toin.  vi. 

(Xr^  t  However  erroneous  the  hypothesis  of  ApoUina- 
ris  may  have  been,  the  consequences  here  drawn  from  it 
are  not  entirely  just;  for  if  it  is  true, that  the  human  «ou) 
does  not,  in  any  respect,  suflVr  death  by  the  dissolution 
of  the  body,  the  same  must  hold  good  with  respect  to  lh« 
divine  nature. 


128 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


and  led  them  into  erroneous  and  extravagant 
decisions  on  various  subjects. 

Other  errors,  beside  that  now  mentioned, 
are  imputed  to  Apollinaris  by  certain  ancient 
writers;  but  it  is  not  easy  to  determine  how  far 
they  deserve  credit  upon  tliat  head.*  Be  that 
as  it  may,  liis  doctrine  was  received  by  great 
numbers  in  ahnost  all  the  eastern  provinces, 
though,  by  the  ditlerent  explications  tliat  were 
given  of  it,  its  votaries  were  subdivided  into 
various  sects.  It  did  not,  however,  long  main- 
tain its  ground;  but,  being  attacked  at  the 
same  time  by  the  laws  of  the  emperors,  the  de- 
crees of  councils,  and  the  writings  of  the  learn- 
ed, it  siuik  by  degrees  under  their  united  force. 

XVIII.  Marcellus,  bishop  of  Ancyra,  in  Ga- 
latia,  may  be  ranked  in  the  same  class  with 
Apollinaris,  if  we  are  to  give  credit  to  Euse- 
bius  of  Caesarea,  and  the  rest  of  his  adversa- 
ries, who  represent  his  explication  of  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Trinity  as  bordering  upon  the  Sa- 
belliaii  and  Samosatenian  errors.  Many  how- 
ever are  of  opinion  that  this  Eusebius,  and 
that  bishop  of  Nicomcdia  who  bore  the  same 
name,  represented  with  partiality  the  senti- 
ments of  Marcellus,  on  account  of  the  bitter- 
ness and  vehemence  which  he  discovered  in 
his  opposition  to  the  Arians,  and  their  protec- 
tors. But  though  it  should  be  acknowledged, 
that,  in  some  particulars,  tlie  accusations  of  his 
enemies  carried  an  aspect  of  partiality  and  re- 
sentment, yet  it  is  manifest  that  they  were  far 
from  being  entirely  groundless;  for,  if  the  doc- 
trine of  Marcellus  be  attentively  examined,  it 
will  appear,  that  he  considered  the  Son  and  the 
Holy  Ghost  as  two  emanations  from  the  Di- 
vine Nature,  which,  after  performing  their  re- 
spective offices,  were  at  length  to  return  into 
the  substance  of  the  Father;  and  every  one 
will  perceive,  at  first  sight,  how  incompatible 
this  opinion  is  with  the  belief  of  three  distinct 
Persons  in  the  Godhead.  Beside  this,  a  parti- 
cular circumstance,  which  augmented  consider- 
ably the  aversion  of  many  to  Marcellus,  and 
strengthened  the  suspicion  of  his  erring  in  a 
capital  manner,  was  his  obstinately  refusing, 
toward  the  conclusion  of  his  life,  to  condemn 
the  tenets  of  his  disciple  Photinus.f 

XIX.  Photinus,  bishop  of  Sirmium,  may, 
with  propriety,  be  placed  at  the  head  of  those 
whom  the  Arian  controversy  was  the  occasion 
of  seducing  into  the  most  extravagant  errors. 
This  prelate  published,  in  the  year  343,  his 
opinions  concerning  the  Deity,  which  were 
equally  repugnant  to  the  orthodox  and  Arian 
systems.  His  notions,  which  have  been  ob- 
scurely, and  indeed  sometimes  inconsistently 
represented  by  the  ancient  writers,  amount  to 
this,  when  attent\vely  examined:  "  That  Jesus 
Christ  was  born  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  the 
Virgin  Mary;  that  a  certain  divine  emanation, 


*  See  Basnage's  Historia  Haeres.  Apollin.,  published 
by  Voigt  in  his  Bibliotheca  Haeresiologica,  torn.  i.  I'ascic. 
1.  p.  1 — 96,  and  improved  by  some  learned  and  important 
additions.  See  also  tom.  i.  fascic.  iii.  and  p.  607  of  the 
latter  work.  The  laws,  enacted  against  the  followers 
of  Apollinaris,  are  extant  in  the  Theodosian  Code,  torn. 
vi.  See  an  account  of  Apollinaris,  and  his  heresy,  in  the 
English  edition  of  Bayle's  Dictionary. 

t  Sec  Montfaucon's  Diatriba  de  Causa  Marcclli  in 
Nova  Collectione  Patrum  Graecorum,  torn.  ii.  p.  51;  ai 
also  Gervaise,  Vie  de  S.  Epiphane,  p.  42. 


or  ray  (which  he  called  the  wcrrd)  descended 
upon  this  extraordinary  man;  that,  on  account 
of  the  union  of  the  divine  word  with  his  human 
nature,  .Tesus  was  called  the  Son  of  God,  and 
even  God  himself;  and  that  the  floly  Ghost 
was  not  a  distinct  person,  but  a  celestial  virtue 
proceeding  from  the  Deity."  The  temerity  of 
this  bold  innovator  was  chastised,  not  only  by 
the  orthodo.x  in  the  councils  of  Antioch*  and 
Milan,  holden  in  the  years  345  and  347,  and  in 
that  of  Sirmium,  whose  date  is  uncertain,  but 
also  by  the  Arians  in  one  of  their  assemblies  at 
Sirmium,  convoked  in  351.  In  consequence 
of  all  this,  Photinus  was  degraded  from  the 
episcopal  dignity,  and  died  in  exile  in  312. f 

XX.  After  him  arose  Macedonius,  bishop  of 
Constantinople,  a  very  eminent  Semi-Arian 
doctor,  who,  through  the  iniluence  of  the  Eu- 
nomians,  was  deposed  by  the  council  of  Con- 
stantinople, in  360,  and  sent  into  exile,  where 
he  formed  the  sect  of  the  Macedonians,  or 
Pneumatomachians.  In  his  exile,  he  declared 
with  the  utmost  freedom  those  sentiments 
which  he  had  formerly  either  concealed,  or,  at 
least,  taught  with  much  circumspection.  He 
considered  the  Holy  Ghost  as  "  a  divine  energy, 
diffused  throughout  the  universe,  and  not  as  a 
person  distinct  from  the  Father  and  the  Son. "J 
This  opinion  had  many  partisans  in  the  Asiatic 
provinces;  but  the  council  assembled  by  Theo- 
dosius,  in  381,  at  Constantinople,  (to  which 
the  second  rardc,  among  the  oecumenical  or 
general  councils,  is  commonly  attributed,)  put 
a  stop  by  its  authority  to  the  growing  evil,  and 
crushed  this  rising  sect  before  it  had  arrived  at 
maturity.  A  hmidred  and  fifty  bishops,  who 
were  present  at  this  council,  gave  the  finishing 
touch  to  what  the  council  of  Nice  had  left  im- 
perfect, and  fixed,  in  a  full  and  determinate 
manner,  the  doctrine  of  three  persons  in  one 
God,  which  is  still  received  among  the  gene- 
rality of  Christians.  This  venerable  assembly 
did  not  stop  here;  they  branded,  with  infamy, 
all  the  errors,  and  set  a  mark  of  execration, 
upon  all  the  heresies,  that  were  hitherto  known; 
they  advanced  the  bishop  of  Constantinople, 
on  account  of  the  eminence  and  extent  of  the 
city  in  which  he  resided,  to  the  first  rank  after 
the  Roman  pontiff,  and  determined  several 
other  points,  which  they  looked  upon  as  essen- 
tial to  the  well-being  of  the  church  in  general. § 

XXI.  The  phrensy  of  the  ancient  Gnostics, 
which  had  been  so  often  vanquished,  and  in  ap- 
pearance removed,  by  the  various  remedies  that 
had  been  used  for  that  purpose,  broke  out  anew 
in  Spain.  It  was  transported  thither,  in  the 
beginning  of  this  century,  by  a  certain  person 
named  ftlarc,  of  Memphis  in  Egypt,  whose  con- 
verts at  first  were  not  very  numerous.  They 
increased,  however,  in  process  of  time,  and 


*  According  to  Dr.  Lardner's  account,  this  council  of 
Antioch,  in  34.'i,  was  holden  by  the  Arians,  or  Eusebians, 
and  not  by  the  orthodox,  as  our  author  affirms.  See 
Lardner's  Credibility,  &c.  vol.  ix.  p.  1.3;  see  also  Athanas. 
de  Synod.  IV.  vi.  vii.  compared  with  Soerat.  lib.  ii.  cap. 
xviii.  xix. 

t  Or  in  375,  as  is  concluded  from  Jerome's  Chronicle. 
— Matt.  Larroque,  de  Photino,  et  ejus  multiplici  con- 
demnatione. — Thom.  Ittigius,  HistoriaPliotini,in  Ap.  ad 
librum  de  Haeresiarchis  M\i  Apostolici. 

J  Soerat.  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  IV.  cap.  iv. 

§  Soerat.  lib.  v.  cap.  viii.     Soromen,  lib.  vii.  cap.  vii. 


Chap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


129 


counted  in  their  number  several  persons  highly 
eminent  for  their  learning  and  piety.  Among 
others,  Prisuillian,  a  layman,  distingiiishod  by 
his  birth,  fortune  and  eloquence,  and  after- 
wards bishop  of  Abiki,  was  infected  with  this 
odious  doctrine,  and  became  its  most  zealous 
and  ardent  defender.  Hence  he  was  accused 
by  several  bishops,  and,  by  a  rescript  obtained 
from  tlie  emperor  Gratian,  he  was  banished 
with  liis  followers  from  Spain;*  but  he  was  re- 
stored, some  time  after,  by  an  edict  of  tlic  same 
prince,  to  his  country  and  his  fimctions.  His 
sud'erings  did  not  end  here;  for  he  was  accused 
a  second  time,  in  .384, j  before  Maximus,  who 
had  procured  the  as.sas,sination  of  Gratian,  and 
made  himself  master  of  Gaul;  and,  by  the  or- 
der of  that  prince,  he  Wias  put  to  deatli  at  Tre- 
ves with  some  of  his  associates.  The  agents, 
however,  by  whose  barbarous  zeal  this  sentence 
was  obtained,  were  justly  regarded  with  the  ut- 
most abhorrence  by  tlie  bishops  of  Gaul  and 
Italy;|  for  Christians  had  not  yet  learned,  that 
giving  over  heretics  to  be  punished  by  the  ma- 
gistrates, was  either  an  act  of  piety  or  justice. § 
[No:  this  abominable  doctrine  was  reserved 
for  those  times,  when  religion  was  to  become 
an  instrument  of  despotism,  or  a  pretext  for  j 
the  exercise  of  pride,  malevolence,  and  ven- 1 
geance.]  j 

Tlie  death  of  Priscillian  was  less  pernicious 
to  the  progress  of  his  opinions,  than  might  na-  ! 
turally  have  been  expected.  His  doctrine  not 
only  survived  him,  but  was  propagated  through  • 
tlie  greatest  part  of  Spain  and  Gaul;  and  even 
so  far  down  as  the  sixth  century,  the  followers 
of  this  unhappy  man  o-ave  much  trouble  to  the 
bishops  and  clergy  in  fhose  provinces. 

XXII.  No  ancient  writer  has  given  an  accu- 
rate account  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Priscil- 
lianists.  Many  authors,  on  the  contrary,  by 
their  injudicious  representations  of  it,  have 
highly  distigured  it,  and  added  new  degrees  of 
obscurity  to  a  system  whi(;h  was  before  suffi- 
ciently dark  and  perplexed.  It  apjjcars,  how- 
ever, from  authentic  records,  that  the  dilfer- 


(t(^  *  This  banishment  was  the  effect  of  a  sentence 
pronounced  ag;ain5t  Priscillian,  and  sonic  of  his  followers, 
by  a  synod  convened  at  Saragossa  in  380;  in  consequence 
oi"  which,  Idaoius  and  Uhacius,  two  cruel  and  persecuting 
ecclesiastics,  obtained  from  Gralian  the  rescript  above- 
mentioned.  Sec  Sulpit.  Sever.  Hist.  Sacr.  lib.  ii.  cap 
xlvii. 

QQ'  t  Upon  the  death  of  Gratian,  who  had  favoured 
Priscillian  toward  the  latter  end  of  his  reign,  Ithacius 
presented  to  Maximns  a  petition  against  him;  whereupon 
I  his  prince  appointed  a  council  to  be  holden  at  Bour- 
dcaux,  from  which  Priscillian  appealed  to  the  prince 
himself     Sulp.  Sever,  lib.  ii.  cap.  xlix.  p.  287. 

(K7~  t  I'  may  be  interesting  to  the  reader  to  hear  the 
rharacttr  of  the  first  person  that  introduced  civil  per- 
secution into  the  Christian  church.  "  He  was  a  man 
abandoned  to  the  must  corrupt  indolence,  and  without  the 
least  tiiicturcof  true  piety.  He  was  talkative, audacious, 
iinpudenl,  luxurious,  and  a  slave  to  his  belly.  He  ac- 
cused as  heretics,  and  as  protectors  of  Priscillian,  all 
those  whose  lives  were  consecrated  to  the  pursuit  of 
piety  and  knowledge,  or  distinguished  by  acts  of  mortifi- 
cation and  abstinence,"  Stc.  Such  is  the  character 
which  Sulpitius  Severus,  who  had  an  extreme  aversion 
to  the  sentiments  of  Priscillian,  gives  us  of  Ithacius, 
bishop  of  Sossuba,  by  whose  means  he  was  put  to  death. 

^See  Sulp.  Sever.  Hist.  Sacr.  edit.  Leips.  1709,  whore 
Martin,  the  truly  apostolical  bishop  of  Tours,  says  to 
Maximus,  "  novum  esse  et  inauditum  nefas  ut  causam 
ecclesise  judex  seculi  judicaret."  See  also  Dial.  iii.  dc  i 
vita  Martini,  cap.  xi.  p.  495.  1 

Vol.  I.— n 


ence  between  their  doctrine,  and  that  of  the 
Manicheans,  was  not  very  considerable.  For 
"  tiiey  denied  the  reality  of  Christ's  birth  and 
incarnation;  maintained,  that  the  visible  uni- 
ver.se  was  not  the  production  of  tiie  Supreme 
Deity,  but  of  some  duMnoii,  or  malignant  prin- 
ciple; adopted  the  doctrine  of  a!ons,  or  emana- 
tions from  the  divine  natin-e;  considered  human 
bodies  as  prisons  formed  by  the  autiior  of  evil, 
to  enslave  celestial  minds;  condemned  mar- 
riage, and  disbelieved  tlie  resurrection  of  the 
body."  Their  rules  of  life  and  manners  were 
rigid  and  severe;  and  tlic  accounts  vvliich  many 
have  given  of  their  lasciviousness  and  intem- 
perance deserve  not  the  least  credit,  as  tiiey  are 
totally  destitute  of  evidence  and  authority. 
That  the  Priscillianists  were  guilty  of  dissimu- 
lation upon  some  occasions,  and  deceived  their 
adversaries  by  cunning  stratagems,  is  true;  but 
that  they  held  it  as  a  maxim,  that  lying  and 
perjury  were  lairful,  is  a  most  notorious  false- 
liood,  without  even  the  least  shadow  of  proba- 
bility,* however  commonly  this  odious  doctrine 
lias  been  laid  to  tiieir  charge.  In  the  heat  of 
controversy,  the  eye  of  passion  and  of  preju- 
dice is  too  apt  to  confound  tlw;  principles  and 
opinions  of  men  with  their  practice. 

XXIII.  To  what  we  have  here  said  concern- 
ing those  sects  which  made  a  noise  in  tiie  world, 
it  will  not  be  iin]iroper  to  add  some  account  of 
tiiose  of  a  less  considerable  kind. 

Audseus,  a  man  of  remarkable  virtue,  bein^ 
excommunicated  in  Syria,  on  account  of  the 
freedom  and  importunity  witli  which  he  cen- 
sured the  corrupt  and  licentious  manners  of 
the  clergy,  formed  an  assembly  of  tliose  who 
were  attached  to  him,  and  became,  by  his  own 
appointment,  their  bishop.  Banished  into 
Scythia  by  the  emperor,  he  went  among  the 
Goths,  where  his  sect  flourislied,  and  augment- 
ed consideral)ly.  Tlie  ancient  writers  are  not 
agreed  abottt  tlie  time  in  which  we  are  to  date 
tiie  origin  of  this  sect.  With  respect  to  its  re- 
ligious institutions,  we  know  that  they  differed 
in  some  points  from  those  observed  iiy  other 
Christians;  and,  particularly,  tliat  the  followers 
of  Audteus  celebrated  Easter,  or  the  Paschal 
feast,  with  the  Jews,  in  repugnance  to  the  ex- 
press decree  of  tiie  council  of  Nice.  With  re- 
spect to  tiieir  doctrine,  several  errors  have  been 
imputed  to  thein,t  and  this,  among  others,  that 
they  attributed  to  the  Deity  a  human  form. 

XXIV.  Tiie  Grecian  and  Oriental  writers 
place,  in  this  century,  the  rise  of  the  sect  of 
the  Messalians,  or  Euchites,  whose  doctrine 
and  discipline  were,  indeed,  much  more  an- 


*  See  Simon  de  Vrics,  Dissert.  Critica  dc  Priscilliaii- 
istis,  printed  at  Utrecht,  in  174.5.  The  only  defect  in 
this  dissertation  is  the  implicit  manner  in  which  the 
author  follows  Beausobre's  History  of  the  Manicheans, 
taking  every  thing  for  granted  which  is  atfirmed  in  that 
viork.  See  also  Franc.  Girvesii  Historia  Priscillianista 
rum  Chronolouiiea,  published  at  Rome  in  1750.  We  find, 
moreover,  in  Ine  twenty-seventh  volume  of  the  Opuscula 
Scieutifiea  of  Angelus  Calogcra,  a  treatise  entitled  Bachi- 
arius  Illustratus,  seu  de  Pnscilliana  Ha;resi  Dissertatio; 
but  this  dissertation  seems  rather  intended  to  clear  up 
the  aliairof  Bachiarius,  than  to  give  a  full  account  of  the 
Priscillianists  and  their  doctrine. 

f  Epiphanius,  Haeres.  Ixx.  p.  811.— .\ugustin.  de 
Haeres.  cap.  1.— Theodoret.  Fabul.  Haeret.  lib.  iv.  cap. 
ix. — J.  Joach.  Schroder,  Dissertat.  de  Andxanis,  pub- 
lished in  Voigl's  BihliothecaHistorixHairesiolog.  tom.i. 


130 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  11. 


cient,  and  subsisted,  even  before  the  birth  of 
Christ,  in  Syria,  Egypt,  and  other  eastern 
countries,  but  who  do  not  seem  to  have  been 
formed  into  a  relig-ious  body  before  the  latter 
part  of  the  century  of  which  we  now  write. 
These  fanatics,  who  lived  after  the  monkish 
fashion,  and  withdrew  from  all  commerce  and 
society  with  their  fellow  creatmes,  seem  to 
have  derived  their  name  from  their  habit  of 
continual  prayer.  "  They  imagined  that  tlie 
mind  of  every  man  was  inhabited  by  an  evil 
daemon,  whom  it  was  impossible  to  expel  by 
any  other  means  than  by  constant  prayer  and 
singing  of  hymns;  and  that,  when  this  malig- 
nant spirit  was  cast  out,  the  pure  mind  return- 
ed to  God,  and  was  again  united  to  the  divine 
essence  from  which  it  had  been  separated." 
To  this  leading  tenet  they  added  many  other 
enormous  opinions,  which  bear  a  manifest  re- 
semblance to  the  Manichean  doctrine,  and  are 
evidently  drawn  from  the  same  source  whence 
the  Manicheans  derived  tlieir  errors,  even  from 
the  tenets  of  the  Oriental  philosophy.*  In  a 
word,  the  Euchites  were  a  sort  of  Mystics,  who 
imagined,  according  to  the  Oriental  notion, 
that'^  two  souls  resided  in  man,  the  one  good, 
and  the  other  evil;  and  who  were  zealous  in 
hastening  the  return  of  the  good  spirit  to  God, 


*  EpiphaJiius,  Hseres.  Ixjx.  p.  lOlj?.— Theodoret. 
Haeret.  Fabul.  lib.  iv.  rap.  n.  p.  672.— Tiraotlieus,  Pres- 
byter, de  receptione  Hseieticor.  published  in  the  third 
volume  of  Cotelerius'  Monamenta  Eccles.  Graecae.— - 
lac.  ToUii  Insignia  Itineris  Italic!,  p.  110. — Assemani 
Bibliotheca  Oritntalis  Vaticana,  torn.  i.  et  iii. 


by  contemplation  and  prayer.  The  external 
air  of  piety  and  devotion,  which  accompanied 
this  sect,  imposed  upon  many,  while  the  Greeks, 
on  the  other  hand,  opposed  it  with  vehemence 
in  all  succeeding  ages. 

It  is  proper  to  observe  here,  that  the  title  of 
Massalians  or  Euchites  had  a  very  extensive 
application  among  the  Greeks  and  the  Orien- 
tals, for  they  gave  it  to  all  those  who  endea- 
voured to  raise  the  soul  to  God  by  recalling 
and  withdrawing  it  from  terrestrial  and  sensi- 
ble objects,  however  these  enthusiasts  might 
differ  from  each  other  in  their  opinions  upon 
other  subjects. 

XXV.  Toward  the  conclusion  of  this  centu- 
ry, two  opposite  sects  involved  Arabia  and  the 
adjacent  countries  in  the  troubles  and  tumults 
of  a  new  controversy.  These  jarring  factions 
went  by  the  names  of  Antidico-Marianites  and 
Collyridians.  The  former  maintained,  that  the 
Virgin  Mary  did  not  always  preserve  her  imma- 
culate state,  but  received  the  embraces  of  her 
luisband  Joseph  after  the  birth  of  Christ.  The 
latter,  on  the  contrary,  (who  were  singularly 
favoured  by  the  female  sex,)  running  into  the 
opposite  extreme,  worshipped  the  Blessed  Vir- 
gin as  a  goddess,  and  judged  it  necessary  to 
appease  her  anger,  and  seek  her  favour  and  pro- 
tection, by  libations,  sacrifices,  oblations  of 
cakes  (collyridce,)  and  the  like  services.* 

Other  sects  might  be  mentioned  here;  but 
they  are  too  obscure  and  inconsiderable  to  de- 
serve notice. 


See  Epiphan.  Hasres.  Ixxviii.  Ixxix. 


THE  FIFTH  CENTURY. 


PART  I. 


THE  EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Concemi'ng  the  Prosperous  Events  that  happened 
to  the  Church. 

I.  In  order  to  arrive  at  a  true  knowledge  of 
the  causes  to  which  we  are  to  attribute  the  out- 
ward state  of  the  church,  and  flie  events  which 
happened  to  it  during  the  fifth  century,  we 
must  keep  in  view  the  civil  history  of  this  pe- 
riod. It  is,  therefore,  proper  to  observe,  that, 
in  the  beginning  of  tliis  centurj^  the  Roman 
empire  was  divided  into  two  sovereignties;  one 
of  whicli  comprehended  the  eastern  provinces, 
the  other  tiiose  of  tlie  west.  Arcadius,  the  em- 
peror of  tiie  east,  reigned  at  Constantinople; 
and  Honorius,  who  governed  tiie  western  pro- 
vinces, chose  Raveima  for  the  place  of  his  re- 
sidence. The  latter  prince,  remarkable  only 
for  the  sweetness  of  his  temper  and  the  good- 
ness of  his  heart,  neglected  the  great  affairs  of 
the  empire;  and,  inattentive  to  the  weighty 
duties  of  his  station,  held  the  reins  of  govern- 
ment with  an  unsteady  hand.  The  Goths, 
taking  advantage  of  this  criminal  indolence, 
made  incursions  into  Italy,  laid  waste  its  fair- 
est provinces,  and  sometimes  carried  their  de- 
solations as  far  as  Rome,  which  they  ravaged 
and  plundered  in  the  most  dreadful  manner. 
These  calamities,  which  fell  upon  the  western 
part  of  the  empire  from  the  Gothic  depreda- 
tions, were  followed  by  otiiers  still  more  dread- 
ful under  the  succeeding  emperors.  A  fierce 
and  warlike  people,  issuing  from  Germany, 
overspread  Italy,  Gaul,  and  Spain,  the  noblest 
of  all  the  Kurope3,n  provinces,  and  erected  now 
kingdoms  in  these  fertile  countries;  and  Odoa- 
cer,  at  last,  at  the  head  of  the  Heruli,  having 
conquered  Augustulus,  in  476,  gave  the  mor- 
tal blow  to  the  western  empire,  and  reduced  all 
Italy  under  his  dominion.  About  sixteen  years 
after  this,  Theodoric,  king  of  the  Ostrogoths, 
made  war  upon  these  barbarian  invaders,  at  the 
request  of  Zeno,  emperor  of  the  cast;  con- 
t^uered  Odoacer  in  several  battles;  and  obtain- 
ed, as  the  fruit  of  his  victories,  a  kingdom  for 
the  Ostrogoths  in  Italy,  which  subsisted  under 
various  turns  of  fortune  from  the  year  493  to 
562.* 

These  new  monarchs  of  the  west  pretended 
to  acknowledge  the  supremacy  of  the  empe- 
rors who  resided  at  Constantinople,  and  gave 
some  faint  external  marks  of  a  disposition  to 
reign  in  subordination  to  them;  but,  in  reality, 

*  See,  for  »  fuller  illuslratiouof  this  branch  of  history, 
the  learned  work  of  M.  de  Bos,  entitled,  Histoire  Criti- 
que de  la  Monarchie  Francoise,  torn.  i.  p.  2.'>8"  as  also 
Masco«  '3  History  of  the  Gernian.«. 


I  they  ruled  with  an  absolute  independence,  in 
j  their  respective  governments;  and,  as  appears 
I  particularly  from  the  dominion  exercised  by 
j  Theodoric  in  Italy,  they  left  nothing  to  the 
eastern  emperors  but  a  mere  shadow  of  power 
and  authority.* 

I  II.  These  constant  wars,  and  the  inexpressi- 
I  ble  calamities  with  which  they  were  attended,  ~ 
were  undoubtedly  detrimental  to  the  cause  and 
progress  of  C!hristianity.  It  must,  however, 
be  acknowledged  that  the  Christian  emperors, 
especially  those  who  ruled  in  the  east,  were  ac- 
tive and  assiduous  in  extirpating  the  remains 
of  the  ancient  superstitions.  Theodosius  the 
yomiger,  distinguished  himself  in  this  pious 
and  noble  work,  and  many  remarkable  monu- 
ments of  his  zeal  are  still  preserved;!  such  as 
the  laws  which  enjoined  either  the  destruction 
of  the  heathen  temples,  or  the  dedication  of 
them  to  Christ  and  his  saints;  the  edicts,  by 
which  he  abrogated  the  sacrilegious  rites  and 
ceremonies  of  Paganism,  and  removed  from  all 
offices  and  employments  in  the  state  such  a.s 
persisted  in  their  attachment  to  the  absurdities 
of  Polytheism. 

This  spirit  of  reformation  appeared  with  less 
vigour  in  tlie  western  empire.  There  the  feasts 
of  Saturn  and  Pan,  the  combats  of  tlie  gladia- 
tors, and  other  rites  that  were  instituted  in 
honour  of  the  pagan  deities,  were  celebrated 
with  the  utmost  freedom  and  impunity;  and 
persons  of  tiie  highest  rank  and  authority  pub- 
licl}'  {Hxifcssed  the  religion  of  their  idolatrous 
ancestors.]:  This  hberty  was,  however,  from 
time  to  time,  reduced  within  narrower  limits; 
and  all  those  public  sports  and  festivals,  which 
were  more  peculiarly  incompatiiilo  willi  the 
genius  and  sanctity  of  the  Christian  religion, 
were  every  where  abolished. § 

III.  Tlie  limits  of  the  church  continued  to 
extend  tiicmsclves,  and  gained  ground  daily 
upon  the  idolatrous  nations,  both  in  the  eastern 
and  western  empires.     In  the  east,  the  inhabi- 


*  Car.  du  Frcsne,  Dissert,  xxiii.  ad  Histor.  Ludovici  S. 
)).  y80.— Muratori,  Antiq.  Ital.  torn.  ii.  p.  578,  832.— 
Cilaniione,  Historia  di  Napoli,  torn.  i.  p.  207.— Vita 
Theodorici  OstrOROthornm  Regis,  a  Johanne  Cochlaeo, 
printed  in  1699,  wilh  the  observations  of  Peringskiold. 

f  See  the  Theodosian  code,  torn.  vi.  p.  327. 

}  See  the  Saturnalia  of  Macrobius,  lib.  i. — Scipio 
Maffei  delli  Anfiteatri,  lib.  i.  p.  56. — Pierre  le  Brun,  Hist. 
Critique  des  Pratiques  superstitieuses,  torn.  i.  p.  237;  and, 
above  all,  Montfaucon's  Diss,  de  Moribus  Tempore 
Theodnsii  M.  et  Arcadii,  which  is  to  be  found  in  Latin, 
in  the  eleventh  volume  of  the  works  of  St.  Chrysostcm, 
and  in  French,  in  the  twentieth  volume  of  the  Mcmoire:>de 
I'Academic  des  Inscriptions  el  des  Belles  Letlres,  p.  197. 

tj  Anastasius  prohibited,  toward  the  conclusion  of  this 
century,  the  combats  with  the  wild  beasts,  and  other 
shows.'    Asseman.  Biblioth.  Orient.  Vatic,  torn.  i.  p.  246. 


132 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  I. 


tants  of  the  mountains  Libanus  and  Anti-Li- 
banus,  being  dreadfully  infested  with  wild 
beasts,  implored  the  assistance  and  counsels  of 
the  famous  Simeon  the  Stylite,  of  whom  we 
shall  have  occasion  to  speak  hereafter.  Simeon 
gave  them  for  answer,  that  the  only  effectual 
method  of  removing  this  calamity  was,  to  aban- 
don the  superstitious  worship  of  their  ancestors, 
and  substitute  the  Christian  religion  in  its 
place.  Tiie  docility  of  this  people,  joined  to 
the  e.xlremities  to  which  they  were  reduced, 
engaged  them  to  follow  the  counsels  of  this 
holy  man.  They  embraced  Christianity,  and, 
in  consequence  of  their  conversion,  they  liad 
the  pleasure  of  seeing  their  savage  enemies 
abandon  tlieir  habitations,  if  we  may  believe 
the  writers  who  affirm  the  truth  of  this  pro- 
digy. The  same  Simeon,  by  his  influence  and 
authority,  introduced  the  Christian  worship 
into  a  certain  district  of  the  Arabians-  some 
allege,  that  this  also  was  effected  by  a  miracle, 
which  to  me  appears  more  than  doubtful.*  To 
these  instances  of  the  progress  of  the  Gospel, 
we  may  add  the  conversion  of  a  considerable 
number  of  Jews  in  the  isle  of  Crete:  finding 
themselves  grossly  deluded  by  the  impious  pre- 
tensions of  an  impostor,  called  Moses  Creten- 
sis,t  who  gave  himself  out  for  the  Messiah, 
they  opened  their  eyes  upon  the  truth,  and 
spontaneously  embraced  the  Christian  religion.  J 
IV.  The  German  nations,  who  rent  in  pieces 
the  Roman  empire  in  the  west,  were  not  all 
converted  to  Christianity  at  tlie  same  time. 
Some  of  them  had  embraced  the  truth  before 
the  time  of  their  incursion;  and  such,  among 
others,  was  the  case  of  the  Goths.  Others, 
after  having  erected  their  little  kingdoms  in  the 
empire,  embraced  the  Gospel,  that  they  might 
thus  live  with  more  security  amidst  a  people, 
who,  in  general,  professed  the  Christian  reli- 
gion. It  is,  however,  uncertain  (and  likely  to 
continue  so)  at  what  time,  and  by  wliose  min- 
Lstry,  the  Vandals,  Sueves,  and  Alans,  were 
converted  to  Christianity.  With  respect  to  the 
BuriTundians,  who  inhabited  the  banks  of  the 
Rhine,  and  thence  passed  into  Gaul,  we  are  in- 
formed, by  Socrates,§  that  they  embraced  the 
Gospel  of  their  own  accord,  from  a  notion  that 
Christ,  or  the  God  of  the  Romans,  who  liad 
been  represented  to  them  as  a  most  powerful 
beincr,  would  defend  them  against  the  rapines 
and  Tncursions  of  the  Huns.  They  afterwards 
sided  with  the  x\rian  party,  to  which  also  the 
Vandals,  Sueves,  and  Gotlis,  were  zealously 
attached.  All  these  fierce  and  warlike  nations 
considered  a  religion  as  e.Kcellent,  in  proportion 


■*  Vide  idem  Opus,  torn.  i.  p.  246. 

Q{J^  t  We  shall  give  the  relation  of  Socrates,  concern- 
ing this  impostor,  in  the  words  of  the  learned  and  esti- 
mable author  of  the  Remarks  on  Ecclesiastical  History. 
"In  the  time  of  Theodosius  the  younger,  an  impostor 
arose,  called  Moses  Cretensis.  He  pretended  to  be  a 
second  Moses,  sent  to  deliver  the  Jews  who  dwelt  in 
Crete,  and  promised  to  divide  the  sea,  and  give  them  a 
safe  passage  through  it.  They  assembled  togetlier,  with 
their  wives  and  children,  and  followed  him  to  a  promon- 
tory. He  there  commanded  them  to  cast  themselves  into 
the'  sea.  Many  of  tliem  obeyed,  and  perished  in  the 
waters;  and  many  were  taken  up  and  saved  by  fisher- 
men. Upon  this,  the  deluded  Jews  would  have  torn  the 
impostor  to  pieces;  but  he  escaped  them,  and  was  seen  no 
more."     See  Jortin's  Remarks,  vol.  iii. 

{  Socrates,  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  vii.  cap.  xxiviii.  p.  383. 

^  Socral.  lib.  vii.  cap.  xxx.  p.  37L 


to  the  success  which  crowned  the  arms  of  those 
who  professed  it;  and,  therefore,  when  they 
saw  the  Romans  in  possession  of  an  empire 
much  more  extensive  than  that  of  any  other 
people,  they  concluded  that  Christ,  their  God, 
was  of  all  others  the  most  worthy  of  religious 
homage. 

V.  It  was  the  same  principle,  as  well  as  the 
same  views,  that  engaged  Clovis,*  king  of  the 
Salii,  a  nation  of  the  Franks,  to  embrace 
Christianity.  This  prince,  whose  signal  valour 
was  accompanied  with  barbarity,  arrogance, 
and  injustice,  founded  the  kingdom  of  the 
Franks  in  Gaul,  after  having  made  himself 
master  of  a  great  part  of  that  country,  and 
meditated  with  remarkable  eagerness  and  avi- 
dity the  conquest  of  the  whole.  His  conver- 
sion to  the  Christian  religion  is  dated  from  the 
battle  he  fought  with  the  Alemans,  in  496,  at  a 
village  called  Tolbiacum;t  in  which,  when  the 
Franks  began  to  give  ground,  and  their  affairs 
seemed  desperate,  he  implored  the  assistance  of 
CJhrist  (whom  his  queen  Clotildis,  daughter  of 
the  king  of  the  Burgundians,  had  often  repre- 
sented to  him,  in  vain,  as  the  Son  of  the  true 
God,)  and  solemnly  engaged  himself,  by  a  vow, 
to  worship  him  as  his  God,  if  he  would  render 
him  victorious  over  his  enemies.  Victory  de- 
cided in  favour  of  the  Franks;  and  Clovis, 
faithful  to  his  engagement,  received  baptism  at 
Rheims,+  toward  the  conclusion  of  the  same 
year,  after  having  been  instructed  by  Remigius, 
bisliop  of  that  city,  in  the  doctrines  of  Christi- 
anity.§  The  example  of  the  king  had  such  a 
powerful  effect  upon  the  minds  of  his  subjects, 
that  three  thousand  of  them  immediately  fol- 
lowed it,  and  were  baptized  with  him.  Many 
are  of  opiiiHon,  that  tlie  desire  of  extending  his 
dominions  principally  contributed  to  render 
Clovis  faithful  to  his  engagement,  though  some 
influence  may  also  be  allowed  to  the  zeal  and 
exhortations  of  his  queen  Clotildis.  Be  that  as 
it  will',  nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  his 
profession  of  Christianity  was,  in  effect,  of 
great  use  to  him,  both  in  confirming  and  en- 
larging his  empire. 

Tlie  miracles,  which  are  said  to  have  been 
wrought  at  the  baptism  of  Clovis,  arc  unwor- 
thy of  the  smallest  degree  of  credit.  Among 
others,  the  principal  prodigy,  that  of  the  phial 
full  of  oil  said  to  have  been  brought  from  hea- 
ven by  a  milk-white  dove  during  the  ceremony 
of  baptism,  is  a  fiction,  or  rather,  perhaps,  an 
imposture;  a  pretended  miracle  contrived  by 
artifice  and  fraud.  11     Pious  frauds  of  this  na- 


(tl5»  *  Beside  the  name  of  Clovis,  this  prince  was  also 
called  Clodovseus.  Hludovicus,  Lujovicus,  and   Ludicin. 

(tl^t  Tolbiacum  is  thought  to  be  the  present  Zulpick, 
which  is  about  twelve  miles  from  Cologne. 

I  See  Gregory  of  Tours,  Historia  Francorum,  lib.  ii. 
cap.  xxx.  xxxi. — Count  Bunau's  Historia  Imperii  Ro- 
mano-Germanici,  torn.  i.  ]>.  588.— Du  Bos'  Hisloire 
Critirjue  de  la  Monarchie  Francoise,  torn.  ii.  p.  340. 

(bj-  §  The  epitomiser  of  the  history  of  the  Franks 
tells  us,  that  Remigius  having  preached  to  Clovis,  and 
those  who  had  been  baptised  with  him,  a  sermon  on  the 
passion  of  our  Saviour,  the  king,  in  hearing  him,  could 
not  forbear  crying  out,  "  If  I  had  been  there  with  my 
Franks,  that  should  not  have  happened." 

II  The  truth  of  this  miracle  has  been  denied  by  the 
learned  John  James  Chiflet,  in  his  book  De  Ampulla 
Rhemensi,  printed  at  Antwerp,  in  1651;  and  it  has  been 
affirmed  by  Vertot,  in  the  Memoires  de  I'Academie  des 
Inscriptions  et  dcs  Belles  Letlres,  tftm.  iv.  p.  350.     After 


Chap.  I. 


PROSPEROUS  EVENTS?. 


133 


turewere  very  frequently  practised  in  Gaul  and 
in  Spain  at  this  time,  in  order  to  captivate, 
with  more  facility,  the  minds  of  a  rude  and 
barbarous  people,  who  were  scarcely  suscepti- 
ble of  a  rational  conviction. 

The  conversion  of  C'lovis  is  looked  upon  by 
the  learned  as  the  origin  of  the  titles  of  most 
Christian  King,  and  Eldest  Son  of  the  Church, 
which  have  been  so  long  attributed  to  the  kings 
of  France;*  for,  if  we  except  this  prince,  all  the 
kings  of  those  barbarous  nations,  who  seized 
the  Roman  provinces,  were  either  yet  involved 
in  the  darkness  of  Paganism,  or  infected  with 
the  Arian  heresy. 

VI.  Celestine,  the  Roman  pontiff,  sent  Pal- 
■Ia(li\is  into  Ireland,  to  propagate  the  Christian 
religion  among  the  rude  iuhnbitants  of  that 
island.  This  first  missionf  was  not  attended 
with  much  fruit;  nor  did  the  success  of  Palla- 
dius  bear  any  proportion  to  his  laborious  and 
pious  endeavours.  After  his  death,  the  same 
pontiff  employed,  in  this  mission,  Succatlius,  a 
native  of  Scotland,  whose  name  he  changed 
into  that  of  Patrick,  and  wlio  arrived  among 
the  Irish  in  43i.  The  success  of  his  ministry, 
and  the  number  and  importance  of  his  pious 
exploits,  stand  upon  record  as  undoubted  proofs, 
not  only  of  his  resolution  and  patience,  but 
also  of  his  de.vterity  and  address.  Having  at- 
tacked, with  much  more  success  than  his  pre- 
decessor, the  errors  and  superstitions  of  that 
uncivilized  people,  and  brought  great  numbers 
of  them  over  to  the  Christian  religion,  he 
founded,  in  4't2,  the  archbishopric  of  Armagh,^ 


a  mature  consideration  of  what  has  been  alleged  on  both 
sides  of  the  question,  I  can  scarcely  venture  to  deny  the 
fact:  I  am  therefore  of  opinion,  that,  in  order  to  confirm 
and  fix  the  wavering  faith  of  this  barbarian  prince,  Re- 
migiiis  had  prepared  his  incai^ures  before-hand,  and 
trained  a  pigeon,  by  great  application  and  dextrrily,  in 
such  a  manner,  that,  during  the  baptism  of  Clovis,  it  de- 
scended from  the  roof  of  the  church  with  a  phial  of  oil. 
Among  the  records  of  this  century,  we  find  accounts  of 
many  such  miracles,  gij- There  is  one  circumstance, 
which  obliges  me  to  differ  from  Dr.  Mosheim  upon  this 
point,  and  to  look  upon  the  story  of  the  famous  phial 
rather  as  a  mere  fiction,  than  as  a  pious  fraud,  or  pre- 
tended miracle  brought  about  by  artifice;  and  that  cir- 
cumstance is,  that  Gregory  of  Tours,  from  whom  we 
have  a  full  account  of  the  conversion  and  baptism  of 
Clovis,  and  who,  from  his  proximity  to  this  time,  may 
almost  be  called  a  contemporary  writer,  has  not  made  the 
least  mention  of  this  famous  miracle.  This  omission,  in 
a  writer  whom  the  Roman  catholics  themselves  consider 
as  an  over-credulous  historian,  amounts  to  a  proof,  that, 
in  his  time,  this  fable  was  not  yet  invented. 

♦See  Gab.  Daniel  et  Dc  Camps,  Dissert,  de  Titnio 
Regis  Christianissimi,  in  the  Journal  des  Scavans  for  tlie 
year  1720,  p.  943,  336,  4(i4,448.— Memoircs  de  I'Acade- 
mie  des  Inscriptions,  torn.  xx.  p.  406. 

(p[J=- \  ¥  rota  the  fragments  of  the  lives  of  some  Irish 
bishops  who  are  said  to  have  converted  many  of  their 
countrymen  in  the  fourth  century. archbishop  Vsher  con- 
cludes, that  Talladius  was  not  the  first  bishop  of  Ireland 
(see  his  Antiquities  of  the  British  Church:)  but  it  has  been 
evidently  proved,  among  others  by  Bollandus,  that  thesi 
fragments  are  of  no  earlier  date  than  the  twelfth  century, 
and  are  besides,  for  the  most  part,  fabulous.  Dr.  Mo 
sheim's  opinion  is  farther  confirmed  by  the  authority  of 
Prosper,  which  is  decisive  in  this  matter. 

}  See  the  Acta  Sanctor.  torn.  ii.  Martii,  p.  .')17,  tom.  iii. 
Februar.  p.  131,  179;  and  the  Hibernia  Sacra  of  Sir 
James  Ware,  printed  at  Dublin  in  1717.  The  latter 
published  at  London,  in  16.50,  the  Works  of  St.  Patrick. 
Aeeountsof  the  synods,  that  were  holdcn  by  this  eminent 
missionary,  are  to  be  found  in  WilUins'  Concilia  Maijnse 
Brit,  et  Hiberniac,  torn.  i.  With  respect  to  the  famous 
cave,  called  the  Purgatory  of  St.  Patrick,  the  reader  may 


which  has  over  since  remained  the  metropoli- 
tan see  of  tlie  Irish  nation.  Hence  this  famous 
missionary,  though  not  the  first  who  brought 
among  that  people  the  light  of  the  (iospel,  has 
yet  been  justly  entitled  the  Apostle  of  the 
Irish,  and  the  father  of  the  Hibernian  church, 
and  is  still  generally  acknowledged  and  revered 
in  that  honourable  character. 

VII-  The  causes  and  circiunstances  by  which 
these  ditfercnt  nations  were  engaged  to  aban- 
don the  superstition  of  their  ancestors,  and  to 
embrace  tlie  religion  of  Jesus,  may  be  easily 
deduced  from  the  facts  we  have  related  in  the 
histor}'  of  their  conversion.  It  would,  indeed, 
be  an  instance  of  the  blindest  and  most  per- 
verse partiality,  not  to  acknowledge,  that  the 
labotirs  and  zeal  of  great  and  eminent  men  con- 
tributed to  this  ha]ipy  purpose,  and  viere  the 
means  by  which  tlie  darkness  of  many  was 
turned  into  light.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
they  must  be  very  inattentive  and  superficial 
observers  of  things,  who  do  not  perceive  that 
tlie  fear  of  punishment,  the  prospect  of  honours 
and  advantages,  and  the  desire  of  obtaining 
succour  against  their  enemies  from  the  coun- 
tenance of  the  Ciiristians,  or  the  miraculous 
influences  of  their  religion,  were  the  prevailing 
motives  that  iirduced  the  greatest  part  to  re- 
nounce the  service  of  their  impotent  gods. 

How  far  tliese  conversions  were  due  to  real 
miracles  attending  the  ministry  of  the  early 
preachers,  is  a  matter  extremely  difficult  to  be 
determined;  for,  though  I  am  persuaded  that 
those  pious  men,  wlio,  in  the  midst  of  many 
dangers,  and  in  t!ie  face  of  obstacles  seemingly 
invincible,  endeavoured  to  spread  the  light  of 
Christianity  among  tlie  barbarous  nations,  were 
sometimes  accompanied  with  the  more  peculiar 
presence  and  succours  of  the  Most  High,*  yet 
I  am  equally  convinced,  that  the  greatest  part 
of  the  prodigies,  recorded  in  the  histories  of 
this  age,  are  liable  to  the  strongest  suspicions 
of  falsehood  or  imposture.  The  simjdicity  and 
ignorance  of  the  generality  in  those  times  fur- 
nished the  most  favourable  occasion  for  the  e.K- 
ercise  of  fraud,  and  tlie  imptideiice  of  impos- 
tors, in  contriving  false  miracles,  vi'as  artfully 
proportioned  to  the  credulity  of  the  vulgar, j 
while  the  sagacious  and  the  wise,  who  perceiv- 
ed these  cheats,  were  overawed  into  silence  by 
the  dangers  that  threatened  their  lives  and  for- 
tunes, if  tliey  should  expose  the  artifice. |  Thus 
does  it  generally  happen  in  human  lite,  that, 
when  danger  attends  the  discovery  and  pro- 
fession of  the  truth,  the  prudent  are  silent,  the 
multitude  believe,  and  impostors  triumph. 


consult  Lc  Brun,  Histoirc  Critique  def^  Pratiques  super- 
stitieuses,  tom.  iv.  p.  34. 

*  There  is  a  remarkable  passage,  relating  to  the  mira- 
cles of  this  century,  in  the  dialogue  of  vKneas  Gaza^uj 
concerning  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  enlilkd  Theo- 
phrastit-i.  See  the  controversy  concerning  the  time  when 
miracles  ceased  in  the  church,  that  wascarried  on  about 
the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  on  occasion  of  Dr. 
Middlrton's  Free  Inquiry. 

f  This  is  ingenuously  confessed  by  the  Benedictine 
monks  in  their  Literary  History  of  France,  tonuii.  p. 
33,  and  happily  expressed  by  Livy,  Hist.  lib.  xxiv.  cap. 
X.  sect.  6.  "  Prodigia  muila  nuntiata  sunt,  quae  quo 
magis  credcbant  simplices  et  religiosi  homines,  eo  plura 
nuntiahantur." 

{  SulpitiusSevrrus,  Dial.  i.  p.  438.  Ep.  i.  p.4.'>7.  DU]. 
iii.  cap.  ii.  p.  487. 


134 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  1 


CHAPTER  n. 

Concerning  the  Calamitous  Events  which   hap- 
pened to  the  Church  during  this  Century. 

I.  It  has  been  already  observed,  that  the 
Goths,  Heruli,  Franks,  Huns,  and  Vandals, 
with  other  fierce  and  warlike  nations,  for  the 
most  part  strangers  to  Christianity,  had  in- 
vaded the  Roman  empire,  and  rent  it  asunder 
in  the  most  deplorable  manner.  Amidst  tliese 
calamities,  the  Christians  were  grievous  (we 
may  venture  to  say,  the  principal)  sufferers. 
It  is  true,  these  savag-e  nations  were  much 
more  intent  upon  the  acquisition  of  wealth  and 
<iominion,  than  upon  the  propagation  or  sup- 
port of  the  pagan  superstitions;  nor  did  their 
cruelty  and  opposition  to  the  Christians  arise 
from  any  religious  principle,  or  from  an  enthu- 
siastic desire  to  ruin  the  cause  of  Christianity; 
it  was  merely  by  the  instigation  of  the  Pagans 
who  remained  yet  in  the  empire,  that  they 
were  excited  to  treat  with  such  severity  and 
violence  the  followers  of  Christ.  The  painful 
consideration  of  their  abrogated  rites,  and  the 
liopes  of  recovering  their  former  liberty  and 
privileges  by  the  means  of  their  new  masters, 
induced  the  worsliippers  of  the  gods  to  seize 
with  avidity  every  opportunity  of  inspiring 
them  with  the  most  bitter  aversion  to  the 
Christians.  Their  endeavours,  however,  were 
without  the  desired  effect,  and  their  expecta- 
tions were  entirely  disappointed.  The  greatest 
part  of  these  barbarians  embraced  Christianity, 
though  it  be  also  true,  that,  in  the  beginning 
of  their  usurpations,  the  professors  of  that  re- 
ligion suffered  heavily  under  the  rigour  of 
tlieir  government. 

II.  To  destroy  the  credit  of  the  Gospel,  and 
to  excite  the  hatred  of  the  multitude  against 
the  Christians,  tiie  Pagans  took  occasion,  from 
the  calamities  and  tumults  which  distracted 
the  empire,  to  renew  the  obsolete  complaint  of 
their  ancestors  against  Christianity,  as  the 
source  of  these  complicated  woes.  They  al- 
leged, that,  before  the  coming  of  Christ,  tlie 
world  was  blessed  with  peace  and  prosj)erity; 
but  that,  since  the  progress  of  his  religion  everj? 
where,  the  gods,  filled  with  indignation  to  see 
their  worship  neglected  and  their  altars  aban- 
doned, had  visited  the  earth  with  those  plagues 
and  desolations,  which  increased  every  day. 
This  feeble  objection  was  entirely  removed  by 
Augustin,  in  his  book  de  Civitate  Dei;  a  work 
exceedingly  rich  and  ample  in  point  of  matter, 
and  filled  with  the  most  profound  and  diversi- 
fied erudition.  It  also  drew  a  complete  confu- 
tation from  the  learned  pen  of  Orosius,  who, 
in  a  history  written  expressly  for  that  purpose, 
showed,  with  the  strongest  evidence,  tliat  not 
only  the  same  calamities  now  complained  of, 
but  also  plagues  of  a  much  more  dreadful  kind, 
had  alHicted  mankind  before  the  Christian  re- 
ligion appeared  in  the  world. 

The  misfortunes  of  the  times  produced  still 
more  pernicious  effects  upon  the  religious  sen- 
timents of  the  Gauls.  They  introduced  among 
tiiat  j)eo])le  the  most  desperate  notions,  and  led 
many  of  tliem  to  reject  the  belief  of  a  super- 
iiitonding-  providence,  and  to  exclude  the  Deity 


from  the  government  of  the  universe.  Against 
these  phrenetic  infidels,  Salvian  wrote  his  book 
concerning  the  divine  government. 

III.  Hitherto  we  have  given  only  a  general 
view  of  the  sufferings  of  the  Christians;  it  is, 
however,  proper,  that  we  should  enter  into  a 
more  distinct  and  particular  accoimt  of  those 
misfortunes. 

In  Gaul,  and  the  neighbouring  provinces, 
the  Goths  and  Vandals  (whose  cruel  and  sacri- 
legious soldiery  respected  neither  the  majesty 
of  religion,  nor  the  rights  of  humanity)  com- 
mitted acts  of  barbarity  and  violence  against  a 
multitude  of  Christians. 

In  Britain,  a  long  series  of  tumults  and  divi- 
sions involved  the  Christians  in  many  troubles. 
When  the  affairs  of  the  Romans  declined  in 
that  country,  the  Britons  were  tormented  by 
the  Picts  and  Scots,  nations  remarkable  for 
their  violence  and  ferocity.  Hence,  after  many 
sufferings  and  disasters,  they  chose,  in  445, 
Vortigern  for  their  king.  This  prince,  finding 
himself  too  weak  to  make  head  against  the  ene- 
mies of  his  country,  called  the  Anglo-Saxons 
from  Germany  to  his  aid,  about  the  year  449. 
The  consequences  of  this  measure  were  perni- 
cious; and  it  soon  appeared,  that  the  warriors, 
wli0  came  as  auxiliaries  into  Britain,  oppressed 
it  with  calamities  more  grievous  than  those 
which  it  had  suffered  from  its  enemies;  for  the 
Saxons  aimed  at  nothing  less  than  to  subdue 
the  ancient  inhabitants  of  the  country,  and  to 
reduce  the  whole  island  under  their  dominion. 
Hence  a  most  bloody  and  obstinate  war  arose 
between  the  Britons  and  Saxons,  which,  after 
having  been  carried  on,  during  a  hundred  and 
thirty  years,  with  various  success,  ended  in  the 
final  defeat  of  the  Britons,  who  were  at  length 
constrained  to  seek  a  retreat  in  Wales.  During 
these  commotions,  the  state  of  the  British 
church  was  deplorable  beyond  expression;  it 
was  almost  totally  overwhelmed  and  extin- 
guished by  the  Anglo-Saxons,  who  adhered  to 
the  worship  of  the  gods,  and  put  an  immense 
number  of  Christians  to  the  most  cruel  deaths.* 

IV.  In  Persia,  the  Christians  sufl'ered  griev- 
ously by  the  imprudent  zeal  of  Abdas,  bishop 
of  Susa,  who  pulled  down  the  Pyrseum,  which 
was  a  temple  dedicated  to  fire;  for,  when  this 
obstinate  prelate  was  ordered  by  the  king  (Yez- 
dejird)  to  rebuild  tliat  temple,  he  refused  to 
comply;  for  which  he  was  put  to  death  in  414, 
and  the  cluirches  of  the  Christians  were  demo- 
lished. This  persecution  was  not,  however,  of 
long  duration,  but  seems  to  have  been  extin- 
guished soon  after  its  commencement. 

Warharan  or  Bahram,  the  son  of  the  mo- 
uarcli  already  mentioned,  treated  the  Chris- 
tians, in  421,  in  a  manner  yet  more  barbarous 
and  inhimian,  to  whicli  he  was  led  partly  by 
the  instigation  of  the  Magi,  and  partly  by  his 
keen  aversion  to  the  Romans,  with  whom  he 
was  at  war;  for,  as  often  as  the  Persians  and 
the  Romans  were  at  variance,  the  Christians, 
who  dwelt  in  Persia,  felt  new  and  redoubled 
effects  of  their  monarch's  wrath;  and  this  from  a 
prevailing  notion,  not  perhaps  entirely  ground- 


*  Sec,  lipside  Bcdc  and  Gildas,  archbishop  Usher'? 
Antiquilat.  EcpIesiK  Britannicje,  cap.  xii.  p.  415,  aud 
Rapiii's  llisloire  d'Angleteiic,  torn.  i.  livr.  ii. 


Chap.  I. 


LEARNING  AND  PHILOSOPHY. 


135 


■less,  that  they  favoured  the  Romans,  and  ren- 
dered real  services  to  their  empire.*  [n  this 
persecution,  a  prodigious  number  of  Christians 
perished  in  the  most  exquisite  tortures,  and  by 
various  kinds  of  punishment,  f  But  they  were, 
at  length,  delivered  from  these  cruel  oppres- 
sions by  the  peace  that  was  made  in  1-*",  be- 
tween \Varliaran  and  the  emperor  Theodosius 
the  younger. I 

It  was  not  from  the  Pagans  only  that  the 
Christians  were  exposed  to  suffering  and  per- 
secution; they  were  also  harassed  and  oppress- 
ed in  a  variety  of  ways  by  the  Jews,  who  lived 
in  great  opulence,  and  enjoyed  a  higli  degree 
of  favour  and  credit  in  several  parts  of  the 
east.§  Among  these,  none  treated  them  with 
greater  rigour  and  arrogance  than  Gamaliel, 
the  patriarch  of  tliat  nation,  a  man  of  tlie  great- 
est power  and  influence,  whose  authority  and 


*  Thcodoret,  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  v.  cap.  xxin.  p.  215. 
Bayle's  Dictionary,  at  the  article  Abdas.  Barbeyrac,  de 
la  Morale  des  Peres,  p.  3-JO. 

■)  Jos.  Sim.  Assemaui  Bibliolh.  Oriental.  Vatican,  torn, 
i.  p.  182,  248. 

\  Socrates,  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  vii.  cap.  xx. 

§  Socrat.  lib.  vii.  cap.  xiii.  xvi.  Codex  Theodos.  torn. 
Ti.  p.  965. 


violence  were,  on  that  account,  restrained,  ii 
415,  by  an  express  edict  of  Tlieodosius.* 

V.  It  does  not  api)ear,  from  extant  records, 
that  any  writings  against  Christ  and  his  follow 
ers  were  published  in  this  century,  unless  we 
consider  as  such  tlie  histories  of  01ympiodorus'^ 
and  Zosimus,  of  whom  the  latter  loses  no  op 
portunity  of  reviling  tiie  Christians,  and  load- 
ing them  with  tiie  most  unjust  and  bitter  re- 
proaches. But,  tliough  so  few  books  weiii 
written  against  Christianity,  we  arc  not  to  sup 
pose  that  its  adversaries  had  laid  aside  tlie  spirif 
of  opposition.  The  schools  of  the  philoso 
phersand  rhetoricians  were  j'et  open  in  Greece 
Syria,  and  Rgypt;  and  there  is  no  doubt  that 
these  artful  teachers  laboured  assiduously  to 
corrupt  the  minds  of  the  youth,  and  to  insti? 
into  them,  at  least  some  of  the  principles  of 
the  ancient  superstition.  J.  The  history  of  these 
times,  and  the  writings  of  several  Christians 
who  lived  in  this  century,  exJiibit  evident  proofs 
of  these  clandestine  methods  of  opposing  the 
progress  of  the  Gospel. 


*  Codex  Theodos.  tom.  vi.  p.  262, 

t  Photii  Biblioth.  cod.  Ixxx. 

}  Zacliarias  Mitylen.  de  Opificio  Dei 


PART  II. 


THE  INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Concerning  the  State  of  Learning  cwwi  Philosophy. 

I.  Though,  in  this  century,  the  illiterate 
and  ignorant  were  advanced  to  eminent  and 
important  stations,  both  ecclesiastical  and  civil, 
yet  we  must  not  thence  conclude,  that  tlie  sci- 
ences were  treated  with  universal  contempt. 
The  value  of  learning,  and  the  excellence  of 
the  fine  arts,  were  yet  generally  acknowledg- 
ed among  the  thinking  part  of  mankind. — 
Hence  public  schools  were  erected  in  almost 
all  the  great  cities,  such  as  Constantinople, 
Rome,  Marseilles,  Edessa,  Nisibis,  Cartilage, 
Lyons,  and  Treves;  and  public  instructors  of 
capacity  and  genius  were  set  apart  for  the  edu- 
cation of  the  youth,  and  maintained  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  emperors.  Several  bishops  and 
monks  contributed  also  to  the  advancement  of 
knowledge,  by  imparting  to  others  their  small 
stock  of  learning  and  science.  But  the  infe- 
licity of  the  times,  the  incursions  of  the  bar- 
barous nations,  and  the  scarcity  of  great  ge- 
niuses, rendered  the  fruits  of  these  excellent 
establishments  much  less  important  than  their 
generous  founders  and  promoters  expected. 

II.  In  the  western  provinces,  and  especially 
in  Gaul,  there  were  indeed  some  men  eminent- 
ly distinguished  by  their  learning  and  talents, 
and  every  way  proper  to  serve  as  models  to  the 
lower  orders  in  the  republic  of  letters.  Of 
this  we  have  abundant  proof  in  the  writings  of 
IVHcrobius,  Salvian,  Vinccntius  bisiiop  of  Liris, 
Ennodius,  Sidonius  Apollinaris,  Claudian,  Ma- 
niertus,  Dracontius,  and  others,  wiio,  though 


in  some  respects  inferior  to  the  celebrated  au- 
thors of  antiquity,  are  j'ct  far  from  being  des- 
titute of  elegance,  and  discover  in  their  pro- 
ductions a  most  laborious  application  to  liter.a- 
ry  researches  of  various  kinds.  But  tlie  bar- 
barous nations,  which  either  spread  desolation, 
or  formed  settlements  in  the  Roman  territories, 
clicked  the  growth  of  those  genial  seeds,  which 
tlie  hand  of  science  had  sown  in  more  auspici- 
ous times.  These  savage  invaders,  who  pos- 
sessed no  other  ambition  than  that  of  conquest, 
and  considered  military  courage  as  the  only 
source  of  true  virtue  and  solid  gloiy,  beheld, 
in  consequence,  the  arts  and  sciences  with  the 
utmost  contempt.  ^Vherever  therefore  they 
extended  their  conquests,  ignorance  and  dark- 
ness followed  their  steps;  and  the  culture  of 
science  was  confined  to  the  priests  and  monks 
alone;  and  even  among  these,  learning  dege- 
nerated from  its  primitive  lustre,  and  put  on 
the  most  tmsnemly  and  fantastic  form.  Amidst 
the  seduction  of  corrupt  examples,  the  alarms 
of  pcr[)etual  danger,  and  tiie  horrors  and  de- 
vastations of  war,  the  sacerdotal  and  monastic 
orders  gradually  lost  all  taste  for  solid  science, 
in  the  place  of  which  they  substituted  a  life- 
less spectre,  an  enormous  phantom  of  bariia- 
rous  erudition.  They  indeed  kept  public 
schools,  and  instructed  the  youth  in  what  they 
called  the  seven  liberal  arts;*  but  these,  as  we 
learn  from  Augustin's  account  of  them,  con- 
sisted only  of  a  certain  number  of  dry,  subtile, 


(t(^  *  These  arts  were  grammar,  rhetoric,  logic, 
arithmetic,  music,  geometry,  and  astrouomy.  See  cent. 
?iii.  part  ii.  ch.  ii.  in  this  volume. 


136 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  I. 


and  useless  prerepts,  and  were  consequently 
more  adapted  to  load  and  perplex  the  memory, 
than  to  improve  and  strengtlien  the  judgment: 
so  that,  toward  the  conclusion  of  this  century, 
the  sciences  were  almost  totally  extinguished; 
at  least,  what  remained  of  them  was  no  more 
than  a  shadowy  form,  without  solidity  or  con- 
sistence. 

III.  The  few  who  applied  tliemselves  to  the 
study  of  pliilosophy  in  this  age,  had  not  yet 
embraced  tlie  doctrine  or  method  of  Aristotle. 
They  looked  upon  the  sj-stem  of  this  eminent 
philosopher,  as  a  labyrinth  beset  with  thorns 
and  tliistles;*  and  yet,  liad  tliey  been  able  to 
read  and  understand  his  works,  it  is  probable 
that  many  of  them  would  have  become  his  fol- 
lowers. The  doctrine  of  Plato  had  a  more 
established  reputation,  which  it  had  enjoyed 
for  several  ages,  and  was  considered,  not  only 
as  less  subtile  and  ditiicult  tlian  that  of  the 
Stagirite,  but  also  as  more  conformable  to  the 
genius  and  spirit  of  the  Christian  religion. 
Besides,  the  most  valuable  of  Plato''s  works 
were  translated  into  Latin  by  Victorinus,  and 
were  thus  adapted  to  general  use;t  and  Sido- 
nius  Apollinarjsj:  informs  us,  that  all  those, 
among  the  Latins,  who  had  any  inclination  to 
the  study  of  truth,  fell  into  the  Platonic  no- 
tions, and  followed  that  sage  as  their  philoso- 
phical guide. 

IV.  The  fate  of  learning  was  less  deplora- 
ble ainong  the  Greeks  and  Orientals,  than  in 
the  western  provinces;  and  not  only  the  seve- 
ral branches  of  polite  literature,  but  also  the 
more  solid  and  profound  sciences,  were  culti- 
vated by  them  with  tolerable  success.  Hence 
we  find  among  them  more  writers  of  genius 
and  learning  than  in  other  countries.  Those, 
who  were  inclined  to  the  study  of  law,  resort- 
ed generally  to  Berytus,  famous  for  its  learned 
academy, §  or  to  Alexandria, ||  which  was  fre- 
quented by  the  students  of  physic  and  chemis- 
try. The  professors  of  eloquence,  poetry,  phi- 
losophy, and  the  other  liberal  arts,  taught  the 
youth  in  public  schools,  which  were  erected  in 
almost  every  city.  Those  however  of  Alexan- 
dria, Constantinople,  and  Edessa,  were  deem- 
ed superior  to  all  others,  both  in  point  of  eru- 
dition and  method.fl^ 

V.  The  doctrine  and  sect  of  the  modern 
Platonics,  or  Platonists,  retained,  among  the 
Syrians  and  Alexandrians,  a  considerable  part 
of  their  ancient  splendour.  Olympiodorus, 
Hero,**  and  other  philosophers  of  the  first  rank, 
added  a  lustre  to  the  Alexandrian  school.  That 
of  Athens  was  rendered  famous  by  tl]e  talents 
and  erudition  of  Theophrastus,  Plutarch,  and 
his  successor  Syrianus.  These  were  the  instruc- 

*  The  passages  of  different  writers,  that  prove  what  is 
here  advanced,  are  collected  by  Launoy,  in  his  book,  rfe 
varia  ^ristotelis  Fortuna  in  Jltadeinia  Parisiensi. 

t  See  Augustini  Confess,  lib.  i.  cap.  ii.  sect.  i.  p.  105, 
106.  torn.  i.  op. 

t  See  his  Epistles, book  iv.  cp.  iii.  xi.  book  ix.  ep.  is. 

tj  See  Hasaei  Lib.  de  Academia  Jureconsultorum  Eery- 
teuai;  as  also  Mitylenaeus,  de  Opificio  Dei,  p.  164. 

II  Mitylenaeus  de  Opificio  Dei,  p.  179. 

IT  MnestS  Gazaeus  in  Theophrasto. 

**  MarinuSj  Vita  Procli,  cap.  ix. 


tors  of  the  renowned  Proclus,  who  far  surpassed 
the  Platonic  philosophers  of  this  century,  and 
acquired  such  a  high  degree  of  the  public  es- 
teem, as  enabled  him  to  give  new  life  to  the 
doctrine  of  Plato,  and  restore  it  to  its  former 
credit  in  Greece.*  Marinus,  of  Neapolis,  Arn- 
monius  the  son  of  Hermias,  Isidorus  and  Da- 
mascius,  the  disciples  of  Proclus,  followed, 
with  an  ardent  emulation,  the  traces  of  their 
master,  and  formed  successors  who  resembled 
j  them  in  all  respects.  But  the  imperial  laws, 
i  and  the  daily  progress  of  the  Christian  reli- 
[  gion,  gradually  diminished  the  lustre  and  au- 
thority of  these  philosophers;t  and,  as  there 
were  many  of  the  Cliristian  doctors  who 
adopted  the  Platonic  system,  and  were  suffi- 
ciently qualified  to  explain  it  to  the  youth, 
this  naturally  prevented  the  schools  of  these 
heathen  sages  from  being  so  much  frequented 
as  tliey  had  formerly  been. 

VI.  The  credit  of  the  Platonic  philosophy, 
and  the  preference  that  was  given  to  it,  as 
more  excellent  in  itself,  and  less  repugnant  to 
the  genius  of  the  Gospel  than  other  systems, 
did  not  prevent  the  doctrine  of  Aristotle  from 
coming  to  light  after  a  long  struggle,  and 
forcing  its  way  into  the  Clu'istian  church. 
The  Platonists  themselves  interpreted,  in  their 
schools,  some  of  the  writings  of  Aristotle,  par- 
ticularly his  Dialectics,  and  recommended  that 
work  to  such  of  the  youth  as  had  a  taste  for  lo- 
gical discussions,  and  were  fond  of  disputing. 
In  this,  tiie  Christian  doctors  imitated  the  man- 
ner of  the  heathen  schools;  and  this  vi'as  the 
first  step  to  that  universal  dominion,  which  the 
Stagirite  afterwards  obtained  in  the  republic 
of  letters.  A  second  and  yet  larger  stride  to- 
ward this  universal  empire  was  made  by  the 
Aristotelian  philosophy  during  the  controver- 
sies which  Origen  had  occasioned,  and  the 
Arian,  Eutychian,  Nestorian,  and  Pelagian  dis- 
sensions, which,  in  this  century,  were  so  fruit- 
ful of  calamities  to  the  Christian  church.  Ori- 
gen, as  is  well  known,  was  zealously  attached 
to  the  Platonic  system.  When,  therefore,  he 
was  publicly  condemned,  many,  to  avoid  the 
imputation  of  his  errors,  and  to  preclude  their 
being  reckoned  among  the  number  of  his  fol- 
lowers, adopted  openly  the  philosophy  of  Aris- 
totle, which  was  entirely  different  from  that  of 
Origen.  The  Nestorian,  Arian,  and  Eutychian 
controversies  were  managed,  or  rather  drawn 
out,  on  both  sides,  by  a  perpetual  recourse  to 
subtile  distinctions  and  captious  sophisms;  and 
no  philosophy  was  so  proper  to  furnisli  such 
weapons,  as  that  of  Aristotle;  for  that  of  Plato 
was  far  from  being  adapted  to  form  the  mind 
to  the  polemic  arts.  Besides,  the  Pelagian  doc- 
trine bore  a  striking'  resemblance  to  the  Plato- 
nic opinions  concerning  God  and  the  human 
soul;  and  this  was  an  additional  reason  which 
engaged  many  to  desert  the  Platonists,  and  to 
assume,  at  least,  the  name  of  Peripatetics. 


*  The  life  of  Proclus,  written  by  Mirinus,  was  publish- 
ed at  Hamburg,  in  1700,  by  John  Albert  Fabricius,  and 
was  enriched  by  this  famous  editor,  with  a  great  ouintier 
of  learned  observations. 

j  See  .Eneas  Gazaeus  la  Theophrasto, 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


137 


CHAPTER  II. 

Concerning  the  Doctors  and  Ministers  of  the 
Christian  Church,  and  its  form  of  Govern- 
ment. 

I.  Sevkral  causes  contributed  to  brinir 
about  a  change  in  tlie  external  form  of  ecclesi- 
astical iroverninent.  The  power  of  the  bishops, 
particularly  those  of  the  first  order,  was  some- 
times augmented,  and  sometimes  diminislied, 
according  as  tlie  times  and  the  occasions  offer- 
ed; and  in  all  these  changes  the  intrigues  of 
the  court  and  the  political  state  of  the  empire 
had  much  more  influence,  than  the  rules  of 
equity  and  wisdom. 

These  alterations  were,  indeed,  matters  of 
small  moment.  But  an  affair  of  much  greater 
consequence  now  drew  the  general  attention; 
and  this  was  the  vast  augmentation  of  honours 
and  rank,  accumulated  upon'  the  bishops  of 
Constantinople,  in  opposition  to  the  most  vigour- 
ous  etforts  of  the  Roman  pontiff.  In  the  pre- 
ceding century,  tlie  council  of  Constantinople 
had,  on  account  of  the  dignity  and  privileges 
of  that  imperial  city,  conferred  on  its  bishops  a 
place  among  the  lirst  rulers  of  the  Christian 
church.  This  new  dignity  added  fuel  to  their 
ambition,  they  extended  their  views  of  authori- 
ty and  dominion;  and,  encouraged,  no  doubt, 
bv  the  consent  of  the  emperor,  reduced  the 
provinces  of  Asia  Minor,  Thrace,  and  Pontus, 
under  their  spiritual  jurisdiction.  In  this  cen- 
tury, they  grasped  at  still  farther  accessions  of 
power;  so  that  not  only  the  whole  eastern  part 
of  Illyricum  was  added  to  their  former  acquisi- 
tions, but  they  were  also  exalted  to  the  highest 
summit  of  ecclesiastical  authorit}';  for,  by  the 
28th  canon  of  the  council  liolden  at  Chalcedon 
in  451,  it  was  resolved,  that  the  same  rights 
and  honours,  which  had  been  conferred  upon 
the  bishop  of  Rome,  were  due  to  the  bishop  of 
Constantinople,  on  account  of  the  equal  digni- 
ty and  lustre  of  the  two  cities,  in  which  these 
prelates  exercised  their  authority.  The  .same 
council  confirmed  also,  by  a  solemn  act,  the 
bishop  of  Constantinople  in  the  spiritual  gov- 
ernment of  tiiose  provinces  over  which  he  had 
ambitioiLsly  usurped  the  jurisdiction.  Pope  Leo 
tlie  Great,  bishop  of  Rome,  opposed  with  ve- 
hemence the  passing  of  these  decrees;  and  his 
opposition  was  seconded  by  that  of  several 
other  prelates.  But  their  efforts  were  vain,  cas 
the  emperors  threw  their  weight  into  the  bal- 
ance, and  thus  supported  the  decisions  of  the 
Grecian  bishops.*  In  consequence  then  of  the 
decrees  of  this  famous  council,  the  prelate  of 
Constantinople  began  to  contend  obstinately 
for  the  supremacy  with  the  Roman  pontiff",  and 
to  crush  the  bishops  of  Alexandria  and  An- 
tioch,  so  as  to  npi^kc  them  feel  the  op[)ressivc 
effects  of  his  [uclcnded  superiority;  and  no  one 
distinguished  himself  more  by  his  ambition  and 
arrogance  in  this  affair,  tiian  Acacius.f 

II.  It  was  much  about  this  time  that  Juvenal, 
bishop  of  .Jerusalem,  or  rather  of  iElia,  at- 
tempted to  witlidraw  himself  and  his  church 


*  Le  Quien,  Oriens  Chriat.  torn.  i.  p.  36. 
t  See  Bayle'i  Dictionaire  Historique,  at  the  artirle 
Acacius. 

Vol.  I.— 18 


from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  bishop  of  Ccesarea, 
and  aspired  to  a  place  among  the  first  prelates 
of  the  Christian  world.  The  high  degree  of 
veneration  and  esteem,  in  whicli  the  church  of 
Jerusalem  was  holden  among  all  other  Chris- 
tian societies  (on  account  of  its  rank  among 
the  apostolical  churches,  and  its  title  to  the  ap- 
pellation of  mother-ch}irch,  as  having  succeeded 
the  first  Christian  assembly  founded  by  the 
ajiostles,)  was  extremely  favourable  to  the  am- 
bition of  Juvenal,  and  rendered  his  project 
much  more  practicable  than  it  would  otherwise 
have  been.  Encouraged  by  this,  and  animated 
by  the  favour  and  protection  of  the  younger 
Theodosius,  the  aspiring  prelate  not  only  as- 
sumed the  dignity  of  patriarch  of  all  Palestine,* 
a  rank  that  rendered  liim  supreme  and  inde- 
pendent of  all  spiritual  authority,  but  also  in- 
vaded the  rights  of  the  bishop  of  Antioch,  and 
usurped  his  jurisdiction  over  the  provinces  of 
Phcenicia  and  Arabia.  Hence  arose  a  warm 
contest  between  Juvenal  and  Maximus,  bishop 
of  Antiocli,  which  tlie  council  of  Chalcedon 
derided,  by  restoring  to  the  latter  the  provinces 
of  PhoGuicia  and  Arabia,  and  confirming  the 
former  in  the  spiritual  possession  of  all  Pales- 
tine,! and  in  the  high  rank  which  he  had  as- 
sumed in  the  church. J  Thus  were  created,  in 
the  fifth  century,  five  superior  rulers  of  the 
churcli,  who  were  distinguished  from  the  rest 
by  the  title  of  Patriarclis.§  The  oiiontal  his- 
torians mention  a  si.xth,  viz.  the  bishop  of  Se- 
leucia  and  Ctcsiplion,  to  whom,  according  to 
their  account,  the  bishop  of  Antioch  vohrnta- 
rily  ceded  a  part  of  his  jurisdiction. |!  But  this 
addition  to  the  number  of  t!ie  pat;  iarclis  is  un- 
worthy of  credit,  as  the  only  proof  of  it  is  drawn 
from  the  Arabic  laws  of  the  council  of  Nice, 
which  are  notoriously  destitute  of  all  authority. 
III.  The  patriarchs  were  distinguished  by 
considerable  and  ervt.onsive  rights  and  privile- 
ges, that  were  annexed  to  their  high  station. 
They  alone  consecrated  the  bishops,  who  lived 
in  the  provinces  that  belonged  toJ.heir  jurisdic- 
tion. They  assembled  yearly  in  council  the 
clergy  of  their  respective  districts,  in  order  to 
regulate  the  affairs  of  the  Church.  The  cog- 
nisance of  all  important  causes,  and  the  deter- 
mination of  the  more  weighty  controversies, 
were  referred  to  the  jiatriarch  of  the  province 
where  they  arose.  They  also  pronounced  a 
decisive  judgment  in  those  cases,  where  accu- 
sations were  brought  against  bishops;  and,  last- 


0(J=  *  By  all  Palestine,  the  reader  is  desired  to  imder- 
jtand  three  distinct  provinces,  of  which  each  bore  the 
name  of  Palestine;  and  accordingly  the  original  is  thus 
expressed,  Trium  Pakcstinarum  Episcopum  scu  Patrv- 
archam.  After  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  the  face 
of  Palestine  was  almost  totally  changed;  and  it  was  so 
parcelled  out  and  wasted  by  a  succession  of  wars  and  in- 
vasions, that  it  scarcely  preserved  any  trace  of  its  former 
condition.  Under  the  Christian  emperors  there  were 
three  Palestincs  formed  out  of  the  ancient  country  of  that 
name,  each  of  which  was  an  episcopal  see;  and  it  was  of 
these  three  dioceses  that  Juvenal  usurped  ;ind  maintained 
the  jnrisdiclion.  See,  for  a  farther  account  of  tlie  three 
Palestincs,  Spanhemii  Geographia  Sacra. 

t  See  also,  for  an  account  of  the  Three  Palestincs,  Ca- 
roli  a  S.  Paulo  Geographia  Sacra,  p.  307. 

}  See  Mich.  Lc  Q,uien,  Oriens  Christianus,  tom.  iii. 

§  See  the  authors  who  have  written  of  the  patriarchs, 
mentioned  and  recommended  by  the  learned  Fabriciiu,  in 
his  Bibliograph.  Antiquar.  cap.  xiii.  p.  453. 

II  Assemani  Biblioth.  Orient.  Vatican,  tom.  i. 


138 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  11. 


ly,  they  appointed  vicars,*  or  deputies,  clothed 
with  their  authority,  for  the  pjescrvation  of 
order  and  tranquillity  in  the  remoter  provinces. 
Such  were  the  great  and  distinguishing  privi- 
leges of  the  patriarchs;  and  they  were  accom- 
panied with  others  of  less  moment,  which  it  is 
needless  to  mention. 

It  must,  however,  be  carefully  observed,  that 
the  aiitljority  of  the  patriarchs  was  not  acknow- 
ledged through  all  the  provinces  without  ex- 
ception. Several  districts,  both  in  the  eastern 
and  western  empires,  were  exempted  from  their 
jurisdiction.!  The  emperors,  who  reserved  to 
themselves  the  supreme  power  in  the  Christian 
hierarchy,  and  received,  with  great  facility  and 
readiness,  the  complaints  of  those  vt'ho  consid- 
ered themselves  as  injured  by  the  patriarchs; 
and  the  councils  also,  in  which  the  majesty  and 
legislative  power  of  the  church  immediately 
resided;  were  obstacles  to  the  arbitrary  pro- 
ceedings of  the  patriarchal  order. 

IV.  "This  constftution  of  ecclesiastical  go- 
vernment was  so  far  from  contributing  to  tl:e 
peace  and  prosperity  of  the  Christian  church, 
that  it  proved,  on  the  contrary,  a  perpetual 
source  of  dissensions  and  animosities,  and  was 
productive  of  various  inconveniences  and  griev- 
ances. The  patriarchs,  who,  by  their  exalted 
rank  and  extensive  authority,  were  equally  able 
to  do  much  good  and  much  miscjiief,  began  to 
encroach  upon  the  rights,  and  trample  upon 
the  prerogatives  of  their  bishops,  and  thus  in- 
troduced, gradually,  a  sort  of  spiritual  bondage 
into  the  church;  and  that  they  might  invade, 
without  opposition,  the  rights  of  the  bishops, 
they  permitted  the  latter,  in  their  tiun,  to  tram- 
ple with  impunity,  upon  the  ancient  rights  and 
privileges  of  the  people;  for,  in  proportion  as 
the  bishops  multiplied  their  privileges  and  ex- 
tended their  usurpations,  the  patriarchs  gained 
new  accessions  of  power  by  the  despotism  which 
they  exercised  over  the  episcopal  order.  They 
fomented  also  divisions  among  the  bisiiops,  and 
excited  animosities  between  them  and  the  other 
ministers  of  the  church.  They  went  still  far- 
ther, and  sowed  the  seeds  of  discord  between 
the  clergy  and  tlie  people,  that  all  these  com- 
bustions might  furnish  them  with  perpetual 
matter  for  the  exercise  of  their  authority,  and 
procure  them  a  multitude  of  clients  and  de- 
pendents. They  left  no  artifice  unemployed 
to  strengthen  their  own  authority,  and  to  raise 
opposition  against  the  prelates  from  every  quar- 
ter. For  this  purpose  it  was  that  they  engaged 
in  their  cause  by  the  most  alluring-  promises, 
and  attached  to  their  interests  by  the  most  mag- 
nificent acts  of  liberality,  whole  swarms  of 
monks,  who  served  as  intestine  enemies  to  the 
bishops,  and  as  a  dead  weight  on  the  side  of 
patriarchal  tyramiy.  The  efforts  of  tlicse  mo- 
nastic hirelings  contributed  more  than  any  other 
means  to  ruin  the  ancient  ecclesiastical  discip- 
line, to  diminish  the  authority  of  the  bishops, 
and  raise,  to  an  enormous  and  excessive  height. 


*  Dav.  Blondcl,  de  la  Primaute  de  I'Eglise,  chap.  xxv. 
p.  332.  Theod.  Ruinart,  de  Pallio  Archi-Episcopali,  p. 
445;  torn.  ii.  of  the  posthumous  works  of  Mabilliai. 

f  Brerewood's  Dissert,  de  veleris  Ecclesiac  Gubertia 
tione  patriarchal!,  printed  at  the  end  of  archbishop 
Usher's  b.ioltj  entitled,  Opusculuin  de  Origiue  Episco- 
Dorum  et  Metropolitanorum. 


the  power  and  prerogatives  of  their  insolent 
and  ambitious  patrons. 

V.  To  these  lamentable  evils,  were  added 
the  ambitious  quarrels,  and  the  bitter  animosi- 
ties, that  rose  among  the  pat  rlarcb.s  themselves, 
and  which  produced  the  most  bloody  wars,  and 
the  most  detestable  and  horrid  crimes.  The 
patriarch  of  Constantinople  distinguished  him- 
self in  these  odious  contests.  Elate  with  the 
favour  and  proximity  of  the  imperial  court,  he 
cast  a  liaughty  eye  on  all  sides,  where  any  ob- 
jects were  to  be  found  on  which  he  might  ex- 
ercise his  lordly  ambition.  On  one  hand,  he 
reduced  under  his  jurisdiction  the  patriarchs  of 
Alexandria  and  Antioch,  as  prelates  only  of  the 
second  order;  and,  on  theotlier,  he  invaded  the 
diocese  .of  the  Roman  pontiff,  axid  despoiled 
him  of  several  provinces.  The  two  former  pre- 
lates, though  they  struggled  with  vehemence, 
and  raised  considerable  tumults  by  their  oppo- 
sition, laboured  ineffectually,  both  for  want  of 
strength,  and  likewise  on  accom)t  of  a  variety 
of  unfavourable  circumstances.  But  the  pope, 
far  superior  to  them  in  wealth  and  power,  con- 
tended also  with  more  vigour  and  obstinacy, 
and,  in  his  turn,  gave  a  deadly  wound  to  the 
usurped  supremacy  of  the  Byzantine  patriarch. 

The  attentive  inquirer  into  ihe  affairs  of  the 
church,  from  this  period,  will  find,  in  the  events 
now  mentioned,  the  principal  source  of  those 
most  scandalous  and  deplorable  dissensions, 
which  divided  first  the  eastern  church  into  va- 
rious sects,  and  afterwards  separated  it  entirely 
from  that  of  the  west.  He  will  find,  that  these 
ignominious  schissns  flowed  chiefly  from  the 
unchristian  contentions  for  dominion  and  su- 
premacy, which  reigned  among  those  who  set 
themselves  up  for  the  fathers  and  defenders  of 
the  church. 

VI.  No  one  of  the  contending  bishops  found 
the  occurrences  of  the  times  so  favourable  to 
his  ambition,  as  the  Roman  pontiff'.  Notwith- 
standing the  redoubled  efi'orts  of  the  bishop  of 
Constantinople,  a  variety  of  circumstances  con- 
curred to  augment  his  power  and  authority, 
though  he  had  not  yet  assumed  the  dignity  of 
supreme  lawgiver  and  judge  of  the  whole  Chris- 
tian church.  The  bishops  of  Alexandria  and 
Antiocl>,  unable  to  make  head  against  the  lord- 
ly prelate  of  Constantinople,  often  fled  to  the 
Romair  pontiff'  for  sitccour  against  his  violenca; 
and  the  inferior  order  of  bishops  used  the  same 
method,  when  their  rights  were  invaded  by  the 
prelates  of  Alexandria  and  Antioch:  so  that 
the  bishop  of  Rome,  by  taking  all  these  pre- 
lates alternately  under  his  protection,  daily  M 
added  new  degrees  of  influence  and'  authority  ■ 
to  the  Roman  see,  rendered  it  every  where  re-  " 
spected,  and  was  thus  imperceptibly  establish- 
ing its  supremacy.  Such  were  the  means  by 
which  that  pontiff'  extended  his  dominion  in 

the  east.  In  the  west  its  increase  arose  from 
other  causes.  The  declining  power  and  the 
supine  indolence  of  the  emperors,  left  the  au- 
thority of  the  bishop,  who  presided  in  their 
capital,  almost  without  control.  The  incur- 
sions, moreover,  and  triumphs  of  the  barbari- 
ans were  so  far  from  being  prejudicial  to  his 
rising  dominion,  that  they  rather  contributed 
to  its  advancement;  for  the  kings,  who  pene- 
trated   into  the  empire,  were   only  solicitoiis 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


139 


about  the  methods  of  giving  a  sufficient  degree 
of  stability  to  their  respective  governments; 
and  when  they  perceived  tlie  subjection  of  the 
multitude  to  the  bishops,  and  the  dependence 
of  the  latter  upon  the  Roman  pontitf,  they  im- 
mediately resolved  to  reconcile  this  ghostly 
ruler  to  their  interests,  by  loading  him  with  be- 
nefits and  honours  of  various  kinds. 

Among  all  the  prelates  who  ruled  the  church 
of  Rome  during  this  century,  there  was  not 
one  who  asserted  his  authority  and  pretensions 
with  such  vigour  and  success,  as  Leo,  surnam- 
ed  the  Great.  It  must  however  be  observed, 
that  neither  he,  nor  the  other  promoters  of  the 
same  claims,  were  able  to  overcome  all  the  ob- 
stacles that  were  laid  in  their  way,  or  the  vari- 
ous checks  which  were  given  to  their  ambition. 
Many  examples  might  be  alleged  in  proof  of 
this  assertion,  particularly  the  case  of  the  Afri- 
cans, whom  no  threats  or  promises  could  en- 
gage to  submit  the  decision  of  their  controver- 
sies, and  the  determination  of  their  causes,  to 
the  Roman  tribunal.* 

VII.  The  vices  of  the  clergy  were  now  car- 
ried to  the  most  enormous  excess;  and  all  the 
writers  of  this  century,  whose  probity  and  vir- 
tue render  them  worthy  of  credit,  are  unani- 
mous in  their  accounts  of  the  luxury,  arro- 
gance, avarice,  and  voluptuousness  of  the  sa- 
cerdotal orders.  The  bishops,  and  particular!}' 
those  of  the  first  rank,  created  various  dele- 
gates, or  ministers,  who  managed  for  them  tlie 
affairs  of  their  dioceses;  and  courts  were  gra- 
dually formed,  where  these  pompous  ecclesias- 
tics gave  audience,  and  received  the  homage  of 
a  cringing  multitude.  The  office  of  a  presby- 
ter was  looked  upon  of  such  a  high  and  emi- 
nent nature,  that  Martin,  bishop  of  Tours,  au- 
daciously maintained,  at  a  public  entertain- 
ment, that  the  emperor  was  inferior,  in  dignity, 
to  one  of  that  order.f  As  to  the  deacons,  their 
pride  and  licentiousness  occasioned  many  and 
grievous  complaints,  as  appears  from  the  de- 
crees of  several  councils. + 

These  opprobrious  stains,  in  the  char.acters 
of  the  clergy,  would  never  have  been  endured, 
had  not  the  greatest  part  of  mankind  been 
sunk  in  superstition  and  ignorance,  and  people 
in  general  formed  their  ideas  of  t!ie  rights  and 
liberties  of  Christian  mini.<ters  from  the  model 
exiiibited  by  the  sacerdotal  orders  among  the 
Hebrews,  during  the  prevalence  of  the  law  of 
Moses,  and  among  the  Greeks  and  Romans  in 
the  darkness  of  paganism.  The  barbarous  na- 
tions also,  wliicli,  on  the  ruin  of  the  Romans, 
divided  among  themselves  the  western  empire, 
bore,  with  the  utmost  patience  and  moderation, 
boti)  the  dominion  and  vices  of  the  bi.sliojisand 
priests,  because,  upon  their  conversion  to  Chris- 
tianity, they  became  naturally  subject  to  their 
jurisdiction;  and  still  more,  because  they  con- 
sidered the  ministers  of  Christ  as  invested  with 
the  same  rigiits  and  privileges,  which  distin- 
guished the  priests  of  their  fictitious  deities. 


*  Du-Pin,  de  Antiqua  Ecclesiae  Disciplina,  Di«s.  ii.  p. 
166.  Mtlfh.  Leydeck.  Historia  Eccles.  .\lricaniE,  torn.  ii. 
Diss.  ii.  p.  505. 

f  Sulpitius  Sevcrus,  de  Vita  Martini,  cap.  xx.  p.  339, 
compared  with  Oialoiv.  jj.  cap.  vi.  p.  457. 

{  Sec  Dav.  Blonde!.  Apologia  pro  Senteiitia  Hieronymi 
de  Episeopis  et  Presbyteris,  p.  HO. 


VIII.  The  corruption  of  an  order,  appointed 
to  promote,  by  doctrine  and  e.xample,  the  sa- 
cred interests  of  piety  and  virtue,  will  appear 
less  surprising  when  we  consider,  that  multi- 
tudes of  people  were  in  every  country  admit- 
ted, without  examination  or  choice,  into  tiie 
body  of  the  dergy,  the  greatest  part  of  whom 
had  no  other  view,  than  the  enjoyment  of  a 
lazy  and  inglorious  repose.  Many  of  these 
ecclesiastics  were  confined  to  no  fixed  places  or 
assemblies,  and  had  no  employment  of  any 
kind,  but  sauntered  about  wherever  they 
pleased,  gaining  their  maintenance  bj'  imposing 
upon  the  ignorant  multitude,  and  sometimes 
b}'  mean  and  dishonest  practices.  But  if  any 
should  ask,  how  this  account  is  reconcileable 
with  the  number  of  saints,  who,  according  to 
the  testimonies  both  of  the  eastern  and  west- 
ern writers,  are  said  to  have  shone  forth  in  this 
century,  the  answer  is  obvious;  these  saints 
were  canonised  by  the  ignorance  of  the  times; 
for,  in  an  age  of  darkness  and  corruption, 
those  who  distinguished  themselves  from  the 
multitude,  either  by  their  genius,  their  writings, 
or  their  eloquence,  by  their  prudence  and  dex- 
terity in  conducting  affiiirs  of  importance,  or 
by  their  meekness  and  moderation,  and  the  as- 
cendenc}'  which  they  had  gained  over  their  re- 
sentments and  passions,  were  esteemed  some- 
thing more  than  men;  they  were  reverenced  as 
gods;  or,  to  speak  more  properly,  they  appear- 
ed to  others  as  men  divinely  inspired,  and  f'lll 
of  the  Deity. 

IX.  The  monks,  who  had  formerly  lived 
only  for  themselves  in  solitary  retreats,  and 
had  never  thought  of  assimiing  any  rank 
among  tlie  sacerdotal  orders,  were  now  gradu- 
ally distinguished  from  the  populace,  and  were 
endowed  with  such  opulence  and  such  honour- 
able privileges,  that  they  found  themselves  in  a 
condition  to  claim  an  eminent  station  among 
tha  supports  and  pillars  of  the  Christian  com- 
munity.* The  fame  of  their  piety  and  sanctity 
was  at  first  so  great,  that  bishops  and  presby- 
ters were  often  chosen  out  of  their  order;t  and 
the  passion  of  erecting  edifices  and  convents, 
in  which  the  monks  and  holy  virgins  might 
serve  God  in  the  most  commodious  manner, 
was  at  th.is  time  carried  beyond  all  bounds.  J 

The  monastic  orders  did  not  all  observe  the 
same  rule  of  discipline,  or  the  same  manner  of 
living.  Some  followed  the  rule  of  Augustine, 
others  that  of  Basil,  others  that  of  Antony, 
otliers  that  of  Athanasius,  others  that  of  Pa- 
chomius;  but  they  must  all  have  become  ex- 
tremely negligent  and  remiss  in  observing  the 
laws  of  their  respective  orders,  since  the  licen- 
tiousness of  the  monks,  even  in  this  century, 
was  even  proverbial, §  and  they  are  said  to  have 
excited  in  various  places  the  most  dreadful  tu- 
mults and  seditions.  All  the  monastic  orders 
were  under  the  protection  of  the  bishops  in 
whose  provinces  they  lived;  nor  did  the  patri- 
archs claim  any  authority  over  them,  as  ap- 

*  Epiphanius,  Exposit.  Fidei,  toin.  i.  op.  p.  1094. — 
Mabi'.loii's  Repoiisc  aux  Chanoiues  Reguliers. 

fSeveras,  de  Vita  Martini,  cap.  x.  p.  320.  Dial.  i. 
cap.  xxi.  p.  426. 

t  .Severus,  Dial.  i.  p.  419. — Norisius,  Histor.  Pelaff. 
lib.  i.  cap.  iii.  p.  273.  torn.  i.  op. — Histoirc  Lilerair«  il» 
la  France,  torn.  ii.  p.  .T.'i. 

§  Sulp.  Severus,  Dial,  i   cap.  viii.  p  399. 


140 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


pears  with  the  utmost  evidence  from  the  de- 
crees of  the  councils  liolden  in  this  century.* 

X.  Several  writers  of  considerable  merit 
adorned  this  century.  Among  the  Greeks  and 
Orientals,  tiie  first  place  is  due  to  Cyril,  bishop 
of  Alexandria,  so  famous  for  his  learned  pro- 
ductions, and  the  various  controversies  in 
wliich  he  was  engaged.  It  would  be  unjust  to 
derogate  from  the  praises  which  are  due  to  this 
eminent  man:  but  it  would  betray,  on  tlie  other 
hand,  a  criminal  paitiality,  if  we  sliould  pass 
uncensured  the  turbulent  spirit,  the  litigious 
and  contentious  temper,  and  other  defects, 
which  are  laid  to  his  charge. f 

After  Cyril,  we  may  place  Theodoret,  bishop 
of  Cyrus  (or  Cyropolis,)  an  eloquent,  copious, 
and  learned  writer,  eminent  for  his  acquaint- 
ance with  all  the  brandies  of  sacred  erudition, 
but  unfortunate  in  his  attachment  to  some  of 
the  Nestorian  errors. t 

Isidore,  of  Pelusium,  was  a  man  of  uncom- 
mon learning  and  sanctity.  A  great  nnmber§ 
of  his  epistles  are  yet  extant,  and  discover  more 
piety,  genius,  erudition,  and  wisdom,  than  are 
to  be  found  in  the  voluminous  productions  of 
many  other  writers. || 

Theophilus,  bisliop  of  Alexandria,  few  of 
whose  writings  are  now  extant,  acquired  an 
immortal  name,  by  his  violent  opposition  to 
Oiigen  and  his  folio wers.H 

Palladius  deserves  a  rank  among  the  better 
sort  of  authors  by  his  Lausiac  History  and  his 
Life  of  Chrysostom. 

Theodore  of  Mopsuestia,  though  accused  af- 
ter his  death  of  the  greatest  errors,  was  one  of 
the  most  learned  men  of  his  time.  Those  who 
have  read,  with  any  attention,  the  fragments 
of  his  writings,  which  are  to  be  found  in  Pho- 
tius,  will  lament  the  want  of  these  excellent 
compositions,  which  are  either  entirely  lost,  or, 
if  any  remain,**  are  only  extant  among  the 
Nestorians,  and  in  the  Syriac  language.jt 


*  See  Jo.  Launoii  Inquisitio  in  Chartam  Immunitatis  B. 
Germani.  op.  torn.  iii.  part  ii.  p.  3.  In  the  ancient 
records,  posterior  to  this  century,  the  monks  are  fre- 
quently called  Clerks.  (See  Mabiiloa's  Frsf.  ad  Saic.  ii. 
Actor.  Sanctor.  Ord  Benedicti.)  And  this  shows,  that 
they  now  began  to  be  ranked  among  the  clergy,  or  minis- 
ters of  the  church. 

t  The  works  of  Cyril  were  published  at  Paris  by 
Aubert,  in  six  volumes,  folio,  in  1638. 

;  The  Jesuit  Sirmond  gave  at  Paris,  in  164=2,  a  noble 
edition  of  the  works  of  this  prelate  in  four  volumes;  a 
fifth  was  added  by  Gamier,  in  1685.  (Jg-  We  must  ob- 
serve, in  favour  of  this  excellent  ecclesiastic,  so  renowned 
for  the  sanctity  and  simplicity  of  his  manners,  that  he 
abandoned  the  doctrines  of  Nestorius,  and  thus  effaced 
the  stain  he  had  contracted  by  his  personal  attachment  to 
that  heretic,  and  to  John  of  Antioch. 

{JtJ-  §  These  epistles  amount  to  2012,  and  are  divided 
into  five  books.  They  are  short,  but  admirably  written, 
and  are  equally  recommendable  for  the  solidity  of  the 
matter,  and  the  purity  and  elegance  of  their  style. 

II  The  best  edition  of  Isidore's  Epistles,  is  that  which 
was  published  by  the  Jesuit  Scott,  at  Paris,  in  1638. 

IT  See  Euseb.  Renaudot,  Historia  Patriarchar.  Alexan- 
drinor.  p.  103.  _ 

**  See  Assemani  Biblioth.  Oriental.  Clement.  Vatic, 
torn.  iii.  part  ii.  p.  227.  ,        „ 

ttrp"  ft  It  appears  by  this  account  of  the  works  of 
Theodore,  that  Dr.  Mosheim  had  not  seen  the  Disserta 
tions  of  the  late  dnke  of  Orleans,  in  one  of  which  that 
learned  prince  has  demonstrated,  that  the  commentary 
upon  the  Psalms,  which  is  to  be  found  in  the  Chain  or 
Collection  of  Corderius,  and  which  bears  the  name  of 
Theodore,  is  the  production  of  Theodore  of  Mopsuestia. 
There  exists,  aUo,  beside  the   frafnients   that   are  to  be 


Nikis,  disciple  of  Chrysostom,  composed  se- 
veral treatises  of  a  practical  and  pious  kind; 
but  these  performances  derive  more  merit  from 
the  worthy  and  laudable  intention  of  their  au- 
thor than  from  any  other  circumstance. 

We  pass  over  in  silence  Basilius  of  Seleucia, 
Tlieodotus  of  Ancyra,  and  Gelasius  of  Cyzi- 
cuin,  for  the  sake  of  brevity. 

XI.  A  Roman  pontiff,  Leo  I.  surnamed  the 
Great,  shines  forth  at  the  head  of  the  Latin 
writers  of  tiiis  century.  He  was  a  man  of  un- 
common genius  and  eloquence,  which  he  em- 
ployed however  too  much  in  extending  his  au- 
thority; a  point  in  which  his  ambition  was  both 
indefatigable  and  excessive.* 

Orosius  acquired  a  considerable  degree  of  re- 
putation by  the  History  which  he  wrote  to  re- 
fute the  cavils  of  the  Pagans  against  Christi- 
anity, and  by  his  books  against  the  Pelagians 
and  Priscillianists.j 

Cassian,  an  illiterate  and  superstitious  man, 
inculcated  in  Gaul,  both  by  his  discourse  and 
his  writinos,  the  discipline  and  manner  of  liv- 
ing which  prevailed  among  the  Syrian  and 
Egyptian  monks,  and  was  a  sort  of  teacher  to 
those  who  were  called  Semi-Pelagians.  J 

Maximus  of  Turin  published  several  Homi- 
lies, which  are  yet  extant,  and,  though  short, 
are  for  the  most  part  recommended  both  by 
elegance  and  piety. 

Eucherius,  bisliop  of  Lyons,  was  one  of  the 
most  considerable  moral  writers  that  flourished 
among  the  Latins  in  this  century.  § 

Pontius  of  Nola,||  distinguished  by  his  emi- 
nent and  fervent  piety,  is  also  esteemed  for  his 
poems,  and  other  good  performances. 

Peter,  bishop  of  Piavenna,  obtained  by  his 
eloquence  the  title  of  Chrysologus;  nor  are  his 
discourses  entirely  destitute  of  genius. T 

Salvian  was  an  eloquent,  but,  at  the  same 
time,  a  melancholy  and  sour  writer,  who,  in 
his  vehement  declamations  against  the  vices  of 
his  times,  unwarily  discovers  the  defects  of  his 
own  character.** 

found  in  Photius,  a  manuscript  commentary  of  thi's  illus- 
trious author  upon  the  twelve  minor  prophets. 

'  All  the  works  of  Leo  were  published  at  Lyons,  in 
1700,  by  the  care  of  the  celebrated  Q.uesnel  of  the 
Oratory. 

f  See  Bayle's  Dictionary,  at  the  article  Orosius.  A 
valuable  edition  of  this  author,  enriched  with  ancient 
coins  and  medals,  was  published  at  Leyden,  in  1738,  by 
the  learned  Havercamp. 

I  Histoire  Literaire  de  la  France,  torn.  ii.  p.  215. — 
Simon,  Critique  de  la  Biblioth.  Ecclesiastique  par  Du- 
Pin,  torn.  i.  p.  156. — The  works  of  Cassian  were  pub- 
lished at  Frankibrt,  in  1722,  with  a  copious  Commentary 
by  Alardus  Gazaeus. 

!)  See  a  satisfactory  account  of  this  prelate,  in  the 
Histoire  Literaire  de  la  France,  torn.  ii.  p.  275. 

((j^  II  This  pious  and  ingenious  ecclesiastic  is  more 
generally  known  by  the  name  of  Paulin.  See  the  Histoire 
Literaire  de  la  F" ranee,  torn.  ii.  p.  179.  The  best  edition 
of  his  works  is  that  published  by  Le  Brun,  at  Paris,  in 
1685. 

IT  Agnelli  Liber  Pontificalis  EccJesiae  Ravennatis,  torn, 
i.  p.  321. 

**  Hist.  Liter,  de  la  France,  tom.  ii.  p.  517.  (ft?-  The 
authors  of  the  history  here  referred  to,  give  a  different 
account  of  Salvian's  character.  They  acknowledge,  that 
his  declamations  against  the  vices  of  the  age,  in  his 
Treatise  against  Avarice,  and  his  Discourse  concerning 
Providence,  are  warm  and  vehement;  but  they  represent 
him,  notwithstanding,  as  one  of  the  most  humane  and 
benevolent  men  of  his  time.  It  is,  however,  beyond  all 
doubt,  that  he  was  extravagantly  austere  in  the  rules  he 
prescribed    for   the   conduct   of  life.     Far  what  is  more 


Chap.  IH. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


141 


Prosper  of  Aquitaine,  and  Marius  Mcrcator, 
are  abundantly  known  to  such  as  liave  employ- 
ed any  part  of  tlieir  time  and  attention  in  tlie 
study  of  the  Pelagian  disputes,  and  the  other 
controversies  that  were  ajritated  in  this  century. 

Vincent  of  Lerins  gained  a  lasting  reputa- 
tion by  his  short,  but  excellent  treatise  against 
the  sects,  entitled  Comnionitorium.*" 

Sidonius  Apollinaris.  a  tumid  writer,  though 
not  entirely  destitute  of  eloquence;  Vigiliusof 
Tapsus;  Arnobius  the  younger,  who  wrote  a 
commentary  on  the  book  of  Psalms;  Draeon- 
tius,  and  otliers  of  that  class,  are  of  too  little 
consequence  to  deserve  more  particular  notice. 

CHAPTER  HI. 

Concerning  the  Doctrine  of  the  Church  during 
this  Century. 

I.  Mavy  points  of  religion  vi'ere  more  largely 
explained,  and  many  of  its  doctrines  determin- 
ed with  more  accuracy  and  precision,  than  they 
had  been  in  the  preceding  ages.  This  was  one 
result  of  the  controversies  that  were  multi- 
plied, at  this  time,  throughout  the  Christian 
world,  concerning  the  person  and  nature  of 
Christ;  the  innate  corruption  and  depravity  of 
man;  the  natural  ability  of  men  to  live  accord- 
ing to  the  dictates  of  the  divine  law;  the  ne- 
cessity of  the  divine  grace  in  order  to  salvation; 
the  nature  and  existence  of  human  liberty;  and 
otlier  such  intricate  and  perplexing  questions. 
The  sacred  and  venerable  simplicity  of  the 
primitive  times,  which  required  no  more  than 
a  true  faith  in  the  word  of  God,  and  a  sincere 
obedience  to  his  holy  laws,  appeared  little  bet- 
ter than  rusticity  and  ignorance  to  the  subtile 
doctors  of  this  quibbling  age.  Yet  so  it  hap- 
pened, that  many  of  tiie  over-curious  divines, 
who  attempted  to  explain  the  nature,  and  re- 
move the  difficulties  of  these  intricate  doctrines, 
succeeded  very  ill  in  this  matter.  Instead  of 
leading  men  into  the  paths  of  humble  faith  and 
genuine  piety,  they  bewildered  them  in  the  la- 
byrinths of  controversy  and  contention,  and 
rather  darkened  than  illustrated  the  sacred 
mysteries  of  religion  by  a  thick  cloud  of  unin- 
telligible subtilties,  ambijruous  terms,  and  ob- 
scure distinctions.  Hence  arose  nevi'^  matter 
of  animosity  and  dispute,  of  bigotry  and  un- 
charitableness,  which  flowed  like  a  torrent 
tiirough  succeeding  ages,  and  which  all  human 
efforts  seem  unable  to  vancpiish.  In  these  dis- 
putes, the  heat  of  passion,  and  the  excessive 
force  of  religious  antipathy  and  contradiction, 

unnatural  than  to  recommend  to  Christians,  as  a  necessary 
condition  of  salvation,  their  leaving  their  whole  substance 
to  the  poor,  to  the  utter  ruin  of  their  children  and  rela- 
tions? It  must,  however,  be  confessed,  that  his  austerity 
in  jioint  of  discipline  was  accompanied  with  the  most 
amiable  moderation  toward  those  who  difl'ered  from  hirn 
in  articles  of  faith.  There  is  a  most  remarkable  passage 
to  this  purpose,  in  his  Treatise  concernini'  Providence, 
book  V.  p.  100. 

(Xr"  *  This  work  of  Vincent,  which  is  commended  by 
our  author,  seems  scarcely  worthy  of  such  applause.  1 
see  nothing  in  it,  but  that  blind  veneration  fur  ancient 
opinions,  which  is  so  faUil  to  the  discovery  and  progress 
of  truth,  and  an  attempt  to  prove  that  nothing  hut  the 
voice  of  tradition  is  to  be  consulted  in  fixing  the  sense 
of  the  Scriptures. 

An  ample  account  of  Vincent,  Prosper,  and  Arnobius, 
is  to  be  found  in  the  Histoire  Lileruirc  dela  France,  torn. 
ii.  p.  305,  342,  389, 


frequently  hurried  the  contending  parties  into 
the  most  dangerous  and  disgraceful  extremes. 
II.  If,  before  this  tiine,  the  lustre  of  religion 
was  clouded  with  superstition,  and  its  divine 
precepts  were  adulterated  with  a  mixture  of 
hmnan  inventions,  this  evil,  instead  of  dimin- 
ishing, increased  daily.  The  happy  souls  of 
departed  Christians  were  invoked  by  numbers, 
and  their  aid  implored  by  assiduous  and  fervent 
prayers,  while  none  stood  up  to  censure  or  op- 
pose this  preposterous  worship.  The  question, 
how  the  prayers  of  mortals  ascended  to  the  ce- 
lestial spirits  (a  question  whi(;h  afterwards  pro- 
duced much  wrangling,  and  many  idle  fancies,) 
did  not  yet  occasion  any  difficulty;  for  the 
Christians  of  this  century  did  not  imagine  that 
the  souls  of  the  saints  were  so  entirely  confin- 
ed to  the  celestial  mansions,  as  to  be  deprived 
of  the  privilege  of  visiting  moitals,  and  tra- 
velling, when  they  pleased,  through  various 
countries.  They  were  farther  of  opinion,  that 
the  places  most  frequented  by  departed  spirits 
were  those  where  the  bodies  which  they  had 
formerly  animated  were  interred;  and  this  opin- 
ion, borrowed  bj^  the  Christians  from  the  Greeks 
and  RoiTians,  rendered  the  sepulchres  of  the 
Saints  the  general  rendezvous  of  suppliant  mul- 
titudes.*' 'i'he  ima-ires  of  those  who,  during 
their  lives,  had  acquired  the  reputation  of  un- 
common sanctity,  were  now  honoured  with  a 
particular  worship  in  several  places;  and  many 
imao-intHl  tliat  this  worship  drew  down  into  the 
images  the  propitious  presence  of  the  saints  or 
celestial  beings  they  represented;  deluded,  per- 
iiaps,  into  t!iis  idle  fancy  by  the  crafty  fictions 
of  the  heathen  priests,  who  had  jjublished  tiie 
same  things  concerning  the  statues  of  Jupiter 
and  Mercury. f  A  singular  and  irresistible  ef- 
ficacy was  also  attributed  to  the  bones  of  mar- 
tyrs, and  to  the  figure  of  tlie  cross,  in  defeat- 
ing the  attempts  of  Satan,  removing  all  sorts 
of  calamities,  and  in  healing,  not  only  the  dis- 
eases of  the  body,  but  also  tho.se  of  the  mind.+ 
Wesluill  not  enter  into  a  particular  account  of 
the  public  supplications,  the  holy  pilgrimages, 
the  superstitious  .services  paid  to  departed  souls, 
the  nmltiplication  of  tetnplcs,  chapels,  altars, 
penitential  garments,  and  a  multitude  of  other 
circumstances,  that  showed  the  decline  of  gen- 
uine piety,  and  the  corrupt  darkness  that  was 
eclipsing  the  lustre  of  primitive  Christianity. 
As  none  in  these  times  forbade  the  Christians 
to  retain  the  opinions  of  their  pagan  ancestors 
concerning  departed  .souls,  heroes,  demons, 
temples,  and  other  things,  or  even  to  transfer 
them  into  their  religious  services;  and  as,  in- 
stead of  entirely  abolishing  the  rites  and  insti- 
tutions of  ancient  times,  these  institutions  were 
still  observed,  with  only  some  slight  altcralions; 
all  this  swelled  of  necessity  the  torrent  of  su- 
perstition,  and  deformed  the  beauty  of  the 


*  Sec  the  Institutioncs  Divinse  of  Lactantius,  lib.  i.  p. 
11)4,  and  Hcsiod's  Op.  et  Dies,  ver.  122. — Compare  with 
these,  Sulp.  Severus,  Epist.  ii.  p.  371.  Dial.  li.  cap.  xiii. 
p.  474.  Dial.  iii.  p.  .">12.— j^Oncas  Gaza-us,  in  Theo- 
phrasto. — Macarius  in  Jac.  Tollii  Insignibus  Jtineris 
Italici,and  other  writers  of  this  age. 

t  Clementina,  Ilomil.  x.  p.  697,  torn.  i.  PP.  Apostolic. 
— Arnobius  adv.  Geiites,  lib.  vi.  p.  254. — Casp.  Barlliiuj, 
ad  Rutilium  Numantian.  p.  250. 

}  Prudentius,  Hymn  xi.  dc  Coronis,  p.  1,'iO.— Sulp. 
Severus,  Ep.  i.  p.  ^4. — JF.ne^-  CJazaeus,  in  Theophraslo. 


142 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


Christian  religion  and  vvorsliip  with  those  cor- 
rupt remains  of  paganism,  which  still  subsist 
in  a  certain  church. 

It  will  not  be  improper  to  observe  here,  that 
the  famous  pagan  doctrine,  concerning  the  pu- 
rification of  departed  souls,  by  means  of  a  cer- 
tain kind  of  fire,  was  now  more  amply  explain- 
ed and  established  tlian  it  had  formerly  been.* 
Every  one  knows,  that  this  doctrine  proved  an 
inexhaustible  source  of  riches  to  the  clergy 
through  the  succeeding  ages,  and  that  it  still 
enriches  the  Romish  church  with  its  nutritious 
streams. 

in.  The  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures 
employed  fewer  pens  in  this  century  than  in 
the  preceding  age,  in  which  the  Christian  doc- 
tors were  less  involved  in  the  labyrinths  of  con- 
troversy. Yet,  notwithstanding  the  multipli- 
cation of  religious  disputes,  a  considerable  j 
number  of  learned  men  undertook  this  useful 
and  important  task.  We  shall  not  mention 
those  who  confined  their  illustrations  to  sogae 
one,  or  a  few  books  of  the  divine  word,  such 
as  Victor  of  Antioch,  Polychronius,  Philo  Car- 
pathius,  Isidore  of  Cordova,  Salonius,  and  An- 
drew of  Caesarea.  We  must  not,  however, 
pass  over  in  silence  Theodoret  and  Theodore, 
bishops  of  Cyrus  and  Mopsuestia,  the  two  most 
famous  expositors  of  this  age,  who  illustrated 
a  great  part  of  the  Scriptures  by  their  pious 
labours.  They  were  truly  eminent,  both  in  j 
point  of  learning  and  genius;  and,  i'ree  and  nn- 
pi'ejudiced  in  their  search  after  truth,  they  fol- ' 
lowed  the  explications  given  by  their  predeces-  i 
sors,  only  as  far  as  they  found  them  agreeable  | 
to  reason.  The  commentaries  of  Theodoret 
are  yet  extant,  and  in  the  hands  of  the  learn-  j 
ed;t  those  of  Theodore  are  concealed  in  the ' 
east  among  the  Nestorians,  though  on  many  j 
accounts  worthy  to  sec  the  light. +  Cyril,  of 
Alexandria,  deserves  also  a  place  among  the ' 
commentators  of  this  century;  but  a  still  higher  i 
rank,  among  that  useful  and  learned  body,  is  | 
due  to  Isidore  of  Pelusium,  whose  epistles  con-  \ 
tain  many  observations,  which  cast  a  consider-  j 
able  degree  of  light  upon  several  parts  of  Scrip- 
ture.§ 

IV.  It  is,  however,  to  be  lamented,  that  the 
greatest  part  of  the  commentators,  both  Greek 
and   Latin,  following  the  idle  fancies  of  Ori- 


*  See,  particularly  concerning  this  matter,  Aiigustin's 
book  de  viii.  Qnaestionibus  ad  Dulcitium,  N.  xiii.  torn, 
vi.  op.  p.  128;  de  fide  et  operibus,  cap.  xvi.  p.  182;  de 
fide,  spe ,  elcliarilate,  sect.  118,  p.  2122.  Enarratione  Psal. 
xxw.  sect.  3,  &c. 

t  S>ee  Simiin's  Hisloire  critique  des  principaux  Com- 
nienlateurs  du  N.  Test.  chap.  xxii.  p.  :il4;  as  also  his 
Crilicjuc  de  laBililiolh.  Ecclesiast.  de  M.  Du-Piii.  torn.  i. 
p.  180.  Jj{^  Theodoret  wrote  Commentaries  upon  the 
five  books  of  Moses,  Joshua,  Judges,  Ruth,  Samuel, 
Kings,  Chronicles,  the  Psalms,  the  Canticles,  Isaiah, 
Jeremiah,  Baruch,  Lamentations,  Ezekitl,  Daniel,  the  12 
minor  Prophets,  and  St.  Paul's  14  Epistles. 

}  Asseman's  Bibliolh.  Orient.  Clem.  Vatic,  torn.  iii. 
sect.  2.  p.  227. — Simon's  Critique  de  la  Biblioth.  Eceles. 
torn.  i.  p.  108,677.  (ll^We  are  assured  by  Fabricius, 
upon  the  testimony  of  Lambeeius,  that  Theodore's  com- 
mentary upon  the  twelve  Projdiets  is  still  extant  in  iVtS. 
in  the  emperor's  library  at  Vienna.  Sec  Fabr.  Bibl. 
Graee.  torn.  ix.p.  162.  See  also,  for  an  ample  and  learned 
account  of  the  writings  of  this  author,  Lardner's  Credi- 
bility, vol.  ix.  p.  389. 

^  See,  for  an  account  of  these  two  authors,  Simon's 
Histoire  des  principaux  Commentateurs  du  Nouveau 
Testament,  ch.  \xi   p  300. 


gen,  overlooked  the  true  and  natural  sense  of 
the  words,  and  hunted  after  subtile  and  hidden 
significations,  or  mysteries  (as  the  Latins  then 
termed  them,)  in  the  plainest  precepts  of  the 
Scriptures.  Several  of  the  Greeks,  and  parti- 
cularly Theodoret,  laboured,  with  success  and 
precision,  in  illustrating  the  books  of  the  New 
Testament;  and  their  success  in  that  task  is  to 
be  principally  attributed  to  their  perfect  know- 
ledge of  the  Greek  language,  which  they  had 
learned  from  their  infancy.  But  neither  the 
Greeks  nor  Latins  threw  much  light  upon  the 
Old  Testament,  whicli  was  cruelly  tortured  by 
the  allegorical  pens  of  almost  all  who  attempt- 
ed to  illustrate  and  explain  it;  for  nothing  is 
more  common,  than  to  see  the  interpreters  of 
the  fifth  century  straining  all  the  passages  of 
that  sacred  book,  either  to  typifj^  Christ,  and 
the  blessings  of  his  kingdom,  or  Antichrist, 
and  the  wars  and  desolations  which  he  was  to 
bring  upon  the  earth, — without  the  least  spark 
of  judgment,  or  the  smallest  air  of  probability. 

V.  A  few  chosen  spirits,  superior  to  the 
others  in  sagacity  and  wisdom,  were  bold 
enough  to  stand  up  against  these  critical  delu- 
sions, and  to  point  out  a  safer  and  plainer  way 
to  divine  truth.  This  we  learn  from  the  epis- 
tles of  Isidore  of  Pelusium,  w'ho,  though  he 
was  not  himself  entirely  free  from  this  allego- 
rical contagion,  censures  judiciously,  in  many 
places,  such  as  abandoned  the  historical  sense 
of  the  Old  Testament,  and  applied  its  narra- 
tions and  predictions  to  Christ  alone.  But 
none  went  greater  lengths  in  censuring  the  fan- 
ciful followers  of  Origen,  than  Theodore  of 
Mopsuestia,  who  not  only  wrote  a  book  con- 
cerning allegory  and  history,  against  Origen,* 
but  also,  in  his  commentary  on  the  prophets, 
did  not  hesitate  to  apply  the  greater  part  of 
their  predictions  to  various  events  in  ancient 
history. t  This  manner  of  interpreting  Scrip- 
ture was  very  ill  received,  and  contributed,  per- 
haps, more  to  raise  the  general  cry  against 
him,  than  all  the  erroneous  doctrines  with 
which  he  was  charged.];  The  Nestorians  fol- 
lowed the  example  of  this  remarkable  and  emi- 
nent man;§  and  they  continue  to  consider  him 
as  a  saint  of  the  first  order,  and  to  preserve  his 
writings  with  the  utmost  care,  as  precious 
monuments  of  his  piety  and  learning. 

VI.  The  doctrines  of  religion  were,  at  this 
time,  understood  and  represented  in  a  manner 
that  savoured  little  of  their  native  purity  and 
simplicity.  They  were  drawn  out  by  labom'sd 
commentaries  beyond  the  terms  in  which  the 


*Facundus  Hermianensis,  de  tribus  Capitulis,  lib.  iii. 
cap.  vi. — Libcralus  in  Breviario,  cap.  xxiv. 

f  .\cla  Concilii  Conslantinopol.  II.  sen  (Ecu?nenici  V. 
torn.  iii.  Conciliorum,  p.  .58,  edit.  Harduini. 

Q(^  \  Theodore,  after  his  death,  was  considered  as  the 
parent  of  the  Pelagian  and  JVestorian  heresies,  though 
during  his  life  he  was  an  object  of  the  highest  esteem, 
and  died  in  the  commuuion  of  the  church. 

^  This  appears  by  the  testimony  of  Cosmas  Indicopleus- 
les,  a  writer  of  the  sixth  century,  who  was  undoubtedly 
a  Nestorian;  for  this  author,  in  the  fifth  book  of  his 
Christian  Topography,  which  Montfaucon  published  m 
his  new  collection  of  the  Greek  fathers,  maintains  that, 
of  all  the  Psalms  of  David,  four  only  are  applicable  to 
Christ;  and,  to  confirm  this  opinion,  he  boldly  asserts, 
that  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament,  when  they  apply 
to  Jesus  the  prophecies  of  the  Old,  do  this  by  a  mere  ac- 
commodation of  the  words,  without  any  regard  to  their 
true  and  genuine  sense. 


Chap.  III. 


THE  DOCTRIISTE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


143 


divine  wisdom  had  thought  fit  to  reveal  them; 
and  were  examined  with  that  minuteness  and 
subtilty  which  were  only  calculated  to  cover 
tliem  with  obscurity;  and  (what  was  still  worse) 
the  theological  notions  that  generally  prevail- 
ed, were  proved  rather  by  the  authorities  and 
logical  discussions  ot'  the  ancient  doctors^  than 
by  the  unerring  dictates  of  the  divine  word.  It 
does  not  appear  that  in  this  century  any. at- 
tempted to  form  a  complete  system  of  theolo- 
gy, unless  we  give  that  title  to  six  books  of  in- 
struction, which  Nicipas  is  said  to  have  com- 
posed for  the  use  of  the  Neophytes.*  But,  as  we 
have  already  observed,  the  principal  branches 
of  religion  were  laboriously  explained  in  the 
various  books  that  were  written  against  the 
Nestorians,  Eutychians,  Pelagians,  and  Arians. 

Vn.  The  number  of  those  who  disputed  in 
this  century  against  paganism  and  infidelity, 
was  very  considerable,  yet  not  greater  than  the 
exigency  of  the  times,  and  the  frequent  attacks 
made  upon  Christianity,  rendered  necessar}'. 
Theodoret  in  his  ingenious  and  learned  trea- 
tise, de  curandis  GriEcorum  Atfectionibus, 
Orientius  in  his  Commonitorium,and  Evagrius 
in  his  Dispute  between  Zacha3us  and  Apollo- 
nius,  opposed,  with  fortitude  and  vigour,  those 
who  worshipped  images,  and  who  offered  their 
religious  services  to  the  pagan  deities. |  To 
these  we  may  add  Philip  Sidetcs  and  Philostor- 
gius,  of  whom  the  latter  attacked  Porphyry, 
and  the  former  Julian.  Basilius  of  Selcucia, 
Gregentius  in  his  Controversy  witli  Herbanus, 
and  Evagrius  in  his  Dialogue  between  Theo- 
philus  and  Judaeus,  exposed  and  refuted  the 
errors  and  cavils  of  the  Jews.  Voconius  the 
African,  Syagrius  in  his  book  concerning 
Faith,  Gennadius  of  Marseilles,  who  deserves 
to  be  placed  in  the  first  rank,  and  Theodoret  in 
his  Treatise  concerning  the  Fables  of  the  Her- 
etics, opposed  all  the  ditferent  sects;  not  to 
mention  those  who  wrote  only  against  the 
errors  of  one  or  other  party  of  sectaries. 

Vlll.  Those  who  disputed  against  the  Chris- 
tian sects,  observed  a  most  absurd  and  vicious 
method  of  controversy.  They  proceeded  ra- 
ther according  to  the  rules  of  the  ancient  so- 
phists, and,  what  is  still  more  surprising,  ac- 
cording to  the  spirit  of  the  Roman  law,  than 
by  the  examples  and  instructions  of  Christ  and 
his  apostles.  In  the  Roman  courts,  matters  of 
a  difficult  and  doubtful  natiu-e  were  decided  by 
the  authority  of  certain  aged  lawyers,  who 
were  distinguished  by  their  abilities  and  expe- 
rience; and,  when  they  happened  to  differ  in 
opinion,  the  point  was  determined  either  by  a 
plurality  of  voices,  or  by  the  sentiments  of  the 
more  learned  and  illustrious  members  of  that 
venerable  body,  j;  This  procedure  of  the  Roman 
tribunals,  was,  in  this  century,  admitted  as  a 
standing  law,  both  in  the  deliberations  of  coun- 
cils, and  in  the  management  of  religious  con- 
troversy, to  the  great  and  unspeakable  detri- 
ment of  truth;  for,  by  this,  reason,  and  even 
common  sense,  were  in  some  measure  excluded 


*  Gennadius  Massiliensis,  de  Scriptor.  Ecclesiast.  cap. 
xxii. 

t  See,  for  an  account  of  Orientius  and  Evagrius,  the 
HiBloire  Literaire  de  la  France,  torn.  ii.  p.  121,  and  252. 

}  Sec  the  Codex  Theodos.  lib.  i.  lit.  iv.  de  responsis 
prudentum. 


from  every  question;  and  that  was  determined 
as  right  and  true,  which  appeared  such  to  the 
greatest  immber,  or  had  been  approved  bj'  doc- 
tors of  the  greatest  note  in  preceding  times. 
The  acts  of  tiie  various  councils,  which  are  yet 
extant,  manifestly  show  that  tliis  was  the  case; 
and  this  circumstance,  combined  with  what  wo 
have  already  observed  with  respect  to  the  dis- 
putants of  the  age  now  under  consideration, 
will  make  it  easy  for  us  to  imagine  the  various 
defects  that  must  have  prevailed  in  the  methods 
of  defending  truth,  and  opposing  error. 

IX.  This  absurd  imitation  of  the  Roman 
law  in  the  manaircment  of  religious  controver- 
sy, and  this  preposterous  method  of  deciding 
truth  by  human  authorities,  were  fruitful 
sources  of  spurious  and  supposititious  produc- 
tions; for  many  audacious  impostors  were 
hence  encouraged  to  pul)lish  their  own  writings 
mider  the  names  of  ancient  Christian  worthies, 
and  even  under  the  sacred  names  of  Christ 
himself  and  his  holy  apostles,  fhat  thus,  in  the 
deliberations  of  councils,  and  in  the  course  of 
controversy,  they  might  have  authorities  to 
oppose  to  authorities  in  defence  of  their  re- 
spective opinions.  The  whole  Christian  church 
was,  in  this  centijrj',  overwhelmed  with  these 
spurious  productions,  these  infamous  imposi- 
tions. This  is  said  to  have  engaged  Gelasius, 
the  Roman  pontiti",  to  call  a  coimcil,  comj)osed 
of  the  bishops  of  the  Latin  church;  in  which 
assembly,  after  a  strict  examination  of  those 
writings  which  appeared  under  great  and  vene- 
rable names,  the  famous  decree  passed,  that 
deprived  so  many  apocryphal  books  of  their 
borrowed  authority.  That  something  of  this 
kind  really  happened,  it  would  be,  perhaps,  an 
instance  of  temerity  to  deny:  but  many  learn- 
ed men  assert,  that  the  decree  attributed  to 
Gelasius,  labours  under  the  same  imputation 
with  the  books  which  it  condemns,  and  was  b}' 
no  means  the  production  of  that  pontitF,  but  of 
some  deceiver,  who  usurped  clandestinely  his 
name  and  authority.* 

X.  Eucherius,  Salvian,  and  Nilus,  shine  with 
a  superior  lustre  among  the  moral  writers  of 
this  century.  The  epistle  of  Eucherius,  con- 
cerning the  Contempt  of  the  World  and  the 
secular  Philosophy,  is  an  excellent  perform- 
ance, both  in  point  of  matter  and  style.  The 
works  of  Mark  the  hermit  breathe  a  spirit  of 
fervent  piety,  but  arc  highly  defective  in  many 
respects:  the  matter  is  ill  chosen,  and  is  treat- 
ed without  order,  perspicuity,  or  force  of  rea- 
soning. Fastidius  composed  several  discourses 
concerning  moral  duties;  but  they  have  not 
.survived  the  ruins  of  time.  The  works  that  are 
yet  extant  of  Diadochus,  Prosper,  and  Scve- 
rian,  are  extremely  pleasing,  on  account  of 
the  solidity  and  elegance  which  are  to  bo 
found,  for  the  most  ])art,  in  tlieir  moral  sen- 
tences, though  they  afford  but  indifferent  en- 
tertainment to  such  as  are  desirous  of  preci- 
sion, method,  and  sound  argumentation;  and 
indeed  this  want  of  method  in  the  distribution 
and  arrangement  of  their  matter,  tand  a  con- 
stant neglect  of  tracing  their  subject  to  its  first 


*  Pearson,  Vindiciae  Ignatianae,  part  i.  cap.  iv.  p.  189. — 
Cave,  Hist.  Liter.  Scriptor.  Ecclesias.  p.  260.— Urb. 
Godofr.  Sibeni!,  Prsefat.  ad  Enchiridion  Sexti,  p.  79. 


144 


INTERJf  AL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


principles,  are  defects  common  to  almost  all  the 
moral  writers  of  this  century- 

XI.  Had  this,  indeed,  been  their  only  de- 
fect, the  candid  and  impartial  would  have  sup- 
ported it  with  patience,  and  attributed  it  chari- 
tably to  the  infelicity  of  tlie  times.  But  many 
of  the  writers  and  teachers  of  this  age  did  un- 
speakable injury  to  the  cause  of  true  piety  by 
their  crude  and  enthusiastic  inventions.  The 
Mystics,  v/ho  pretended  to  higher  degrees  of 
perfection  than  other  Christians,  drew  every 
where  to  their  party,  particularly  in  the  eastern 
provinces,  a  vast  number  of  the  ignorant  and 
inconsiderate  multitude,  liy  the  striking  ap- 
pearance of  tlieir  austere  and  singular  piety.  It 
is  impossible  to  describe  the  rigour  and  severi- 
ty of  the  laws  which  these  senseless  fanatics 
impo.sed  upon  themselves,  in  order,  as  they  al- 
leged, to  appease  the  Deity,  and  to  deliver  the 
celestial  spiiit  from  the  bondage  of  this  mortal 
body.  They  not  only  lived  among  the  wild 
beasts,  but  also  lived  after  the  manner  of  these 
savage  animals;  they  ran  naked  through  the 
lonely  deserts  with  a  furious  aspect,  and  with 
all  the  agitations  of  madness  and  phrensy;  they 
prolonged  the  existence  of  their  emaciated 
bodies  by  tlie  wretclied  noifc-ishment  of  grass 
and  wild  herbs,  avoided  the  sight  and  conver- 
sation of  men,  remained  motionless  in  certain 
places  for  several  years,  exposed  to  the  rigour 
and  inclemenc}^  of  the  seasons;  and,  toward 
the  conclusion  of  their  lives,  shut  themselves 
up  in  narrow  and  miserable  huts;  and  all  this 
was  considered  as  true  piety,  the  only  accepta- 
ble method  of  worshipping  the  Deity,  and  ren- 
dering him  propitious.*  The  major  part  of  tlie 
Mystics  were  led  into  the  absurdities  of  this 
extravagant  discipline,  not  so  much  by  the  pre- 
tended force  of  reason  and  argument,  as  by  a 
natural  propensity  to  solitude,  a  gloomy  and 
melancholy  cast  of  mind,  and  an  implicit  and 
blind  submission  to  the  authority  and  examples 
of  others;  for  the  diseases  of  the  mind,  as  well 
as  those  of  the  body,  are  generally  contagious, 
and  no  pestilence  spreads  its  infection  with  a 
more  dreadful  rapidity  than  superstition  and 
enthusiasm.  Several  persons  have  committed 
to  writing  the  precepts  of  this  severe  discipline, 
and  reduced  its  absurdities  into  a  sort  of  sj's- 
tem,  such  as  Julianus  Pomerius  among  the 
Latins,!  and  many  among  the  Syrians,  whose 
names  it  is  needless  to  mention. 

XII.  Of  all  the  instances  of  superstitious 
phrensy  that  disgraced  this  age,  none  obtained 
higher  veneration,  or  excited  more  the  wonder 
of  the  multitude,  than  that  of  a  certain  order 
of  men,  who  were  called  Stylites  by  the  Greeks, 
and  Sancti  Columnares,  or  Pillar  Saints,  by  the 
Latins.  These  were  persons  of  a  most  singu- 
lar and  extravagant  turn  of  mind,  who  stood 
motionless  upon  the  tops  of  pillars,  expressly 
raised  for  this  exercise  of  their  patience,  and 
remained  there  for  several  years,  amidst  the 
admiration  and  applause  of  the  stupid  popu- 
lace. The  inventor  of  this  strange  and  ridicu- 
lous discipline  was  Simeon  Sisanites,  a  Syrian, 

*  See  the  Pratum  Spirituale  of  Moschus,  the  Lausiac 
History  of  Palladius,  and  Sulpitius  Severus,  Dial.  i. 

{^(J>  \  Pomerius  wrote  a  treatise,  de  Vita  Contem- 
plativa,  in  which  the  doctrines  and  precepts  pf  the  Mys- 
tics were  carefullv  collected. 


who  began  his  follies  by  changing  the  agreea- 
ble employment  of  a  shepherd  for  the  senseless 
austerities  of  the  monkish  life.  But  his  enthu- 
siasm carried  him  still  greater  lengths;  for,  in 
order  to  climb  as  near  heaven  as  he  could,  he 
passed  thirty-seven  years  of  his  wretched  life 
upon  five  pillars,  of  the  height  of  six,  twelve, 
twenty-two,  thirty-six,  and  forty  cubits,  and 
thus  acquired  a  most  shining  reputation,  and 
attracted  the  veneration  of  all  about  him.* 
Many  of  the  inhabitants  of  Syria  and  Pales- 
tine, seduced  by  a  false  ambition,  and  an  utter 
ignorance  of  true  religion,  followed  the  exam- 
ple of  this  fanatic,  though  not  with  the  same 
degree  of  austerity;t  and  (what  is  almost  in- 
credible) this  superstitious  practice  continued 
in  vogue  until  the  twelfth  century,  when,  how- 
ever, it  was  totally  suppressed. | 

The  Latins  had  too  much  wisdom  and  pru- 
dence to  imitate  the  Syrians  and  Orientals  in 
this  whimsical  superstition;  and  when  a  certain 
fanatic,  or  impostor,  named  Wulfilaicus,  erect- 
ed one  of  these  pillars  in  the  country  of  Treves, 
and  proposed  living  upon  it  after  the  manner 
of  Simeon,  the  neighbouring  bishops  ordered 
it  to  be  pulled  down,  and  thus  nipped  this  spe- 
cies of  superstition  in  the  bud.§ 

XIII.  The  Mystic  rules  of  discipline  and 
manners  had  a  bad  effect  upon  the  moral  wri- 
ters, and  those  who  were  set  apart  for  the  in- 
struction of  Christians.  Thus,  in  instructing 
the  catechumens  and  others,  tliey  were  more 
diligent  and  zealous  in  inculcating  a  regard  for 
the  external  parts  of  religion,  and  an  attach- 
ment to  bodily  exercise,  than  in  forming  the 
heart  and  the  affections  to  inward  piety  and 
solid  virtue.  They  even  went  so  far,  as  to  pre- 
scribe rules  of  sanctity  and  virtue  little  differ- 
ent from  the  unnatural  rigour  and  fanatical 
piety  of  the  Mystics.  Salvian,  and  other  cele- 
brated writers,  gave  it  as  their  opinion,  that 
none  could  be  truly  and  perfectly  holy,  but 
those  who  abandoned  all  riches  and  honours, 
abstained  from  matrimony,  banished  all  joy  and 
cheerfulness  from  their  hearts,  and  macerated 
their  bodies  with  various  sorts  of  torments  and 
mortifications:  and,  as  all  could  not  support 
such  inordinate  degrees  of  severity,  those  mad- 
men, or  fanatics,  whose  robust  constitutions 
and  savage  tempers  were  the  best  adapted  to 
this  kind  of  life,  were  distinguished  by  the  pub- 


*  See  the  Acta  Sanctorum  Mensis  Januarii,  torn.  i.  p. 
961 — 277,  where  the  reader  will  fiud  the  account  we  have 
given  of  this  whimsical  discipline.  Theodoret,  indeed, 
had  before  given  several  hints  of  it,  alleging,  among 
other  things,  that  Simeon  had  gradually  added  to  the 
height  of  his  pillar,  in  the  hope  of  making  nearer  approach- 
es to  heaven.  See  Tillemont's  Memoires  pour  servir  a 
I'Histoire  de  I'Eglise,  tom.  xv.  See  also  the  Acts  of 
Simeon  the  Stylite,  in  Assemani  Act.  Marlyrum,  vol.  ii. 

^Xr"  t  The  learned  Frederic  Spanheim,  in  his  Ecclesi- 
astical History,  p.  1154,  speaks  of  a  second  Simeon  the 
Stylite  (mentioned  by  Evagrius,)  who  lived  in  the  sixth 
century.  This  second  fanatic  seems  to  have  carried  his 
austerities  still  farther  than  the  chief  of  the  sect:  for  he 
remained  upon  his  pillar  sixty-eight  years,  and  from  it, 
like  the  first  Simeon,  he  taught,  or  rather  deluded  the 
gazing  multitude,  declaimed  against  heresy,  pretended  to 
cast  out  devils,  to  heal  diseases,  and  to  foretell  future 
events. 

}  See  Urb.  Godofr.  Siberi  Diss,  de  Sanctis  Columna- 
ribus,  and  Caroli  Majelli  Diss,  de  Stylitis,  published  in 
Assemani  Act.  IVIartyr.  tom.  ii.  p.  246. 

§  Gregor.  Turonens.  Histor.  Francor.  lib.  viii.  cap.  ir. 
p.  387. 


Chap.  III. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


145 


lie  applause,  and  saw  their  influence  and  au- 
thority daily  increase.  Thus  saints  started  up 
like  mushrooms  in  altiiost  every  place. 

XIV.  A  small  number  of  ecclesiastics,  ani- 
mated by  the  laudal)le  spirit  of  reformation, 
boldly  attempted  to  pluck  up  the  roots  of  tliis 
frrowing  superstition,  and  to  bring  back  the  de- 
luded multitude  from  this  vain  and  chimerical 
discipline  to  the  practice  of  solid  and  genuine 
piety.  But  the  votaries  of  supers! itioii,  who 
were  superior  in  number,  reputation,  and  au- 
thority, soon  reduced  them  to  silence,  and  ren- 
dered their  noble  and  pious  eftbrts  utterly  in- 
effectual.* We  have  an  example  of  this  in  the 
case  of  Vigilantius,  a  man  remarkable  for  his 
learning  and  eloquence,  who  was  born  in  fiaul, 
and  thence  went  to  Spain,  where  lie  perform- 
ed the  functions  of  a  presbyter.  This  ecclesi- 
astic, on  his  return  from  a  voyage  he  had  made 
into  Palestine  and  Egypt,  began,  about  the 
commencement  of  tliis  century,  to  propagate 
several  doctrines,  and  to  publish  repeated  ex- 
hortations quite  opposite  to  the  opinions  and 
manners  of  the  times.  Among  other  things, 
he  denied  that  the  tombs  and  the  bones  of  the 
martyrs  ought  to  be  honoured  with  any  sort  of 
homage  or  worship,  and  tlierefore  censured  the 
pilgrimages  that  were  made  to  places  which 
were  reputed  holy.  He  turned  into  derision 
the  prodigies  which  were  said  to  be  wrought  in 
the  temples  consecrated  to  martyrs,  and  con- 
demned the  custom  of  performing  vigils  in 
them.  He  asserted,  and  indeetl  vvitli  reason, 
that  the  custom  of  burning  tapers  at  the  tombs 
of  the  martyrs  in  broad  day,  was  imprudently 
borrowed  from  the  ancient  superstition  of  the 
Pagans.  He  maintained,  moreover,  that  pray- 
ers addressed  to  departed  saints  were  void  of 
all  efficacy;  and  treated  with  contempt  fasting 
and  mortifications,  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy, 
and  the  various  austerities  of  the  monastic  lite; 
and,  finally,  he  affirmed,  that  the  conduct  of 
those  who,  distributing  their  substance  among 
the  indigent,  submitted  to  the  hardships  of  a 
voluntary  poverty,  or  sent  a  part  of  their  trea- 
sures to  Jerusalem  for  devout  purposes,  had 
nothing  in  it  acceptable  to  the  Deity. 

There  were  among  tlie  Gallic  and  Spanish 
bishops  several  who  approved  the  opinions  of 
Vigilantius:  but  Jerome,  the  great  monk  of  tlie 
age,  assailed  this  bold  reformer  of  religion  with 
such  bitterness  and  fury,  that  tlic  honest  pres- 
byter soon  found  that  nothing  but  his  silence 
could  preserve  his  life  from  the  intemperate 
rage  of  bigotry  and  superstition.  This  project 
then  of  reforming  the  corruptions,  which  a  fii- 
natical  and  superstitious  zeal  liad  introduced 
into  the  church,  was  choked  in  its  birth;!  and 
the  name  of  the  good  Vigilantius  remains  still 
in  that  list  of  heretics,  which  is  acknowledged 
as  authentic  by  those  who,  without  any  regard 
to  their  own  judgment  or  the  declartations  of 
Scripture,  blindly  follow  the  decisions  of  an- 
tiquity. 

*  Auf  ustin  complains  of  this,  in  his  famous  epistle  to 
Januarius,  No.  119. 

t  Baylc's  Dictionary,  at  the  article  Vigilantius. — Bar- 
bcyrac,  dc  la  Morale  des  Peres,  p.  252. — Ger.  Jo.  Vos 
sius,  Theses  Historico-Theologicae,  p.  170. — Histoire 
Literaire  de  la  France,  torn.  ii.  p.  57. 

Vol.  I.— 19 


XV.  The  controversies,  which  had  been 
I  raised  in  Egypt,  concerning  Origen  and  his 
doctrine,  toward  the  conclusion  of  the  preced- 
ing century,  were  now  renewed  at  Constanti- 
nople, and  carried  on  without  either  decency  or 
prudence.  The  Nitrian  monks,  banished  from 
Egypt  on  account  of  their  attachment  to  Ori- 
gen, took  refuge  at  Constantinople,  and  were 
treated  by  John  Chrysostom,  the  bishop  of  that 
city,  with  clemency  atid  benignity.  This  no 
sooner  came  to  the  knowledge  of  Theophilus, 
patriarch  of  Alexandria,  than  he  formed  a  per- 
fidious project  against  the  eloquent  prelate,  and 
sent  the  famous  Epiphani us,  with  several  other 
bishops,  to  Constantinople,  to  compass  his  fall, 
and  deprive  him  of  his  e[>iscopal  dignity.  No 
time  could  be  more  favourable  for  the  exBCU- 
tion  of  this  project  than  that  in  which  it  was 
formed;  for  Chrysostom,  by  his  austerity,  and 
his  vehement  declamations  against  the  vices  of 
the  people,  and  the  corrupt  manners  of  the  la- 
dies of  the  court,  had  incurred  the  displeasure 
of  many,  and  had  also  excited,  in  a  more  par- 
ticular manner,  the  resentment  and  indigna-' 
tion  of  the  empress  Eudoxia,  wife  of  Arcadius. 
This  violent  princess  sent  for  Theophilus  and 
the  Egyptian  bishops,  who,  pursuant  to  her 
orders,  repaired  to  Constantinople,  and,  having 
called  a  council,  inquired  into  the  religious  sen- 
timents of  C^hrysostom,  and  examined  his  mo- 
rals, and  the  whole  course  of  his  conduct  and 
conversation,  with  the  utmost  severity.  This 
council,  wliich  was  holden  in  the  suburbs  of 
Chalcedon,  in  403,  with  Theophilus  at  its  head, 
declared  Chrysostom  unwortJiy  of  his  high 
rank  in  tlie  church,  on  account  of  his  favoura- 
ble inclinations  toward  Origen  and  his  follow- 
ers; and,  in  consequence  of  this  decree,  con- 
demned him  to  banishment.  The  people  of 
Constantinople,  who  were  tenderly  attached  to 
their  pious  and  worthy  bishop,  rose  in  a  tu- 
multuous manner,  and  prevented  the  execution 
of  this  unrighteous  sentence.*  When  this  tu- 
mult was  entirely  hushed,  the  same  unrelent- 
ing judges,  in  order  to  satisfy  their  vindictive 
rage  and  that  of  Eudoxia,  renewed  tlieir  sen- 
tence, in  the  following  year,  imder  another  pre- 
text,! ''^^  with  greater  effect;  for  the  pious 
Clirysostom,  yielding  to  the  redoubled  efforts 
of  his  enemies,  was  banished  to  Cucusus,  acity 
of  Cilicia,  where  he  died  about  tliree  years 
after.  + 

The  exile  of  this  illustrious  man  was  follow- 
ed by  a  terrible  sedition  of  the  Johannists  (so 
ills  votaries  were  called,)  which  was  calmed, 
though  with  much  difficulty,  by  the  edicts  of 


OjP"  *  This  is  not  quile  exact;  for  it  appears,  by  the 
accounts  of  the  best  histoiians,  that  this  sentence  was 
really  executed,  and  that  the  emperor  confirmed  the  de- 
cree of  this  first  synod,  by  banishing  Chrysostom  into 
Bithynia;  or,  as  others  allege,  by  ordering  him  to  retire 
into  the  country.  X  violent  earthquake  and  a  terrible 
shower  of  hail,  which  were  looked  ujion  by  the  multitude 
as  judgments  occasioned  by  the  unrighteous  ]>ersecution 
of  their  jiious  bishop,  alarmed  the  court,  and  engaged 
them  to  recall  Chrysostom  to  his  office. 

8(5"  t  This  new  pretext  was  the  indecent  manner,  in 
which  Chrysostom  is  said  to  have  declaimed  against  Eu- 
doxia, on  account  of  her  having  erected  her  statue  in 
silver  near  the  church. 

{  See  Tillemont  and  Hermant,  who  have  both  written 
the  life  of  Chrysostom;  as  also  Bavle'i  Dictionary,  at  the 
article  ^caciuf. 


146 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


Arcadius.*  It  is  heyoiid  all  doubt,  that  the 
proceedings  against  Chrysostoni  were  cruel  and 
unjust;  in  this  however  he  was  to  blame,  that 
he  assumed  the  authority  and  rank,  which  had 
been  granted  by  the  council  of  Constantinople 
to  the  bishops  of  that  city,  aiid  even  acted  as 
a  judge  of  the  controversy  between  Theophi- 
lus  and  the  Egyptian  monks,  which  the  Alex- 
andrian prelate  could  not  behold  without  the 
utmost  impatience  and  resentment.  These 
monks,  when  they  lost  their  protector,  were 
restored  to  the  favour  of  Theophilns;  but  the 
faction  of  the  Origenists  continued,  notwith- 
standing all  this,  to  flourish  in  Egypt,  Syria, 
and  the  adjacent  countries,  and  held  their  chief, 
residence  at  Jerusalem. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Concerning  the  Rites  and  Ceremonies  used  in  the 

Church  during  this  Centwj. 

I.  To  enumerate  the  rites  and  institutions 
that  were  added,  in  this  century,  to  the  Chris- 
tian worship,  would  require  a  volume  of  a  con- 
siderable size.  The  acts  of  councils,  and  the 
records  left  us  by  the  most  celebrated  ancient 
writers,  are  the  sources  from  which  the  curious 
may  draw  a  particular  and  satisfactory  account 
of  this  matter;  and  to  these  we  refer  such  as 
are  desirous  of  something  more  than  a  general 
view  of  the  subject  under  consideration.  Seve- 
ral of  these  ancient  writers,  uncorrupted  by  the 
contagious  examples  of  the  times  in  which 
they  lived,  have  ingenuously  acknowledged, 
that  true  piety  and  virtue  were  smothered,  as 
it  were,  under  that  enormous  burthen  of  cere- 
monies under  which  they  lay  groaning  in  this 
century.  This  evil  was  owing,  j)artly  to  the 
ignorance  and  dishonesty  of  the  clergy,  partly 
to  the  calamities  of  the  times,  which  were  ex- 
tremely unfavourable  to  the  pursuit  of  know- 
ledge, and  to  the  culture  of  the  mind;  and 
partly,  indeed,  to  the  natural  depravity  of  im- 
perfect mortals,  who  are  much  more  disposed 
to  worship  with  the  eye  than  with  the  heart, 
and  are  more  ready  to  offer  to  the  Deity  the 
laborious  pomp  of  an  outward  service,  than 
the  nobler,  yet  simple  oblation  of  pious  dispo- 
bitions  and  holy  affections. 

II.  Divine  worship  was  now  daily  rising 
from  one  degree  of  pomp  to  another,  and  de- 
generating more  and  more  into  a  gaudy  spec- 
tacle, only  calculated  to  attract  the  stupid  ad- 
miration of  a  gazing  populace.  The  sacerdo- 
tal garments  were  embellished  with  a  variety 
of  ornaments,  with  a  view  of  exciting  in  the 
minds  of  the  multitude  a  greater  veneration 
for  the  sacred  order.  New  acts  of  devotion 
were  also  celebrated.  In  Gaul,  ])articularly, 
the  solemn  prayers  and  supplications,  which 
usually  precede  the  anniversary  of  Christ's  as- 
cension, were  now  instituted  for  the  first  time-j 
In  other  places,  perpetual  acclamations  of 
praise  to  God  were  performed  both  night  and 
day  by  successive  singers,  so  that  the  service 

*  See  Cyrilli  Vita  Sabae  in  Cotelerii  Monument.  Ec- 
cles.  Graec.  torn.  ii.  p.  274.  Jos.  Sim.  Asseinan.  Bibltolh. 
Oriental.  Vatican,  t.^m.  ii.  p.  31. 

1  See  Sirtonius  .\poUinaris,  Epist.  lib.  v.  Epist.  jvi. 
lib.  vi.  Epist.  I  i  as  also  Martenne,  Thesaurus  Anecdote 
rum,  torn.  t. 


suffered  no  interruption;*  as  if  the  Supreme 
Being  took  pleasure  in  such  noisy  and  turbu- 
lent shouting,  or  received  any  gratification 
from  the  blandishments  of  men.  The  riches 
and  magnificence  of  the  churches  exceeded  all 
bound.s.t  They  were  also  adorned  with  costly 
images,  among  which,  in  conseque.ice  of  the 
A^estorian  controversy,  tliat  of  the  Virgin  Ma- 
r}',  holding  the  child  Jesus  in  her  arms,  obtain- 
ed the  principal  place.  The  altars,  and  the 
chests  in  which  the  relics  were  preserved,  were 
in  most  places  made  of  solid  silver;  and  from 
this  we  may  easily  imagine  the  splendour  and 
expenses  that  were  lavished  upon  the  other 
utensils  which  were  employed  in  the  service  of 
the  church. 

III.  On  the  other  hand,  the  agapcE,  or  feasts 
of  charity,  were  now  suppressed  on  accoimt  of 
the  abuses  to  which  they  gave  occasion,  amidst 
the  daily  decline  of  that  piety  and  virtue, 
which  had  rendered  these  meetings  useful  and 
edifying  in  the  primitive  ages. 

A  new  method  also  of  proceeding  with  peni- 
tents was  introduced  into  the  Latin  church;  for 
grievous  offenders,  who  had  formerly  been 
obliged  to  confess  their  guilt  in  the  face  of  the 
congregation,  were  now  delivered  from  tliis 
mortifying  penalty,  and  obtained,  from  Leo  the 
Great,  a  permission  to  confess  their  crimes  pri- 
vately to  a  priest  a]5pointed  for  that  purpose. 
By  this  change  of  the  ancient  discipline,  one 
of  the  greatest  restraints  upon  licentiousness 
(and  the  only  remaining  barrier  of  chastity,) 
was  entirely  removed,  and  the  actions  of  Chris- 
tians wore  subject  to  no  other  scrutiny  than 
that  of  the  clergy;  a  change,  which  was  fre- 
quently convenient  for  the  sinner,  and  also  ad- 
vantageous in  many  respects  to  the  sacred 
order. 

CHAPTER  V. 

Concerning  the   Dissensions  and   Heresies  that 
troubled  the  Church  during  this  Century. 

I.  Several  of  those  sects,  which  had  di- 
vided the  church  in  the  preceding  ages,  renew- 
ed their  efforts  at  this  time,  to  propagate  their 
respective  opinions,  and  introduced  new  tu- 
mults and  animosities  among  the  Christians. 
We  shall  say  nothing  of  the  Novatians,  Mar- 
cionites,  and  Manicheans,  those  inauspicious 
and  filial  names  which  disgrace  the  earlier  an- 
nals of  the  church,  though  it  is  evident,  that 
those  sects  still  subsisted,  and  were  even  nu- 
merous in  many  places.  We  shall  confine  our- 
selves to  an  account  of  the  Donatists  and  Ari- 
ans,  who  were  the  pests  of  tlie  preceding  cen- 
tury. 

The  Donatists  had  hitherto  maintained 
themselves  with  a  successful  obstinacy,  and 
their  alfairs  were  in  a  good  state.  But,  about 
the  beginning  of  this  century,  the  face  of  things 
changed  nuich  to  their  disadvantage,  by  the 
means  of  St.  Augustine,  bishop  of  Hippo. 
The  catholic  bishops  of  Africa,  animated  by 
the  exhortations,  and  conducted  by  the  coun- 
sels of  this  zealous  prelate,  exerted  themselves 
with  the  utmost  vigour  in  the  destruction  of 


J 


*  Gervais,  Histoire  de  Suger,  torn.  i.  p.  03. 

f  .See  Zacharias  of  Mitjlene, de  Opificio  Mundi,  p.  165. 


Chap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


147 


those  seditious  sectaries,  whom  they  justly 
looked  upon,  not  only  as  troublesome  to  the 
church  by  their  obstinacy,  but  also  as  a  nui- 
sance to  the  state  by  the  brutal  soldiery*  which 
they  employed  in  their  cause.  Accordingly 
deputies  were  sent,  in  404,  from  the  council  of 
Cartilage  to  the  emperor  Honorius,  to  request, 
that  the  laws  enacted  against  lierctics,  by  the 
preceding  emperors,  might  have  force  against 
the  Donatists,  who  denied  that  they  belonged 
to  the  heretical  tribe;  and  also  to  desire,  that 
bounds  might  be  set  to  tlic  barbarous  fury  of 
the  Circumcelliones.  Tiie  first  step  that  the 
emperor  took,  in  consequence  of  this  request, 
was  to  impose  a  fine  upon  all  the  Donatists 
who  refused  to  return  into  the  bosom  of  the 
church,  and  to  send  their  bishops  and  doctors 
into  banishment.  In  tlie  following  year,  new 
laws,  much  more  severe  than  tlie  former,  were 
enacted  against  this  rebellious  sect,  under  the 
title  of  Acts  of  Uniformity;  and,  as  the  magis- 
trates were  remiss  in  the  execution  of  them, 
the  council  of  Carthage,  in  407,  sent  a  second 
time  deputies  to  tlie  emperor,  to  desire  that 
certain  persons  might  be  appointed  to  execute 
the  new  edicts  with  vigour  €and  impartiality; 
and  this  request  was  granted. 

II.  The  Douatist  faction,  thougli  much  bro- 
ken by  these  repeated  shocks,  was  yet  far  from 
being   totally  extinguislied.      It   recovered   a| 
part  of  its  strength  in  40S,  after  Stilicho  had: 
been  put  to  death  hy  the  order  of  Honorius,  j 
and  gained  an  accession  of  vigoiu'  in  tiie  fol-i 
lowing  )'ear,  in  which  the  emperor  published  a  i 
law  in  favour  of  liberty  of  conscience,  and  pro- 
hibited all  compulsion  in  matters  of  religion,  j 
This  law,  however,  was  not  of  long  duration.  | 
It  was  abrogated  at  the  earnest  and  repeated 
solicitations  of  the  council,  which  met  at  Car- 
thage in  419;  and  Marcellinus  the  tribtnie  was 
sent  by  Honorius  into  .\frica,  with  full   power 
to  bring  to  a  conclusion  this  tedious  and  un- 
happy contest.    Marcellinus,  therefore,  held  at 
Carthage,    in    411,   a   solemn    conference,    in 
which  he  examined  the  cause  with  much  at- 
tention, heard  the  contending  parties  during 
the   .space  of  three  days,  and,  at  length,  pro- 
nounced sentence  in  favour  of  the  catholics. f 
Tlie  catholic  hi.shops,  who  were  present  at  this 
conference,  w«re  286  in  nuuiber,  and  those  of 
the  Donati.'^ts  weve  279.  The  latter,  u[)on  their 
defeat,  appealed  to  the  emperor,  but  without 
effect.     The  glory  of  their  defeat   was  due  to 
Augustine,  who  bore  the  principal   part  in  this 
controversy,  and  who,  indeed,  by  his  writings, 
«oua«els,   and  admonitions,   governed  almost 


*  The  CircumceUlonea  alnaJy  mentioned. 

(  See  Franc.  Balduin,  Hist.  Collalionis  Carlhag.  in 
Optat.  Milev.  Piuian.  p.  337.  It  is  proper  to  observe 
here,  that  lliis  meeting,  holden  by  Marcellinus,  is  very 
improperly  termed  a  conference  {eolhttio;)  for  there  was 
no  dispute  carried  on  at  this  meeting,  between  the  catho- 
lics and  the  Donatists,  nor  did  any  of  the  parlies  en- 
deavour to  gain  or  ucleat  the  other  by  superiority  of  ar- 
gument. This  conference,  then,  was  properly  a  judicial 
trial,  in  which  Marcellinus  »">•  •'••  "r.z  emperor,  ap- 
pointed judge,  or  arbiter,  o,  tnis  religious  controversy, 
and  accordingly  pronounced  sentence  after  a  proper  hear- 
ing of  the  cause.  It  appears,  therefore,  from  this  event, 
that  the  notion  of  a  supreme  spiritual  judge  of  contro- 
versy, and  ruler  of  the  church  appointed  by  Christ,  had 
nnt  yet  entered  into  any  one's  head,  since  we  see  the  Afri- 
can bishops  themselves  appealing  to  the  emperor  iu  the 
prebeut  religious  question. 


the  whole  African  church,  and  also  the  princi- 
pal and  most  illustrious  heads  of  that  extensive 
province. 

HI.  This  conference  greatly  weakened  the 
party  of  the  Donatists;  nor  could  they  ever  get 
the  better  of  tliis  terrible  shock,  tliough  the 
face  of  aH'airsch.-tnged  afterwards  in  a  manner 
that  seemed  to  revive  tlieir  hopes.  The  greatest 
part  of  tliein,  through  the  fear  of  punislnnent, 
submitted  to  the  emperor's  decree,  and  return- 
ed into  the  bosom  of  the  church;  while  the  se- 
verest penalties  were  inflicted  upon  those  who 
remained  obstinate,  and  persisted  in  their  re- 
bellion. Fines,  banishment,  confiscation  of 
goods,  were  the  ordinary  punishments  of  the 
obstinate  Donatists;  and  even  the  pain  of  death 
was  inflicted  upon  such  as  surpassed  the  rest  in 
perversciicss,  and  were  the  seditious  ringleaders 
of  that  stubborn  faction.  Some  avoided  these 
penalties  hy  flight,  others  by  concealing  them- 
selves, and  some  were  so  desperate  as  to  seek 
deliverance  by  self-murder,  to  which  the  Do- 
natists had  a  shocking  propensity.  In  the  mean 
time,  the  Circumcelliones  used  more  violent 
methods  of  warding  off  the  execution  of  the 
sentence  that  was  pronounced  against  their 
sect;  for  they  ran  up  and  down  through  the 
province  of  Africa  in  the  most  outrageous 
manner,  committing  acts  of  great  cruelty,  and 
defending  themselves  by  force  of  arms. 

The  Donatists,  indeed,  recovered  afterwards 
their  former  liberty  and  tranquillity  by  the  suc- 
cour and  ])rot,e(?tion  they  received  from  the 
Vandals,  who  invaded  Africa,  with  Genseric 
at  their  head,  in  427,  and  took  that  province 
out  of  the  hands  of  the  Romans.  The  wounds, 
however,  wliicli  this  sect  had  received  from  the 
vigourous  execution  of  the  imperial  laws,  were 
so  deep,  that,  though  it  began  to  revive  and 
multiply  by  the  assistance  of  the  Vandals,  it 
could  never  regain  its  former  strength  and 
lustre. 

IV.  The  Arians,  oppressed  and  persecuted 
by  the  imperial  edicts,  took  refuge  among  those 
fierce  and  savage  nations,  who  were  gradually 
overturning  the  western  empire,  and  found 
among  the  Goths,  Suevi,  Heruli,  Vandals,  and 
Burgundians,  a  fi.xed  residence  and  a  peaceful 
retreat;  and,  as  their  security  animated  their 
courage,  they  treated  the  catholics  with  the 
same  violence  which  the  latter  had  employed 
against  them  and  other  heretics,  and  harassed 
and  persecuted  in  various  ways  such  as  profess- 
ed their  adherence  to  the  Nicene  doctrines. 
The  Vandals,  who  reigned  in  Africa,  surpass- 
ed all  the  other  savage  nations  in  barbarity  and 
njustice  toward  the  catholics.  Tlie  kings  of 
this  fierce  people,  particularly  Genseric  and 
Huneric  his  son,  pulled  down  the  churches  of 
those  Christians  who  acknowledged  the  divini- 
ty of  Ciirist,  sent  their  bishops  into  exile,  and 
naimed  and  tormented  such  as  were  nobly 
firm  and  inflexible  in  the  profession  of  their 
faith.*  They  however  declared,  that,  in  using 
these  severe  and  violent  methods,  they  were 
authorised  by  the  example  of  the  einperoi-s, 
who  had  enacted  laws  of  the  same  rigorous 
nature  against  the  Donatists,  the  Arians,  and 


See  Victor  Viteus.  lib.  iii.  dePersequutione  Vandali- 
ea,  >¥hich  Theod.  Ruiuart  published  at  Paris  in  1694, 
with  his  own  history  of  the  same  persecution. 


148 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


other  sects  who  differed  in  opinion  from  the 
Christians  of  Constantinople.* 

We  must  not  here  omit  mentioning  the  st>i- 
pendous  miracle,  which  is  said  to  have  been 
wrought  during  these  persecutions  in  Africa, 
and  by  which  tlie  Supreme  Being  is  supposed 
to  have  declared  his  displeasure  against  the 
Arians,  and  his  favour  toward  their  adversa- 
ries. TTliis  miracle  consisted  in  enabling  those 
catholics,  whose  tongues  had  been  cut  out  by 
the  Arian  tyrant  Huneric,  to  speak  distinctly, 
and  to  proclaim  aloud  the  divine  majesty  of 
the  Saviour  of  the  world.  This  remarkable 
fact  can  scarcely  be  denied,  since  it  is  support- 
ed by  the  testimony  of  the  most  credible  and 
respectable  witnesses;!  but  whether  it  is  to  be 


*  See  the  edict  of  Huneric,  in  the  history  of  Victor, 
lib.  iv.  cap.  ii.  p.  64. 

OlJ"  t  These  witnesses,  who  had  thenaselves  ocular  de- 
monstration of  the  fact,  were  Victor  of  Utica,  ^neas  of 
Gaza  (who  examined  the  mouths  of  the  persons  in  question, 
and  found  that  their  tongues  were  entirely  rooted  out,) 
Proeopius,  Mareellinus  the  count,  and  the  emperor  Jus- 
tinian. Upon  the  authority  of  such  respectable  testimo- 
nies, the  learned  ALbadie  formed  a  laboured  and  dexter- 
ous defence  of  t\ie  miraculous  nature  of  this  extraordinary 
fact,  in  his  work  entitled,  La  Triomphe  de  la  Providence, 
vol.  iii.  p.  255,  where  all  the  fire  of  his  zeal,  and  all  the 
subtilty  of  his  logic,  seem  to  have  been  exhausted.  Dr. 
Berriman,  in  his  Historical  Account  of  the  Trinitarian 
Controversy,  as  also  in  his  sermons,  preached  at  Lady 
Moyer's  Lectures,  in  1725,  and  Dr.  Chapman,  in  his  Mis- 
cellaueous  Tracts,  have  maintained  the  same  hypothesis. 
To  the  former,  an  answer  was  published  by  an  anonymous 
writer,  under  the  following  title:  "An  Enquiry  into  the 
Miracle  said  to  have  been  wrought  in  the  fifth  century, 
upon  some  orthodox  Christians,  in  favour  of  the  Doctrine 
of  the  Trinity,  &c.  in  a  Letter  to  a  Friend."  We  may 
venture  to  saj-,  that  this  answer  is  utterly  unsatisfactory. 
The  author  of  it,  after  having  laboured  to  invalidate  the 
testimony  alleged  in  favour  of  the  fact,  seems  himself 
fccarcely  convinced  by  his  own  arguments;  for  he  ac- 
knowledges at  last  the  possibility  of  the  event,  but  per- 
sists in  denying  the  miracle,  and  supposes,  that  the  cruel 
operation  was  so  imperfectly  performed  upon  these  con- 
fessors, as  to  leave  in  some  of  them  such  a  share  of  the 
tongue,  as  was  sufficient  for  the  use  of  speech.  Dr.  JMid- 
dleton,  (to  whom  some  have  attributed  the  above-men- 
tioned answer)  maintains  the  same  hypothesis,  in  his  Free 
Inquiry  into  the  Miraculous  Powers,  &c.  supposing,  that 
the  tongues  of  the  persons  in  question  were  not  entirely 
rooted  out,  which  he  corroborates  by  the  following  con- 
sideration, that  two  of  the  sufferers  are  said  to  have  ut- 
terly lost  the  laculty  of  speaking;  for,  though  this  might 
be  ascribed  to  a  peculiar  judgment  of  God,  puuishing  the 
immoralities  of  which  they  were  afterwards  guilty,  yet 
this  appears  to  be  a  forced  and  improbable  solution  of  the 
matter,  in  the  opinion  of  the  doctor,  who  imagines  that 
he  solves  it  better  by  supposing,  that  they  had  not  been 
deprived  of  their  entire  tongues.  He  goes  yet  farther, 
and  produces  two  cases  from  the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy 
of  Sciences  at  Paris,  which  prove,  in  his  opinion,  "  That 
this  pretended  miracle  owed  its  whole  credit  to  our  igno- 
rance of  the  powers  of  nature."  The  first  is  that  of  "  a 
girl  born  without  a  tongue,  who  yet  talked  as  easily  and 
distinctly,  as  if  she  had  enjoyed  the  full  benefit  of  that 
organ;"  and  the  second,  that  of  "a  boy,  who,  at  the  age 
of  eight  or  nine  years,  lost  his  tongue  by  a  gangrene,  or 
ulcer,  and  yet  retained  the  faculty  of  speaking."  See 
Middletou's  Free  Inqiiiry,  p.  183,  184. 

This  reasoning  of  the  sceptical  doctor  of  divinity  ap- 
peared superficial  and  unsatisfactory  to  the  judicious  Mr. 
Dodwell,  who  (saying  nothing  about  the  case  of  the  two 
Trinitarians  who  remained  dumb,  after  their  tongues 
were  cutout, and  whose  dumbness  is  but  indifferently  ac- 
counted for  by  their  immorality,  since  gifls  have  been 
often  possessed  without  grace)  confines  himself  to  the 
consideration  of  the  two  parallel  facts  drawn  from  the 
Academical  Memoirs  already  mentioned.  To  show  that 
these  facts  prove  little  or  nothing  against  the  miracle  in 
question,  he  justly  observes,  that  though,  in  one  or  two 
particular  cases,  a  moulh  may  be  so  singularly  formed  as 
to  utter  articulate  sounds,  without  the  usual  instrument 
of  speech,  (some  excrescence  probably  supplying  the  de- 
fect,) yet   it  cannot  be   any  thing  less  tliau  miraculous. 


attributed  to  a  supernatural   and   miraculous 
power,  is  a  point  which  admits  dispute.* 

V.  A  new  sect,  which  was  the  source  of 
most  fatal  and  deplorable  divisions  in  the 
Christian  church,  was  fonned  by  Nestorius, 
a  Syrian  bishop  of  Constantinople,  a  disciple 
of  the  cele"brated  Theodore  of  Mopsuestia,  and 
a  man  remarkable  for  his  learning  and  elo- 
quence, which  were,  however,  accompanied 
with  much  levity,  and  with  intolerable  arro- 
gance. Before  we  enter  into  a  particular  ac- 
count of  the  doctrine  of  this  sectary,  it  is  pro- 


that  this  should  happen  to  a  considerable  number  of  per- 
sons, whose  tongues  were  cut  out  to  prevent  their  preach- 
ing a  discountenanced  doctrine.  To  deny  the  miracle 
in  question,  we  must  maintain,  that  it  is  as  easy  to  speak 
without  a  tongue,  as  with  it.  See  Mr.  Dodwell's  Free 
Answer  to  Dr.  Middletou's  Free  Inquiry,  p.  96. 

Mr.  Toll,  who  defended  Middletou's  hypothesis,  has 
proposed  an  objection,  a  ■priori,  as  it  may  be  justly  call- 
ed, to  the  truth  of  this  miracle.  He  observes,  that  the 
occasion  on  which  it  was  wrought  was  not  of  sufficient 
ronsequenee  or  necessity  to  require  a  divine  interposition; 
for  it  was  not  wrought  to  convert  infidels  to  Christianity, 
but  to  bring  over  the  followers  of  Arius  to  the  Athanasian 
faith;  it  was  wrought,  in  a  word,  for  the  explication  of  a 
doctrine,  which  both  sides  allowed  to  be  founded  in  the 
New  Testament.  Now,  as  the  Scriptures  are  a  revela- 
tion of  the  will  of  God,  "it  seems,  (says  Mr.  Toll)  to 
casta  reflection  on  his  wisdom,  as  if  he  did  things  by 
halves,  to  suppose  it  necessary  for  him  to  work  miracles, 
in  order  to  ascertain  the  sense  of  those  Scriptures.  This 
(continues  he)  would  be  multiplying  miracles  to  an  in- 
finite degree; — besides,  it  would  destroy  the  universal 
truth  of  that  proposition  from  which  we  cannot  depart, 
namely,  That  the  Scriptures  are  sufficiently  plain  in  all 
things  necessary  to  salvation."  See  Mr.  Toll's  Defence 
of  Dr.  Middletou's  Free  Inquiry,  against  Mr.  Dodwell's 
Free  Answer.  To  this  specious  objection  Mr.  Dodwell 
replies,  that  ou  the  doctrine  in  dispute  between  the  Ari- 
ans and  the  orlliodox,  the  true  notion,  as  well  as  the  im- 
portance and  reality  of  our  salvation,  may  be  said  to  de- 
pend; that  the  doctrines,  duties,  and  motives  of  Chris- 
tianity, are  exalted  or  debased,  as  we  embrace  one  or 
the  other  of  those  systems;  that,  on  the  divinity  of  Christ, 
the  meritoriousness  of  tlie  propitiation  otTered  by  him 
must  entirely  rest;  and  that,  therefore,  no  occasion  of 
greater  consequence  can  be  assigned  on  which  a  miracle 
might  be  expected.  He  adds,  that  the  disputes  which 
men  have  raised  about  certain  doctrines,  are  no  proof 
that  these  doctrines  are  not  plainly  revealed  in  Scrip- 
ture, since  this  would  prove  that  no  truth  is  there  suffi- 
ciently revealed,  because,  at  one  lime  or  other,  they  have 
been  all  disputed;  and  he  observes  iudiciously,  that  the 
expediency  of  interposing  by  miracles,  is  what  we  always 
are  not  competent  judges  of.  since  God  alone  knows  the 
times,  seasons,  and  occasions,  in  which  it  is  proper  to  al- 
ter the  usual  course  of  nature,  in  order  to  maiiitaiu  the 
truth,  to  support  the  oppressed,  and  to  carry  on  the 
great  purposes  of  his  gos|iel  kingdom.  It  is  enough,  that 
the  present  interposition  be  not  incredible,  to  remove  Mr. 
Toll's  objection,  without  considering  its  particular  use, 
and  the  unexceptionable  nianuer  in  which  it  is  attested. 
See  Mr.  Dodwell's  Full  and  final  Reply  to  Mr.  Toll's 
Defence,  p.  270. 

We  must  observe  here  that  the  latter  objection  and 
answer  are  merely  hypothetical,  t.  e.  they  draw  their 
force  only  from  the  different  opinions,  which  the  ingeni- 
ous Mr.  Toll  and  his  learned  antagonist  entertain  con- 
cerning the  importance  of  the  doctrine,  in  favour  of 
which  this  pretended  miracle  is  said  to  have  been  wrought. 
The  grand  question,  whose  decision  alone  can  finish  this 
controversy,  is,  whether  the  tongues  of  these  African 
confessors  were  entirely  rooted  out.  or  not.  The  case 
of  the  two  who  remained  dumb  furnishes  a  shrewd  pre- 
sumption, that  the  cruel  operation  was  not  equally  per- 
formed upon  all.  The  immorality  of  these  two,  and  the 
judgment  of  God,  suspending  with  respect  to  them  the 
influence  of  the  miracle,  do  not  solve  this  difficulty  en- 
tirely, since  (as  we  observed  above)  many  have  possessed 
supernatural  gifts  without  grace;  and  Christ  tells  us,  that 
many  have  cast  out  devils  in  his  name,  whom  at  the  last 
day  he  will  not  acknowledge  as  his  faithful  servants. 

*  See  Ruinarti  Histor.  Persequut.  Vandal,  part  ii.  cap. 
vii.  p.  482.  See  Bibliotheque  Britannique,  torn.  iii.  part 
ii.  p.  339.  torn.  v.  part  i.  p.  171. 


I 


Chap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


149 


per  to  observe,  that  though,  by  the  decrees  of  I jtroversy  against  the  Arians,  than  it  had  for- 


former  councils,  it  had  been  clearly  and  pe- 
remptorily determined,  that  Christ  was,  at  the 
same  time,  true  God  and  true  man,  yet  no 
council  had  hitherto  decreed  any  tiling  con- 
cerning the  maimer  and  rffert  of  this  imion  of 
the  two  natures  in  the  divine  Saviour;  nor  had 


merly  been,  and  was  a  favourite  term  with  the 
followers  of  Apollinaris.  He,  at  the  same 
time,  gave  it  as  his  opinion,  that  the  Holy  Vir- 
gin was  rather  to  be  called  XeijoToz:;,  j.  e. 
mother  of  Christ,  since  the  Deity  can  neither 
be  born  nor  die,  and,  of  consi^quence,  tlie   son 


this  point  yet  become  a  tojtic  of  inquiry  or  dis-  i  of  man  alone  could  derive  his  birth  from  an 
pate  among  Cliristians.  The  consequence  of  i  earthly  parent.  Nestorius  applauded  these 
this  was,  that  the  Christian  doctors  expressed  L  sentiments,  and  explained  and  defended  them 
themselves  diflerently  on  the  subject  of  this  [i  in  several  discourses."*  But  both  he  and  his 
mystery.  Some  used  sucii  formsof  expression  I!  friend  Anastasius  were  keenly  opposed  by  cer- 
as  seemed  to  widen  the  difference  between  the  [[tain  monks  of  Constantinople,  wlio  maintain- 
Son  of  God  and  the  son  of  man,  and  thus  to  j  ed  that  the  son  of  Mary  was  God  incarnate, 
divide  the  nature  of  Christ  into  two  distinct  |;  and  excited  the  zeal  and  fury  of  the  populace 


persons.  Others,  on  the  contrary,  seemed  to 
confound  too  much  the  Son  of  God  witli  the 
son  of  man,  and  to  suppose  the  nature  of  Christ 
composed  of  his  divinity  and  humanity  blended 
into  one. 

The  heresy  of  Apollinaris  had  given  occa- 
sion to  these  different  ways  of  speaking;  for 
he  maintained  tliat  the  man  Christ  was  not  en- 
dowed with  a  human  soul,  but  with  the  divine 
nature,  which  was  substituted  in  its  place,  and 
performed  its  functions;  and  tliis  doctrine  mani- 
festly supposed  a  confusion  of  the  two  natures 
in  the  Messiah.  The  Syrian  doctors,  there- 
fore, that  they  might  avoid  the  errors  of  Apol- 
linaris,   and    exclude   his   followers   from   the 


to  maintain  this  doctrine  against  Ne.storius. 
Notwithstanding  all  this,  the  discourses  of  the 
latter  were  extremely  well  received  in  many 
])laces,  and  had  the  majority  on  their  side.  The 
Egyptian  monks  had  no  sooner  perused  them, 
than  tliey  wore  persuaded,  by  the  weight  of 
the  arguments  tliey  contained,  to  embrace  the 
opinions  of  Nestorius,  and  accordingly  ceased 
to  call  the  Blessed  Virgin  the  mother  of  God. 
VII.  The  prelate  who  tjien  ruled  the  see  of 
Alexandria,  was  Cyril,  a  man  of  a  hauglity, 
turbulent,  and  imperious  temper,  and  painfully 
jealous  of  the  rising  power  and  authority  of 
the  bishop  of  Constantinople.  As  soon  as  this 
controversy  came  to  his  knowledge,  he  censur 


communion  of  the  clun-ch,  were  careful  ines-led  the  Enfvptiau  monks  and  Nestorius;  and, 
tablishing  an  accurate  distinction  between  the  ;  finding  the  latter  little  disposed  to  submit  to 
divine  and  the  human  nature  in  the  Son  of  ]  his  censure,  lie  proceeded  to  violent  measures; 
God;  and  for  this  purpose  they  used  such  forms  j  took  counsel  with  Celestine,  bisiiop  of  Rome, 
of  expression  as  seemed  to  favour  tlie  notion  j  whom  he  had  engaged  on  his   side;  assembled 


of  Christ's  being  composed  of  two  distinct  per 
sons.  The  manner  of  speaking,  adopted  bj' 
the  Alexandrians  and  Egyptians,  had  a  diiier- 
ent  tendency,  and  seemed  to  countenance  the 
doctrine  of  Apollinaris,  and,  by  a  confusion  of 
the  two  natures,  to  blend  tiiem  into  one.  Nes- 
torius, who  was  a  Syrian,  and  had  adopted  the 
sentiments  of  the  divines  of  his  nation,  was  a 
violent  enemy  to  all  the  sects,  but  to  none  so 
much  as  to  the  Apollinarian  fiction,  at  whose 
ruin  he  aimed  with  an  ardent  and  inextinguish- 
able zeal.  He  therefore  discoursed  of  the  two 
natures  in  Christ  after  tlie  Syrian  manner,  and 
commanded  his  disciples  to  distinguisii  careful- 
ly between  the  actions  and  perce])tions*  of  the 
Son  of  God,  and  those  of  the  son  of  man-.f 

VI.  Tlie  occasion  of  this  disagreeable  con- 
troversy was  furnished  by  the  presbyter  Anas- 
tasius, a  friend  of  Nestorius.  This  ecclesias- 
tic, in  a  public  discourse,  delivered  in  428,  de- 
claimed warmly  against  the  title  of  w;5t=/.c;,  or 
vwlher  of  God,  which  was  now  more  frequent- 
ly attributed  to  the  Virgin  Mary,  in  the  con- 


OjJ-  *  The  original  word  perpessio,  wliich  signifies 
pro|i(Tly  suffering  or  poKsion,  wc  have  here  translated  by 
llic  neneral  term,  jieric/id'o?!, because  siifierini,'  or  passion 
cannot  be,  in  any  sense,  atlribuled  to  the  divine   nature. 

t  The  .Jesuit  bnucin  pnbli>hedat  Paris,  in  1716,  a  His- 
tory of  IVeslorianism:  but  it  is  such  a  history  as  inij;l)t 
he  expected  Irom  a  writer,  who  was  obliged,  by  his  pro- 
fession, to  place  the  arrogant  Cyril  amontj  the  saints,  and 
Nestorius  among  the  heretics.  The  ancient  writers,  on 
both  sides  of  this  contro\trsy,  are  mentioned  by  Jo. 
Fi*anc.  Buddeus,  in  his  Isaernge  in  Theologiam,  torn.  ii. 
The  accounts  jriven  of  this  dispute  by  tlie  oriental  writers, 
are  collected  by  Renaudot,  in  his  Historia  Patriarch, 
Alexandrin.  ana  by  Jos.  Sim.  Assi  nianus,  in  his  Gibiioth. 
Orient.  Vaticaui. 


a  council  at  Alexandria  in  430;  and  hurled 
twelve  anathemas  at  the  head  of  Nestorius. 
The  tiiunderstricken  prelate  did  not  sink  under 
this  violent  shock;  but,  seeing  himself  unjustly 
accused  of  derogating  from  the  majesty  of 
Christ,  he  retorted  the  same  accusation  upon 
his  adversary,  ciiarged  him  with  the  Apollina- 
rian heresy,  with  confounding  the  two  natures 
in  Christ,  .and  loaded  Cyril  with  as  many  ana- 
themas as  he  li.nd  received  from  him.  This 
unhappy  contest  between  prelates  of  the  first 
order,  proceeded  rather  from  corrupt  motives 
of  jealousy  and  ambition,  than  from  a  sincere 
and  disinterested  zeal  for  the  truth,  and  was 
the  source  of  unnumbered  evils  and  calamities. 
Vill.  When  the  spirits  were  so  exasperated 
on  botli  sides,  by  reciprocal  excommunications 
and  polemic  writings,  that  tliere  was  no  pros- 
pect of  an  amicable  issue  to  this  unintelligible 
controversy,  Theodosius  the  younger  called  a 
council  at  Ephesus,  in  43 1 ,  whicli  was  the  third 
general  council  in  the  annals  of  the  church. 
[n  this  council  Cyril  presided,  though  he  was 
the  party  concerned,  and  the  avowed  enemy 
of  Nestorius;  and  he  proposed  examining  and 
determining  the  matter  in  debate  before  John 
of  Antioch  and  the  other  eastern  bishops  ar- 
rived. Nestorius  objected  to  this  proceeding, 
as  irregular  and  unjust;  but,  his  remonstrances 
being  without  elVect,  he  refused  to  comply  with 
the  summons  which  called  him  to  appear  be- 
fore the  council.  Cyril,  on  the  other  hand, 
pushing  on  matters  with  a  lawless  violence, 


*  See   Harduini   Concilia,   torn. 
Orient.  Vatican,  lorn.  iii. 


and  the   Biblioth. 


150 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


Nestorius  was  judged  without  being  heard; 
and,  during  the  absence  of  a  great  number  of 
those  bishops  wljo  belonged  to  tlie  council,  he 
was  compared  witli  the  traitor  .Judas,  charged 
with  blasphemy  against  the  divine  majesty, 
deprived  uf  liis  episcojjal  dignity,  and  sent  into 
exile,  where  he  finished  his  days.*  Tlie  trans- 
actions of  this  council  will  appear  to  the  can- 
did and  equitable  reader  in  the  most  unfavour- 
able light,  as  full  of  low  artifice,  contrarj'  to 
all  the  rules  of  justice,  and  even  destitute  of 
the  least  air  of  common  decency.  The  doc- 
trine, however,  that  was  established  in  it  con 
cerning  Clu-ist,  was  that  which  has  been  al- 
ways acknowledged  and  adopted  by  the  major- 
ity of  Christians,  viz.  "That  Christ  was  one 
divine  person,  in  whom  two  natures  were  most 
closely  and  intimately  united,  but  without  be- 
ing mixed  or  confounded." 

IX.  Nestorius,  among  accusations  of  less 
moment,  was  charged  with  dividing  the  nature 
of  Christ  into  two  distinct  persons,  and  with 
having  maintained,  that  the  divine  nature  was 
superadded  to  the  human  nature  of  Jesus,  after 
it  was  formed,  and  was  no  more  than  an  aux- 
iliary support  to  the  man  Christ,  through  the 
whole  of  his  life.  Nestorius  denied  this  charge 
even  to  the  last,  and  solemnly  professed  his 
entire  disapprobation  of  this  doctrine.]  Nor 
indeed  was  this  opinion  ever  proposed  by  him 
in  any  of  his  writings:  it  was  only  charged 
upon  him  by  his  iniquitous  adversaries  as  a  con- 
sequence drawn  from  some  incautious  and  am- 
biguous terms  he  used,  and  particularly  from 
his  refusing  to  call  the  Virgin  Mary  the  mother 
of  God-l  Hence  many,  and  indeed  the  major- 
ity of  writers,  both  ancient  and  modern,  after 
a  thorough  examination  of  this  matter,  have 
positively  concluded,  that  the  opinions  of  Nes- 
torius, and  of  the  council  which  condemned 
them,  were  the  same  in  effect;  that  their  dif- 
ference was  in  words  only,  and  that  the  whole 
blame  of  this  unhappy  controversy  was  to  be 
charged  upon  tiie  turbulent  spirit  of  Cyril,  and 
his  aversion  to  Nestorius. § 


*  Those  who  desire  a  more  ample  account  of  this  coun- 
cil, may  consult  the  Variorum  Palrum  Epistolae  ad  Con- 
cilium Ephesinum  perlinentes,  published  at  Louvain  in 
1689,  from  some  Vatican  and  otiier  manuscripts  by 
Christian  Lupus.  Nestorius,  in  consequence  of  the  sen- 
tence pronounced  against  him  in  this  council,  was  first 
banished  to  Petra  in  Arabia,  and  aderwards  to  Oasis,  a 
solitary  place  in  the  deserts  of  Egypt,  where  he  died  in 
435.  The  accounts  given  of  his  tragical  death  by  Eva- 
grius,  in  his  Eccl.  Hist.  lib.  i.  cap.  vii.  and  by  Theodo- 
rns  the  Reader,  Hist.  Eccl.  lib.  ii.  p.  ."iSo,  are  entirely 
fabulous.  Q(j=  Dr.  Mosheim's  account  of  the  time  of 
Nestorius'  death  is  perhaps  inexact;  for  it  appears  that 
Nestorius  was  at  Oasis,  when  Socrates  wrote,  Ihat  is,  in 
439.     Sec  Socrat.  lib.  vii.  cap.  xxxiv. 

t  See  Garnier's  edition  of  the  works  of  Marius  Mer- 
cator,  torn.  ii.  p.  23t5.  See  also  the  fragments  of  some 
letters  from  Nestorius,  which  are  to  be  found  in  the 
Bibliolh.  Oriental.  Vatican,  lom.  ii. 

(SJ=  {  It  is  remarkable,  that  Cyril  would  not  hear  the 
explanations  which  Nestorius  offered  to  give  of  his  doc- 
trine. The  laltir  even  oflered  to  grant  the  title  of  Mo- 
ther of  God  to  the  Virgin  Mary,  i)rovided  that  notliing 
else  was  thereby  meant,  but  that  the  man  born  of  her 
was  united  to  the  divinity.  See  Socrat.  lib.  vii.  cap. 
xxxiv. 

I)  Luther  was  the  first  of  the  modern  writers  who 
"■— zght  thus;  and  he  inveighed  against  Cyril,  v.ith  the 
^.Jitest  bitterjiess,  in  his  book  de  Conciliis,  torn.  viii.  op. 
Altenb.  p.  965,  266,  273.  See  also  Bayle's  Dictionary, 
it   the  articles   Nestorius  and   Kodon. — Christ.  August. 


This  judgment  maj'  be  just  upon  the  whole; 
but  it  is,  however,  true,  tliat  Nestorius  com- 
mitted two  faults  in  the  course  of  tliis  contro- 
versy. The  first  was,  his  giving  offence  to 
many  Christians  by  abrogating  a  trite  and  in- 
nocent term;*  and  the  second,  his  presumptu- 
ously attempting  to  explain,  by  uncouth  com- 
parisons and  improper  expressioiis,  a  mystery 
which  infinitely  surpasses  the  extent  of  our  im- 
perfect reason.  If  to  these  defects  we  add  the 
despotic  spirit  and  the  excessive  warmth  of  this 
persecuted  prelate,  it  will  be  difficult  to  decide 
who  is  most  to  be  blamed,  as  the  principal  fo- 
menter  of  this  violent  contest,  Cyril  or  Nesto- 
rius. j 

X.  The  council  of  Ephesus,  instead  of  heal- 
ing these  divisions,  only  inflamed  them  more 
and  more,  and  almost  destroyed  all  hope  of 
restoring  concord  and  tranquillity  in  the  church. 
John  of  Antioch,  and  the  other  eastern  bish- 
ops, for  whose  arrival  Cyril  had  refused  to  wait, 
met  at  Ephesus,  and  pronounced  against  him 
and  Memnon,  the  bishop  of  that  city,  who  was 
his  creature,  as  severe  a  sentence  as  they  had 
thundered  against  Nestorius.  Hence  arose  a 
new  and  obstinate  dissension  between  Cyril 
and  the  Orientals,  with  the  bishop  of  Antioch 
at  their  head.  This  flame  indeed  abated  in 
433,  after  C'yril  had  received  the  articles  of 
faith  drawn  up  by  John,  and  abandoned  cer- 
tain phrases  and  expressions,  of  which  the  li- 
tigious might  make  a  pernicious  use.  But  the 
commotions,  which  arose  from  this  fatal  con- 
troversy, were  more  durable  in  the  east.  J  No- 
thing could  oppose  the  progress  of  Nestorian- 
ism  in  those  parts.  The  disciples  and  friends 
of  the  persecuted  prelate  carried  his  doctrine 
through  all  the  Oriental  provinces,  and  erect- 
ed every  where  congregations  which  professed 
an  invincible  opposition  to  the  decrees  of  the 
ccuncil  of  Ephesus.  The  Persians,  among 
others,  opposed  Cyril  in  the  most  vigorous  man- 
ner, maintained  tliat  Nestorius  had  been  un- 
justly condemned  at  Ephesus,  and  charged  Cy- 
ril with  removing  that  distinction  which  sub- 
sists between  the  two  natures  in  Christ.     But 


Salig,  de  Eutychianisrao  ante  Eutychen,  p.  200. — Otto 
Fred.  Schutzius,  de  Vita  Chytrsei,  lib.  ii.  cap.  xxix.  p. 
190,  191. — Jo.  Voigt  Biblioth.  Historiae  Hsresiologicae, 
torn.  i.  part  iii.  p.  4.57. — Paul.  Ernest.  Jablonsky,  Exerc. 
de  Nestoriauismo. — -Thesaur.  Epistolic.  Crozianus,_tom. 
i.  p.  184,  tom.  iii.  p.  175.— La  Vie  de  la  Croze,  par  Jor- 
dan, p.  231,  and  many  others.  As  to  the  faults  that  have 
been  laid  to  the  charge  of  Nestorius,  they  are  collected 
by  Asseman  in  his  Biblioth.  Orient.  Vatican,  tom.  iii. 
part  ii.  p.  210. 

{^  *  The  title  of  Mother  of  Gorf,  applied  to  the  Vir- 
gin Mary,  is  not  perhaps  .so  innocent  as  Dr.  Mosheim 
takes  it  to  be.  To  the  judicious  and  learned  it  can  pre- 
sent no  idea  at  all;  and  to  the  ignorant  and  unwary  it 
may  present  the  most  absurd  and  monstrous  notions.  The 
invention  and  use  of  such  mysterious  terms,  as  have  no 
place  in  Scripture,  are  undoubtedly  pernicious  to  true 
religion. 

^Xr"  t  There  is  no  difficulty  at  all  in  deciding  this 
question.  Nestorius,  though  possessed  of  an  arrogant 
and  persecuting  spirit  in  general,  yet  does  not  seem  to 
deserve,  in  this  particular  case,  the  reproaches  that  are 
due  to  Cyril.  Anastasius,  not  Nestorius,  was  the  first 
who  kindkd  the  flame;  and  Nestorius  was  the  suffering 
and  persecuted  party  from  the  beginning' of  the  contro- 
versy to  his  death.  His  offers  of  accommodation  were 
refused,  his  explanations  were  not  read,  his  submission 
was  rejected,  and  he  was  condemned  unheard. 

\  See  Christ.  Aug.  Salig,  de  Eutychianisrao  ante  Euty- 
chem   p.  243. 


Ohap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


151 


nothing  tended  so  much  to  propagate  with  ra- 
pidity tlie  doctrina  of  Nestorius,  as  its  being 
received  in  the  famous  school  which  had  for  a 
long  time  flourished  at  Edessa.  For  the  doe- 
tors  of  this  renowned  academy  not  only  in- 
structed the  youth  in  the  Ncstorian  tenets,  but 
translated  from  the  Greek  into  the  Syriac  lan- 
guage the  books  of  Nestorius;  of  his  master 
Theodorus  of  Mopsuestia,  and  the  writings  also 
of  Uiodorus  of  Tarsus,  and  sjjread  them  abroad 
throughout  Assyria  and  Persia.* 

XI.  Of  all  the  promoters  of  the  Nestorian 
cause,  there  was  not  one  to  whom  it  has  such 
weighty  obligations  as  to  the  famous  Barsumas, 
who  was  removed  from  his  place  in  the  school 
of  Edessa,  and  created  bishop  of  Nisibis  in 
435.  This  zealous  prelate  laboured  with  incre- 
dible assiduity  and  dexterity,  from  tlie  year 
440  to  485,  to  procure,  for  tlie  Nestorians,  a 
solid  and  permanent  settlement  in  Persia;  and 
he  was  vigorously  seconded  in  this  undertak- 
ing by  Maanes  bishop  of  Ardascira.  So  re-i 
markable  was  the  success  which  crowned  the  | 
labours  of  Barsumas,  that  his  fame  extended 
throughout  the  east;  and  those  Nestorians  who 
still  remain  in  Chaldaea,  Persia,  Assyria,  and 
tlie  adjacent  countries,  consider  him  alone,  and 
not  without  reason,  as  their  parent  and  foun- 
der. This  indefatigable  ecclesiastic  not  only 
persuaded  Firouz,  the  Persian  monarch,  to  ex- 
pel from  his  dominions  such  Christians  as  had 
adopted  the  opinions  of  the  Greeks,  and  to  ad- 
mit the  Nestorians  in  their  place,  but  he  even 
engaged  him  to  put  the  latter  in  possession  of 
tlie  principal  seat  of  ecclesiastical  authority  in 
Persia,  the  see  of  Seleucia,  which  the  Patri- 
arch, or  Catholic  of  tiie  Nestorians,  has  always 
filled  even  down  to  our  time.f  Tlie  zeal  and 
activity  of  Barsumas  did  not  end  here:  he 
erected  a  famous  school  at  Nisibis,  whence  is- 
sued those  Nestorian  doctors,  who,  in  this  and 
the  following  century,  spread  abroad  their  te- 
nets through  Egypt,  Syria,  Arabia,  India,  Tar- 
tary,  and  China. j; 

XII.  The  Nestorians,  before  their  affairs 
were  thus  happily  settled,  had  been  divided 
among  themselves  with  respect  to  the  method 
of  explaining  their  doctrine.  Some  maintain- 
ed, that  the  manner  in  which  tlie  two  natures 
were  united  in  Christ,  was  absolutely  unknown; 
others  tliat  the  union  of  tlie  divine  nature  with 
the  man  Jesus  was  only  an  union  of  will,  ope- 
ration,  and  dignity. §     This  dissension,  hovv- 


*  See  Assemaiii  Biblioth.  torn.  i.  p.  351;  torn.  iii.  part 
ii.  p.  69.  This  learned  author  may  b«  advantageously 
used  to  correct  what  Renaudot  has  said  (in  the  second 
tome  of  his  Liturgiie  Oritntales,  p.  99,)  concernitifj  l!ie 
rise  of  the  Nestorian  doctrine  in  the  eastern  provinces. 
Sec  also  the  Kcciesiaslical  History  of  Tlieodorus  the 
Reader,  book  ii.  p.  55i3. 

QlJ=-  t  The  bisliop  of  Seleucia  was,  by  the  twenty-third 
canon  of  the  council  of  Nice,  honoured  with  piculiar 
marks  of  distinction,  and  amone;  others  with  the  title  of 
Catholic.  He  was  invested  with  the  power  of  ordaining 
archbishops  (a  privilege  which  belonged  to  the  patriarchs 
alone,)  eiilted  above  all  the  Grecian  Bishops,  honoured 
as  a  patriarch,  and,  in  the  oecumenical  councils,  was  the 
sixth  in  rank  after  the  bishop  of  Jerusalem.  See  Acta 
Concilii  Nicxni  Arab.  Alphons.  Tisan.  lib.  iii.  cap. 
xxiii.  xxxiv. 

j  See,  for  an  ample  account  of  this  matter,  Asscmani 
Bii)lioth.  torn.  iii.  part  ii.  p.  7?. 

()  Leoutius  Bysaiit.  adversus,  Nestorian.  et  Lutychiau. 
p.  537,  torn.  i.  Lection.  Antiquar.  Henr.  Canisii. — Jac. 
nasDagr,  Prolrgomen.  ad  Canisium,  torn,  i.cap.  ii.  p.  19. 


ever,  entirely  ceased,  when  the  Nestorians  were 
gathered  into  one  religious  community,  and 
lived  in  tranquillity  tinder  their  own  ecclesias- 
tical government  and  laws.  Their  doctrine,  as 
it  was  tlien  determined  in  several  councils  as- 
sembled at  Seleucia,  amounts  to  what  follows: 
"  That  in  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  there 
were  tivo  persons,  or  vtoc /.t.u;  of  which 
one  was  divine,  even  the  eternal  word;  and 
the  other,  which  was  human,  was  the  man 
Jesus;  that  these  two  persons  had  only  one 
aspect;*  that  the  union  between  the  Son  of 
God  and  the  son  of  man,  was  formed  in  the 
moment  of  the  \'irgin''s  conception,  and  was 
never  to  be  dissolved;  that  it  was  not,  how- 
ever, an  union  of  nature  or  of  person,  but  only 
of  will  and  affection;  that  Christ  was,  there- 
i'ore,  to  bo  carefully  distinguished  from  God, 
who  dwelt  in  him  as  in  his  temple;  and  that 
Mary  was  to  be  called  tlie  mother  of  Christ, 
and  not  the  mother  of  God." 

The  abettors  of  this  doctrine  hold  Nestorius 
in  the  highest  veneration,  as  a  man  of  singular 
and  eminent  sanctity,  and  worthy  to  be  had  in 
perpetual  remembrance:  but  they  maintain,  at 
the  same  time,  that  tiie  doctrine  he  taught  was 
much  older  than  himself,  and  had  been  handed 
down  from  the  earliest  times  of  the  Christian 
church;  and  for  this  reason  they  absolutely  re- 
fused the  title  of  Nestorians;  and,  indeed,  if 
we  examine  the  matter  attentively,  we  shall 
find,  that  Barsumas  and  his  followers,  instead 
of  teaching  their  disciples  precisely  the  doc- 
trine of  Nestorius,  rather  polished  and  im- 
proved his  uncouth  system  to  their  own  taste, 
and  added  to  it  several  tenets  of  which  the 
good  man  never  dreamed. 

XIII.  A  violent  aversion  to  the  Nestorian 
errors  led  many  into  the  opposite  extreme. 
This  was  the  case  with  the  famous  Eutyches, 
an  abbot  at  Clonstantinople,  and  founder  of  a 
sect,  which  was  in  direct  opposition  to  that  of 
Nestorius,  yet  equally  prejudicial  to  the  inter- 
ests of  the  Christian  church,  by  the  pestilential 
discords  and  animosities  it  produced.  The 
opinions  of  this  new  faction  shot  like  lightning 
tlirough  the  east:  and  it  acquired  such  strength 
in  its  progress,  as  to  create  much  uneasiness,  both 
to  the  Greeks  and  Nestorians,  whose  most  vi- 
gorous elibrts  were  not  sufficient  to  prevent 
its  rising  to  a  high  degree  of  credit  and  splen- 
dour. Eutyches  beg;in  these  troubles  in  448, 
when  he  was  ftir  advanced  in  years;  and,  to- 
exert  his  utmost  force  and  vehemence  in  op- 
posing the  progress  of  the  Nestorian  doctrine, 
he  expressed  his  senthiients  concerning  the 
person  of  Christ,  in  the  very  terms  which  the 
Egyptians  made  use  of  for  that  purpose,  and 
taught,  that  in  Christ  there  was  only  one  na- 
ture,  namely,  that  of  the   incarnate   word.f 


(1(7=-  *  This  is  the  only  way  I  know  of  translating  the 
word  liarsopd,  wliich  was  the  term  used  by  Nestorius, 
and  which  the  Greeks  render  by  the  term  p  iruiriii. — 
The  word  person  would  have  done  better  in  this  unin- 
telligible phrase,  had  it  not  been  used  immediately  before 
in  a  different  sense  from  that  which  Nestorius  would 
convey  by  the  obscure  term  aspect. 

t  That  Cyril  expressed  himself  in  this  manner,  and  ap- 
pealed, for  his  justification  in  so  doing,  to  the  authority 
of  Athanasius,  is  evident  beyond  all  possibility  of  contra- 
diction. But  it  is  uncertain  whether  this  manner  of  ex- 
pression was  adopted  by  Athanasius  or  not,  since  many 
are  of  opinion,  that  the  book,  in  which  U  is  found.  ha» 


152 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CPIURCH. 


Part  II. 


Hence  he  was  thought  to  deny  the  existence  of 
the  human  nature  in  Christ,  and  was  accused 
of  this,  hy  Eusebius  of  Dorylfeuni,  in  the  coun- 
cil that  was  assembled  by  Flavianus  at  Con- 
stantinople, probably  in  this  same  year.     By  a 
decree  of  this  council  he  was  ordered  to   re- 
nounce the  above  mentioned  opinion,  which  he 
obstinately  refused  to  do,  and  was,  on  this  ac- 
count, excommunicated  and  deposed:  unwill- 
ing, however,  to  acq'iiesce  in  this  .sentence,  he 
appealed  to  tlie  decision  of  a  general  council. 
XIV.  In   consequence   of  this   appeal,    the 
emperor  Theodosius  assembled  an  oecumenical 
council   at  Eph.esus,   in  -149,   at  the   head  of 
which  he  placed  Dioscorus,  bishop  of  Alexan- 
dria, the  successor  of  Cyril,  the  faithful  imita- 
tor of  his  arrogance  and  fury,  and  a  declared 
enemy  to  the  bishop  of  Constantinople.     Ac- 
cordingly, by  the  influence  and  cabalhng  of 
this  turbulent  man,  matters  were  carried  on  in 
this  assembly  with  the  same  want  of  equity 
and  of  decency  that  had  dishonoured  a  former 
Ephesian   council,  and  characterised  the  pro- 
ceedings of  Cyril  against  Nestorius.     Diosco- 
rus, in  whose  church  a  doctrine,  almost  the 
same  with  that   of  the   Eutychians,  was  con- 
stantly taught,  confounded  matters  with  such 
artifice  and  dexterity,  that  the  doctrine  of  one 
incarnate  nature  triumphed,  and  Eutycheswas 
acquitted  of  the  charge  of  error  that  had  been 
brought  against  him.     Flavianus,  on  tlie  other 
hand,   was,  by  the  order  of  this  unrighteous 
council,  pubhclj'  scourged  in  the  most  barba- 
rous manner,  and  banished  to  Epipas,  a  city  of 
Lydia,  where  he  soon  after  ended  his  days.* 
The  Greeks   called   this  Ephesian  council,   a 
band  or  assemhlij  of  rohhers,  <ruy:>:^v  /.i^Trpi/.i;v,  to 
signify  that  every  thing  was  carried  in  it   by 
fraud  or  violence;!  and  many  councils,  indeed, 
both  in  this  and  the  following  ages,  arc  equally 
entitled  to  the  same  dishonourable  appellation. 
XV.  Aflairs  soon  changed,  and  assumed  an 
aspect  utterly  unfavourable  to  that  party  which 
the  Ephesian  council  had  rendered  triumphant. 
Flavianus  and  his  followers  not  only  engaged 
Leo  the  Great,  bishop  of  Rom  3,  in  their  in- 
terests (for  the  Roman  pontiff  was  the  ordi- 
nary refuge  of  the  oppressed  and  conquered 
party  in  tliis  century,)  but  also  remonstrated 
to  the  emperor,  that  a  matter  of  such  an  ardu- 
ous and  important  nature  required,  in  order  to 
its  decision,  a   council  composed  out  of  the 
church  univer.sal.     Leo  seconded  the  latter  re- 


been  falsely  attributed  to  him.  See  Mich.  Le  Quien, 
Dissert,  ii.  in  Daniascenum;  and  "Christ.  Aug.  Salig,  de 
Eutychianismo  ante  Eutychen,  p.  112.  It  appears,  by 
what  we  read  in  the  Biblloth.  Orient.,  that  the  Syrians 
expressed  themselves  in  this  manner  before  Eutyches, 
without  intending  thereby  to  broach  any  new  doctrine, 
but  rather  without  well  knowing  what  they  said.  We 
are  yet  in  want  of  a  solid  and  accurate  history  of  the 
Eutychian  troubles,  notwithstanding  the  labours  of  the 
learned  Salig  upon  that  subject. 

*  See  the  Concilia  Jo.  Harduini,  torn.  i.  p.  82. — Li- 
berati  Breviarium,  cap.  xii.  p.  76 — -Leonis  M.  Epist. 
iciii.  — Nici'phori  Hist.  Ecclesiast.  lib.  xiv.  cap.  Ixvii. 

(tj^  f  Though  Flavianus  died  soon  after  the  council  of 
Ephesus,  of  the  bruises  he  had  received  from  Dioscorus, 
and  the  other  bishops  of  his  party  in  that  horrid  assem- 
bly, yet,  before  his  death,  he  had  appealed  to  Leo;  and 
this  appeal,  pursued  by  the  pontiff,  occasioned  the  coun- 
cil; in  which  Eutyches  was  condemned,  and  the  san 
gumary  Dioscorus  deposed. 


!  quest,  and  demanded  of  Theodosius  a  general 
j  council,  which  no  entreaties  could  persuade 
j  this  emperor  to  grant.  Upon  his  death,  how- 
I  ever,  his  successor  Marcian  consented  to  Leo's 
j  demand,  and  called,  in  451,  the  council  of 
Chalcedon,*  which  is  reckoned  the  fourth  ge- 
I  neral  or  oecumenical  council.  The  legates  of 
I  Leo,  who,  in  his  famous  letter  to  Flavianus, 
had  already  condemned  tlie  Eutychian  doc- 
trine, presided  in  this  grand  and  crowded  as- 
sembly. Dioscorus  was  condemned,  deposed, 
and  banished  into  Paphlagonia;  the  acts  of  the 
council  of  Ephesus  were  annulled;  the  epistle 
of  Leo  was  received  as  a  rule  of  faith  ;t  Euty- 
ches, who  had  been  already  sent  into  banish- 
ment, and  deprived  of  his  sacerdotal  dignity 
by  the  emperor,  was  now  condemned,  though 
absent;  and  the  following  doctrine,  which  is  at 
this  time  almost  generally  received,  was  incul- 
cated upon  Christians  as  an  object  of  faith,  viz. 
"  That  in  Christ  two  distinct  natures  were  unit- 
ed in  one  person,  without  any  change,  mixture, 
or  confusion." 

XVI.  The  remedy  applied  by  this  council, 
to  heal  the  wounds  of  a  torn  and  divided 
church,  proved  really  worse  than  the  disease; 
for  a  great  number  of  Oriental  and  Egyptian 
doctors,  though  of  various  characters  and  dif- 
ferent opinions  in  other  respects,  united  in  op- 
posing, with  the  utmost  vehemence,  the  coun- 
cil of  Chalcedon  and  the  epistle  of  Leo,  which 
that  assembly  had  adopted  as  a  rule  of  faith, 
and  were  unanimous  in  maintaining  an  unity 
of  nature,  as  well  as  of  person,  in  Jesus  Clirist. 
Hence  arose  deplorable  discords  and  civil  wars, 
whose  fury  and  barbarity  were  carried  to  the 
most  excessive  and  incredible  lengths.  On  the 
death  of  the  emperor  Marcian,  the  populace 
assembled  tumultuously  in  Egypt,  massacred 
Prolerius,  the  successor  of  Dioscorus,  and  sub- 
stituted in  his  place  Timotheus  iElurus,  who 
was  a  zealous  defender  of  the  Eutychian  doc- 
trine of  one  incarnate  nature  in  Christ.  This 
latter,  indeed,  was  deposed  and  banished  by  the 
emperor  Leo;  but,  upon  his  death,  was  restor- 
ed by  Basilicus  both  to  his  liberty  and  episco- 
pal dignity.  After  the  death  of  jEIurus,  the 
defenders  of  the  council  of  Chalcedon  chose, 
as  his  successor,  Timotheus,  surnamed  Salo- 
phaciolus,  while  the  partisans  of  the  Eutychi- 
an doctrine  elected  schism  atically  Peter  Mog- 
gus  to  the  same  dignity.  An  edict  of  the  em- 
peror Zeno  obliged  the  latter  to  yield.  The 
triumph,  however,  of  the  Chalcedonians,  on 
this  occasion,  was  but  transitory;  for,  on  the 
death  of  Timotheus,  John  Talaia,  whom  they 
had  chosen  in  his  place,  was  removed  by  the 


Q(j=-  *  This  council  was  first  assembled  at  Nice,  but 
afterwards  removed  to  Chalcedon,  that  the  emperor,  who, 
on  account  of  the  irruption  of  the  Kuns  into  lllyricum, 
was  unwilling  to  go  far  from  Constantinople,  might  as- 
sist at  it  in  person. 

(!(^  t  This  was  the  letter  which  Leo  had  written  to 
Flavianus,  after  having  been  informed  by  him  of  what 
had  passed  in  tlie  council  of  Constantinople.  In  this 
epistle,  Leo  approves  the  decisions  of  that  council,  de- 
clares the  doctrine  of  Eutyches  heretical  and  impious, 
and  explains,  with  gnat  appearance  of  perspicuity,  the 
doctrine  of  the  catholic  church  upon  this  perplexed  sub- 
ject; so  that  this  letter  was  esteemed  a  masterpiece,  both 
of  logic  and  eloquence,  and  was  constantly  read,  during 
the  Advent,  in  the  western  churches. 


Chap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


153 


same  emperor;*  and  Moggus,  or  Moiigus,  by 
an  imperial  edict,  and  tlie  favour  oi'  Acacius, 
bisliop  of  Constantinople,  was,  in  4S2,  raised 
to  the  see  of  Alexandria. 

XVII.  The  abbot  Barsunias  (whom  the  reader 
must  be  careful  not  to  confound  with  Barsu- 
mas  of  Nisibis,  the  famous  promoter  of  the 
Nestorian  doctrines,)  jiaving  been  condemned 
by  the  coiincil  of  Chalcedon,f  propagated  the 
Eutychian  opinions  in  Syria,  and,  by  the  min- 
istry of  his  disciple  Samuel,  spread  them 
amongst  the  Armenians  about  the  year  460. 
Tiiis  doctrine,  Ifawever,  as  it  was  commonly 
explained,  had  something  so  harsh  and  shock- 
ing in  it,  that  the  Syrians  were  easily  engaged 
to  abandon  it  by  the  exhortations  of  Xenaias, 
otherwise  called  Philoxenus,  bishop  of  Hiera- 
polis,  and  the  famous  Peter  Fullo.  These  doc- 
tors rejected  the  opinion,  attributed  to  Euty- 
ches,  that  the  human  nature  of  Christ  was  ab- 
sorbed by  the  divine, j;  and  modified  matters  so 
as  to  form  the  following  hypothesis:  "  That  in 
the  Son  of  God  there  was  one  nature,  which, 
notwithstanding  its  unity,  was  double  and  com- 
pounded.'''' This  notion  was  not  less  repug- 
nant to  the  decisions  of  the  council  of  Chal- 
cedon  than  the  Eutychian  doctrine,  and  was 
therefore  strongly  opposed  by  those  who  ac- 
knowledged the  authority  of  that  council. § 

XVIII.  Peter,  surnamed  Fullo,  from  the 
trade  of  a  fuller,  which  he  exercised  in  his  mo- 
nastic state,  had  usurped  the  see  of  Antioch, 
and,  after  having  been  several  times  deposed 
and  condemned  on  account  of  the  bitterness  of 
his  opposition  to  the  council  of  Chalcedon,  was 
at  last  fixed  in  it,  in  48i,  by  the  authority  of 
the  emperor  Zeno,  and  the  favour  of  Acacius, 
bishop  of  Constantinople.  II  This  troublesome 
and  contentious  man  excited  new  discords  in 
the  church,  and  seemed  ambitious  of  forming 
a  new  sect  under  the  name  of  Theopaschites;TI 
for,  to  the  words,  "  O  God  most  holy,"  &c. 
in  the  famous  hymn  which  the  Greeks  called 
Tris-ag'ium,  he  ordered  the  following  phrase  to 
be  added  in  the  eastern  ciuirches,  "  who  hast 
suffered  for  us  upon  the  cross. ''^  His  design  in 
this  was  manifestly  to  raise  a  new  sect,  and 
also  to  fix  more  deeply,  in  the  minds  of  the 
people,  the  doctrine  of  one  nature  in  Christ,  to 
which  he  was  zealously  attached.  His  adver- 
saries, and  especially  Felix  tlie  Roman  pontiff, 


*  S«e  Liberati  Breviarium,  cap.  xvi.  xvii.  Tviii. — Evagr. 
Hist.  Ercles.  lib.  ii.  cap.  viii.  lib.  iii.  cap.  iii. — Le-^uien, 
Oriens  Cliristianus,  torn.  ii.  p.  410. 

(t(j~  t  The  Barsumas,  here  mentioned,  was  he  who  as- 
sistrd  the  bishop  of  Alexandria  (Dioscorus)  and  the  sol- 
diers, in  beating  Flavianus  to  death  in  the  council  ofEphe- 
sus,  and  to  shun  whose  fury,  the  orthodox  bishops  were 
forced  to  creep  into  holes,  and  hide  themselves  under 
benches,  in  that  pious  ivisembly. 

(ffj^  \  Eutyches  never  affirmed  what  is  here  attributed 
to  him;  he  maintained  simply,  that  the  two  natures, 
which  existed  in  Christ  before  his  incarnation,  became 
one  after  it,  by  the  hypostatical  union.  This  miserable 
dispute  about  words  was  nourished  by  the  contending 
parties  h.iving  no  clear  ideas  of  the  terms  person  and 
nature,  as  also  by  an  invincible  ignorance  of  the  subject. 

(f  Asscmaui  Biblioth.  Orient.  Vat.  tom.  ii.;  and  the 
Dissertation  of  the  same  author,  de  IVIonophysitis. 

II  Valesii  Disaertatio  de  Pet.  Kullone,  etde  Synodis  ad- 
versus  eum  collectis,  which  is  added  to  the  third  volume 
of  the  Scriptor.  Hist.  Ecclesiast. 

{t(J-Tr  This  word  expresses  the  enormous  error  of  those 
frantic  doctors,  who  imagined  that  the  Godhead  suffered 
in  and  with  Christ. 

Vol.  I.— 20 


inter|)ieted  this  addition  to  the  above-mention- 
ed hymn  in  a  quite  difl'erent  manner,  and  charg- 
ed hiin  with  maintaining,  that  all  the  three 
persons  of  the  Godhead  wero  crucified;  and 
hence  those  who  approved  his  addition  were 
called  Tlieupaschites.  The  consequence  of  this 
dispute  was,  that  the  western  Christians  reject- 
ed the  addition  inserted  by  Fullo,  which  they 
judged  relative  to  the  whole  Trinity,  while  the 
Orientals  used  it  constantly  atler  this  period, 
without  giving  the  least  olfeiice,  because  they 
applied  it  to  Christ  alone.* 

XIX.  To  put  an  end  to  this  controversy, 
which  had  produced  the  most  unhappy  divi- 
sions both  in  church  and  state,  tlie  emperor 
Zeno,  by  the  advice  of  Acacius,  bishop  of  Con- 
stantinople, published,  in  48J,  the  famous  He- 
noHcon,  or  Decree  of  Union,  which  was  de- 
signed to  reconcile  the  contending  parties. — 
This  decree  repeated  and  confirmed  all  that 
had  been  enacted  in  the  councils  of  Nice,  Con- 
stantinople, Ephesus,  and  Clialeedon,  against 
the  Arians,  Nestorians,  and  Eutychians,  with- 
out making  any  particular  mention  of  the  coun- 
cil of  Chalcedon;t  for  Acacius  had  persuaded 
the  emperor,  that  the  present  opposition  was 
not  carried  on  against  the  decrees  that  had 
passed  in  the  council  of  Chalcedon,  but  against 
the  assembly  itself;  with  respect  to  which, 
therefore,  an  entire  silence  was  undoubtedly 
prudent  in  a  proposal,  which,  instead  of  reviv- 
ing, was  designed  to  put  an  end  to  all  disputes, 
and  to  reconcile  the  most  jarring  principles. 
In  the  mean  time,  Mongus  and  Fullo,  who 
filled  the  sees  of  Alexandria  and  Antioch,  and 
headed  the  sect  of  the  Monophysites,|  sub- 
scribed this  Decree  of  Union,  which  was  also 
approved  by  Acacius,  and  by  all  those  of  the 
two  contending  parties  who  were  at  all  re- 
markable tor  their  candour  and  moderation. 
But  there  were  on  all  sides  violent  and  obsti- 
nate bigots,  who  opposed,  with  vigour,  these 
pacific  measures,  and  complained  of  the  He- 
noticon  as  injurious  to  the  honour  and  authori- 
ty of  the  most  holy  council  of  Chalcedon. § 
Hence  arose  new  contests  and  new  divisions 
not  less  deplorable  than  those  which  the  de- 
cree was  designed  to  suppress. 

XX.  A  considerable  body  of  the  Monophy- 
sites,  or  Eutychians,  looked  upon  the  conduct 
of  Mongus,  who  had  subscribed  the  decree,  as 
highly  criminal,  and  consequently  formed  them- 
selves into  a  new  faction,  under  tl»e  title  of 
Acephali,  i.  e.  headless,  because,  by  trfe  submis- 
sion of  Mongus,  they  had  been  deprived  of 
their  cliief.||  This  sect  was  afterwards  divided 
into  three  others,  who  were  called  Anthropo- 
morphites,  Barsanui)hites,  and  Esaianists;  and 
these  again,  in  the  following  century,  were  the 


*  See  Norris,  t.ib.  de  uiio  ex  Triiiitalc  came  passo, 
tom.  iii.  op.  diss.  i.  cap.  iii.  782. — Asscman.  Biblioth. 
Orient.  Vatican,  tom.  i.  p.  51S;  tom.  ii.  p.  36,  180. 

t  Evagrii  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  iii.  cap.  xiv. — Liberati 
Breviarium,  cap.  xviii. 

OC^  t  This  word  expresses  the  doctrine  of  those  who 
believed,  that  in  Christ  there  was  but  one  nature,  and  is, 
in  most  respects,  the  same  with  the  term  Eutychians. 

^  See  Facuad.  Hermiau.  Defens.  trium  Capitulor.  lib. 
xii.  cap.  iv. 

II  Evagr.  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  iii.  cap.  xiii. — Leontius  By- 
zant.  de  f^ectia,  tom.  i.  Lection.  Antiq.  Canisii,  p.  537. — 
Timoth.  in  Cotelerii  Monument.  E^clcaiae  Graecae,  torn, 
iii.  p.  409. 


154 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


unhappy  occasion  of  new  factions,  of  which 
the  ancient  writers  make  frequent  mention.* 
It  is,  however,  necessary  to  observe  here,  for 
the  information  of  tiiose  whose  curiosity  in- 
terests them  in  inquiries  of  this  nature,  tliat 
these  subdivisions  of  the  Eutychian  sect  are 
not  to  be  adoi)ted  with  too  much  facihty. — 
Some  of  them  are  entirely  fictitious;  others  are 
characterised  by  a  nominal,  and  not  by  a  real 
dilFerence;  the  division  is  in  rcoi'ds,  and  not  in 
things;  while  a  third  sort  are  distinguished, 
not  by  their  peculiar  doctrines,  but  by  certain 
rites  and  institutions,  and  matters  of  a  merely 
circumstantial  nature.  Be  that  as  it  will,  these 
numerous  branches  of  the  Eutychian  faction 
did  not  flourish  long;  they  declined  gradually 
in  the  following  century;  and  the  influence 
and  authority  of  the  famous  Baradasus  contri- 
buted principally  to  their  total  extinction  by 
the  union  he  established  among  the  members 
of  that  sect. 

XXI.  The  Roman  pontitf,  Felix  II.,  having 
assembled  an  Italian  council,  composed  of  six- 
ty-seven bishops,  condemned  and  deposed  Aca- 
cius,  and  excluded  him  from  the  communion 
of  the  church,  as  a  perfidious  enemy  to  the 
truth.  Several  articles  were  alleged  against 
him,  to  furnish  a  pretext  for  the  severity  of  this 
sentence;  such  as  his  attachment  to  the  Mono- 
physites,  and  their  leaders  Mongus  and  Fullo, 
the  contempt  with  which  he  treated  the  coun- 
cil of  Chalcedon,  and  other  accusations  of  a 
like  nature.  But  the  true  reasons  of  these  pro- 
ceedings, and  of  the  irreconcileable  hatred 
which  the  Roman  pontiffs  indulged  against 
him,  were  his  denying  the  supremacy  of  the 
bishop  of  Rome,  his  opposing  it  throughout  the 
whole  course  of  his  ministry,!  and  his  ambi- 
tious efforts  to  enlarge,  beyond  all  bounds,  the 
authority  and  prerogatives  of  the  see  of  Con- 
stantinople. The  Greeks,  however,  defended 
the  character  and  memory  of  their  bishop 
against  all  the  aspersions  which  were  cast  upon 
him  by  the  Romans.  Hence  arose  a  new 
schism,  and  a  new  contest,  which  were  carried 
on  with  great  violence,  until  the  following 
century,  when  the  obstinacy  and  perseverance 
of  the  Latins  triumphed  over  the  opposition 
of  the  oriental  Christians,  and  brought  about 
an  agreement,   in  consequence  of  which,  the 


*  These  sects  are  enumerated  by  Basnage,  in  his  Pro- 
legotn.  aJ  Canisii  Lection.  Antiq.  cap.  iii.  and  by  Asse- 
man.  in  his  Disserlatio  de  Moaophysitis. 

Ol^  \  This  again  is  ohc  of  the  periods  of  erclesiaslical 
history,  ill  which  we  find  a  multitude  of  events,  wliich 
are  so  many  proofs  liow  far  the  supremacy  of  the  pope 
was  from  being  universally  acknowledged.  Felix  U.  de- 
poses and  excommunicates  Acacius  the  palriaxch  of  Con- 
stantinople, who  not  only  receives  this  sentence  with 
contempt,  but,  in  his  turn,  anathematises  and  excommuni 
cates  the  pope,  and  orders  his  name  to  be  stri^oUen  out  of 
the  diptychs.  This  conduct  of  Acacius  is  approved  by 
the  emperor,  the  church  of  Constantinople,  by  almost  all 
the  eastern  bishops, and  even  by  Aiidreasof  Thessalonica, 
who  was  at  that  time  the  pope's  vicar  for  East  lUyricum. 
This  was  the  occasion  of  that  general  schism,  which  con- 
tinued for  twenty-five  years,  between  the  eastern  and  west- 
ern churches.  11  is  here  worthy  of  observation,  that  the 
eastern  bishops  did  not  adhere  to  the  cause  of  Acacius, 
from  any  other  principle,  as  appears  from  the  most  au- 
thentic records  of  those  times,  than  a  persuasion  of  the 
illegality  of  bis  excommunication  by  the  Roman  pontiff, 
who,  in  their  judgment,  had  not  a  right  to  depose  the 
first  bishop  of  the  east,  without  th»  consent  of  a  general 
council. 


names  of  Acacius  and  Fullo  were  erased  from 
the  diptychs,  or  sacred  registers,  and  thus 
branded  with  perpetual  infamy.* 

XX II.  These  de|)lorable  dissensions  and  con- 
tests had,  for  their  object,  a  matter  of  the 
smallest  importance.  Eutyches  was  generally 
supposed  to  have  maintained,  "That  the  di- 
vine nature  of  Christ  had  absorbed  the  human, 
and  that,  consequently,  in  him  there  was  but 
one  nature,  namely,  the  divine;"  but  the  truth 
of  tiiis  supposition  is  destitute  of  sufficient 
evidence.  However  that  may  have  been,  this 
opinion,  and  also  Eutyches,  its  pretended  au- 
thor, were  rejected  and  condemned  by  those 
who  opposed  the  council  of  Chalcedon,  and 
principally  indeed  by  Xenaias  and  Fullo,  who 
are,  therefore,  improperly  called  Eutychians, 
and  belong  rather  to  the  class  of  the  Monophy- 

i  sites.  They,  wiio  assumed  this  latter  title, 
I  held,  "  That  the  divine  and  human  nature  of 
Christ  were  s<j  united,  as  to  form  only  one  na- 
ture, yet  without  any  change,  confusion,  or 
mixture,  of  the  two  natures:"  and  that  this 
caution  might  be  carefully  observed,  and  their 
meaning  be  well  understood,  they  frequently 
expressed  themselves  thus:  "  In  Christ  there  is 
one  nature;  but  that  nature  is  two-fold  and 
compounded. "j  They  disowned  all  relation  and 
attachment  to  Eutyches;  but  regarded,  with 
the  highest  veneration,  Dioscorus,  Barsumas, 
Xenakis  and  Fullo,  as  the  pillars  of  their  sect; 
and  rejected,  not  only  the  Epistle  of  Leo,  but 
also  the  decrees  of  the  council  of  Chalcedon. 
The  opinion  of  the  Monophysites,  if  we  judge 
of  it  by  the  terms  in  which  it  is  here  delivered, 
does  not  seem  to  differ  in  reality,  but  only  in 
the  manner  of  expression,  from  that  which  was 
established  by  the  council.];  But,  if  we  attend 
carefully  to  the  metaphysical  arguments  and 
subtilties  which  the  former  employed  to  con- 
firm their  doctrine, §  we  shall,  perhaps,  be  in- 
duced to  think,  that  the  controversy  between 
the  Monophysites  and  Chalcedonians  is  not 
merely  a  dispute  about  words. 

XXIII.  A  new  controversy  arose  in  the 
church  during  this  century,  and  its  pestilential 
effects  extended  themselves  through  the  follow- 
ing ages.  The  authors  of  it  were  Pelagius  and 
Ccelestius,  both  monks;  the  former  a  Briton, 
and  the  latter  a  native  of  Ireland. |j  They  lived 


*  Hen.  Valesius,  Dissert,  de  Synodis  Roman,  in  quibus 
damnatus  est  Acacius,  ad  calcem,  torn.  iii.  Scriptor.  Ec- 
cles.  p.  179. — BasDage,  Histoire  de  PEjIise,  torn.  i.  p. 
301,  380,  aSl.— Bayle's  Dictionary.— David  Blondel,  de 
la  Pi-iinautc  dans  I'Eglise,  p.  279. — Acta  Sanctorum,  torn, 
iii.  Febraar.  p.  503. 

t  Seethe  passages  drawn  from  the  writings  of  the  Mo- 
nophysites by  the  most  learned,  and,  frequently,  impar- 
tial Asseman,  in  his  Biblioth.  Orient.  Vatic,  torn.  iii.  p. 
25,  26,  29,  &c. 

{  Many  learned  men  treat  this  eontroversy  as  a  mere 
dispute  about  words.  Gregory  Abulpharajius,  himself  a 
Monopliysite,  and  Ihe  most  learned  of  the  sect,  declares 
this  as  his  opinion.  See  the  Biblioth.  Italique,  torn.  xvii. 
p.  285. — La  Croze,  Histoire  du  Christianisme  des  Indes, 
p.  23;  and  the  Histoire  du  Christianisme  d'Ethiopie, 
p.  14.  Assemaa,  though  a  Roman  by  birth  and  by  reli- 
gion, seems,  in  a  good  measure,  to  have  adopted  the  same 
way  of  thinking,  as  appears  by  p.  297  in  his  second 
volume. 

§  See  the  subtile  argumentation  of  Abulpharajius,  in 
the  Biblioth.  Orient,  torn.  ii.  p.  288. 

Q(p=  II  Nothing  very  certain  can  be  advanced  with  re- 
spect to  the  native  country  of  Ccelestius,  which  some  say 
was  Scotland,  and  others  Campania  in  Italy.    We  know 


Chap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


155 


fit  Rome  in  the  greatest  reputation,  and  were 
universally  esteemed  for  their  extraordinary 
piety  and  virtue.*  These  monks  looked  upon 
the  doctrines,  which  were  commonly  received, 
"  concerning  the  original  corruption  of  human 
nature,  and  the  necessity  of  divine  grace  to 
enlighten  the  understanding,  and  purify  the 
heart,  as  prejudicial  to  the  progress  of  holiness 
and  virtue,  and  tending  to  lull  mankind  in  a 
presumptuous  and  fatal  security.  They  main- 
tained, that  these  doctrines  were  as  false  as 
they  were  pernicious;  that  the  sins  of  our  first 
parents  were  imputed  to  them  alone,  and  not 
to  their  postei'ity;  that  we  derive  no  corrup- 
tion from  their  fall,  but  are  born  as  pure  and 
unspotted  as  Adam  came  out  of  the  forming 
hand  of  his  Creator;  that  mankind,  therefore, 
are  capable  of  repentance  and  amendment,  and 
of  arriving  at  the  higiiest  degrees  of  piety  and 
virtue  by  the  use  of  their  natural  faculties  and 
powers;  that,  indeed,  external  gnce  is  neces- 
sary to  excite  their  endeavours,  but  that  they 
have  no  need  of  the  internal  succours  of  the 
divine  Spirit."  These  notions,  and  others  in- 
timately connected  with  them,!  were  propa- 
gated at  Rome,  though  in  a  private  manner,  by 
the  two  monks  already  mentioned,  who,  retir- 
ing from  that  city,  in  410,  upon  the  approach 
of  the  Goths,  went  first  into  Sicily,  and  after- 
Vv^ards  into  Africa,  where  they  published  their 
doctrine  with  greater  freedom.  From  Africa 
I'elagius  passed  into  Palestine,  vvliile  C'a'lestius 
remained  at  Carthage  with  a  view  to  prciijr- 
inent,  desiring  to  be  admitted  among  tiie  pres- 
byters of  that  city.  But  the  discovery  of  his 
opinions  having  blasted  his  hopes,  and  iiis  er- 
rors being  condemned  in  a  council  holdon  at 
Carthage,  in  412,  he  departed  from  that  city, 
and  went  into  the  east.  It  was  from  this  time 
that  Augustin,  the  famous  bishop  of  Tlippo, 
began  to  attack  the  tenets  of  Pelagius  and 
Coslestius  in  his  learned  and  eloquent  writings; 
and  to  him,  indeed,  is  principally  due  the  glory 
of  having  suppressed  tliis  sect  in  its  very  birth,  j 


however,  that  he  was  descended  of  an  illustrious  lamily; 
and  that,  after  having  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  the 
law  for  some  time,  he  rftired  from  the  world,  and  em- 
braecd  the  monastic  life.  See  (iennad.  de  Script.  Ecclcs. 
cap.  \liv. 

(tiy^  *  The  learned  and  furious  Jerome,  who  never 
once  thought  of  doing  common  justice  to  tho.se  who  had 
the  misfortune  to  dili'er  from  him  in  opinion,  accused 
Pelagius  of  gluttonyaiid  inlemperance,  after  he  had  heard 
of  his  errors,  though  he  had  admired  him  before  for  his 
exemplary  virtue.  Augustin,  more  candid  and  honest, 
bears  impartial  testimony  lo  the  truth;  and,  even  while 
he  writes  against  this  heretic,  acknowledges  (hat  he  had 
made  great  progress  in  virtue  and  piety,  that  his  life  was 
chaste  and  his  manners  were  blameless;  and  this,  indeed, 
is  the  truth. 

(trj-  t  The  doctrines  that  were  more  immediately  con- 
nected with  the  main  principles  of  Pelagius,  were,  that 
infant  baptism  was  not  a  sign  or  seal  of  the  remission  of 
sins,  but  a  mark  of  admission  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
which  was  only  open  to  the  pure  in  heart;  that  good 
works  were  meritorious,  and  the  only  conditions  of  salva- 
tion;— with  many  others  too  tedious  to  mention. 

}  The  Pelagian  controversy  has  been  historically  treat- 
ed by  many  learned  writers,  such  as  Usher,  in  his  Anti- 
quit.  Ecclcs.  Britannica;;  Laet;  Ger.  Vossius;  Norris; 
Garnier,  in  his  Supplement.  Oper.  Theodoreti;  .Janse- 
nius  in  Augustino,and  others.  Lonpueval  also,  a  French 
Jesuit,  wrote  a  History  of  the  Pelagians.  See  the  preface 
to  the  ninth  volume  ofhis  Hisloria  F.ccles,  Gallieam. 
After  all,  it  must  be  confessed,  that  these  learned  writers 
have  not  exhausted  this  interesting  subject,  or  treated  it 
Willi  a  sufficient  degree  of  impartiality. 


XXIV.  Things  went  more  smoothly  with 
Pelagius  in  the  east,  where  he  enjoyed  the  pro- 
tection and  favour  of  John,  bishop  of  Jerusa- 
lem, whose  attachment  to  the  sentiments  of 
Origen  led  him  naturally  to  countenance  those 
of  Pelagius,  on  account  of  the  conformity  that 
seemed  to  exist  between  these  systems.  Under 
the  shadow  of  this  powerful  protection,  Pela- 
gius made  a  public  profession  of  his  opinions, 
and  formed  disciples  in  several  places;  and 
thougl),  in  415,  lie  was  accused  by  Orosius,  a 
Spanish  presbyter,  whom  Augustin  had  sent 
into  Palestine  for  that  purpose,  before  an  as- 
sembly of  bishops  who  met  at  Jerusalem,  yet 
he  was  dismissed  witiiout  the  least  censure; 
and  not  only  so,  but  was  soon  after  fully  ac- 
quitted of  all  errors  by  the  council  of  Dios- 
polis.* 

This  controversy  was  brought  to  Rome,  and 
referred  by  Ccelestius  and  Pelagius  to  the  deci- 
sion of  ZosimiiSjt  wlio  was  raised  to  the  ponti- 
ficate in  417.  The  new  pontiff,  gained  over 
by  the  ambiguotts  and  seemingly  orthodo.x  con- 
fession of  faith,  that  Caelestius,  who  was  now 
at  Rome,  had  artfully  drawn  up,  and  also  by 
the  letters  and  protestations  of  Pelagius,  pro- 
nounced in  favour  of  tiiese  monks,  declared 
them  sound  in  the  faith,  and  unjustly  perse- 
cuted by  their  adversaries.  The  African  bishops, 
with  Augustin  at  their  head,  little  affected  with 
this  declara*ion,  continued  obstinately  to  main- 
tain the  judgment  they  had  pronounced  in  this 
matter,  and  to  strengtiien  it  by  their  exhorta- 
tions, tlieir  letters,  and  their  writings.  Zosimus 
yielded  to  the  perseverance  of  the  .\fricans, 
changed  his  inind,  and  condemned,  with  the 
utmost  severity,  Pelagius  and  Cftlestius,  whom 
he  had  honoured  with  his  approbation,  and 
covered  with  liis  protection.  This  was  followed  f 
by  a  train  of  evils,  which  pursued  these  two 
monks  without  interruption.  Tiiey  were  con- 
demned by  the  same  Epliesian  council  which 
had  launched  its  thunder  at  the  head  of  Nes- 
torius;  in  short,  the  Gauls,  Uritons,  and  Afri- 
cans, by  their  councils,  and  tiic  emperors,  by 
their  edicts  and  penal  laws,  demolished  this 
sect  in  its  infancy,  and  suppressed  it  entirely 
before  it  had  acquired  any  tolerable  degree  of 
vigour  or  consistence.]: 

XXV.  The  unhappy  disputes  about  the  opin- 
ions of  Pelagius  occasioned,  as  usually  hap- 
pens, other  controversies  equally  jirejudicial  to 


*  See  Daniel,  Ilisloire  du  Concile  de  Diospolis,  which 
is  to  be  found  in  the  Opuseula  of  that  eloquent  and  learn- 
ed Jesuit,  published  at  Paris  in  1704.  Diospolis  was  a  city 
of  Pah^stiue,  known  in  .Scripture  by  the  name  of  Lyd- 
da;  and  the  bishop  who  presided  in  this  council  was  Eu- 
logius  of  Ctesarea,  metropolitan  of  Palestine. 

3(7"  t  To  preserve  the  thread  of  the  history,  and  pre- 
vent the  reader's  being  surprised  lo  find  Pelagius  and 
Coeleetius  appealing  lo  Rome  after  having  been  acquitted 
at  Diospolis,  it  is  necessary  to  observe,  that  these  monks 
were  condemned  anew,  in  416,  by  the  African  bishops  as- 
sembled at  Carthage,  and  those  of  Numidia  assembled  at 
Milevum;  upon  which  they  appealed  to  Rome. 

J  See  the  Hisloria  Pelagiana  of  Ger.  J.  Vossius,  lib.  i. 
cap.  Iv.  p.  130;  as  also  the  learned  observations  that  have 
been  made  upon  this  controversy,  iu  the  Bibliotheque 
Italique,  lorn.  v.  p.  74.  The  writers  on  both  sides  are 
mentioned  by  Jo.  Kranc.  I!uddeus,in  his  Isagoge  ad  The- 
ologiani,  torn.  ii.  1071 .  The  learned  Wall,  in  his  History 
of  Infant  Baptism,  vol.  i.  chap.  xix.  has  given  a  coucisc 
and  elegant  account  of  the  Pelagian  controversy;  an  ac- 
count which,  though  imperfect  in  several  respects, 
abounds  with  solid  and  useful  erudition. 


156 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


the  peace  of  the  church,  and  the  interests  of 
true  Christianity.  In  the  course  of  this  dis- 
pute, Augustin  had  dehvered  his  opinion,  con- 
cerning the  necessity  of  divine  grace  in  order 
to  our  salvation,  and  the  decrees  of  God  with 
respect  to  the  future  conditions  of  men,  with 
out  being  always  consistent  with  himself,  or 
intelligible  to  otliers.  Hence  certain  monks 
of  Adrumetum,  and  others,  were  led  into  a  no- 
tion, "That  God  not  only  predestinated  the 
wicked  to  eternal  punishment,  but  also  to  the 
^uilt  and  transgression  for  which  tliey  are  pun- 
ished; and  that  tlius  both  the  good  and  bad  ac- 
tions of  all  men  were  determined  from  eterni- 
ty by  a  divine  decree,  and  fixed  by  an  invinci- 
ble necessity."  Those  wlio  embraced  this  opin- 
ion, were  called  Predestinarians.  Augustin 
used  his  utmost  influence  and  authority  to  pre- 
vent the  spreading  of  this  doctrine,  and  ex- 
plained his  true  sentiments  with  more  perspi- 
cuity, that  it  might  not  be  attributed  to  him. 
His  efforts  were  seconded  by  the  councils  of 
Aries  and  Lyons,  in  which  t.lie  doctrine  in 
question  was  publicly  rejected  and  condemn- 
ed.* But  we  must  not  omit  observing,  that  the 
existence  of  this  Predestinarian  sect  has  been 
denied  by  many  learned  men,  and  looked 
upon  as  an  invention  of  the  Semi-Pelagians, 
designed  to  decry  tjie  followers  of  Augustin,  by 
attributing  to  them  unjustly  this  dangerous  and 
pernicious  error.f 

XXVI.  A  new  and  different  modification 
was  given  to  the  doctrine  of  Augustin  by  the 
monk  Cassian,  who  came  from  the  east  into 
France,  and  erected  a  monastery  near  Mar- 
seilles. Nor  was  he  the  only  one  who  attempt- 
ed to  fix  upon  a  certain  temperature  between 
the  errors  of  Pelagius  and  the  opinions  of  tlie 
i  African  oracle;  several  persons  embarked  in 
this  undertaking  about  tlie  year  430,  and  hence 
arose  a  new  sect,  the  members  of  which  were 
called,  by  their  adversaries,  Semi-Pelagians. 

The  opinions  of  this  sect  have  been  misre- 
presented, by  its  enemies,  upon  several  occa- 
sions; such  is  usually  the  fate  of  all  parties  in 
religious  controversies.  Their  doctrine,  as  it 
has  been  generally  explained  by  the  learned, 
amounted  to  this:  "'J 'hat  inward  preventing 
grace  was  not  necessary  to  form  in  the  soul  the 
beginnings  of  true  repentance  and  amendment; 
that  every  one  was  capable  of  producing  these 


*  See  Jac.  Siririondi  Hisloiia  PrEedestinatiana,  torn.  iv. 
op.  p.  271.— Basnage,  Histoire  de  I'Eglisp,  torn.  i.  livr. 
xii.  cap.  ii.  p.  698.  Dion.  Petaviiis,  Dogmat.  Theol.  torn, 
vi.  p.  168,  174,  &c. 

1  See  Gilb.  Maiiguini  Fabiila  Prsedestinatiana  confu- 
tata,  which  he  subjoined  to  the  second  tome  of  his  learned 
work,  entitled,  CoUeetio  variorum  Scriptonim  qui  Saec. 
ix.  de  PrKdestinatione  et  Gratia  scripserunt. — Fred. 
Spanhemius,  Introd.  ad  Historiam  Eccles.  torn.  i.  op.  p. 
993. — Jac.  Basuag.  Adnot.  ad  Prosperi  Chronicon  et 
Prsef.  ad  Faustum  Regiensem,  torn.  i.  Lection.  Anliqu. 
Canisii,  p.  31.5, 348.  Granet  (who  wrote  the  life  of  Lau- 
noy)  observes,  that  Sirmond  had  solicited  Launoy  to 
write  against  Mauguin,  who  denied  the  existence  of  the 
predestinarian  sect;  but  that  the  former, having  examined 
the  matter  with  care  ard  application,  adopted  the  senti- 
ment of  Mauguiu.  The  whole  dispute  about  the  ex- 
istence of  this  sect  will,  when  closely  looked  into,  appear 
to  be  little  more,  perhaps,  than  a  dispute  about  words. 
(fg-  It  may  be  very  true,  that,  about  this  time,  or  even 
from  the  time  of  St.  Paul,  certain  persons  embraced  the 
predestinarian  opinions  here  mentioned;  but  there  is  no 
solid  proof,  that  the  abettors  of  these  opinions  ever  form- 
ed themjelvxi  into  a  sect.     See  Basnae^e,  torn.  i.  p.  700. 


by  the  mere  power  of  his  natural  faculties,  as 
also  of  exercising  faith  in  Christ,  and  forming 
the  purposes  of  a  holy  and  sincere  obedience." 
But  they  acknowledged,  at  the  same  time, 
"  That  none  could  persevere  or  advance  in  that 
holy  and  virtuous  course  which  they  had  the 
power  of  beginning,  without  the  perpetual  sup- 
port and  the  powerful  assistance  of  the  divine 
grace."*  The  disciples  of  Augustin,  in  Gaul, 
attacked  the  Semi- Pelagians  with  the  utmost 
vehemence,  without  being  able  to  extirpate  or 
overcome  them.f  The  doctrine  of  this  sect 
was  so  suited  to  the  capacities  of  the  generali- 
ty of  men,  so  conformable  to  the  way  of  think- 
ing that  prevailed  among  the  monastic  orders, 
and  so  well  received  among  the  gravest  and 
most  learned  Grecian  doctors,  that  neither  the 
zeal  nor  industry  of  its  adversaries  could  stop 
its  rapid  and  extensive  progress.  Add  to  its 
other  advantages,  that  neither  Augustin,  nor 
his  followers,  liad  ventured  to  condemn  it  in 
all  its  parts,  or  to  brand  it  as  an  impious  and 
pernicious  heresy. 

XXVII.  This  was  the  commencement  of 
those  unhappy  contests,  those  subtile  and  per- 
plexing disputes  concerning  grace,  or  the  na- 
ture and  operation  of  that  divine  power,  which 
is  essentially  required  in  order  to  salvation, 
that  rent  the  cliurch  into  the  most  deplorable 
divisions  througli  the  whole  course  of  the  suc- 
ceeding age,  and  which,  to  the  deep  sorrow  and 
regret  of  every  true  and  generous  Christian, 
have  been  continued  to  the  present  time.  The 
doctrine  of  Augustin,  who  was  of  opinion,  that, 
in  the  work  of  conversion  and  sanctification, 
all  was  to  be  attributed  to  a  divine  energy,  and 
nothing  to  human  agency,  had  many  followers 
in  all  ages  of  the  churcli,  though  his  disciples 
have  never  agreed  entirely  about  the  manner 
of  explaining  what  he  taught  on  that  head.J 
The  followers  of  Cassian  were,  however,  much 
more  numerous;  and  his  doctrine,  though  va- 
riously explained,  was  received  in  the  greatest 
part  of  the  monastic  schools  in  Gaul,  whence 
it  spread  itself  throttgh  other  parts  of  Europe. 
As  to  tiie  Greeks,  and  other  Eastern  Christians, 
they  had  embraced  the  Semi-Pelagian  doctrine 
before  Cassian,  and  still  adhere  firmly  to  it. 
The  generality  of  Christians  looked  upon  the 
opinions  of  Pelagius  as  daring  and  presumptu- 


()j3=»  *  The  leading  princi])les  of  the  Semi-Pelagians 
were  the  five  following:  1.  That  God  did  not  dispense 
his  exnce  to  one,  more  than  another,  in  consequence  of 
predestination,  i.  e.  an  eternal  and  absolute  decree,  but 
was  willing  (o  save  all  men,  if  they  complied  with  the 
terms  of  his  Gospel;  9.  That  Christ  died  for  all  men;  3. 
That  the  grace  purchased  by  Christ,  and  necessary  to 
salvation,  was  offered  to  all  men;  4.  That  man,  before  he 
received  grace,  was  capable  of  failh  and  holy  desires;  5. 
That  man,  born  free,  was  consequently  capable  of  resist- 
ing the  influences  of  grace,  or  complying  with  its  sug- 
gestions.    See  Basnage,  torn.  i.  livr.  xii. 

f  Basnage,  torn.  i.  livr.  xii. — Hist.  Literaire  de  la 
France,  tom.  ii.  prsf  p.  9. — Vossii  Histor.  Pclagiana,  lib. 
V.  p.  538. — Scipio  Maffei  (under  the  fictitious  name  of 
Irenseus  Veroncnsis,)  de  Hseresi  Palagiana,  tom.  xxix. — 
Opuscul.  .Scicntif.  Angeli  Calogera;,  p.  399. 

QS^  \  ll  's  well  known  that  the  Jansenists  and  Jesuits 
both  plead  the  authority  of  St.  Augustin,  in  behalf  of 
their  opposite  systems  with  respect  to  predestination  and 
grace.  This  knotty  doctrine  severely  exercised  the  pre- 
tended infallibility  of  the  popes,  and  exposed  it  to  the 
laughter  of  the  wise  upon  many  occasions;  and  the  fa- 
mous bull  Uni^enitus  set  Clement  XI.  in  direct  opposi- 
tion to  several  of  the  most  celebrated  Roman  pontiffs. 
Which  are  we  to  be'.ieve-' 


Chap.  I. 


PROSPEROUS  EVENTS. 


157 


ous;  and  even  to  those  who  adopted  them  in 
secret,  thoy  appeared  too  free  and  too  far  re- 
moved from  the  notions  rommonly  received, 
to  render  the  public  profession  of  them  advise- 
able  and  prudent.     Certain,  however,  it  is,  that 


in  all  aoes  of  the  chiircJi  there  have  been  se- 
veral persons,  who,  in  conformity  with  the  doc- 
trine attributed  to  this  heretic,  have  believed 
mankind  endowed  with  a  natural  power  of  pay- 
ing to  the  divine  laws  a  perfect  obedience. 


THE  SIXTH  CENTURY. 


PART  I. 


THE  EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Concerning  the  Prosperous  Events  ivhich  happen- 
ed to  the  Church  dwing  this  Century. 

I.  The  zeal  of  the  bishops  of  Constantino- 
ple, seconded  by  the  protection  and  influence 
of  the  Grecian  emperors,  increased  the  num- 
ber of  Christians  in  the  east,  and  contributed 
to  the  conversion  of  some  barbarous  nations; 
of  those,  particularly,  who  lived  upon  the  bor- 
ders of  the  Euxine  sea,  as  appears  from  the 
most  authentic  records  of  Grecian  history. 
Amonflf  these  nations  were  the  Abasjri,  vvho  in- 
habited the  country  lying;  between  tlie  coast  of 
tlie  Eu.xine  and  mount  Caucasus,  and  who  em- 
braced C'iiristianity  under  the  reiffn  of  Justi- 
nian;* the  Heruli,  who  dwelt  beyond  tlie 
r3anube,  and  wiio  were  converted  in  the  same 
reign;!  is  also  the  Alans,  l^azi,  and  Zani,  with 
other  uncivilised  people,  whose  situation,  at 
this  time,  is  only  known  by  va;^ue  and  imper- 
fect conjectures.  These  conversions,  indeed, 
however  pompously  they  may  sound,  were  ex- 
tremely sii|)erficial  and  imperfect,  as  wc  learn 
from  the  most  credible  accounts  that  have  been 
given  of  them.  All  that  was  required  of  these  j 
darkened  nations  amounted  to  an  oral  jirofes- ' 
sion  of  their  faith  in  Christ,  to  their  abstaining  i 
from  sacrifices  to  the  gods,  and  their  commit- 
ting to  memory  certain  forms  of  doctrine,  while  : 
little  care  was  taken  to  enrich  tiieir  minds  with  | 
pious  sentiments,  or  to  cultivate  in  their  hearts 
virtuous  affections;  so  that,  even  after  their; 
conversion  to  Christianity,  they  retained  their] 
primitive  ferocity  and  savage  manners,  and 
continued  to  distinguish  themselves  by  horrid 
acts  of  cruelty  and  rapine,  and  the  practice  of 
all  kinds  of  wickednes.?.  In  the  greatest  part 
of  the  Grecian  provinces,  and  even  in  the  ca- 
pital of  the  eastern  empire,  there  were  .still 
multitudes  who  preserved  a  secret  attachment 
to  the  pagan  religion.  Of  these,  however,  vast 
numbers  were  brougiit  over  to  Christianity  un- 
der the  reign  of  .Tustin,  jjy  the  ministerial  la- i 
hours  of  John,  bishop  of  Asia. J  I 

*  Procopius,  (Ic    Bello  Golhico,  lib.  iv.  cap.  iii. — Le 
Qiiiea,  Orieiis  Cliristianus,  (oni.  i.  p.  13.51.  I 

}  Procopius,  lib.  ii.  cap.  xiv. 
4  Asseman.  Eibliolli.  Orieiil.  Valic.  torn   ii.  p.  B.'i. 


Ili  In  the  western  parts,  Remigius,  or  Remi, 
bishop  of  Rheims,  who  is  commonly  called  the 
Apostle  of  the  Gauls,  signalised  his  zeal  in  the 
conversion  of  those  who  still  adhered  to  the 
ancient  superstitions;*  and  his  success  was  con- 
siderable, partirularh'  after  that  auspicious  pe- 
riod when  Clovis,  king  of  tlie  Franks,  embrac- 
ed the  Gospel. 

In  Britain,  several  circumstances  concurred 
to  favour  the  ]>ropagation  of  Christianity.— 
Etholbert,  king  of  Kent,  the  most  considerable 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  princes,  among  whom  that 
island  was  at  this  time  divided,  married  Bertha, 
daughter  of  Clierebert,  king  of  Paris,  toward 
the  conclusion  of  this  century.  This  princess, 
partly  by  her  own  influence,  and  partly  by  the 
pious  eflbrts  of  the  clergy  who  followed  her 
into  Rrifain,  gradually  formed,  in  the  mind  of 
Ethelbert,  an  inclination  to  the  ('hristian  reli- 
gion. While  the  king  was  in  this  favourable 
disposition,  Gregory  the  Great,  in  596,  .sent 
over  forty  Benedictine  monks,  with  Augustin 
at  their  head,|  in  order  to  bring  to  perfection 
what  the  pious  queen  had  so  liappily  begun. 
This  monk,  seconded  by  the  zeal  and  assist- 
ance of  Bertha,  converted  the  king,  and  the 
greatest  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  Kent,  and 
laid  anew  the  foundations  of  the  British 
church.]; 

The  labours  of  Columbus,  an  Irish  monk, 
were  attended  with  success  among  tlie  Picts 
and  Scots,  many  of  whom  embracc^d  the  Gos- 
pel.§ 

In  Germany,  the  Bohemians,  Thuringiana, 
and  Boii,  are  said  to  have  abandoned,  in  thia 
century,  their  ancient  superstitions, ||    and    to 


*  Ilistoire  Litrraire  dc  la  France,  torn.  iii.  p.  liK). 

{fij'  t  This  British  apostle  was  prior  ol"  the  Beiiedie- 
linc  monastery  of  St.  Andrew  at  Home.  After  his  arri- 
val in  Enarland,  he  converted  the  heathen  temples  into 
places  of  Christian  worship,  erected  Christ-Church  into 
a  cathedral,  opened  a  seminary  of  learning,  founded  the 
abbey  of  St.  Augustin,  received  episcopal  ordination  from 
ihc  primate  of  Aries,  was  invested  by  pope  Gregory  with 
power  over  all  the  British  bishops  and  Saxon  prelates, 
and  was  the  first  archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

J  Bede's  Histor.  Eccles.  Gentis  Anglor.  lib.  i.  cap. 
xxiii.— Rapin's  History  of  England.— Acta  Sanctor.  torn, 
iii.  Kebruar.  p.  470. 

^  Bede's  Histor.  Eccles.  lib.  iii.  cap.  iv. 

II  Henr.  Canisii  Lection.  Antiqux,  lorn.  iii.  part  ii.  p. 
208.— Aventin.  ^ii?ia/.  Boionmi. 


158 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  I. 


have  received  tlie  light  of  divine  truth;  but 
this  assertion  appears  extremely  doubtful  to 
many. 

All  these  conversions  and  sacred  exploits 
will  lose  much  of  their  importance  in  the  es- 
teem of  sucli  as  examine  with  attention  the 
accounts  whicli  have  been  given  of  them  by 
the  writers  of  this  and  the  succeeding  ages; 
for  by  these  accounts  it  appears,  that  the  con- 
verted nations  now  mentioned,  retained  a  great 
part  of  their  former  impietj',  superstition,  and 
licentiousness,  and  that,  attached  to  Christ  by 
a  mere  outward  and  nominal  profession,  tliBy, 
in  eti'ect,  renounced  the  purity  of  his  doctrine, 
and  the  authority  of  his  Gospel,  by  their  flagi- 
tious lives,  and  tlie  superstitious  and  idolatrous 
rites  and  institutions  which  they  continued  to 
ob.serve.* 

III.  A  vast  multitude  of  Jews,  converted  to 
Christianity  in  several  places,  were  added  to 
the  church  during  the  course  of  this  century. 
Many  of  that  race,  particularly  the  inhabitants 
of  Borium  in  Libya,  were  brought  over  to  the 
truth  by  the  persuasion  and  influence  of  the 
emperor  Justinian. f  In  the  west,  the  Zealand 
autliority  of  the  Gallic  and  Spanish  monarehs, 
the  oftbrts  of  Gregory  the  Great,  and  the  la- 
bours of  Avitus,  bishop  of  Vienne,  engaged 
numbers  to  receive  the  Gospel.  It  must,  how- 
ever, be  acknowledged,  that,  of  these  conver- 
sions, the  greatest  part  arose  from  the  liberali- 
ty of  Christian  princes,  or  the  fear  of  punish- 
ment, ratlier  than  from  the  force  of  argument 
or  the  love  of  truth.  In  Gaul,  the  Jews  were 
compelled  by  Childeric  to  receive  the  ordinance 
of  baptism;  and  the  same  despotic  mode  of 
conTOrsion  was  practised  in  Spain. |  Tliis  me- 
thod, however,  was  entirely  disapproved  by 
Gregory  the  Great,  who,  tliough  extremely  se- 
vere upon  the  heretics,  would  siifter  no  vio- 
lence to  be  ofi'ered  to  the  Jews.§ 

IV.  If  credit  is  to  be  given  to  the  writers  of 
this  century,  the  conversion  of  these  uncivilis- 
ed nations  to  Christianity  was  principally  ef- 
fected by  the  prodigies  and  miracles  which  the 
heralds  of  tlie  Gospel  were  enabled  to  work  in 
its  behalf.  But  tlie  conduct  of  tlie  converted 
nations  is  sutficient  to  invalidate  the  force  of 
these  testimonies;  for  certain!}',  if  such  mira- 
cles had  been  wrought  amonof  them,  their  lives 
would  have  been  more  suital)le  to  their  profes- 
sion, and  their  attachment  and  obedience  to  the 
doctrines  and  laws  of  tlie  Gospel  more  stedfast 
and  exemplary  than  they  appear  to  liave  been. 
Besides  (as  we  have  already  had  occasion  to 
observe,)  in  abandoning  their  ancient  supersti- 
tions, the  greatest  part  of  them  were  more  in- 


*  This  is  insjeiiuously  confessed  by  the  Benedictine 
monks,  in  the  Histoire  Lileraire  de  la  Fiance,  lorn.  iii. 
Introduc.  See  also  the  orders  given  to  tlie  Anglo-Saxons 
by  Gregory  the  Great,  in  his  Episl.  lib.  xi.  Ixxvi.  where 
we  find  him  permitting  them  to  sacrifice  to  the  saints,  on 
their  respective  holidays,  the  victims  which  tliey  had  for- 
merly offered  to  the  gods.  Sec  also  Wilkins'  Concilia 
Magna  Britanniae,  torn.  i. 

t  Procopius,  de  jKdificiis  Justiniani,  lib.  vi.  cap.  ii. 

j  Greg.  Turon.  Histor.  Francor.  lib.  vi.  cap.  xvii. — 
Launoius,  de  veteri  More  baptir.andi  Judges  et  Inlideles, 
cap.  i.  p.  700,  704,  tom.  ii.  part  ii.  op. 

1^  .See  his  Epistles,  particularly  those  which  lie  wrote 
to  Vigilius  of  .^rles,  Theodore  of  Marseilles,  and  Peter 
of  Terracina. 


fluenced  by  the  example  and  authority  of  their 
princes,  than  by  force  of  argument,  or  the  power 
I  of  a  rational  conviction;  and,  indeed,  if  we 
i  consider  the  wretched  manner  in  which  many 
!  of  the  first  Christian  missionaries  performed 
'.  the  solemn  task  they  had  undertaken,  we  shall 
'  perceive  tliat  they  wanted  not  many  arguments 
j  to  enforce  the  doctrines  they  taught,  and  the 
'  discipline  they  recommended;  for  tliey  required 
nothing  of  these  barbarous  people  that  was 
dithcult  to  be  performed,  or  that  laid  any  re- 
markable restraint  upon  their  appetites  and 
passions.  The  principal  injunctions  they  im- 
posed upon  these  rude  proselytes  were,  that 
they  should  get  by  heart  certain  summaries  of 
doctrine,  and  pay  to  the  images  of  Christ  and 
the  saints  the  same  religious  services  which 
they  had  formerly  offered  to  the  statues  of  the 
gods.  Nor  were  they  at  all  delicate  or  scrupu- 
lous in  choosing  the  means  of  establishing  their 
credit;  for  they  deemed  it  lawful,  and  even 
meritorious,  to  deceive  an  ignorant  and  inat- 
tentive multitude,  by  repiesenting,  as  prodi- 
gies, things  that  were  merely  natural,  as  we 
learn  from  the  most  authentic  records  of  these 
times. 

CHAPTER  II. 

Concerning  the  calamitous  Events  which  happen- 
ed to  the  Church  during  this  Century. 

I.  Though  the  abjuration  of  Paganism  was, 
by  the  imperial  laws,  made  a  necessary  step  to 
preferment,  and  to  the  exercising  of  all  public 
offices,  yet  several  persons,  respected  for  their 
erudition  and  gravity  of  manners,  persisted  in 
their  adherence  to  the  ancient  superstition. 
Tribonian,  the  famous  compiler  of  the  Roman 
law,  is  thought,  by  some,  to  have  been  among 
tlie  number  of  those  who  continued  in  their 
prejudices  against  the  Christian  religion;  and 
such  also,  in  the  opinion  of  many,  was  the  case 
of  Procopius,  the  celebrated  historian.  It  is  at 
least  certain,  that  Agathias,  who  was  an  emi- 
nent lawyer  at  Smyrna,  and  who  had  also  ac- 
quired a  considerable  reputation  as  an  histori- 
cal writer,  persevered  in  his  attachment  to  the 
pagan    worship.      These    illustrious   Gentiles 

,  were  e.wmpted  from  the  severities  which  were 
frequently  employed  to  engage  the  lower  or- 
ders to  abandon  the  service  of  the  gods.  The 
rigour  of  the  laws,  as  it  usually  happens  in 
human  life,  fell  only  upon  those  who  had 
neither  rank,  fortune,  nor  court-favour,  to  ward 
off  their  execution. 

II.  Surprised  as  we  maybe  at  tlie  protection 
granted  to  the  persons  now  mentioned,  at  a 
time  when  the  Gospel  was,  in  many  instances, 
propagated  by  unchristian  methods,  it  will  ap- 
pear still  more  astonishing,  that  the  Platonic 
philosophers,  whose  opposition  to  Christianity 
was  universally  known,  should  be  permitted, 
in  Greece  and  Egypt,  to  teach  publicly  the  te- 
nets of  their  sect,  which  were  absolutely  in- 
compatible with  the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel. 
These  doctors  indeed  afi'ected  (generally  speak- 
ing) a  high  degree  of  moderation  and  pru- 
dence, and,  for  the  most  part,  modified  their 
expressions  in  such  a  manner,  as  to  give  to  the 
pagan  system  an  evangelical  aspect,  extremely 


Chap.  II. 


CALAMITOUS  EVENTS. 


adapted  to  deceive  the  unwary,  as  the  exam- 
ples of  Chalcidius,*  and  Alexander  of  Lyco- 
polis,  abundantly  testify. f  Some  of  them,  iiow- 
ever,  were  less  modest,  and  carried  their  auda- 
cious efforts  against  Christianity  so  far  as  to 
revile  it  publicly.  Damascius,  in  the  life  of 
Isidorus,  and  in  other  places,  casts  upon  the 
Christians  the  most  ignominious  aspersions;+ 
Simplicius,  in  his  illustrations  of  the  Aristote- 
lian philosophy,  throws  out  several  malignant 
insinuations  against  the  doctrines  of  the  Gos- 
pol;  and  the  Epicheiremata  of  Proclus,  written 
e.\pressly  tigainst  the  disciples  of  Jesus,  were 
universally  read,  and  were,  on  that  account, 
accurately  refuted  by  Philoponus.§  All  this 
shows,  that  many  of  the  magistrates,  who  were 
witnesses  of  these  calumnious  attempts,  were 
not  so  much  Christians  in  reality,  as  in  appear- 
ance; otherwise  they  would  not  have  permitted 
the  slanders  of  these  licentious  revilers  to  pass 
without  correction  or  restraint. 

(R^  *  The  religion  of  Chalcidius  has  been  much  dis 
puled  among  the  learned.  Cave  seems  inclined  to  rank 
him  among  the  Christian  writers,  though  he  expresses 
some  uncertainty  about  the  matter.  Huet,  G.J.  Voseius, 
Fabricius,  and  Beausohre,  decide  with  greater  assurance 
that  Chalcidius  was  a  Christian.  Some  learned  men  have 
maintained,  on  the  contrary,  that  many  things  in  the 
writings  of  this  sage  entitle  him  to  a  place  among  the  pa- 
gan philosophers.  Our  learned  author,  in  his  notes  to 
his  Latin  translation  of  Cudv^■o^th's  Intellectual  System, 
and  in  a  Dissertation  "deturbata  per  recentioresPlatoni- 
cos  Ecclesia,"  lays  down  an  hypothesis,  which  holds  the 
middle  way  between  these  extremes.  He  is  of  opinion 
that  Chalcidius  neither  rejected  nor  embraced  the  whole 
system  of  the  Christian  doctrine,  but  selected,  out  of  the 
religion  of  Jesus  and  the  tenets  of  Plato,  a  bodyofdivini 
ty,  in  which,  however,  Platonism  was  predominant;  and 
tiiat  he  was  one  of  those  Syncretist  or  Eclectic  philoso- 
phers, who  abounded  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  cenlnries, 
and  who  attempted  to  unite  Paganism  and  Christianity 
into  one  motley  system.  This  account  of  the  matter, 
however,  appears  too  vague  to  the  celebrated  author  of 
the  Critical  History  of  Philosophy,  M.  Brucker.  This 
excellent  writer  agrees  with  Dr.  Mosheim  in  this,  that 
Chalcidius  followed  the  motley  method  of  the  eclectic 
Platonists,  but  does  not  see  any  thing  in  this  inconsistent 
with  liis  having  publicly  professed  the  Christian  religion. 
The  question  is  not,  whether  this  philosopher  was  a  sound 
and  orthodox  Christian,  which  M.  Brucker  denies  him  to 
have  been,  but  whether  he  had  abandoned  the  pagan 
rites,  and  made  a  public  profession  of  Christianity;  and 
this  our  philosophical  historian  looks  U|>on  as  evident; 
for  though,  in  the  commentary  upon  Plato's  Timaius, 
Chalcidius  teaches  several  doctrines  that  seem  to  strike  at 
the  foundations  of  our  holy  religion,  yet  the  same  may  be 
said  of  Origen,  Clemens  Alexandrinus,  Arnobius,  and 
others,  who  are,  nevertheTess,  reckoned  among  the  pro- 
fessors of  Christianfty.  The  reader  will  find  an  excellent 
view  of  the  different  opinions  concerning  the  religion  of 
Chalcidius,  in  the  third  volume  of  Bruokcr's  History. 
The  truth  of  the  matter  seems  to  be  this,  that  the  Eciec- 
tiqs,  before  Christianity  became  the  religion  of  the  state, 
enriched  their  system  from  the  Gospel,  but  ranged  them- 
selves under  the  standards  of  Plato;  and  that  they  repair- 
ed to  those  of  Christ,  without  any  considerable  change 
of  their  system,  when  the  examples  and  authority  of  the 
emperors  rendered  the  profession  of  tl>e  Christian  reli- 
gion a  matter  of  prudence,  as  well  as  its  own  excellence 
rendered  it  most  justly  a  matter  of  choice. 

5(p-  f  Alexander  wrote  a  treatise  against  the  Mani- 
chaeans,  which  is  published  by  Combefis,  in  the  second 
tome  of  his  Auctor.  Noviss.  Biblioth.  PP.  Photius,  Com- 
befis, and  our  learned  Cave,  looked  upon  Alexander  .is  a 
proselyte  toChristianity;  but  Beausohre  has  demonstrated 
the  contrary.  See  the  Histoire  du  Manicheisme,  part  ii. 
Discours  Preliminaire,  sect.  J3,  p.  236. 

j  Photii  Bibliothcca,  cod.  ccxlii.  p.  1027. 
.  I  See  J.  A.  Fabricii  Bibliotheca  Graeca,  vol.  iii.  p.  522. 


159 


III.  Notwithstanding  the  extensive  progress 
of  the  Gospel,  the  Christians,  even  in  this  cen- 
tury, suffered  grievously,  in  several  countries, 
from  the  savage  cruelty  and  bitterness  of  their 
enemies.     'J'he  Anglo-Sa.vons,  who  were  mas- 
ters of  the  greater  part  of  Britain,  involved  a 
multitude  of  its  ancient  inhabitants,  who  pro- 
fussed  Christianity,  in   the   deepest   distresses, 
and   tormented  them  with  all  that  variety  of 
sullering,  which  the  injurious  and    malignant 
spirit  of  persecution  could  invent.*  The  Huns, 
in  their  irruptions  into  Thrace,  Greece,  and  the 
otiier  iirovinces,  during  the  reign  of  Justinian, 
treated  the  Christians  with  great  barbarity;  not 
so  much,  perhaps,  trom  an  aversion  to  Christi- 
iiiiity,  as  from  a  spirit  of  hatred  against  the 
Greeks,  and  a  desire  of  overturning  and  de- 
stroying their  empire.     The  face  of  affairs  was 
totally  changed  in  Italy,  about  the  middle  of 
this  century,  by  a  grand  revolution  which  hap- 
pened in  the  reign  of  Justinian  J.     This  empe- 
ror, by   the  arms  of  Narses,    overturned    the 
kingdom  of  the  Ostrogotlis,  which  had  subsist- 
ed ninety  years;  and  subdued  all  Italy.     The 
political  state,  however,  which  this  revolution 
introduced,  was  not  of  a  very  long  duration; 
for  the  Lombards,  a  fierce  and  warlike  people, 
headed  by  Alboinus  their  king,  and  joined  by 
several  other  German  nations,  issued  from  Pan- 
nonia,   in  66.S,  under  the  reign  of  Justin;  in- 
vaded   Italy;   and,    having    made   themselves 
masters  of  the   whole  country,  except  Rome 
and  Ravenna,  erected  a  new  kingdom  at  Tici- 
num.     Under  the.se  new  tyrants,  wlio,  to  the 
natural  ferocity  of  their  characters,  added  an 
aversion  to  the  religion  of  Jesus,  the  Christians, 
in  the  beginning,  endured  calamities  of  every 
kind.     But  the  fliry  of  these  savage  usurpers 
gradually   subsided;  and   their   manners   con- 
tracted, from  time  to  time,  a  milder  character. 
Autharis,  the  third  monarch  of  the  Lombards, 
embraced  Christianity,  as  it  was  professed  by 
the  Arians,  in  587;  but   his  successor  Agilulf, 
who  married  his  widow  Theudelinda,  was  per- 
suaded by  that  princess  to  abandon  Arianism, 
and  to  adopt  the  tenets  of  the  Nicene  catho- 
lics.f 

But  the  calamities  of  the  Cljristians,  in  all 
other  countries,  were  light  and  inconsiderable 
in  comparison  of  those  which  they  suffered  in 
Persia  under  Chosroes,  the  inhuman  monarch 
of  that  nation  This  monster  of  impiety  aim- 
ed his  audacious  and  desperate  efforts  against 
heaven  itself;  for  he  publicly  declared,  that  he 
would  make  war  not  only  upon  Justinian,  but 
also  upon  the  God  of  the  Christians;  and,  in 
consetiucnce  of  this  blasphemous  menace,  he 
vented  his  rage  against  the  followers  of  Jesus 
in  the  most  barbarous  manner,  and  put  multi- 
tudes of  them  to  the  most  cruel  and  ignomin- 
ious deaths. i  ^ 


*  Usher's  Chronological  Index  to  his  Autiquit.  Eccle*. 
Britann.  ad  annum  !>[)§. 

t  Psul.  Diacon.  de  Gestis  Longobardornm,  lib.  ii.  cap. 
ii.  xxvii. — Muratorii  Antiq.  Italiae,lom.  i.  ii. — Giannone, 
Historia  di  Napoli,  lom.  i. 

J  Proeopius,  de  Hello  Persico,  lib.  ii.  cap.  xxvi. 


PART  II. 


THE  INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Concernins;  the.  State  of  Letters  and  Philosophy, 
during  this  Century. 

I.  The  incursions  of  the  barbarous  nations 
into  the  greatest  part  of  tlie  western  provinces 
were  extremely  prejudicial  to  the  interests  of 
learning  and  philosophy,  as  must  be  known  to 
all  who  have  any  acquaintance  witli  the  histo- 
ry of  those  unhappy  times.  During  those  tu- 
multuous scenes  of  desolation  and  horror,  the 
liberal  arts  and  sciences  would  have  been  total- 
ly extinguished,  had  they  not  found  a  place  of 
refuge,  such  as  it  was,  among  the  bishops,  and 
the  monastic  orders.  Here  they  assembled 
their  scattered  remains,  and  received  a  degree 
of  culture  which  just  served  to  keep  them  from 
perishing.  Those  churches,  which  were  dis- 
tinguished by  the  appellation  of  cathedrals,  had 
schools  erected  under  their  jurisdiction,  in 
which  the  bishop,  or  a  certain  person  appointed 
by  him,  instructed  the  youth  in  the  seven  libe- 
ral arts,  as  a  preparatory  introduction  to  the 
study  of  the  Scriptures.*  Persons  of  both 
sexes,  who  had  devoted  themselves  to  the  mo- 
nastic life,  were  obliged,  by  the  founders  of 
their  respective  orders,  to  employ  daily  a  cer- 
tain portion  of  their  time  in  reading  the  an- 
cient doctors  of  the  churcli,  whoso  writings 
were  looked  upon  as  the  rich  repertories  of  ce- 
lestial wisdom,  in  which  all  the  treasures  of 
theology  were  centred. f  Hence  libraries  were 
formed  in  all  the  monasteries,  and  the  pious 
and  learned  productions  of  the  Christian  and 
other  writers  were  copied  and  dispersed  by  the 
diligence  of  transcribers  appointed  for  that 
purpose,  who  were  generally  such  monks  as, 
by  weakness  of  constitution,  or  other  bodily 
infirmities,  were  rendered  incapable  of  more 
severe  labour.  To  these  establishments  we 
owe  the  preservation  and  possession  of  all  the 
ancient  authors,  sacred  and  profane,  who  es- 
caped in  this  manner  the  savage  fury  of  Gothic 
ignorance,  and  are  happily  transmitted  to  our 
times.  It  is  also  to  be  observed,  that,  beside 
the  schools  annexed  to  the  cathedrals,  semina- 
ries were  opened  in  the  greater  part  of  the  mo- 
nasteries, in  which  the  youth  who  were  set 
apart  for  the  monastic  life  were  instructed  by 
the  abbot,  or  some  of  his  ecclesiastics,  in  the 
arts  and  sciences.  J 

II.  But  these  institutions  and  establishments, 
however  laudable,  did  not  produce  such  happy 
effects  as  might  have  been  expected  from  them. 
For,  not  to  speak  of  the  indolence  of  certain 
abbots  and  bishops,  who  neglected  entirely  the 
duties  of  their  stations,  or  of  the  bitter  aver- 
sion  which  others  discovered   towards  every 


*  Fleury,  Discours  sur  I'Histoire  Eocles.— Histoire 
Liter,  de  la  Frauce,  torn.  iii. — Herm.  Conringii  Antiq. 
Academicse. 

t  Benedict.  Anianensis  Concordia  Regulariim,  lib.  ii. 
lii.— Jo.  Mabillon,  Prxf.  ad  Saec.  i.  Act.  SS.  Ord.  Beued. 
p.  44. 

}  Benedict.  Concord.  Reg.  lib.  ii.  p.  232.— Mabillon,, 
Acta  Ord.  Bened.  torn,  i. 


sort  of  learning  and  erudition,  which  they  con- 
sidered as  pernicious  to  the  progress  of  piety;* 
not  to  speak  of  the  illiberal  ignorance  wliich 
several  prelates  atliDcted,  and  which  they  inju- 
diciously confounded  with  Christian  simplicity;] 
even  those  who  applied  themselves  to  the  stu- 
dy and  propagation  of  the  sciences,  were,  for 
the  most  part,  extremely  unskilful  and  illite- 
rate; and  the  branches  of  learning  taught  in 
the  schools  were  inconsiderable,  both  as  to 
their  quality  and  their  number.  J  Greek  litera- 
ture was  almost  every  where  neglected;  and 
those  who,  by  profession,  had  devoted  them- 
selves to  the  culture  of  Latin  erudition,  spent 
their  time  and  labour  in  grammatical  subtilties 
and  quibbles,  as  the  pedantic  examples  of  Isi- 
dorus  and  Cassiodorus  abundantly  show.  Elo- 
quence was  degraded  into  a  rhetorical  bom- 
bast, a  noisy  kind  of  declamation  which  was 
composed  of  motley  and  frigid  allegories  and 
barbarous  terms,  as  may  even  appear  from  se- 
veral parts  of  the  writings  of  those  superior 
geniuses  who  surpassed  their  contemporaries  in 
precision  and  elegance,  such  as  Boethius,  Cas- 
siodorus, Ennodius,  and  others.  As  to  the 
otiier  liberal  arts,  they  sliared  the  common  ca- 
lamity; and,  from  the  mode  in  which  they 
were  now  cultivated,  they  had  nothing  very 
liberal  or  elegant  in  their  appearance,  consist- 
ing entirely  of  a  few  dry  rules,  which,  instead 
of  a  complete  and  finished  system,  produced 
only  a  ghastly  and  lifeless  skeleton. 

III.  The  state  of  philosophy  was  still  more 
deplorable  tlian  that  of  literature;  for  it  was 
entirely  banished  from  those  seminaries  which 
were  under  the  inspection  and  government  of 
the  ecclesiastical  order.  The  greatest  part  of 
these  zealots  looked  upon  the  study  of  philoso- 
phy, not  only  as  useless,  but  even  pernicious  to 
those  who  had  dedicated  themselves  to  the  ser- 
vice of  religion.  The  most  eminent,  indeed 
almost  the  only  Latin  philosopher  of  this  age, 
was  the  celebrated  Boethius,  privy  counsellor 
to  Theodoric,  king  of  the  Ostrogoths.  This 
illustrious  senator  had  embraced  the  Platonic 
philosophy, §  and  ap[)roved  also,  as  vi^as  usual 
among  the  modern  Platonists,  the  doctrine  of 
Aristotle,  and  illustrated  it  in  his  writings;  and 
it  was  undoubtedly  in  consequence  of  the  dili- 
gence and  zeal  with  which  he  explained  and 
recommended  the  Aristotelian  philosophy,  that 
it  rose  now  among  the  Latins  to  a  higher  de- 
gree of  credit  than  it  had  before  enjoyed. 

IV.  The  stale  of  the  liberal  arts,  among  the 


*  Gregory  the  Great  is  said  to  have  been  of  this  num- 
ber, and  to  have  ordered  a  multitude  of  the  productions 
of  pagan  writers,  and  among  others  Livy's  History,  to  be 
committfd  to  the  flames.  See  Lirou's  Singularites  Hist, 
et  Lit.  torn.  i. 

f  Mabillon,  Praef.  ad  Ssec.  i.  Benedict,  p.  46. 

t  See  M.  Aur.  Cassiodori  Liber  de  septem  Disciplinis, 
which  is  extant  among  his  works. 

^  This  will  appear  evident  to  such  as,  with  a  competent 
Ifnowledge  of  modern  Ptatonism,  read  attentively  the 
books  of  Boethius,  de  Consolatione,  &c.  See  also,  on 
this  subject,  Renat.  Vallin.  p.  10,  50.  Holstenius  in  Vit. 
Porphyrii,  and  MascoT.  Histor  Germanor.  torn.  ii. 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


161 


Greeks,  was,  in  several  places,  much  more 
flourishing  than  that  in  which  we  have  left 
them  among  the  Latins:  and  the  emperors 
raised  and  nourished  a  spirit  of  literary  emula- 
tion, by  the  noble  rewards  and  the  distinguish- 
ed honours  which  they  attached  to  the  pursuit 
of  all  the  various  branches  of  learning.*  It  is, 
however,  certain,  that,  notwithstanding  these 
encouragements,  the  sciences  were  cultivated 
with  less  ardour,  and  men  of  learning  and  ge- 
nius were  less  numerous  than  in  the  preceding 
century.  In  the  beginning  of  tliis,  the  modern 
Platonists  yet  maintained  tlieir  credit,  and  their 
philosophy  was  in  vogue.  The  Alexandrian 
and  Athenian  schools  flourished  under  the  di- 
rection of  Damascius,  Isidorus,  Simplicius,  Eu- 
lamius,  Hermias,  Priscianus,  and  others,  who 
were  placed  on  the  highest  summit  of  literary 
glory.  But  when  the  emperor  Justinian,  by  a 
particular  edict,  prohibited  the  teaching  of  piii- 
losophy  at  Athens, f  (which  edict,  no  doubt, 
was  levelled  at  the  modem  Platonism  already 
mentioned,)  and  when  his  resentment  began 
to  flame  out  against  those  who  refused  to  aban- 
don the  pagan  worship,  all  these  celebrated 
philosophers  took  refuge  among  the  Persians, 
who  were  at  that  time  tiie  enemies  of  Rome-j 
They,  indeed,  returned  from  their  voluntary 
exile,  when  the  peace  was  concluded  between 
the  Persians  and  the  Romans  in  533;§  but  they 
could  never  recover  their  former  credit,  and 
they  gradually  disappeared  from  the  public 
schools  and  seminaries,  which  ceased,  at  length, 
to  be  under  their  direction. 

Thus  expired  that  famous  sect,  which  was 
distinguished  by  the  title  of  the  Modern  or 
Later  Platonic;  and  which,  for  a  series  of  ages, 
had  produced  such  divisions  and  tumults  in  the 
Christian  church,  and  been,  in  other  respects, 
prejudicial  to  the  interests  and  progress  of  tlie 
Gospel.  It  was  succeeded  by  tlie  Aristotelian 
philosophy,  which  arose  imperceptibly  out  of 
its  obscurity,  and  was  placed  in  an  advantage- 
ous light  by  the  illustrations  of  the  learned, 
but  especially  and  principally  by  the  celebrated 
commentaries  of  Philoponus;  and,  indeed,  tlie 
knowledge  of  this  philosophy  was  necessiiry 
for  the  Greeks,  since  it  was  from  the  depths  of 
this  peripatetical  wisdom,  that  the  Monophy- 
sites  and  Nestorians  drew  the  subtilties  with 
which  they  endeavoured  to  overwhelm  the 
abettors  of  the  Ephesian  and  Chalcedonian 
councils. 

V.  The  Nestorians  and  Monophysites,  who 
lived  in  the  east,  equally  turned  their  eyes  to- 
ward Aristotle,  and,  in  order  to  train  their  re- 
spective followers  to  the  field  of  controversy, 
and  arm  them  with  the  subtilties  of  a  conten- 
tious logic,  translated  the  principal  books  of 
that  deep  pliilosopher  into  their  native  langua- 
ges.    Sergius,  a  Monophysite  and  philosoplier, 


*  See  the  Codex  Theodos.  torn.  ii.  lib.  vi.  and  Hcrm. 
Conringius,  de  Studiis  Urbis  Romae  et  Constaiitiiiop.  in 
a  Dissertation  subjoined  to  his  Antiquitales  Acadeinicx. 

t  Johannes  Malala,  Historia  Chronica,  part  ii.  p.  187, 
edit.  Oxon.  Another  testimony  concerning  this  matter 
is  cited  from  a  certain  Chronicle,  not  yet  published,  by 
Nic.  Alemaiinus,ad  Procopii  Histor.  Arcanam,  cap.  xxvi. 

\  Agathias,  de  Rebus  Justiniani,  lib.  ii. 

I  See  Wesselingii  Observat.  Var.  lib.  i.  cap.  iviii. 

Vol.  I— 21 


translated  the  books  of  Aristotle  into  Syriac* 
Uranius,  a  Syrian,  propagated  the  doctrines  of 
this  philosopher  in  Persia,  and  disposed  in  their 
favour  Chosroes,  the  monarch  of  that  nation, 
who  became  a  zealous  abettor  of  tlie  peripate- 
tic system. t  The  same  prince  received  from 
one  of  the  Nestoriaii  faction  (which,  after  hav- 
ing procured  the  exclusion  of  the  Greeks,  tri- 
umphed at  this  time  unrivalled  in  Persia)  a 
translation  of  the  Stagirite's  work*  into  the 
Persian  language. + 

It  is,  however,  to  be  observed,  that  among 
these  eastern  Ciiristians  tliere  were  some  who 
rejected  both  the  Platonic  and  Aristotelian  doc- 
trines, and  who,  unwilling  to  be  obliged  to 
others  for  their  philosophical  knowledire,  in- 
vented systems  of  their  own,  which  were  in- 
expressibly chimerical  and  pregnant  with  ab- 
surdities. Of  this  class  of  original  philoso- 
phers was  Cosmas,  a  Nestorian,  commonly  call- 
ed Indicopleustes,  whose  doctrines  are  singular, 
and  resemble  more  the  notions  of  the  Orientals 
than  the  opinions  of  the  G  reeks.  §  Such  also 
was  the  writer,  from  whoee  Exposition  of  the 
Octateuch  Photius  has  drawn  several  citations.|| 

CHAPTER  II. 

Concerning  the  Doctors  and  Ministers  of  the 

Church. 

I.  The  external  form  of  cliurch  govern- 
ment continued  without  any  remarkable  alter- 
ation during  the  course  of  this  century.  But 
the  bishops  of  Rome  and  Constantinople,  who 
were  considered  as  the  most  eminent  and  prin- 
cipal rulers  of  the  Cliristian  church,  were  en- 
gaged in  perpetual  disputes  about  the  extent 
and  limits  of  their  respective  jurisdictions;  and 
both  seemed  to  aim  at  tlic  supreme  authority 
in  ecclesiastical  affairs.  Tlie  latter  prelate  not 
only  claimed  an  unrivalled  sovereignty  over  tlie 
eastern  churches,  but  also  maintained,  that  his 
church  was,  in  point  of  dignity,  no  way  infe- 
rior to  that  of  Rome.  Tlie  Roman  pontiffs 
beheld,  with  impatience,  these  lordly  preten- 
sions, and  warmly  asserted  the  pre-eminence 
of  their  church,  and  its  superiority  over  that 
of  Constantinople.  Gregory  the  Great  distin- 
guished himself  in  this  violent  contest;  and 
the  following  event  furnished  him  with  an  op- 
portunity of  exerting  his  zeal.  In  588,  John, 
bishop  of  Constantinople,  siiniamed  the  Faster, 
on  account  of  his  extraordinary  abstinence,  and 
austerity,  assembled  a  council,  by  his  own  au- 
thority, to  inquire  into  an  accusation,  brought 
against  Peter,  patriarch  of  Antioch;  and,  on 
this  occasion,  assumed  the  title  of  oecumenical 
or  universal  bishop.H     Now,  although  this  title 


'  See  the  Histor.  Dynastiarnni,by  Abulpharajius,  pub- 
lished by  Dr.  Pocock,  p.  94,  17i>. 

t  Set;  Ae;athias,  de  Rebus  Justiniani,  lib.  ii.  p.  48. — 
That  Uranius  made  use  of  the  Aristotelian  philosophy  in 
the  Eulychiau  controversy,  is  evident  IVom  this  circum- 
stance, that  Agathias  represents  hiin  disputing  concerning 
the  passibilily  and  immiscibilily  of  God  (<»'  to  .•7-m6>|t<iw 

}  Agathias,  ibid. 

§  Bernard  de  Montfauron,  Praefat.  ad  Cosmam,  p.  10, 
torn.  ii.  Collectionis novae  Patrum  Graecorum. 

II  Biblioth.  cod.  xxxvi. 

QC^^  We  cannot  avoid  taking  notice  of  some  mistakes 
which  have  slipped  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Mosheim,  in  hif 


162 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


had  been  formerly  enjoyed  by  the  bishops  of 
Constantinople,  and  was  also  susceptible  of  an 
interpretation  that  might  have  prevented  its 
giving  umbrage  or  oft'ence  to  an}^*  yet  Grego- 
ry suspected,  both  from  the  time  and  tlie  oc- 
casion of  John's  renewing  his  claim  to  it,  that 
he  was  aiming  at  a  supremiicy  over  all  tlie 
Christian  churches;  and  therefore  he  opposed 
his  claim  in  the  most  vigorous  manner,  in  let- 
ters to  that  purposo,  addressed  to  the  emperor, 
and  to  such  persons  as  he  judged  proper  to  se- 
cond his  opposition.  But  all  his  efforts  were 
without  effect;  and  the  bishops  of  Constanti- 
nople continued  to  assume  the  title  in  question, 
though  not  in  the  sense  in  which  it  had  alarm- 
ed the  pope.f 

II.  This  pontiff,  however,  adhered  tenaci- 
ously to  his  purpose,  opposed  with  vehemence 
the  bishop  of  Constantinople,  raised  new  tu- 
mults and  dissensions  among  tlie  sacred  order, 
and  aimed  at  no  less  than  an  unlimited  supre- 
macy over  the  Christian  church.  This  ambi- 
tious design  succeeded  in  the  west;  while,  in 
the  eastern  provinces,  his  arrogant  pretensions 
were  scarcely  respected  by  any  but  those  who 
were  at  enmity  with  the  bishop  of  Constanti- 
nople; and  this  pi-eiate  was  always  in  a  condi- 
tion to  make  head  against  the  progress  of  his 
authority  in  the  east.  How  much  the  opinions 
of  some  were  favourable  to  the  lordly  demands 
of  the  Roman  pontiffs,  may  be  easily  imagin- 
ed from  an  expression  of  Ennodiu's,  that  infa- 
mous and  extravagant  flatterer  of  Symmachus, 
who  was  a  prelate  of  ambiguous  fame.  This 
parasitical  panegyrist,  among  other  impertinent 
assertions,  maintained,  that  the  pontiff  was 
constituted  judge  in  the  place  of  God,  which 
he  filled  as  the  vicegerent  of  the  Most  High.| 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  certain,  from  a  variety 
of  the  most  authentic  records,  that  both  the 
emperors  and  the  nations  in  general  were  far 
from  being  disposed  to  bear  with  patience  the 
yoke  of  servitude,  which  the  popes  were  im- 
posing upon  the  Christian  church. §  The  Gothic 
princes  set  bounds  to  the  power  of  those  arro- 


narration  of  tliis  event.  First,  the  council  here  men- 
tioned ^vas  holden  under  the  pontificate  of  Pelagius  II. 
and  not  of  Gregory  the  Great,  who  was  not  chosen 
bishop  of  Rome  hefort'  the  year  590.  Secondly,  the  per- 
son accu-ed  before  tliis  council  was  not  Peter,  but  Gregory, 
bishop  of  Antioch.  Thirdly,  it  does  not  appear  iha\  the 
council  was  summoned  by  John  of  Constautinnplc,  but 
by  the  emperor  Mauricius,  to  whom  Gregory  had  ap- 
pealed from  the  governor  of  the  east,  before  whom  he 
was  first  accused. 

QjJ''  *  The  title  of  universal  bishop,  which  had  been 
given  by  Leo  and  Justinian  to  the  Patriarch  of  Coustanti- 
Dople,  was  not  attended  with  any  accession  of  power. 

t  Gregor.  Magni  Epist.  lib.  iv.  v.  vii.  All  tlie  passa 
ges  in  these  epistles  that  relate  to  this  famous  conlrst, 
have  been  extracted  and  illustrated  by  Launoy,  in  his  As- 
sertio  in  Frivileg.  S.  Medardi,  torn.  iii.  op.  part  ii.  p. 
266.  See  also  Lequien,  Oriens  Christianus,  torn.  i.  p. 
67.  Pfaffi  Dissertatio  de  Titulo  (Ecunien.  in  the  Tempe 
Helvetica,  torn.  iv.  p.  99. 

\  See  his  Apologeticum  pro  Synodo,  in  the  svth  volume 
of  the  Bibliolheca  Magna  Patrum.  (1(7-  One  would  think 
that  this  servile  adulator  had  never  read  the  4lh  verse  of 
the  2d  chapter  of  St.  Paul's  9d  Epistle  to  the  Thessaloni- 
ans,  where  the  Anti-Clirist,  or  man  of  sin,  is  described 
in  the  very  terms  in  which  he  represents  the  authority 
of  the  pontiff  Symmachus. 

§  See  particularly  the  truth  of  this  assertion,  with 
respect  to  Spain,  in  Geddes'  Dissertation  on  the  Papal 
Supremacy,  chiefly  with  relation  to  the  ancient  Spanish 
Church,  whicli  is  to  be  found  in  the  second  volume  of 
his  MiscellaneouE  Tracts. 


gant  prelates  in  Italy,  permitted  none  to  be 
raised  to  the  pontificate  without  their  approba- 
tion, and  reserved  to  themselves  the  right  of 
judging  of  the  legality  of  every  new  election.* 
They  enacted  spiritual  laws,  called  the  religi- 
ous orders  before  their  tribunals,  and  summon- 
ed councils  by  their  legal  authority.!  In  con- 
sequence of  all  this,  the  pontiffs,  amidst  all 
their  high  pretensions,  reverenced  the  majesty 
of  their  kings  and  emperors,  and  submitted  to 
their  authority  with  the  most  profound  humili- 
ty; nor  were  they  yet  .so  lost  to  all  sense  of 
shame,  as  to  aim  at  the  subjection  of  kings  and 
princes  to  their  spiritual  dominion.]. 

III.  The  rights  and  privileges  of  the  clergy 
were  very  considerable  before  this  period,  and 
the  riches,  v/hich  they  had  accumulated,  im- 
mense: and  both  received  daily  augmentations 
from  the  growth  of  superstition  in  this  century. 
The  arts  of  a  rapacious  priesthood  were  prac- 
tised upon  the  ignorant  devotion  of  the  simple; 
and  even  the  remorse  of  the  wicked  was  made 
an  instrument  of  increasing  the  ecclesiastical 
treasure;  for  an  opinion  vi'as  propagated  with 
industry  among  the  people,  that  a  remission  of 
sin  was  to  be  purchased  by  their  liberalities  to 
the  churches  and  monks,  and  that  the  prayers 
of  departed  saints,  whose  efficacy  was  victori- 
ous at  the  throne  of  God,  were  to  be  bought 
by  ofterings  presented  to  the  temples,  which 
were  consecrated  to  these  celestial  mediators. 
But,  in  proportion  as  the  riches  of  the  church 
increased,  the  various  orders  of  the  clergy  were 
infected  with  those  vices  which  are  too  often 
the  consequences  of  an  affluent  prosperity. — 
This  appears,  with  the  utmost  evidence,  from 
the  imperial  edicts  and  the  decrees  of  councils, 
which  were  so  frequently  levelled  at  the  immo- 
ralities of  those  who  were  distinguished  by  the 
appellation  of  cleria;  for,  what  necessity  would 
there  have  been  for  the  enactment  of  so  many 
laws  to  restrain  the  vices,  and  to  preserve  the 
morals  of  the  ecclesiastical  orders,  if  they  had 
fulfilled  even  the  obligations  of  external  decern 
cy,  or  shown,  in  the  general  tenor  of  their  lives, 
a  certain  degree  of  respect  for  religion  and  vir- 
tue.' Be  that  as  it  will,  the  effect  of  all  these 
laws  and  edicts  was  so  inconsiderable  as  to  be 
scarcely  perceived;  for  so  high  was  the  venera- 
tion paid,  at  this  time,  to  the  clergy,  that  their 
most  flagitious  crimes  were  corrected  by  the 
slightest  and  gentlest  punishments;  an  unhappy 
circumstance,  which  added  to  their  presump- 
tion, and  rendered  them  more  daring  and  au- 
dacious in  iniquity. 

IV.  The  bishops  of  Rome,  who  considered 
themselves  as  the  chiefs  and  fathers  of  the 
Christian  church,  are  not  to  be  excepted  from 
this  censure,  any  more  than  the  clergy  who 
were  under  their  jurisdiction.  We  may  form 
some  notion  of  their  humility  and  virtue  by  that 
long  and  vehement  contention,  which  arose  in 
498,  between  Symmachus  and  Laurentius,  who 
were,  on  the  same  day,  elected  to  the  pontifi- 


*  See  Mascovii  Histor.  Germanor.  tom.  ii.  not.  p.  113. 

t  Basnage,  Histoire  des  Eglises  Reformees,  tom.  i.  p. 
381. 

I  See  the  citations  from  Gregory  the  Great,  collected 
by  Launoy,  de  regia  Poteslate  in  Matrimon.  tom.  i.  op. 
part  ii.  p.  691,  and  in  his  Assertio  in  Privilegium  S. 
!VIedardi,p.272;  tom.  iii.  op.  part  ii.  See  also  Giannone, 
Historia  di  Napoli,  tom.  ii. 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


163 


cate  by  different  parties,  and  whose  dispute 
was,  at  length,  decided  by  Theodoric  king  of  the 
Goths.  Eacii  of  these  ecclesiastics  maintained 
obstinately  the  validity  of  his  election;  they 
reciprocally  accused  each  otlier  of  the  most  de- 
testable crimes;  and,  to  their  mutual  dishon- 
our, their  accusations  did  not  appear,  on  eitlier 
side,  entirely  destitute  of  foundation.  Three 
different  councils,  assemhlod  at  Rome,  endea- 
voured to  terminate  this  odious  schism,*  but 
without  success.  A  fourtii  was  summoned,  ])}' 
Theodoric,  to  examine  the  accusations  brought 
against  Symmachus,  to  whom  this  prince  had, 
at  the  beginning  of  the  schism,  adjudged  the 
papal  chair.  This  council  met  about  the  com- 
mencement of  the  century;  and  in  it  the  Ro- 
man pontiff  was  acquitted  of  the  crimes  laid 
to  his  charge.  But  the  adverse  party  refused 
to  acquiesce  in  this  decision;  and  this  gave  oc- 
casion to  Ennodius  of  Ticinum  (now  Pavia,) 
to  draw  up  his  adulatory  Apology  for  the  Coun- 
cil and  Symmachus. t  In  this  apology,  which 
disguises  the  truth  under  the  seducing  colours 
of  a  gaudy  rhetoric,  the  reader  will  perceive 
that  the  foundations  of  that  enormous  power, 
which  the  popes  afterwards  acquired,  were  now 
laid;  but  he  will  in  vain  seek,  in  this  laboured 


which  they  propagated,  with  such  success,  the 
contagion  of  this  monastic  devotion,  that,  in  a 
short  time,  Ireland,  Gaul,  Germany,  and  Swit- 
zerland, swarmed  with  those  lazy  orders,  and 
were,  in  a  manner,  covered  with  convents. 
The  most  illustrious  disciple  of  the  abbot  now 
mentioned,  was  Columban,  whoso  singular  rule 
of  discipline  is  )'et  extant,  and  surpasses  all  the 
rest  in  simplicity  and  brevity.*  Tiie  monastic 
orders,  in  general,  abounded  with  fanatics  and 
profligates;  the  latter  were  more  numerous 
than  the  former  in  the  western  convents,  while, 
in  those  of  the  east,  the  fanatics  were  predomi- 
nant. 

VI.  A  new  order,  which  in  a  manner  ab- 
sorbed all  the  others  that  were  established  in 
•  the  west,  was  instituted,  in  529,  by  Benedict 
of  Nursia,  a  man  of  piety  and  reputation,  for 
the  age  he  lived  in.  From  his  rule  of  discipline, 
which  is  yet  extant,  we  learn  that  it  was  not  his 
intention  to  impose  it  upon  all  the  monastic  so- 
cieties, but  to  form  an  order  whose  discipline 
should  be  milder,  establishment  more  solid,  and 
manners  more  regular,  than  those  of  the  other 
monastic  bodies;  and  whose  members,  during 
the  course  of  a  holy  and  peaceful  life,  were  to 
divide  their  time  between  prayer,  reading,  the 


production,  any  satisfactory  proof  of  the  injus-!]  education  of  youth,  and  other  pious  and  learn- 
tice  of  the  charge  brought  against  Symma- jj  ed  labours. f  But,  in  process  of  time,  the  fol- 
chus.J  lowers  of  this  celebrated  ecclesiastic  degener- 

V.  The  number,  credit,  and  influence  of  the  hated  sadly  from  the  piety  of  their  founder,  and 
monks  augmented  daily  in  all  parts  of  the  '  lost  sigiit  of  the  duties  of  their  station,  and  the 
Christian  world.     They   multiplied   so  prodi- ,;  great  end  of  their  establisliment.     Having  ac- 


giously  in  the  east,  that  whole  armies  might 
have  been  raised  out  of  the  monastic  order, 
without  any  sensible  diminution  of  that  enor- 
mous body.  The  monastic  life  was  also  higlily 
honoured,  and  had  an  incredible  number  of  pa- 
trons and  followers  in  all  the  western  pro- 
vinces, as  appears  from  the  rules  which  were 
prescribed  in  this  century,  by  various  doctors, 
for  directing  tlie  conduct  of  the  cloistered 
monks,  and  the  holy  virgins,  who  had  sacri- 
ficed their  capacity  of  being  useful  in  the  world, 
to  the  gloomy  charms  of  a  convent. §  In  Great 
Britain,  a  certain  abbot,  named  Congal,  is  said 
to  have  persuaded  an  incredible  number  of  per- 
sons to  abandon  the  affairs,  obligations,  and 
duties  of  social  life,  and  to  spend  the  remain- 
der of  their  days  in  solitude,  under  a  rule  of 
discipline,  of  which  he  was  the  inventor. ||  His 
disciples  travelled  through  many  countries,  in 


(tfr'  *  This  schism  may  be  truly  termed  odious,  as  it 
was  carried  on  by  assassinations,  massacres,  and  all  the 
cruel  proceedings  of  a  desperate  civil  war.  See  Faulus 
Diaconus,  lib.  xvii. 

\  This  apolo£(y  may  be  seen  in  the  fifteenth  volume  of 
the  Magn.  Bibl.  Patrum,  p.  248. 

QC^  {  That  Symmachus  was  never  fairly  acquitted, 
may  be  presumed  from  the  first,  and  proved  from  the 
second  of  the  following  circumstances:  first,  that  The- 
odoric, who  was  a  wise  and  equitable  prince,  and  who 
had  attentively  examined  the  charge  brought  against  him, 
would  not  have  referred  the  decision  to  the  bishops,  if 
the  matter  had  been  clear,  but  would  have  pronounced 
judgment  himself,  as  he  had  formerly  done  with  respect 
to  the  legality  of  his  election.  The  second  circumstance 
is,  that  the  council  acquitted  him  without  even  hearing 
those  who  accused  him,  and  he  himself  did  not  appear, 
though  frequently  summoned. 

^  These  rules  are  extant  in  Holstenius'  Codex  Regu- 
larnm,  part  ii.  published  at  Rome  in  1661.  See  also 
Edm.  Martenne  et  Ursin.  Durand.  Thesaur.  Anecdot. 
Nov.  torn.  i.  p.  4. 

]|  Archbishop  Usher's  Antiq.  Rcclcs.  Britau. 


j  quired  immense  riches  from  the  devout  liberali- 
j  ty  of  the  opulent,  they  sank  into  luxury,  intem- 
!  perance,  and  sloth,  abandoned  themselves  to  all 
sorts  of  vices,  extended  their  zeal  and  atten- 
,  tion  to  worldly  affairs,  insinuated  themselves 
into  the  cabinets  of  princes,  took  part  in  politi- 
'  cal  cabals  and  court  factions,  made  a  vast  aug- 
I  mentation  of  superstitious  ceremonies  in  their 
order,  to  blind  the  inultitude,  and  supply  the 
place  of  their  expiring  virtue;  and,  among 
otlier  meritorioufi  enterprises,  laboured  most 
ardently  to  swell  the  arrogance,  by  enlareing 
tlie  power  and  authority  of  the  Roman  pontiff. 
The  good  Benedict  never  dreamed  that  the 
great  purposes  of  his  institution  were  to  be  thus 
perverted;  much  less  did  he  give  any  encour- 
agement or  permission  to  such  flagrant  abuses. 
His  rule  of  discipline  was  neither  favourable  to 
luxury  nor  to  ambition;  and  it  is  still  celebrated 
on  account  of  its  excellence,  though  it  has  not 
been  observed  for  many  ages. 

It  is  proper  to  remark  here,  that  tlie  institu- 
tion of  Benedict  changed,  in  several  re.spects, 
the  obligations  and  duties  of  the  monastic  life, 
as  it  was  regulated  in  the  west.  Among  other 
things,  he  obliged  those  who  entered  into  his 
order  to  promise,  at  the  time  of  their  being  re- 
ceived as  novices,  and  afterwards  at  their  ad- 
mission as  members  of  the  society,  to  persevere 
in  an  o!)edience  to  the  rules  he  had  laid  down, 
wiliiout  attempting  to  change  them  in  any  re- 
spect.    As  he  was  exceedingly  solicitous  about 


*  Usserii  Sylloge  Antiquar.  Epistolar.  Hibernicar.  p. 
5 — 1,5. — Holstenii  Codex  Regularum,  torn.  ii.  p.  48. — 
Mabillon,  Praef.  ad  .Ssecnlum  li.  Benedictinum,  p.  4. 

f  See  Mabillon,  Acta  Sanctor.  Ord.  Bened.  Sa-o.  i.and 
Annales  Ordin.  Ben.  lorn.  i.  See  also  Helyot,  and  the  other 
writers  who  have  given  accouots  of  the  monastic  orderj, 


164 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


the  stability  of  his  institution,  this  particular 
regulation  was  wise  and  prudent;  and  it  was  so 
much  the  more  necessary,  as,  before  his  time, 
the  monks  made  no  scruple  of  altering  the 
laws  and  rules  of  their  founders  whenever  they 
thought  proper.* 

VII.  This  new  order  made  a  most  rapid 
progress  in  the  west,  and  soon  arrived  at  the 
most  flourishing  state.  In  Gaul,  its  interests 
were  promoted  by  St.  Maurus;  in  Sicily  and 
Sardinia,  by  Placidus;  in  England,  by  Augus- 
tin  and  Mellitus;  in  Italy,  and  other  countries, 
by  Gregory  the  Great,  who  is  himself  report- 
ed to  have  been  for  some  time  a  member  of  this 
society;!  and  it  was  afterwards  received  in 
Germany  by  the  means  of  Boniface. +  This 
amazing  progress  of  the  new  order  was  ascribed 
by  the  Benedictines  to  the  wisdom  and  sancti- 
ty of  their  discipline,  and  to  the  miracles 
wrought  by  tlieir  founder  and  his  followers. 
But  a  more  attentive  view  of  things  will  con- 
vince the  impartial  observer,  that  the  protec- 
tion of  the  pontitfs,  to  tlie  advancement  of 
whose  grandeur  and  authority  the  Benedic- 
tines were  most  servilely  devoted,  contributed 
much  more  to  the  lustre  and  influence  of  their 
order,  than  any  other  circumstances,  and  in- 
deed more  than  all  other  considerations  united. 
But,  however  general  their  credit  was,  tliey  did 
not  reign  alone;  other  orders  subsisted  in  seve- 
ral countries  until  the  ninth  century.  Tlien, 
however,  the  Benedictines  absorbed  all  the 
other  religious  societies,  and  held,  unrivalled, 
the  reins  of  the  monastic  empire. § 

VIII.  The  most  celebrated  Greek  and  Ori- 
ental writers  that  flourished  in  this  century, 
were  the  following: 

Procopius  of  Gaza,  who  interpreted  with 
success  several  books  of  Scripture. || 

Maxentius,  a  monk  of  Antioch,  who,  beside 
several  treatises  against  the  sects  of  his  time, 
composed  Scholia  on  Dionysius  the  Areopagite- 

Agapetus,  whose  Selieda  Regia,  addressed 
to  the  emperor  Justinian,  procured  him  a  place 
among  the  wisest  and  most  judicious  writers 
of  this  century. 

Eulogius,  a  presbyter  of  Antioch,  who  was 
the  terror  of  heretics,  and  a  warm  and  strenu- 
ous defender  of  the  orthodox  faith. 

John,  patriarcli  of  Constantinople,  who,  on 
account  of  his  austere  method  of  life,  was  sur- 
named  the  Faster,  and  who  acquired  a  certain 
degree  of  reputation  by  several  little  produc- 
tions, and  more  particularly  by  his  Penitential. 

Leontius  of  Byzantium,  whose  book  against 
the  sects,  and  other  writings,  are  yet  extant. 

Evagrius,  a  scholastic  writer,  whose  Ecclesi- 
astical History  is,  in  many  places,  corrupted 
with  fabulous  narrations. 


*  .See  Mabilloji,  Fra:f.  ad  Saec.  iv.  Benedict. 

f  See  Mabillon's  preface  last  mentioned,  and  his  Dis- 
sertation de  Vita  Monast.  Gregorii  JVI.  This  circum- 
stance, however,  is  denied  by  some  writers;  and  among 
others  by  Gallonius,  concerning  whose  book  upon  that 
subject,  see  Simtm'sLettres  Choisies,  torn.  iii.  p.  63. 

}  Anton.  Dadini  Alteserra;,  Origines  rei  Monasticae, 
lib.  i.  cap.  ix.  The  propagation  of  the  Benedictine  order, 
through  the  difl'erent  provinces  of  Europe,  is  related  by 
Mabillon,  Prsf.  ad  S-cc.i.  et  ad  Saec.  iv. 

§  L'Enfant,  Histoire  du  Concile  de  Constance,  torn.  ii. 

II  See  Simon's  Critique  de  la  Bibliotheque  Ecclesiasti- 
que  de  M.  Du-Pin,tom.  i.  p.  197. 


Anastasius  of  Sinai,  whom  most  writers  con- 
sider as  the  author  of  a  trifling  performance, 
written  against  a  sort  of  heretics  called  Ace- 
phali,  of  whom  we  shall  have  occasion  to 
speak  hereafter.* 

IX.  Among  the  Latin  ^vriters  the  following 
are  principally  worthy  of  mention: 

Gregory  the  Great,  bishop  of  Rome,  who 
united  the  most  inconsistent  and  contradictory 
qualities;  as  in  some  cases  he  discovered  a 
sound  and  penetrating  judgment,  and  in  others 
the  most  shameful  and  superstitious  weakness; 
and  in  general  manifested  an  extreme  aversion 
to  all  kinds  of  learning,  as  his  Epistles  and 
Dialogues  sufficiently  testify. f 

Csesarius  of  Aries,  who  composed  some  moral 
writings,  and  drew  up  a  i-ule  of  conduct  and 
discipline  for  the  Holy  Virgins.  J 

Fulgentius,  bishop  of  Ruspina,  who  attack- 
ed with  great  warmth  the  Arians  and  Pelagi- 
ans in  Africa;  but  whose  style  and  manner 
were  harsh  and  uncouth,  as  was  generally  the 
case  of  the  African  writers. § 

Ennodius,  bishop  of  Ticinum,  who  was  not 
one  of  the  meanest  authors  of  this  century, 
whether  we  consider  his  compositions  in  prose 
or  in  verse;  though  he  disgraced  his  talents, 
and  dishonoured  liis  eloquence,  by  his  infamous 
adulation  of  the  Roman  pontiff",  whom  he  so 
exalted  above  all  mortals,  as  to  maintain  that 
he  was  answerable  to  none  upon  earth  for  his 
conduct,  and  subject  to  no  human  tribunal.  |j 

Benedict  of  Nursia,  who  acquired  an  im- 
mortal name,  by  the  rules  he  laid  down  for  the 
order  whicli  he  instituted,  and  the  multitude  of 
religious  societies  that  submitted  to  his  discip- 
line. 

Dionysius,  who  was  surnamed  the  Little,  on 
account  of  his  extraordinary  humility,  and  was 
deservedly  esteemed  for  his  Collection  of  the 
Ancient  Canons,  and  also  for  his  Chronologi- 
cal Researches. 

Fulgentius  Ferrandus,  an  African,  who  ac- 
quired a  considerable  degree  of  reputation  by 
several  treatises,  but  especially  by  his  Abridge- 
ment of  tlie  Canons,  though  his  style  and  dic- 
tion were  entirely  destitute  of  harmony  and 
elegance. 

Facimdus,  a  strenuous  defender  of  the  Three 
Chapters,  of  which  we  shall  give  an  account 
in  their  place. 

Arator,  who  translated,  with  tolerable  suc- 
cess, the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  into  Latin  verse. 
Primasius  of  Adrumetiun,  whose  Commen- 
tary upon  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  as  also  his 
book  concerning  Heresies,  are  yet  extant. 

Liberatus,  whose  Compendious  History  of 
the  Nestorian  and  Eutychian  controversies, 
must  entitle  him  to  an  eminent  rank  among 
the  writers  of  this  century. 


*  See,  for  an  account  of  this  book,  Simon,  torn.  i.  p. 
2^;  as  also  Barat.  Bibliotheque  Choisie,  torn.  ii.  p.  21. 

]  A  splendid  edition  of  the  works  of  Gregory  was 
published  at  Paris,  in  1705,  by  father  St.  Marthe,  a 
Benedictine  monk.  See  an  account  of  this  pontiff,  Acta 
Sanctor.  torn.  ii.  Martii,  p.  121. 

t  Of  this  writer,  the  Benedictine  monks  have  given  a 
learned  account,  in  their  Histoire  Literaire  de  la  France, 
torn.  iii.  p.  190. 

§  See,  lor  an  account  of  Fulgentius,  the  Acta  Sanctorum, 
torn.  i.  Januar.  p.  32,  &c. 

II  Histoire  Literaire  de  la  France,  tom.  iii.  p.  96 


Chap.  m. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


165 


Fortunatus,  a  man  of  various  erudition,  and 
whose  poetic  compositions  are  far  from  being 
destitute  of  genius.* 

Gregory  of  Tours,  who  is  esteemed  the  fa- 
ther of  Gallic  history;  and  wlio  would  have 
descended  with  honour  to  posterity,  did  not  his 
Annals  of  the  Franks,  and  the  rest  of  his  writ- 
ings, carry  so  many  marks  of  levity,  credulity, 
and  weakness.! 

Gildas,  tlio  most  ancient  of  the  British  wri- 
ters, who  composed  a  book  concerning  the  de- 
struction of  Britain,  in  which  there  are  several 
tilings  not  altogether  unworthy  of  the  curiosity 
of  the  learned. 

Columban,  a  native  of  Ireland,  who  became 
■famous  on  account  of  the  monastic  rules  he 
prescribed  to  his  followers,  his  zeal  for  esta- 
blishing religious  orders,  and  his  poetical  pro- 
ductions.! 

Isidore,  bishop  of  Seville,  whose  grammati- 
cal, theological,  and  historical  productions,  dis- 
cover more  learning  and  pedantry,  than  judg- 
ment and  taste. 

We  may  conclude  this  enumeration  of  the 
Latin  writers  with  the  illustrious  names  of 
Boethius  and  Cassiodorus,  who  far  surpassed 
all  their  contemporaries  in  learning  and  know- 
ledge. The  former  shone  forth  with  the  bright- 
est lustre  in  the  republic  of  letters,  as  a  philo- 
sopher, an  orator,  a  poet,  and  a  divine,  and 
both  in  elegance  and  subtilty  of  genius  had  no 
superior,  nor  indeed  any  equal  in  this  century; 
the  latter,  though  in  many  respects  inferior  to 
him,  was  nevertheless  far  from  being  destitute 
of  merit.§  Several  productions  of  these  wri- 
ters have  been  transmitted  to  our  times. 

CHAPTER  III. 
Concemi7\g  the  Doctrine  of  the  Church  during 
this  Century. 
I.  When  once  the  ministers  of  the  church 
had  departed  from  the  ancient  simplicity  of  re- 
ligious worship,  and  sullied  the  native  purity 
of  divine  truth  by  a  mot(ey  mixture  of  human 
inventions,  it  was  difficult  to  set  bounds  to  this 
growing  corruption.  Abuses  were  daily  mul- 
tiplied, and  superstition  drew  from  its  horrid 
fecundity  an  incredible  number  of  absurdities, 
which  were  added  to  the  doctrine  of  Christ  and 
his  apostles.  The  controversial  writers  in  the 
eastern  provinces  continued  to  render  perplexed 
and  obscure  some  of  the  principal  doctrines  of 
Christianity,  by  the  subtile  distinctions  wliich 
they  borrowed  from  a  vain  and  chimerical  phi- 
losophy. The  public  teachers  and  instructors 
of  the  people  grievously  degenerated  from  the 
apostolic  character.  They  seemed  to  aim  at 
nothing  else,  than  to  sink  the  multitude  into 
the  most  opprobrious  ignorance  and  supersti- 


*  Histoire  Literaire  de  la  France,  torn.  iii.  p.  464. 

f  The  life  of  Gregory  of  Tours  is  to  be  found  in  the 
work  last  quoted,  and  his  faults  are  mentioned  by  Pai(i, 
in  his  Dissert,  de  Diouysio  Paris,  sect.  25,  which  is  added 
to  the  fourth  tome  of  the  Breviarium  Pontif.  Romanor. 
Launoy  defends  tliis  historian  in  many  things  in  his 
works,  torn.  i.  part  ii.  p.  l.'il. 

t  No  writers  have  given  more  accurate  accounts  of 
Gildas  and  Columban,  than  the  learned  Benedictines,  in 
the  Hist.  Lit.  de  la  France,  torn.  iii.  p.  279,50.1. 

^  See  Simon's  Critique  de  la  Bibliothequc  de  M.  Du- 
Pin,  torn.  i.  p.  2U. 


tion,  to  efface  from  their  minds  all  sense  of  the 
beauty  and  excellence  of  genuine  piety,  and  to 
substitute,  in  the  place  of  religious  principles, 
a  blind  veneration  for  the  clergy,  and  a  stupid 
zeal  for  a  senseless  round  of  ridiculous  ceremo- 
nies. This,  perhaps,  will  appear  less  surprising, 
when  we  consider,  that  "  the  blind  led  the 
blind;"  for  the  public  ministers  and  teachers 
of  religion  were,  for  the  most  part,  grossly  ig- 
norant; indeed,  almost  as  much  so  as  the  peo- 
ple whom  they  were  appointed  to  instruct. 

II.  To  be  convinced  of  the  truth  of  the  dis- 
mal representation  we  have  here  given  of  the 
state  of  religion  at  this  time,  nothing  more  is 
necessary  than  to  cast  an  eye  upon  the  doc- 
trines now  taught  concerning  the  worship  of 
images  and  saints,  tiie  fire  of  purgatory,  the 
efficacy  of  good  works,  i.  e.  the  observance  of 
human  rites  and  institutions,  toward  the  at- 
tainment of  salvation,  the  power  of  relics  to 
heal  the  diseases  of  body  and  mind;  and  the 
like  sordid  and  miserable  fancies,  which  are  in- 
culcated in  many  of  the  superstitious  produc- 
tions of  this  century,  and  particularly  in  the 
epistles  and  other  writings  of  Gregory  the 
Great.  Nothing  could  be  more  ridiculous  on 
one  hand,  than  the  solemnity  and  liberality 
with  which  this  good,  but  silly  pontiff,  distri- 
buted the  wonder-working  relics;  and  nothing 
more  lamentable  on  the  other,  than  the  stupid 
eagerness  and  devotion  with  which  the  deluded 
multitude  received  them,  and  suffered  them- 
selves to  be  persuaded,  that  a  portion  of  ran- 
cid oil,  taken  from  the  lamps  which  burned  at 
the  tombs  of  the  martyrs,  had  a  supernatural 
efficacy  to  sanctify  its  possessors,  and  to  defend 
them  from  all  dangers  both  of  a  temporal  and 
spiritual  nature.* 

III.  Several  attempts  were  made  in  this  cen- 
tury to  lay  down  a  proper  and  judicious  method 
of  explaining  the  Scriptures.  Of  this  nature 
were  the  two  books  of  Junilius  the  African, 
concerning  the  various  parts  of  the  divine 
law;f  a  work  destitute  of  precision  and  method, 
and  from  which  it  appears  that  the  author  had 
not  sufficient  knowledge  and  penetration  for 
tlie  task  he  undertook. 

Cassiodorus  also,  in  his  two  books  concern- 
ing the  divine  laws,  has  delivered  several  rules 
for  the  right  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures. 
Philoxcnus  the  Syrian  translated,  into  his 
native  language,  the  Psalms  of  David,  and  the 
Books  of  the  New  Testament.]: 

Interpreters  were  numerous  in  this  century. 
Those  who  made  the  greatest  figure  among  the 
Greeks  in  this  character,  were  Procopius  of 
Gaza,  Severus  of  Antioch,  Julian,  and  a  few 
others;  the  first  was  an  expositor  of  no  mean 
abilities. §  The  most  eminent  rank,  among  the 
Latin  commentators,  is  due  to  Gregory  the 
Great,  Cassiodorus,  Primasius,||  Isidore  of  Se- 
ville,ir  and  Bellator. 

IV.    It  must,  however,   be  acknowledged, 


Seethe  List  of  sacred  Oils  which  Gregory  the  Great 
sent  to  the  queen  Theudelinda,  in  the  work  of  Ruinar- 
tus,  entitled.  Acta  Martyrum  sincera  et  selecla,  p.  619. 

t  See  Simon's  Critique,  torn.  i.  p.  ^9. 

\  Asseman.  Biblioth.  Orient.  Vatican,  torn.  ii.  p.  83. 

if  See  Simon's  Lettres  Choisies,  torn.  iv. 

II  Simon's  Critique,  tom.  i.  p.  206;  and  his  Histoire  its 
principauxCommentaleurs  du  N.  T.  chap.  ixiv.  p.  337. 

H  Snnon'i  Critique,  lorn.  i.  p.  259. 


166 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II 


that  these  writers  scarcely  deserve  the  name 
of  expositors,  if  we  except  a  small  number  of 
tliem,  and  among  these  tlie  eastern  Nestorians, 
who,  following  the  example  of  Theodore  of 
Mopsuestia,  were  careful  in  exploring  the  true 
sense  and  the  native  energy  of  tlie  words  em- 
ployed in  the  Scriptures.  We  may,  therefore, 
divide  the  commentators  of  this  age  into  two 
classes.  In  the  first,  we  rank  those  who  did 
nothing  more  tlian  collect  the  opinions  and  in- 
terpretations which  had  been  received  by  the 
ancient  doctors  of  the  church;  which  collec- 
tions were  afterwards  called  chains  by  tlie 
Latins.*  Such  were  tlie  chains  of  Olympio- 
dorus  on  Job,  and  of  Victor  of  Capua  on  the 
four  Gospels;  and  the  commentary  of  Prima- 
sius  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  which  was 
compiled  from  the  works  of  Augustin,  Jerome, 
Ambrose,  and  others.  Even  Procopius  of 
Gaza  may  be  ranked  in  this  class,  though  not 
with  so  much  reason  as  the  mere  compilers  now 
mentioned,  since,  in  many  cases,  he  has  con- 
sulted the  dictates  of  his  own  judgment,  and 
not  followed,  with  a  servile  and  implicit  sub- 
mission, the  voice  of  antiquity.  To  the  se- 
cond class  belong  those  fanciful  e.xpositors, 
who,  setting  up  Origen  as  their  great  model, 
neglect  and  overlook  entirely  the  sense  of  the 
words  employed  by  the  sacred  writers,  lose 
themselves  in  spiritual  refinements  and  allego- 
rical digressions,  and,  by  the  aid  of  a  lively  and 
luxuriant  imagination,  draw  from  the  Scrip- 
tures arguments  in  favour  of  every  whim  they 
have  tliought  proper  to  adopt.  Such  was 
Anastasius  the  Siuaite,  whose  Mysterious  Con- 
templations, upon  the  six-days'  Creation, f  be- 
tray the  levity  and  ignorance  of  their  author. 
Such  also  was  Gregory  the  Great,  whose  Mo- 
ral Observations  upon  the  Book  of  Job,  for- 
merly met  with  unmerited  commendations. 
Such  were  Isidore  of  Seville  and  Primasius,  as 
manifestly  appears  from  that  Book  of  Allego- 
ries upon  the  Holy  Scriptures,!  which  was  in- 
vented by  the  former,  and  froti  the  Mystical 
Exposition  of  the  book  of  the  Revelation,^ 
which  was  imagined  by  the  latter. 

V.  It  would  be  needless  to  expect,  from  the 
divines  of  this  century,  an  accurate  view,  or  a  1 
clear  and  natural  explanation,  of  the  Ciiristian ' 
doctrine.  Tlie  greatest  part  of  tliem  reasoned  > 
and  disputed  concerning  the  trutlis  of  tlie  Gos-  i 
pel,  as  the  blind  would  argue  about  light  and  [ 
colours;  and  imagined  that  they  had  acquitted 
themselves  niihly,  when  they  liad  thrown  out 
a  heap  of  crude  and  indigested  notions,  and 
overwhelmed  their  adversaries  with  a  torrent 
of  words. 

We  may  perceive,  however,  in  the  writers 
of  tliis  age,  evident  marks  of  the  tiiree  differ- 
ent methods  of  explaining  and  inculcating  the 
doctrines  of  religion  which  are  yet  practised 
among  the  Greeks  and  Latins;  for  some  col- 
lected a  heap,  rather  than  a  system  of  theolo- 
gical opinions,  from  the  writings  of  the  ancient 
doctors,  from  the  decrees  of  councils,  and  from 

*  Le  Moyne,  Prolegomena  ad  varia  Sacra,  p.  53.— 
F-.bricii  Biblioth.  Graeea,  lib.  v.  cap.  xvii. 

f  Tlie  tide  isCoiitempIationes  Aiiagogicse  in  Hexaeme- 
rou. 

}  Libcr  Allceoriarum  in  Scripluram  Sacraui. 

\  Expositio  Mystiea  in  .^pocalypsin. 


I  the  Scriptures;  such  were  Isidore  of  Seville 
among  the  Latins  (whose  three  books  of  sen- 
tences or  opinions  are  still  extant,)  and  Leon- 
tius  the  Cyprian  among  the  Greeks,  whose 
common-place  book  of  divinity  was  much  es- 
teemed. These  authors  gave  rise  to  that  spe- 
cies of  divinity,  which  the  Latins  afterwards 
distinguished  by  the  name  of  ■positive  theology. 

Others  endeavoured  to  explain  the  various 
doctrines  of  Christianity  by  reasoning  upon 
their  nature,  their  excellency  and  fitness;  and 
thus  it  was,  with  the  strong  weapons  of  reason 
and  argument,  that  many  of  the  Christian 
doctors  disputed  against  the  Nestorians,  the 
Eutyehians,  and  the  Pelagians.  These  meta- 
physical divines  were  called  schoolmen,  and 
their  writings  were  afterwards  characterised 
by  the  general  term  of  scholastic  divinity. 

A  third  class  of  theological  teachers,  ver}' 
different  from  those  already  mentioned,  com- 
prehended a  certain  species  of  fanatics,  who 
maintained  that  the  knowledge  of  divine  truth 
was  only  to  be  derived  from  inward  feeling  and 
mental  contemplation.  This  class  assumed 
the  appellation  of  mystics.  These  three  me- 
thods of  deducing  and  unfolding  the  doctrines 
of  the  Gospel  have  been  transmitted  down  to 
our  times.  No  writer  of  this  century  compos- 
ed a  judicious  or  complete  system  of  divinity, 
though  several  branches  of  that  sacred  science 
were  occasionally  illustrated. 

VI.  Those  who  consecrated  their  pious  la- 
bours to  the  advancement  of  practical  religion 
and  moral  virtue,  aimed  at  the  accomplishment 
of  this  good  purpose,  partly  by  laying  down 
precepts,  and  partly  by  exhibiting  edifying  ex- 
amples. They  who  promoted  the  cause  of 
piety  and  virtue  in  the  former  way,  modified 
their  instructions  according  to  the  state  and 
circumstances  of  the  persons  for  whom  they 
were  designed.  Peculiar  precepts  were  ad- 
dressed to  those  who  had  not  abandoned  the 
connexions  of  civil  society,  but  lived  amidst  the 
Imrry  of  worldly  affairs;  while  different  rules 
were  administered  to  those  who  aspired  to 
higher  degrees  of  perfection,  and  lived  in  a 
state  of  seclusion  from  the  contagion  and  vani- 
ties of  the  world.  The  precepts,  addressed  to 
tlie  former,  represent  the  Christian  life,  as  con- 
sisting in  certain  external  virtues  and  acts  of 
religion;  as  appears  from  the  Homilies  and 
Exhortations  of  Csesarius,  the  Capita  Parsene- 
tica  of  Agapetus,  and  especially  from  the  For- 
mula honestae  Vitffi,  i.  e.  the  Summary  of  a 
Virtuous  Life,  drawn  up  by  Martin,  archbishop 
of  Braga.*  The  rules  administered  to  the  lat- 
ter sort  of  Christians,  were  more  spiritual  and 
sublime:  they  were  exhorted  to  separate,  as  far 
as  was  possible,  the  soul  from  the  body  by  di- 
vine contemplation;  and,  for  that  purpose,  to 
enervate  and  emaciate  the  latter  by  watching, 
fasting,  perpetual  prayer,  and  singing  of 
psalms;  as  we  find  in  the  dissertation  of  Ful- 
gentius  upon  fasting,  and  those  of  Nicetius, 
concerning  the  vigils  of  the  servants  of  God, 
and  the  good  effects  of  psalmody.  The  Greeks 
adopted  for  their  leader,  in  this  mystic  laby- 
rinth, Dionysius,  falsely  called  the  Areopagite, 
whose  pretended  writings  John  of  Scythopolis 


*  See  the  Acta  Sanctor.  Martii,  torn.  iii.  p.  S6 


Chap.  III. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


167 


illustrated  with  annotations  in  this  century. 
We  need  not  be  at  any  pains  in  pointing  out 
the  defects  of  these  injudicious  zealots;  the 
smallest  acquaintance  willi  that  rational  reli- 
gion, vvhirh  is  contained  in  the  Gospel,  will  bo 
sufficient  to  open  the  eyes  of  the  impartial  to 
the  absurdities  of  that  chimerical  devotion  we 
have  now  been  describing'. 

Vn.  They  who  enforced  tlie  duties  of  Chris- 
tianity, by  exhibiting'  examples  of  piety  and 
virtue  to  the  view  of  those  for  whom  their  in- 
structions were  designed,  wrote,  for  this  pur- 
pose, the  Lives  of  the  Saints;  and  there  was  a 
considerable  number  of  this  kind  of  biogra- 
phers both  among  the  Greeks  and  Latins.  £n- 
nodius,  Eugypius,  Cyril  of  Scythopolis,  Diony- 
sius  the  Little,  Cogitosus  and  others,  are  to  be 
ranked  in  this  class.  But,  however  pious  the 
intentions  of  these  biographers  may  have  been, 
it  must  be  acknowledged,  that  they  executed 
their  task  in  a  most  contemptible  manner.  No 
models  of  rational  piety  are  to  be  found  among 
those  pretended  worthies,  whom  they  propose 
to  Christians  as  objects  of  imitation.  They 
amuse  their  readers  with  gigantic  fables  and 
trifling  romances;  the  examples  they  exhibit 
are  those  of  certain  delirious  fanatics,  whom 
they  call  saints,  men  of  a  corrupt  and  pervert- 
ed judgment,  who  ofiered  violence  to  reason 
and  nature  by  the  horrors  of  an  extravagant 
austerity  in  their  own  conduct,  and  by  the  se- 
verity of  those  singular  and  inliuman  rules 
which  they  prescribed  to  others.  For,  by  what 
means  were  these  men  sainted.'  By  starving 
themselves  with  senseless  obstinacy,  and  bear- 
ing the  useless  hardships  of  hunger,  thirst,  and 
inclement  seasons,  with  stedfastness  and  perse- 
verance; by  running  about  the  country,  like 
madmen,  in  tattered  garments,  and  sometimes 
lialf-naked,  or  shutting  themselves  up  in  a  nar- 
row space,  where  they  continued  motionless; 
by  standing  for  a  long  time  in  certain  postures, 
with  their  eyes  closed,  in  the  enthusiastic  ex- 
pectation of  divine  light.  All  this  was  "  saint- 
like and  glorious;"  and  the  more  any  ambi- 
tious fanatic  departed  from  the  dictates  of  rea- 
son and  common  sense,  and  counterfeited  the 
wild  gestures  and  the  incoherent  conduct  of  an 
idiot  or  a  lunatic,  the  surer  was  his  prospect  of 
obtaining  an  eminent  rank  among  the  heroes 
and  demi-gods  of  a  corrupt  and  degenerate 
church. 

VIII.  Many  writers  laboured  with  diligence 
to  terminate  the  reigning  controversies,  but 
none  with  success.  Nor  shall  we  be  much 
surprised,  that  these  eftbrts  were  ineticctual, 
when  we  consider  how  tliey  were  conducted; 
for  scarcelj'  can  wo  name  a  single  writer,  whose 
opposition  to  the  Eutychiaiis,  Nestorians,  and 
Pelagians,  was  carried  on  with  probity,  mode- 
ration, or  prudence.  Primasius  and  Philopo- 
nus  wrote  concerning  all  the  sects,  but  their 
works  are  lost;  the  treatise  of  Lcontius,  upon 
tiie  same  extensive  subject,  is  still  extant,  but 
is  scarcely  worth  ])erusing.  Isidore  of  Seville, 
and  Leontiusof  Neapolis,  disputed  against  the 
Jews;  but  with  what  success  and  dexterity  will 
be  easily  imagined  by  those  who  are  acquaint- 
ed with  the  learning  and  logic  of  these  times. 
We  omit,  therefore,  any  farther  mention  of  the 
miserable  disputants  of  this  century,  from  a 


persuasion  that  it  will  be  more  useful  and  enter- 
taining to  lay  before  the  reader  a  brief  account 
of  the  controversies  tliat  now  divided  and  trou- 
bled the  Christian  church. 

IX.  Though  the  credit  of  Origen,  and  his 
system,  seemed  to  lie  expiring  under  the  blowj 
it  had  received  from  the  zeal  of  the  orthodox, 
and  the  repeated  thunder  of  synods  and  coun- 
cils, yet  it  was  very  far  from  being  totally  sunk. 
On  the  contrary,  this  great  man,  and  his  doc- 
trine, were  held  by  many,  and  especially  by  the 
monks,  in  the  highest  veneration,  and  cherish- 
ed witli  a  kind  of  enthusiasm  which  became 
boundless  and  extravagant.  In  the  west,  Bcl- 
lator  translated  the  works  of  Origen  into  the 
Latin  language.  In  the  eastern  provinces,  and 
particularly  in  Syria  and  Palestine,  which  were 
the  principal  seats  of  Origenism,  the  monks, 
seconded  by  several  bishops,  and  chiefly  by 
Tlieodore  of  CiEsarea  in  Cappadocia,  defended 
the  truth  and  authority  of  the  doctrines  of  Ori- 
gen against  all  his  adversaries  with  incredible 
vehemence.*  The  cause  was,  at  length,  brought 
before  Justinian,  who,  in  a  long  and  verbose 
edict,  addressed  to  Mennas,  patriarch  of  Con- 
stantinople,! passed  a  severe  condemnation 
upon  Origen  and  his  doctrine,  and  ordered  it 
to  be  entirely  suppressed. ;(:  The  effects  of  this 
edict  were  more  violent  than  durable;  for,  upon 
the  breaking  out  of  the  controversy  concerning 
the  three  chapters,^  soon  after  this  time,  Origen- 
ism not  only  revived  in  Palestine,  but  even  re- 
covered new  vigour,  and  spread  itself  far  and 
wide.  Hence  many  commotions  were  raised 
in  the  churcli,  which  were,  however,  termi- 
nated by  the  fifth  general  council,  assembled  at 
Constantinople  by  Justinian,  in  533,  in  which 
Origen  and  his  followers  were  again  con- 
demned. || 

X.  This  controversy  produced  another,  v.'hich- 
continued  much  longer,  was  carried  on  with 
still  more  excessive  degrees  of  animosity  and 
violence,  and  the  subject  of  which  was  of  much 
less  moment  and  importance.  The  emperor 
Justinian  was  eagerly  bent  upon  extirpating 
that  violent  branch  of  the  Monoph\-sites,  which 
was  distinguished  by  the  name  of  Acephalij 
and  consulted,  upon  this  matter,  Theodore, 
bishop  of  Cffisarea,  who  was  a  Monophysite, 
and,  at  tlie  same  time,  extremely  attached  ta 
the  doctrine  of  Origen.  The  artful  prelate  con- 

■*  Cyril.  Scythop.  Vit.  Sabae,  which  is  to  be  found  in 
Cotelerius,  Monumenta  Ecclesise  GriECSE,p.  370. — Henr. 
Norris,  Disserlat.  de  Synodo  Quinta,  cap.  i.  ii.  p.  554. 
torn.  i.  op. 

t  This  edict  is  published  in  Harduini  Concilia,  torn, 
iii.  p.  243. 

(ij=-  \  This  edict  was  procured  by  the  solicitation  of 
Pclagius,  who  was  legate  of  Vigilius  at  the  court  of 
Cimstantinople,  with  a  view  to  confound  the  Acephali, 
who  were  admirers  of  Origen,  and  particularly  to  vei 
Theodore,  of  whose  credit  with  the  emperor  Pelagius 
was  extremely  jealous.  It  was  (o  return  this  affront,  as 
well  as  to  effect  the  purposes  mentioned  in  the  following 
section,  that  Theodore  set  on  foot  the  controversy  con- 
cerning the  three  chapters,  which  produced  such  tedious, 
cruel, and  falal  dissensions  in  the  church.  Sec  Basnage, 
Histoire  dc  I'Kglise,  livr.  x.  eh.  vi.  p.  .520. 

<}  For  an  explication  of  what  is  meant  by  the  three 
chapters,  see  note  of  the  xth  section. 

II  See  Harduini  Concilia,  torn.  iii.  p.  283.— Evagrius, 
Hist.  Eccl.  lib.  iv.  cap.  xxxviii.— Basnage,  livr.  x.  chap, 
vi.  p.  517,  &c.— Pet.  Dan.  Huetii  Orieeniana,  lib.  ii.  p. 
224.— Doucin's  Singular.  Dis.  eubjoined  to  Ki«  Hiitoria 
Origeniana,  p.  345. 


168 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


sidered  this  as  a  favourable  occasion  for  procur- 
ing repose  to  the  followers  of  Origen  by  excit- 
ing a  new  controversy,  as  also  for  throwing  a 
reproach  upon  the  council  of  Chalcedon,  and 
giving  a  mortal  blow  to  the  Nestorians  and 
their  cause.  In  order  to  effect  these  three  im- 
portant purposes,  he  persuaded  the  emperor, 
that  the  Acephali  would  return  to  the  bosom 
of  the  church,  under  the  following  easy  and 
reasonable  conditions;  namely,  "  That  those 
passages  in  the  acts  of  the  council  of  Chalce- 
don, in  which  Theodore  of  Mopsuestia,  Theo- 
doret  of  Cyrus,  and  Ibas  of  Edessa,  had  been 
pronounced  orthodox,  should  be  effaced;  and 
that  the  productions  of  these  prelates,  which 
were  known  by  the  appellation  of  tiie  tlwee 
chapters,*  as  also  other  writings  of  theirs,  which 
discovered  a  manifest  propensity  toward  the 
Nestorian  errors,  should  be  condemned  and 
prohibited."  The  emperor  lent  a  propitious  ear 
to  the  counsels  of  this  prelate;  and,  by  an 
edict,  published  in  644,  ordered  the  three  chap- 
ters to  be  condemned  and  effaced,  without  any 
prejudice,  however,  to  the  authority  of  the 
council  of  Chalcedon. t  This  edict  was  warm- 
ly opposed  by  the  African  and  western  bishops, 
and  particularly  by  Vigilius,  the  Roman  pon- 
tiff, who  considered  it  as  highly  injurious  not 
only  to  the  authority  of  the  council  now  men- 
tioned, but  also  to  the  memory  of  those  holy 
men  whose  writings  and  characters  it  covered 
with  reproach. J  Upon  this,  Justinian  ordered 
Vigilius  to  repair  immediately  to  Constantino- 
ple, that,  having  him  in  his  power,  he  might 
compel  him  with  greater  facility  to  acquiesce 
in  tlie  edict,  and  reject  the  three  chapters;  and 
this  method  was  attended  with  success;  for  the 
pontiff  yielded.  On  the  other  hand,  the  bishops 
of  Africa  and  Illyricum  obliged  Vigilius  to  re- 
tract his  judicatum,  by  whicli,  in  a  council  of 
seventy  bishops,  he  had  condemned  the  three 
chapters  in  obedience  to  tlie  emperor;  for  they 
separated  themselves  from  the  communion  of 
this  pope,  refused  to  acknowledge  him  as  one 
of  their  bretliren,  and  even  treated  him  as  an 
apostate,  until  he  approved  what  he  had  been 
obliged  to  condemn.  The  effect  of  this  retrac- 
tion redoubled  the  zeal  and  violence  of  Justi- 
nian, who,  by  a  second  edict,  published  in  551, 
condemned  anew  the  three  chapters. 

XI.  After  many  cabals,  commotions,  and  dis- 
sensions, which  were  occasioned  by  this  trifling 
controversy,  it  was  thought  proper  to  submit 


(Jj^  *  The  pieces  that  were  distinguished  by  the  ap- 
pellation of  the  tliree  chnptcrs,  were,  1.  The  writings  of 
Theodore  of  Mopsuestia;  2.  The  books  which  Thtodo- 
ret  of  Cyrus  wrote  against  the  twelve  Anathemas,  which 
Cyril  had  published  against  the  Nestorians;  3.  The  letter 
which  Ibas  of  Edessa  had  written  to  one  Maris,  a  Persian, 
concerning  the  council  of  Ephesus  and  the  condemnation 
of  Nestorius.  These  writings  were  supposed  to  favour 
the  Nestorian  doctrine,  and  such  indeed  was  their  ten- 
dency. It  is,  however,  to  be  observed,  that  Theodore  of 
Mopsuestia  lived  before  the  time  of  Nestorius,  and  died, 
not  only  in  the  communion  of  the  church,  but  also  in  the 
highest  reputation  for  his  sanctity.  Nor  were  the  writ- 
ings of  the  other  two  either  condemned  or  censured  by 
the  council  of  Chalcedon;  indeed,  the  faith  of  Theodoret 
and  of  Ibas  was  there  declared  entirely  orthodox.  The 
decision  of  the  council  of  Constantinople,  in  opposition 
to  this,  shows  that  councils,  as  well  as  doctors,  differ. 

t  See  Harduini  Concilia,  torn.  iii.  p.  287.— Evagrius, 
Hist.  Ecclesiast.  lib.  iv.  cap.  xxxviii.  p.  412. 

}  Hen.  Norris,  de  Synodo  quinta,  cap.  x.  p.  579,  torn.  i. 
op.— Basnage,  torn.  i.  livr.  x.  cap.  vi. 


the  final  decision  of  it  to  an  assembly  of  the 
universal  church.  This  assembly  was  accord- 
ingly convoked  at  Constantinople  by  Justinian, 
in  553,  and  is  considered  as  the  fifth  cecumenical 
or  general  council.  The  emperor  now  gained 
his  point;  for,  beside  the  doctrines  of  Origen,* 
the  three  chapters,  the  condemnation  of  which 
he  had  solely  in  view,  were,  by  the  bishops  of 
the  east  (for  there  were  very  few  western  pre- 
lates present  at  this  council,)  declared  hereti- 
cal and  pernicious.  Vigilius,  who  was  now  at 
Constantinople,  refused  his  assent  to  the  de- 
crees of  this  council;  for  which  reason,  after 
having  received  various  affronts,  he  was  sent 
into  exile.  He  was  not  permitted  to  return  be- 
fore he  had  acquiesced  in  the  decisions  of  this 
assembly,!  and,  changing  his  sentiments  for  the 
fourth  time,  bad  declared  the  opinions  contained 
in  the  three  chapters  to  be  execrable  blasphe- 
mies. His  successor  Pelagius,  and  all  the  Ro- 
man pontiffs  that  have  since  lolled  in  the  papal 
chair,  adhered  to  the  decrees  of  this  council; 
but  neither  their  authority,  nor  that  of  the  em- 
peror, could  prevail  upon  the  western  bishops 
to  follow  their  example  in  this  respect.  Many 
of  these,  on  the  contrary,  carried  matters  so  far 
as  to  separate  themselves  flrom  the  communion 
of  the  pope  on  this  account;  and  the  divisions, 
that  hence  arose  in  the  church,  were  too  vio- 
lent to  admit  an  expeditious  or  easy  reconcilia- 
tion, and  could  only  be  healed  by  length  of 
time.:j; 

XII.  Another  controversy,  much  more  im- 
portant, had  been  carried  on  before  this  period 
among  the  Greeks;  it  was  first  kindled  in  the 
year  519,  and  it  arose  upon  the  following  ques- 
tion; Whether  it  could  be  said  with  propriety, 
that  one  of  the  Trinity  suffered  on  the  cross' 
This  was  designed  to  embarrass  the  Nestori- 
ans, who  seemed  to  separate  too  much  the  tv/a 
natures  in  Christ;  and  the  Scythian  monks, 
who  seconded  this  design,  and  to  whom  the  rise 
of  this  controversy  is  principally  to  be  imputed, 
maintained  the  affirmative  of  this  nice  and  dif 
ficult  question.  Others  asserted,  on  the  contra 
ry,  that  this  manner  of  speaking  ought  by  no 


(f!J=  *  We  do  not  find  in  the  acts  of  this  council  any 
one  which  condemns  the  doctrines  of  Origen.  It  is, 
however,  generally  imagined,  that  these  doctrines  were 
condemned  by  this  assembly;  and  what  gave  rise  to  this 
notion  was  probably  the  fifteen  Greek  canons  yet  extant, 
in  which  the  principal  errors  of  Origen  are  condemned, 
and  which  are  entitled.  The  canons  of  the  160  fathers 
assembled  in  the  council  of  Constantinople.  The  tenets 
of  Origen,  which  gave  the  greatest  offence,  were  the 
following:  1.  That,  in  the  Trinity,  the  Father  is  greater 
than  the  Son,  and  the  Son  than  the  Holy  Ghost;  2.  The 
pre-existence  of  souls,  which  Origen  considered  as  sent 
into  mortal  bodies  for  the  punishment  of  sins  committed 
in  a  former  state  of  being;  3.  That  the  soul  of  Christ 
was  united  to  the  word  before  the  incarnation;  4.  That 
the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  &c.  were  animated  and  en- 
dowed with  rational  souls;  5.  That  after  the  resurrection 
all  bodies  will  be  of  a  round  figure;  6.  That  the  torments 
of  the  damned  will  have  an  end;  and  that,  as  Christ  had 
been  crucified  in  this  world  to  save  mankind,  he  is  to  be 
crucified  in  the  next  to  save  the  devils. 

t  See  Petr.  de  Marca,  Dissert,  de  Decreto  Vigilii  pro 
Confirmalione  Synodi  V.  which  is  to  be  found  among  the 
Dissertations  subjoined  to  his  learned  work,  de  Concordia 
Sacerdotii  et  Imperii. 

t  The  best  account  of  this  matter  is  to  be  found  in 
Norris,  de  Synodo  quinta  oecumeniea,  though  even  this 
excellent  author  cannot  be  vindicated  from  the  imputa- 
tion of  a  certain  degree  of  partiality.  See  also  Christ. 
Lupus,  Not.  ad  Concilium  quintum,  in  his  Adnotat.  sd 
Concilia. 


Chap.  IV. 


RITES  AND  CEREMONIES. 


169 


means  to  be  adopted,  since  it  bordered  upon 
the  erroneous  expressions  and  tenets  of  the 
Theopasehites,  who  composed  one  of  the  sects 
into  which  the  Eutychians  were  subdivided.* 
The  latter  opinion  was  confirmed  by  Ilormis- 
das  the  Roman  pontiff,  to  whom  tlie  Scythian 
monks  had  appealed  in  vain;  but  this,  instead 
of  allaying  the  heat  of  the  present  controver- 
sy, only  added  nuw  fuel  to  tlie  flame.  John  II., 
who  was  one  of  the  successors  of  Hormisdas, 
approved  the  proposition  which  tlie  latter  had 
condemned;  and,  confirming  the  opinion  of 
the  Scythian  monks,  exposed  the  decisions  of 
the  papal  oracle  to  the  laughter  of  tlie  wise. 
His  sentence  was  afterwards  sanctioned  by  the 
fifth  general  council;  and  thus  peace  was  re- 
stored to  the  church  by  the  conclusion  of  these 
unintelligible  disputes. f 

With  the  question  now  mentioned,  there  was 
another  closely  and  intimately  connected, 
namely.  Whether  the  person  of  Christ  could 
be  considered  as  compounded?  Of  this  ques- 
tion the  Scythian  monks  maintained  the  af- 
firmative, and  their  adversaries  the  negative. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Concerning'  the  Rites  and  Ceremonies  used  in  the 

Church  during  this  Century, 

I.  In  this  century  the  cause  of  true  religion 
sunk  apace,  and  the  gloomy  reign  of  supersti- 
tion extended  itself  in  proportion  to  tlie  decay 
of  genuine  piety.  This  lamentable  decay  was 
supplied  by  a  multitude  of  rites  and  ceremo- 
nies. In  the  east  the  Nestorian  and  Eutychian 
controversies  gave  occasion  to  the  invention  of 
various  rites  and  external  institutions,  which 
were  used  as  marks  to  distinguish  the  contend- 
ing parties.  The  western  churclies  were  load- 
ed with  rites  by  Gregory  the  Great,  who  had  a 
marvellous  fecundity  of  genius  in  inventing, 
and  an  irresistible  force  of  eloquence  in  recom- 
mending superstitious  observances.  Nor  will 
this  appear  surprising  to  tliose  who  know,  that, 
in  the  opinion  of  this  pontiff,  the  wm-ds  of  the 
sacred  writings  were  imoges  of  mysterious  and 
invisible  things;  for  such  as  embrace  this  chi- 
merical system  will  easily  be  led  to  express  all 
the  doctrines  and  precepts  of  religion  by  exter- 
nal rites  and  symbols.  Gregory,  indeed,  is 
worthy  of  praise  in  this,  that  he  did  not  pre- 
tend to  force  others  to  the  obsers'ance  of  his 
inventions;  though  this  forbearance,  perhaps, 
was  as  much  occasioned  by  a  want  of  power, 
as  by  a  principle  of  moderation. 

II.  This   prodigious  augmentation   of  rites 

Qjp-  *  The  deacon  Victor,  and  those  who  opposed  the 
Scythian  monks,  expressed  their  opinion  in  the  following 
proposition:  viz.  One  person  of  the  Trinity  suffered  in 
the  flesh.  Both  sides  received  the  council  of  Chaleedon, 
acknowledged  two  natures  in  Christ,  in  opposition  to 
Eutyches,  and  only  one  person  in  opposition  to  Nestorius; 
and  yet,  by  a  torrent  of  jargon,  and  a  long  chain  of  un- 
intelligible syllogisms,  the  Scythian  monks  accused  their 
adversaries  of  Nestorianism,  and  were  accused  by  them 
of  the  Eutychian  heresy. 

f  See  Historia  Controversial  deuno  ex  Trinitate  passo, 
by  -Norris,  torn.  iii.  op.  p.  771.  The  ancient  writers 
who  mention  this  controversy,  call  the  monks  who  set  it 
on  foot,  Scythians.  But  La  Croze  (Thesaur.  Epist.  torn, 
iii.)  imagines,  that  the  country  of  th<se  monks  was  Egypt, 
and  not  Scythia;  and  this  conjecture  is  supported  by  rea- 
jons  which  carry  in  Iheni,  at  least,  a  high  degree  of 
probability. 

Vol.  L— 22 


and  ceremonies  rendered  an  augmentation  of 
'  doctors  and  interpreters  of  these  mysteries  in- 
[  dispensably  necessary.  Hence  a  new  kind  of 
science  arose,  which  had,  for  its  object,  the  ex- 
plication of  these  ceremonies  and  the  investiga- 
tion of  tile  causes  and  circumstances  whence 
they  derived  their  origin.  But  most  of  those, 
who  entered  into  these  researches,  never  went 
to  tlie  fountain-head,  to  the  true  sources  of 
these  idle  inventions.  They  endeavoured  to 
seek  their  origin  in  reason  and  Christianity; 
but  in  this  they  deceived  themselves,  or,  at 
least,  deluded  others,  and  delivered  to  the  world 
their  own  fancies,  instead  of  disclosing  the  true 
causes  of  things.  Had  they  been  acquainted 
with  the  opinions  and  customs  of  remote  anti- 
quity, or  studied  the  pontifical  law  of  the 
Greeks  and  Romans,  they  would  have  discov- 
ered the  true  origin  of  many  institutions,  which 
were  falsely  looked  upon  as  venerable  and 
sacred. 

III.  The  public  worship  of  God  was  still  ce- 
lebrated by  every  nation  in  its  own  language, 
but  was  enlarged,  from  time  to  time,  by  the  ad- 
dition of  various  hymns,  and  other  things  of 
that  nature,  which  were  considered  as  proper 
to  enliven  devotion  by  the  power  of  novelty. 
Gregory  the  Great  prescribed  a  new  method 
of  administering  tlie  Lord's  supper,  with  a 
magnificent  assemblage  of  pompous  ceremo- 
nies. This  institution  was  called  the  canon  of 
the  mass;  and,  if  any  are  unwilling  to  give  it 
the  name  of  a  new  appointment,  they  must  at 
least  acknowledge,  that  it  was  a  considerable 
augmentation  of  tlie  ancient  canon  for  cele- 
brating the  eucharist,  and  occasioned  a  remark- 
able change  in  the  administration  of  that  ordi- 
nance. Many  ages,  however,  passed  before 
this  Gregorian  canon  was  adopted  by  all  the 
Latin  churches.* 

Baptism,  except  in  cases  of  necessity,  was 
administered  only  on  great  festivals.  We  omit 
mentioning,  for  the  sake  of  brevity,  the  lita- 
nies that  were  addressed  to  the  saints,  the  dif- 
ferent sorts  of  supplications,  the  stations  or  as- 
semblies of  Gregory,  the  forms  of  consecration, 
and  other  such  institutions,  which  were  con- 
trived, in  this  century,  to  e.xcite  a  species  of 
external  devotion,  and  to  engage  the  outward 
senses  in  religious  worship.  An  inquiry  into 
these  topics  would  of  itself  deserve  to  be  made 
the  subject  of  a  separate  work. 

IV.  An  incrediljle  number  of  temples  arose 
in  honour  of  the  saints,  during  this  century, 
both  in  the  eastern  and  western  provinces. 
The  places  set  apart  for  public  worship  were 
already  very  numerous;  but  it  was  now  that 
Christians  first  began  to  consider  these  sacred 
edifices  as  the  means  of  purchasing  the  favour 
and  protection  of  the  saints,  and  to  be  persuad- 
ed that  these  departed  spirits  defended  and 
guarded,  against  evils  and  calamities  of  every 
kind,  the  provinces,  lands,  cities,  and  villages, 
in  which  they  were  honoured  with  temples. 
The  number  of  festivals,  which  were  now  ob- 
served in  the  Christian  church,  and  many  of 
which  seem  to  have  been  instituted  upon  a 
pagan  model,  nearly  equalled  the  amount  of  the 
temples.     To  those  that  were  celebrated  in  the 


*  See  Thcod.  Chr.  Lilienthal,  de  Canone  Missx  Grc- 
goriano. 


170 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


*  See  Photius,  Biblioth.  cod.  cxiv.  p.  291. 

t  See  his  Epistles,  lib.  iv.  ep.  xxxiv.  xxxv.  p.  714,  715, 
lib.  vi.  ep.  Ixv.  p.  841,  ep.  xxxvii.  p.  821,  lib.  ix.  ep.  liii. 
p.  972,  lib.  ii.  ep.  xlviii.  p.  611,  torn.  ii.  op. 


preceding  century,  were  now  added  the  festival 
of  the  purification  of  the  blessed  Virgin  (in- 
vented with  a  design  to  remove  the  uneasiness 
of  the  heathen  converts  on  account  of  the  loss 
of  their  Lupercalia  or  feasts  of  Pan,)  the  fes- 
tival of  the  immaculate  conception,  the  day 
set  apart  to  commemorate  the  birth  of  St. 
John,  and  others  less  worthy  of  mention 

CHAPTER  V. 

Concerning  the  Divisions  and  Heresies  that  trovr 
bled  the  Church  during  this  Century. 

I.  The  various  sects  which  had  fomented 
divisions  among  Christians  in  the  early  ages 
of  the  church,  were  far  from  being  effectually 
suppressed  or  totally  extirpated.  Though  they 
had  been  persecuted  and  afflicted  with  a  variety 
of  hardships,  trials,  and  calamities,  yet  they 
still  subsisted,  and  continued  to  excite  dissen- 
sions and  tumults  in  many  places.  The  Mani- 
cheans  are  said  to  have  gained  such  a  degree 
of  influence  among  the  Persians,  as  to  have 
corrupted  even  the  son  of  Kobad,  the  monarch 
of  that  nation,  who  repaid  their  zeal  in  making 
proselytes  with  a  terrible  massacre,  in  which 
numbers  of  that  impious  .sect  perished  in  the 
most  dreadful  manner.  Nor  was  Persia  the 
only  country  which  was  troubled  with  the  at- 
tempts of  the  Manicheans  to  spread  their  odi- 
ous doctrine;  otlier  provinces  of  the  empire 
were,  undoubtedly,  infected  with  their  errors, 
as  we  may  judge  from  the  book  that  was  writ- 
ten against  them  by  Heraclian,  bishop  of  Chal- 
cedon.*  In  Gaul  and  Africa,  dissensions  of  a 
different  kind  prevailed;  and  the  controversy 
between  the  Semi-Pelagians  and  the  disciples 
of  Augustin  continued  to  divide  the  western 
churches. 

II.  The  Donatists  enjoyed  the  sweets  of 
freedom  and  tranquillity,  as  long  as  the  Van- 
dals reigned  in  Africa;  but  the  scene  was  great- 
ly changed  with  respect  to  them,  when  the  em- 
pire of  these  barbarians  was  overturned  in  634. 
They,  however,  still  remained  in  a  separate 
body,  and  not  only  held  their  church,  but,  to- 
ward the  conclusion  of  this  century,  and  par- 
ticularly from  the  year  591,  defended  them- 
selves with  new  degrees  of  animosity  and  vi- 

vgour,  and  were  bold  enough  to  attempt  the 
multiplication  of  their  sect.  Gregory,  the  Ro- 
man pontiff,  opposed  these  efforts  with  great 
spirit  and  assiduity;  and,  as  appears  from  his 
epistles,  t  tried  various  methods  of  depressing 
this  faction,  which  was  pluming  its  wings  anew, 
and  aiming  at  the  revival  of  those  lamentable 
divisions  which  it  had  formerly  excited  in  the 
church.  Nor  was  the  opposition  of  the  zeal- 
ous pontiff  without  effect;  it  seems  on  the  con- 
trary to  have  been  attended  with  the  desired 
success,  since,  in  this  century,  the  church  of 
the  Donatists  dwindled  away  to  nothing,  and 
after  this  period  no  traces  of  it  are  to  be  found. 

III.  About  the  commencement  of  this  cen- 
tury, the  Arians  were  triumphant  in  several 
parts  of  Asia,  Africa,  and  Europe.  Many  of 
the   Asiatic  bishops  favoured   them  secretly. 


while  their  opinions  were  openly  professed,  and 
their  cause  maintained,  by  the  Vandals  in  Afri- 
ca, the  Goths  in  Italy,  the  Spaniards,  the  Bur- 
gundians,  the  Suevi,  and  the  greatest  part  of 
the  Gauls.  It  is  true,  that  the  Greeks,  who 
had  received  the  decrees  of  the  council  of  Nice, 
persecuted  and  oppressed  the  Arians  wherever 
their  influence  and  authority  could  reach;  but 
the  Nicenians,  in  their  turn,  were  not  less  ri- 
gorously treated  by  their  adversaries,  particu- 
larly in  Africa  and  Italy,  where  they  felt,  in  a 
very  severe  manner,  the  weight  of  the  Arian 
power,  and  the  bitterness  of  hostile  resent- 
ment.* 

The  triumphs  of  Arianism  were,  however, 
transitory,  and  its  prosperous  days  were  entire- 
ly eclipsed,  when  the  Vandals  were  driven  out 
of  Africa,  and  the  Goths  out  of  Italy,  by  the 
arms  of  Justinian;!  for  the  other  Arian  princes 
were  easily  induced  to  abandon,  themselves, 
the  doctrine  of  that  sect;  and  not  only  so,  but 
to  employ  the  force  of  laws  and  the  authority 
of  councils  to  prevent  its  progress  among  their 
subjects,  and  to  extirpate  it  entirely  out  of 
their  dominions.  Such  was  the  conduct  of 
Sigismond  king  of  the  Burgundians;  also  of 
Theodimir  king  of  the  Suevi,  who  had  settled 
in  Lusitania;  and  Recared  king  of  Spain. — 
Whether  this  change  was  produced  by  the 
force  of  reason  and  argument,  or  by  the  influ- 
ence of  hopes  and  fears,  is  a  question  which  we 
sliall  not  pretend  to  determine.  One  thing, 
however,  is  certain,  that,  from  this  period,  the 
Arian  sect  declined  apace,  and  could  never  af- 
ter recover  any  considerable  degree  of  stability 
and  consistence. 

IV.  The  Nestorians,  after  having  gained  a 
firm  footing  in  Persia,  and  established  the  pa- 
triarch or  head  of  their  sect  at  Seleucia,  ex- 
tended their  views,  and  spread  their  doctrines, 
with  a  success  equal  to  the  ardour  of  their  zeal, 
through  the  provinces  situated  beyond  the 
limits  of  the  Roman  empire.  There  are  yet 
extant  authentic  records,  from  which  it  ap- 
pears, that  throughout  Persia,  as  also  in  India, 
Armenia,  Ars.bia,  Syria,  and  other  countries, 
there  were  vast  numbers  of  Nestorian  churches, 
all  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  patriarch  of 
Seleucia. J  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  the  Persian 
raonarchs  were  not  all  equally  favourable  to 
this  growing  sect,  and  that  some  of  them  even 
persecuted,  with  the  utmost  severity,  all  those 
who  bore  the  Christian  name  throughout  their 
dominions;^  but  it  is  also  true,  that  such  of 
these  princes,  as  were  disposed  to  exercise  mo- 
deration and  benignity  toward  the  Christians, 
were  much  more  indulgent  to  the  Nestorians, 
than  to  their  adversaries  who  adhered  to  the 
council  of  Ephesus,  since  the  latter  were  con- 


*  Procopius,  de  Bello  Vandal,  lib.  i.  cap.  viii.  and  de 
Bello  Gothico,  lib.  ii.  cap.  ii. — Evagrius,  Hist.  Ecclesiast. 
lib.  iv.  cap.  xv. 

t  See  Mascovii  Historia  German,  torn.  ii.  p.  76,  91. 
See  also  an  account  of  the  barbarian  kings,  who  aban- 
doned Arianism,  and  received  the  doctrines  of  the  JVi- 
cene  council,  in  the  Acta  Sanctorum,  torn.  ii.  Martii,  p, 
275,  and  April,  p.  134. 

J  Cosmas  Indicopleustes,  Topograph.  Christian,  lib.  ii. 
p.  125,  which  is  to  be  found  in  Montfaucon's  CoUectio 
nova  PP.  Graecorum. 

6  Asseman.  Biblioth.  Orient.  Vatic,  torn.  iii.  part  i.  p. 
109,  407,  411,  441,  449;  torn.  iii.  part  ii.  cap.  v.  sect.  li. 
p.  83. 


Chap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


171 


sidered  as  spies  employed  by  the  Greeks,  with 
whom  they  were  connected  by  the  ties  of  reli- 
gion. 

V.  The  Monopliysites,  or  Eutychians,  flour- 
ished also  in  this  century,  and  had  gained  over 
to  their  doctrine  a  considerable  part  of  the 
eastern  provinces.  The  emperor  Anastasius 
was  warmly  attached  to  the  doctrine  and  sect 
of  the  Acephali,  who  were  reckoned  among 
the  more  rigid  Monophysites;*  and,  in  513,  he 
created  patriarch  of  Antioch  (in  the  room  of 
Flavian,  whom  he  had  expelled  from  that  see,) 
Severus,  a  learned  monk  of  Palestine,  from 
whom  the  Monophysites  were  called  Severi- 
ans.f  This  emperor  axerted  all  his  influence 
and  authority  to  destroy  the  credit  of  the  coun- 
cil of  Chalcedon  in  the  east,  and  to  maintain 
the  cause  of  those  who  adhered  to  the  doctrine 
of  one  nature  in  Christ;  and,  by  the  ardour 
and  vehemence  of  his  zeal,  he  excited  the  most 
deplorable  seditions  and  tumults  in  the  church.  J 
After  the  death  of  Anastasius,  which  happen- 
ed in  518,  Severus  was  expelled  in  his  turn; 
and  the  sect  whicli  the  late  emperor  had  main- 
tained and  propagated  with  such  zeal  and  assi- 
duity, was  every  where  opposed  and  depressed 
by  his  successor  Justin,  and  the  following  em- 
perors, in  such  a  manner,  that  it  seemed  to  be 
on  the  very  brink  of  ruin,  notwithstanding  that 
it  had  created  Sergius  patriarch  in  the  place  of 
Severus. § 

VI.  When  the  affairs  of  the  Monophysites 
were  in  such  a  desperate  situation,  that  almost 
all  hope  of  their  recovery  had  vanished,  and 
their  bishops  were  reduced,  by  death  and  im- 
prisonment, to  a  very  small  number,  an  obscure 
man  whose  name  was  Jacob,  and  who  was  dis- 
tinguished from  others  so  called,  by  the  sur- 
name of  BaradfBus,  or  Zanzalus,  restored  this 
expiring  sect  to  its  former  prosperity  and  lus- 
tre.||  This  poor  monk,  the  greatness  of  whose 
views  rose  far  above  the  obscurity  of  his  sta- 
tion, and  whose  fortitude  and  patience  no  dan- 
gers could  daunt,  nor  any  labours  exhaust,  was 
ordained  to  the  episcopal  office  by  a  handful  of 
captive  bishops,  travelled  on  foot  through  the 
whole  east,  established  bishops  and  presbyters 
every  where,  revived  the  drooping  .spirits  of 
the  Monophysites,  and  produced  such  an  as- 
tonishing change  in  their  affairs  by  the  power 
of  his  eloquence,  and  by  his  incredible  activity 
and  diligence,  that  when  he  died  bishop  of 
Edessa,  in  5T8,  he  left  his  sect  in  a  most  flour- 
ishing state  in  Syria,  Mesopotamia,  Armenia, 


*  Evagrius,  Hist.  Ecclesiasl.  lib.  iii.  cap.  xxx.  xliv., 
(ftc.  Theodori  Hist.  Ecclesiast.  lib.  ii.  p.  .562.  See  also 
the  Index  Operum  Severi,  as  it  stands  oolleeled  from 
ancient  MSS.  in  Montfaucon's  Bibliotheca  Coisliniana, 
p.  53. 

t  See  Asseman.  Bihliotli.  Orient.  Vatican,  torn.  ii.  p. 
47,  ."HI. — Euseb.  Reuaudot,  Historia  Patriarch.  Alexan- 
drinor.  p.  127,  &.C. 

t  Evagrius,  Hist.  Ecclesiast.  lib.  lii.  cap.  xxxiii. — Cy- 
rillus,  vita  Saba;  in  Jo.  Bapt.  Cotelerii  Monument.  Ec- 
clesiae  Graecae,  torn.  iii.  p.  312. — Baylc's  Dictionary,  at 
the  article  Anastasius. 

Ij  See  Abulpharajii  Series  Patriarch.  Antiochen.  in 
Biblioth.  Orient.  Vatican,  torn.  ii. 

II  See  Bibliotli.  Orient.  &c.  torn.  ii.  cap.  viii.  p.  62,  72, 
326,331,414.  Eusebii  Renaud.Hist.  Patriarch.  Alexandr. 
p.  119,  133,  425,  and  the  Liturgiae  Orient,  torn.  ii.  p.  333, 
342. — Faustus  Nairoqus,  Euoplia  Fidei  Catholica;  ex 
Syrorum  Monumentis,  part  i.  p.  40,  41. 


Egypt,  Nubia,  Abyssinia,  and  other  countries.* 
This  dexterous  monk  h<ad  prudence  to  contrive 
the  means  of  success,  as  well  as  activity  to  put 
them  in  execution;  for  he  almost  totally  extin- 
guished all  the  animosities,  and  reconciled  all 
the  factions,  that  had  divided  the  Monophy- 
sites; and  when  their  churches  grew  so  nume- 
rous in  the  east,  that  they  could  not  all  be  con- 
veniently comprehended  under  the  sole  juris- 
diction of  the  patriarch  of  Antioch,  he  appoint- 
ed, as  his  assistant,  the  primate  of  the  east, 
whose  residence  was  at  Tagritis,  on  the  bor- 
ders of  Armenia. t  The  laborious  efforts  of 
Jacob  were  seconded,  in  Egypt  and  the  adja- 
cent countries,  by  Theodosius  bishop  of  Alex- 
andria; and  he  became  so  famous,  that  all  the 
Monophysites  of  the  east  considered  him  as 
their  second  parent  and  founder,  and  are  to 
this  day  called  Jacobites,  in  honour  of  their 
new  chief. 

VII.  Thus  it  happened,  that,  by  the  impru- 
dent zeal  and  violence  which  the  Greeks  em- 
ployed in  defending  the  truth,  the  Monophy- 
sites gained  considerable  advantages,  and,  at 
length,  obtained  a  solid  and  permanent  settle- 
ment. From  this  period  their  sect  has  been 
imder  the  jurisdiction  of  the  patriarchs  of 
Alexandria  and  Antioch,  who,  notwithstand- 
ing the  difference  of  opinion  which  subsists, 
with  respect  to  some  points,  between  the  Syrian 
and  Egyptian  Monophysites,  are  exceedingly 
careful  to  maintain  communion  with  each 
other,  both  by  letters,  and  by  the  exchange  of 
good  offices.  The  Abyssinian  primate  is  sub- 
ject to  the  patriarch  of  Alexandria;  and  the 
primate  of  the  east,  who  resides  at  Tagritis,  is 
under  tlie  jurisdiction  of  the  patriarch  of  An- 
tioch. The  Armenians  are  ruled  by  a  bishop 
of  their  own,  and  are  distinguished  by  certain 
opinions  and  rites  from  the  rest  of  the  Mono- 
physites. 

VIII.  The  sect  of  the  Monophysites,  before 
it  was  thus  happily  established,  was  torn  with 
factions  and  intestine  disputes,  and  suffered,  in 
a  particular  manner,  from  that  nice  and  subtile 
controversy  concerning  the  body  of  Christ, 
which  arose  at  Alexandria.  Julian,  bishop  of 
Halicarnassus,  affirmed,  in  519,  that  the  divine 
nature  had  so  insinuated  itself  into  the  body 
of  Christ,  from  the  very  moment  of  the  Vir- 
gin's conception,  that  the  body  of  our  Lord 
changed  its  nature,  and  became  incorruptible. 
Tliis  opinion  was  also  embraced  by  Caianus, 
bishop  of  Alexandria;  from  whom  those  who 
adopted  it  were  called  Caianists.  They  were, 
however,  divided  into  three  sects,  two  of  which 
debated  this  question,  whether  the  body  of 
Christ  was  created  or  uncreated,  while  the  third 
asserted,  ihat  our  Lord's  body  was  indeed  cor- 
ruptible, but  never  actually  corrupted,  since 
the  energy  of  the  divine  nature  must  have  pre- 
vented its  dissolution. 

This  sect  was  warmly  opposed  by  Severus 
of  Antioch,  and  Damianus,  who  maintained 


*  With  regard  to  the  Nubians  and  Abyssinians,  see  the 
Biblioth.  Orient,  lorn.  ii.  p.  330. — Lobo,  Voyage  d'Abyj- 
sinie,  torn.  ii.  p.  36. — Ludolph.  Commeutar.  ad  Historiam 
^thiopicam,  p.  451. 

t  Asseman.  Biblioth.  Orient,  torn.  ii.  p.  410.  See  alic 
this  learned  writer's  Disscrtatio  de  MoDophysitia. 


172 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


that  the  body  of  Christ,  before  his  resurrection, 
was  truly  corruptible,  i.  e.  subject  to  the  affec- 
tions and  changes  with  which  human  nature  is 
generally  attended.  Those  who  embraced  the 
opinion  of  Julian,  were  called  Aphtliartodo- 
cetae,  Docetse,  Pliantasiasts,  and  even  Mani- 
cheans,  because  it  was  supposed  to  follow  from 
their  hypothesis,  that  Christ  did  not  suffer  in 
reality,  but  only  in  appearance,  hunger  and 
thirst,  pain  and  death;  and  that  he  did  not  ac- 
tually assume  the  common  affections  and  pro- 
perties of  human  nature.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  votaries  of  Severus  were  distinguished  by 
the  names  PhthartolatroB,  Ktistolatras,  and  Cre- 
aticolffi.  This  miserable  controversy  was  car- 
ried on  with  great  warmth  under  the  reign  of 
Justinian,  who  favoured  the  AphthartodocetsB; 
soon  after,  it  subsided  gradually;  and,  at  length, 
was  happily  hushed  in  silence.*  Xenaias  of 
Hierapolis  struck  out  an  hypothesis  upon  this 
knotty  matter,  which  seemed  equally  remote 
from  those  of  the  contending  parties;  for  he 
maintained  that  Christ  had,  indeed,  truly  suf- 
fered the  various  sensations  to  which  humanity 
is  exposed,  but  that  he  suffered  them  not  in  his 
nature^  but  by  a  submissive  act  of  his  will.] 

IX.  Some  of  the  Corrupticoloe  (for  so  they 
were  called  who  looked  upon  the  body  of  Christ 
to  be  corruptible,)  particularly  Themistius,  a 
deacon  of  Alexandria,  and  Theodosius,  a  bishop 
of  that  city,  were  led  by  the  inconsiderate  heat 
of  controversy  into  another  opinion,  which 
produced  new  commotions  in  the  church  to- 
ward the  conclusion  of  this  century.  They 
affirmed,  that  to  the  divine  nature  of  Christ  all 
things  were  known,  but  that  from  his  human 
nature  many  things  were  concealed.  The  rest 
of  the  sect  charged  the  authors  of  this  opinion 
with  imputing  ignorance  to  the  divine  nature 
of  Christ,  since  they  held,  that  there  was  but 
one  nature  in  the  Son  of  God.  Hence  the 
votaries  of  this  new  doctrine  were  called  Ag- 
noetiE;|;  but  their  sect  was  so  weak  and  ill-sup- 
ported, that,  notwithstanding  their  eloquence 
and  activity  ,wliich  seemed  to  promise  better  suc- 
cess, it  gradually  declined,  and  came  to  nothing. 


*  Timotheus,de  Receptione  H3ereticorum,in  Cotelerii 
Monumcntis  Ecclesise  Graecae,  torn.  iii.  p.  409. — Libera- 
tus,  in  Breviario  Controv.  cap.  xx. — Forbesii  lustruc- 
tiones  Hiatorico-Theologicse,  lib.  iii.  cap.  xviii.  p.  108. — 
Asseman.  Biblioth.  Oi-ieiital.  torn.  iii.  part  ii.  p.  457. 

t  Biblioth.  Orient,  torn.  ii.  p.  !S,  and  168. 

I  Cotelerius,  ad  Monuinenta  Ecclesiae  Graecae,  torn.  iii. 
p.  641. — Mich,  le  Q,uien,  ad  Damascenum  de  Haeresibus, 
torn.  i.  p.  107. — Forbes,  Instructiones  Historieo-Theolog. 
lib.  iii.  cap.  xix.  p.  119— Photius,  Biblioth.  Cod.  230. 


X,  From  the  controversies  with  the  Mono- 
physites  arose  the  sect  of  the  Tritheists,  whose 
chief  was  John  Ascusnage,  a  Syrian  pliiloso- 
pher,  and,  at  the  same  time,  a  Monophysite.* 
Tliis  man  imagined  in  the  Deity  three  natures, 
or  substances,  absolutely  equal  in  all  respects, 
and  joined  together  by  no  common  essence;  to 
wliich  opinion  his  adversaries  gave  the  name 
of  Tritiieism.  One  of  the  warmest  defenders 
of  this  doctrine  was  John  Philoponus,  an  Alex- 
andrian philosopher,  and  a  grammarian  of  the 
highest  reputation;  and  hence  he  has  been  con- 
sidered by  many  as  the  author  of  this  sect, 
whose  members  have  consequently  derived 
from  him  the  title  of  Philoponists.f 

This  sect  was  divided  into  two  parties,  the 
Philoponists  and  the  Cononites;  the  latter  of 
whom  were  so  called  from  Conon  bishop  of 
Tarsus,  their  chief.J  They  agreed  in  the  doc- 
trine of  three  persons  in  the  Godhead,  and  dif^ 
fered  only  in  their  manner  of  explaining  what 
the  Scriptures  taught  concerning  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  body.  Philoponus  maintained,  that 
the  form  and  matter  of  all  bodies  were  gener- 
ated and  corrupted,  and  that  both  therefore 
were  to  be  restored  in  the  resurrection.  Conon 
held,  on  the  contrary,  that  the  body  never  lost 
its  form:  that  its  matter  alone  was  subject  to 
corruption  and  decay,  and  was  consequently  to 
be  restored  when  "  Uiis  mortal  shall  put  on  im- 
mortality." 

A  third  faction  was  that  of  the  Damianists, 
who  were  so  called  from  Damian  bishop  of 
Alexandria,  and  whose  opinion  concerning  the 
Trinity  was  different  from  those  already  men- 
tioned. They  distinguished  the  divine  essence 
from  the  three  persons,  and  denied  that  each 
person  was  God,  when  considered  in  itself,  ab- 
stractedly from  the  other  two;  but  affirmed 
that  there  was  a  common  divinity,  by  the  joint 
participation  of  which  each  was  God.  They 
therefore  called  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy 
Ghost,  hypostases,  or  persons,  and  the  Godhead, 
which  was  common  to  them  all,  substance  or 
nature.^ 


*  See  Gregor.  Abulpharajius,  in  Biblioth.  Orient,  torn, 
i.  p.  3-28. 

t  See  Fabricii  Biblioth.  Graec.  lib.  v.  cap.  xxxvii.  p. 
358. — Harduini  Concilia,  torn.  iii.  p.  1288. — Timotheuj, 
de  Receptione  Haereticorum,  apud  Cotelerii  Monumenta 
Ecclesiae  Graecae,  torn.  iii.  p.  414. — Jo.  Damascenus,  de 
Haeresibus,  torn.  i.  op. 

}  Photii  Biblioth.  Cod.  x<iv.— Biblioth.  Orient,  torn,  ii 
p.  329. 

^  Biblioth.  Orient,  torn.  ii.  p.  78,332,  &e. 


THE  SEVENTH  CENTURY. 


PART  I. 


THE  EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Concerning  the  prosperous  Events  which  happen- 
ed in  the  Church  during  this  Century. 

I.  In  this  century  the  progress  of  CFiristiani- 
ty  was  greatly  accelerated  both  in  the  eastern 
and  western  hemispheres;  and  its  divine  light 
was  widely  diffused  through  the  darkened  na- 
tions. The  Nestorians  who  dwelt  in  Syria, 
Persia,  and  India,  contributed  much  to  its  pro- 
pagation in  the  east,  by  the  zeal  and  diligence, 
the  laborious  efforts  and  indefatigable  assidui- 
ty, with  which  they  preached  it  to  those  fierce 
and  barbarous  nations,  who  lived  in  the  remot- 
est regions  and  deserts  of  Asia,  and  among 
whom,  as  we  learn  from  authentic  records,  their 
ministry  was  crowned  with  remarkable  suc- 
cess. It  was  by  the  labours  of  this  sect,  that 
the  light  of  the  Gospel  first  penetrated  into  the 
immense  empire  of  China,  about  the  year  636, 
when  Jesuiabas  of  Gadala  was  at  the  head  of 
the  Nestorians,  as  will  appear  probable  to  those 
who  consider  as  genuine  the  famous  Chinese 
monument,  which  was  discovered  at  Siganfu 
by  the  Jesuits  during  the  last  century.*  Some, 
indeed,  look  upon  this  monument  as  a  mere 
forgery  of  the  Jesuits,  though,  perhaps,  without 
reason:  there  are,  however,  some  unexception- 
able proofs,  that  the  northern  parts  of  China, 
even  before  this  century,  abounded  with  Chris- 
tians, who,  for  many  succeeding  ages,  were  un- 
der the  inspection  of  a  metropolitan  sent  to 
them  by  the  Chaldean  or  Nestorian  patriarch. f 


*  This  celebrated  monument  has  been  published  and 
explained  by  several  learned  writers,  particularly  by  Kir- 
cher,  in  his  China  lllustrata;  by  Muller,  in  a  treatise  pub- 
lished at  Berlin  in  1672;  by  Renaudot,  in  his  Relations 
anciennes  des  Indes  et  de  la  Chine,  de  deux  Voyacjeurs 
Mahometans,  p.  228— 271,  published  at  Paris  in  1718;  and 
by  Assemanus,  in  his  Biblioth.  Orient,  torn.  iii.  in  part  ii. 
cap.  iv.  sect.  7.  p.  533.  A  still  more  accurate  edition  of 
this  famous  monument  was  promised  to  us  by  the  learned 
Theoph.  Sigefred  Bayer,  the  greatest  proficient  of  this 
age  in  Chinese  erudition;  but  his  death  has  blasted  our 
expectations.  For  my  part,  I  see  no  reason  to  doubt  the 
genuineness  of  this  monument;  nor  can  I  understand  what 
advantage  could  redound  to  the  Jesuits  from  the  inven- 
tion of  such  a  fable.  See  Liron,  Singularites  Historiques 
et  Literaires,  tom.  ii.  p.  500. 

f  Sec  Renaudot,  p.  56,  68,  &c.  also  Assemani  Biblioth. 
cap.  ix.  p.  52J;  the  learned  Bayer,  in  the  Preface  to  his 
Museum  Sinicum,  assures  us,  that  he  had  in  his  hands 
such  proofs  of  the  truth  of  what  is  here  affirmed,  as  put 
the  matter  beyond  all  doubt,  {tfj-  See  on  this  subject  a 
very  learned  dissertation  published  by  M.  de  Guignes  in 
the  thirtieth  vol.  of  the  Mcmoircs  de  Literature,  tires  des 
Registres  de  I'Academie  Royale  des  Inscriptions  et  Belles 
Lettres,  in  which  he  proves  that  the  Christians  were  set- 
tled in  China  so  early  as  the  seventh  century.  He  re- 
marks indeed,  that  the  Nestorians  and  other  Christians 
were  for  a  long  time  confounded  in  the  Chinese  annals 
■with  the  worshippers  of  Fo,  an  Indian  idol,  whose  rites 
were  introduced  into  China  about  65  years  after  the  birth 


II.  The  attention  and  activity  of  the  Greeks 
were  so  entirely  occupied  by  their  intestine  di- 
visions, that  they  were  little  solicitous  about  the 
progress  of  Christianity.  In  the  west,  Augus- 
tin  laboured  to  extend  the  limits  of  the  church, 
and  to  spread  the  light  of  the  Gospel  among 
the  Anglo-Saxons;  and,  after  his  death,  other 
monks  were  sent  from  Rome,  to  exert  them- 
selves in  the  same  glorious  cause.  Their  ef- 
forts were  attended  with  the  desired  success: 
and  the  efficacy  of  their  labours  was  manifest- 
ed in  the  conversion  of  the  six  Anglo-Saxon 
kings,  who  had  hitherto  remained  under  the 
darkness  of  the  ancient  superstitions,  to  the 
Christian  faith,  which  gained  ground  by  de- 
grees, and  was,  at  length,  embraced  universal- 
ly in  Britain.*  We  are  not,  however,  to  ima- 
gine, that  this  general  change  in  favour  of 
Christianity  was  wholly  due  to  the  discourses 
of  the  Roman  monks  and  doctors;  for  other 
causes  were  certainly  instrumental  in  accom- 
plishing this  great  event;  and  it  is  not  to  be 
doubted  that  the  influence  which  some  Chris- 
tian queens,  and  ladies  of  high  distinction,  had 
over  their  husbands,  and  the  pains  they  took  to 
convert  them  to  Christianity,  as  also  the  severe 
and  rigorous  laws  that  were  afterwards  enacted 
against  idolaters,!  contributed  much  to  the  pro- 
gress of  the  Gospel. 

III.  Many  of  the  British,  Scotish,  and  Irish 
ecclesiastics  travelled  among  the  Batavian,  Bel- 
gic,  and  German  nations,  with  the  pious  inten- 
tion of  propagating  the  knowledge  of  the 
truth,  and  of  erecting  churches,  and  forming 
religious  establishments.  This  was  the  true  rea- 
son which  induced  the  Germans,  in  after-times, 
to  found  so  many  convents  for  the  Scotch  and 
Irish,  of  which  some  yet  remain.  J 

Columban,  an  Irish  monk,  seconded  by  the 
labours  of  a  few  companions,  had  happily  ex- 
tirpated, in  the  preceding  century,  the  ancient 
superstitions  in  Gaul,  and  the  parts  adjacent, 
where  idolatry  had  taken  the  deepest  root;  he 
also  carried  the  lamp  of  celestial  truth  among 
the  Suevi,  the  Boii,  the  Franks,  and  other  Ger- 


of  Christ;  and  that  this  circumstance  has  deceived  De  la 
Croze,  Beausobre,  and  lome  other  learned  men,  who  liave 
raised  specious  objections  against  the  hypothesis  that 
maintains  the  early  introduction  of  Christianity  into  this 
great  empire.  A  reader,  properly  informed,  will  pay  lit- 
tle or  no  attention  to  the  account  given  of  this  matter  by 
Voltaire  in  the  first  volume  of  his  Essai  sur  I'Histoire 
Generale.  A  poet,  who  recounts  facts,  or  denies  them, 
without  deiguinc  to  produce  his  authorities,  must  not  ex- 
pect to  meet  with  the  credit  that  is  due  to  an  historian. 

*  Beds  Historia  Ecclcsiast.  Gentis  Anglor.  lib.  ii.  cap. 
ii.  xiv.  lib.  iii.  cap.  xxi.— Rapin  de  Thoyras,  tom.  i. 

t  Wilkins'  Concilia  Magns  Brilanniac,  tom.  i.  p.  QSR. 

(  See  the  Acta  Sanctorum,  tom.  ii.  Febr.  p.  369, 


174 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  I. 


man  nations,*  and  persevered  in  these  pious 
and  useful  labours  until  his  death,  which  hap- 
pened in  615.  St.  Gal,  who  was  one  of  his 
companions,  preached  the  Gospel  to  the  Hel- 
vetii,  and  the  Suevi.f  St.  Kilian  set  out  from 
Scotland,  the  place  of  his  nativity,  and  exer- 
cised the  ministerial  function  with  such  success 
among  the  eastern  Franks,  that  vast  numbers  of 
them  embraced  Christianity. J  Toward  the  con- 
clusion of  this  century,  the  famous  Willebrod, 
by  birth  an  Anglo-Saxon,  accompanied  with 
eleven  of  his  countrymen,  viz.  Suidbert,  Wig- 
bert,  Acca,  Wilibald,  Unibald,  Lebwin,  the  two 
Ewalds,  Werenfrid,  Marcellin,  and  Adalbert, 
crossed  over  into  Batavia,  which  lay  opposite  to 
Britain,  in  order  to  convert  the  Friselanders  to 
the  religion  of  Jesus.  Hence,  in  692,  they  went 
into  Fosteland,  which  most  writers  look  upon 
to  have  been  the  same  with  the  isle  of  Heligo- 
land, or  Heilgiland;  but,  being  cruelly  treated 
there  by  Radbod,  king  of  the  Friselanders,  who 
put  Wigbert,  one  of  the  company,  to  death,  they 
departed  thence  for  Cimbria,  and  the  adjacent 
parts  of  Denmark.  They,  however,  returned 
to  Friseland  in  693,  and  were  much  more  suc- 
cessful than  they  had  formerly  been  in  oppos- 
ing the  ancient  superstitions,  and  propagating 
the  knowledge  of  divine  truth.  Willebrod  was 
ordained,  by  the  Roman  pontiff,  archbishop  of 
Wilteburg,  now  Utrecht,  and  died  among  the 
Batavians  in  a  good  old  age,  while  his  associ- 
ates continued  to  spread  tlie  light  of  the  Gos- 
pel among  the  Westphalians  and  the  neigh- 
bouring nations. § 

IV.  These  voyages,  and  many  others,  under- 
taken in  the  cause  of  Christ,  carry,  no  doubt, 
a  specious  appearance  of  piety  and  zeal;  but 
the  impartial  and  attentive  inquirer  after  truth 
will  find  it  impossible  to  form  the  same  favour- 
able judgment  of  them  all,  or  to  applaud, 
without  distinction,  the  motives  that  animated 
these  laborious  missionaries.  That  the  designs 
of  some  of  them  were  truly  pious,  and  their 
characters  without  reproach,  is  unquestionably 
certain;  but  it  is  equally  certain,  that  this  was 
not  the  case  of  them  all,  or  even  of  the  great- 
est part  of  them.  Many  of  them  discovered, 
in  the  course  of  their  ministry,  the  most  turbu- 
lent passions,  and  dishonoured  the  glorious 
cause  in  which  they  were  engaged,  by  their  ar- 
rogance and  ambition,  their  avarice  and  cru- 
elty. They  abused  the  power  which  they  had 
received  from  the  Roman  pontiffs,  of  forming 
religious  establishments  among  the  supersti- 
tious nations;  and,  instead  of  gaining  souls  to 
Clrrist,  they  usurped  a  despotic  dominion  over 
their  obsequious  proselytes,  and  exercised  a 
princely  authority  over  the  countries  where 
their  ministry  had  been  successful.  Nor  are 
we  to  consider,  as  entirely  groundless,  the  sus- 
picions of  those  who  allege  that  many  of  the 

*  MabilloD,  Acta  Sanctor.  Ordinis  Benedicti,  lorn.  ii. 
iii.— Adanian.  lib-  iii.  de  S.  Columbano,  in  Canisii  Lec- 
tion. Antiq.  torn.  i.  .  .     „  ^   , 

t  Walafridi  Strabonis  Vit.  S.  Galli  in  Actis  S.  Ord. 
Benedict,  torn,  ii.— Canisii  Lection.  Antiq.  torn.  i. 

t  Vita  S.  Kiliani  in  Canisii  Lection.  Antiq.  torn,  in.— 
Jo.  Pet.  de  Ludewig,  Scriptores  Kerum  Wurzburgens. 
p.  966. 

6  Alcuini  Vita  Willebrodi  in  Mabillon,  Act.  SS.  Ord. 
Benedict,  and  Molleri  Cimbria  Literata,tom.  ii.  p.  980. 


monks,  desirous  of  rule  and  authority,  conceal- 
ed their  vices  under  the  mask  of  religion,  and 
endured  for  a  time  the  austerities  of  a  rigid 
mortification  and  abstinence,  merely  with  a 
view  to  rise  to  the  episcopal  dignity. 

V.  The  conversion  of  the  Jews  seemed  at  a 
stand  in  this  century;  for  few  or  none  of  tha 
obstinate  nation  embraced  the  Gospel  in  cons; 
quence  of  an  inward  conviction  of  its  truth, 
though  in  many  places  they  were  barbarously 
compelled,  by  the  Christians,  to  make  an  out- 
ward and  feigned  profession  of  their  faith  in 
Christ.  The  emperor  Heraclius,  incensed 
against  that  miserable  people  by  the  insinua- 
tions, as  it  is  said,  of  the  Christian  doctors,  per- 
secuted them  in  a  cruel  manner,  and  ordered 
multitudes  of  them  to  be  inhumanly  dragged 
into  the  Christian  churches,  in  order  to  be  bap- 
tized by  violence  and  compulsion.*  The  same 
odious  method  of  converting  was  practised  in 
Spain  and  Gaul,  by  the  monarchs  of  those  na- 
tions, against  which  even  the  bishops  of  Rome 
expressed  their  displeasure  and  indignation. 
Such  were  the  horrid  and  abominable  prac- 
tices to  which  an  ignorance  of  the  true  spirit 
of  Christianity,  and  the  barbarous  genius  of 
this  age,  led  the  heralds  of  that  divine  religion, 
which  was  designed  to  spread  abroad  charity 
upon  earth,  and  to  render  mankind  truly  and 
rationally  free. 

CHAPTER  II. 

Concerning  the  calamitous  Events  that  happened 
to  the  Church  during  this  Century. 

I.  The  Christians  suffered  less  in  this,  than 
in  the  preceding  centmies.  They  were  some- 
times persecuted  by  the  Persian  monarchs,  but 
ususally  recovered  their  former  tranquillity  af- 
ter transitory  scenes  of  violence  and  oppres- 
tion.  In  England,  the  new  converts  to  Cliris- 
tianity  suffered  various  calamities  under  the 
petty  kings,  who  governed  in  those  boisterous 
times;  but  these  kings  embraced  the  Gospel 
themselves,  and  then  the  sufferings  of  the  Chris- 
tians ceased.  In  the  eastern  countries,  and  par- 
ticularly in  Syria  and  Palestine,  the  Jews,  at 
certain  times,  attacked  the  Christians  with  a 
merciless  fury,|  but  with  so  little  success,  that 
they  always  had  reason  to  repent  of  their  te- 
merity, which  was  severely  chastised.  It  is 
true,  the  church  had  other  enemies,  even  those 
who,  under  the  treacherous  profession  of  Chris- 
tianity, were  laying  secret  schemes  for  the  re- 
storation of  Paganism;  but  they  were  too  weak 
and  too  inconsiderable  to  form  any  attempts 
that  could  endanger  the  Christian  cause. 

II.  But  a  new  and  most  powerful  enemy  to 
the  Christian  cause  started  up  in  Arabia  in  6 12, 
under  the  reign  of  Heraclius.  This  was  Ma- 
homet, or  Mohammed,  an  illiterate  man,J  but 


*  Eutychii  Annales  Eccles.  Alexandr.  torn.  ii.  p.  212. 

f  Eutychii  Annales,  torn.  ii.  p.  236.  Jo.  Henr.  Hot- 
tingeri  Historia  Orientalis,  lib.  i.  cap.  iii.  p.  129. 

J  Mohammed  himself  expressly  declared,  that  he  was 
totally  ignorant  of  all  branches  of  learning  and  science, 
and  was  even  unable  either  to  write  or  read:  and  his  fol- 
lowers have  drawn  from  this  ignorance  an  argument  id 
favour  of  the  divinity  of  his  mission,  and  of  the  religion 
he  taught.  It  is,  however,  scarcely  credible,  that  his  ig- 
norance was  such  as  it  is  here  described;  and  several  ol 


Chap.  II. 


CALAMITOUS  EVENTS. 


175 


endowed  by  nature  with  the  most  flowing  and 
attractive  eloquence,  and  with  a  vast  and  pene- 
trating genius,*  distinguished  also  by  the  ad- 
vantages he  enjoyed  from  the  place  of  his  birth, 
which  added  a  lustre  to  his  name  and  his  un- 
dertakings. This  adventurous  impostor  pub- 
licly declared,  that  he  was  commissioned  by 
God  to  destroy  polytheism  and  idolatry,  and 
then  to  reform,  first  the  religion  of  the  Arabi- 
ans, and  afterwards  the  Jewish  and  Christian 
worship.  For  these  purposes  he  delivered  a 
new  law,  which  is  known  by  the  name  of  the 
Ko)-an,  i.  e.  the  book,  by  way  of  eminence;!  and, 
having  gained  several  victories  over  his  ene- 
mies, he  compelled  an  incredible  multitude  of 
persons,  both  in  Arabia  and  the  neighbouring 
nations,  to  receive  his  doctrine,  and  range 
themselves  under  his  standard.  Elate  with  this 
rapid  and  imexpected  success.,  he  greatly  ex- 
tended his  ambitious  views,  and  formed  the 
vast  and  arduous  project  of  founding  an  em- 
pire. Here  again  success  crowned  his  adven- 
turous efforts;  and  his  plan  was  executed  with 
such  intrepidity  and  impudence,  that  he  died 
master  of  all  Arabia,  beside  several  adjacent 
provinces. 

III.  It  is,  perhaps,  impossible,  at  this  time, 
to  form  such  an  accurate  judgment  of  the  cha- 
racter, views,  and  conduct  of  Mohammed,  as 
would  entirely  satisfy  the  curiosity  of  a  saga- 
cious inquirer  after  truth.  To  give  entire  cre- 
dit to  the  Grecian  writers  in  this  matter,  is 
neither  prudent  nor  safe,  since  their  bitter  re- 
sentment against  this  hostile  invader  led  them 
to  invent,  without  scruple  or  hesitation,  fables 
and  calumnies  to  blacken  his  character.  The 
Arabians,  on  the  other  hand,  are  as  little  to  be 


his  sect  have  called  in  question  the  declarations  of  their 
chief  relating  to  this  point.  See  Chard  in 's  Voyages  en 
Perse,  torn.  iv.  If  we  consider  that  he  carried  on,  for  a 
considerable  time,  a  successful  commerce  in  Arabia  and 
the  adjacent  countries,  this  alone  will  convince  us.  that  he 
must  liave  been,  in  some  measure,  instructed  in  the  arts 
of  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic,  with  the  knowledge 
of  which  a  merchant  cannot  dispense. 

*  The  writers,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  the  ac- 
counts of  the  life  and  religion  of  Mohammed,  are  enu- 
merated by  Fabricius,  in  his  Delectus  et  Syllabus  Argu- 
mentorum,  pro  Veritate  Religionis  ChristianiE;  to  which 
we  may  add  Boulaiiivilliers'  Vie  de  Mahomet,  published 
at  London  in  1730,  which,  however,  deserves  rather  the 
character  of  a  romance,  than  of  a  history;  Gagnier's  Vie 
de  Mahomet,  printed  at  Amsterdam  in  1732,  and  com- 
mendable both  for  the  learning  and  candour  with  which 
it  appears  to  have  been  composed;  and,  above  all,  the 
learned  and  judicious  Sale's  Preliminary  Discourse,  pre- 
fixed to  his  English  translation  of  the  Koran,  sect.  ii.  p. 

t  For  an  account  of  the  Koran,  see  principally  Sale's 
preface.  See  also  Vertot's  Discours  sur  I'Alcoran,  sub- 
joined to  the  third  volume  of  his  History  of  the  Knights 
of  Malta,  and  Chardin's  Voyages  en  Perse,  torn.  ii.  p. 
281.  The  book  which  the  Mohammedans  call  the  Koran, 
is  composed  of  several  papers  and  discourses  of  the  im- 
postor, which  were  discovered  and  collected  after  his 
death,  and  is  by  no  means  that  same  law  whose  excellence 
he  vaunted  so  highly.  That  some  parts  of  the  true  Koran 
may  be  copied  in  the  modern  one,  is  indeed  very  possible; 
but  that  the  Koran,  or  Law,  given  by  Mohammed  to  the 
Arabians,  is  entirely  distinct  from  the  modern  Koran,  is 
manifest  from  this,  that,  in  the  latter,  he  appeals  to,  and 
extols  the  former,  and  therefore  they  must  be  two  differ- 
ent compositions.  May  it  not  be  conjectured,  that  the 
true  Koran  was  an  Arabic  poem,  which  he  recited  to  his 
'bllowers  without  giving  it  to  them  in  writing,  ordering 
them  only  to  commit  it  to  memory?  Such  were  the  laws 
of  the  Druids  in  Gaul  and  Britain,  and  such  also  those  of 
the  Indians,  which  the  Bramins  receive  by  oral  tradition, 
and  get  by  heart. 


trusted  to,  as  their  historians  are  destitute  of 
veracity  and  candoiu-;  they  conceal  the  vices 
and  enormities  of  their  chief,  and  represent  him 
as  the  most  divine  person  that  ever  appeared 
upon  earth,  and  as  the  best  gift  of  God  to  the 
world.  Add  to  this,  that  a  considerable  part 
of  his  life,  indeed,  the  part  of  it  that  would  be 
the  most  proper  to  lead  us  to  a  true  knowledge 
of  his  character,  and  of  the  motives  from  which 
he  acted,  is  absolutely  unknown.  It  is  highly 
probable,  that  he  was  so  deeply  affected  with 
the  odious  and  abominable  superstition  which 
dishonoured  his  country,  that  it  threw  him  in- 
to a  certain  fanatical  disorder  of  mind,  and 
made  him  really  imagine  that  he  was  superna- 
turally  commissioned  to  reform  the  religion  of 
the  Arabians,  and  to  restore  among  them  the 
worship  of  one  God.  It  is,  however,  at  the 
same  time,  undoubtedly  evident,  that,  when  he 
saw  his  enterprise  crowned  with  the  desired 
success,  he  made  use  of  impious  frauds  to  es- 
tablish the  work  he  had  so  happily  begun,  de- 
luded the  giddy  and  credulous  multitude  by 
various  artifices,  and  even  forged  celestial  vi- 
sions to  confirm  his  authority,  and  remove  the 
difficulties  that  frequently  arose  in  the  course 
of  his  affairs.  This  mixture  of  imposture  is 
by  no  means  incompatible  with  a  spirit  of  en- 
thusiasm; for  the  fanatic,  through  the  unguided 
warmth  of  zeal,  looks  often  upon  the  artifices 
that  are  useful  to  his  cause  as  pious  and  accep- 
table to  the  Supreme  Being,  and  therefore  de- 
ceives when  he  can  do  it  with  impunity.*  The 
religion  which  Mohammed  taught,  is  certainly 
different  from  what  it  would  have  been,  if  he 
had  met  with  no  opposition  in  the  propagation 
of  his  opinions.  The  difficulties  he  had  to  en- 
counter obliged  him  to  yield,  in  some  respects, 
to  the  reigning  systems;  the  obstinate  attach- 
ment of  the  Arabians  to  the  religion  of  their 
ancestors,  on  one  hand,  and  the  fond  hope  of 
gaining  over  to  his  cause  both  the  Jews  and 
Christians  on  the  other,  engaged,  no  doubt, 
this  fanatical  impostor  to  admit  into  his  system 
several  tenets,  which  he  would  have  rejected 
without  hesitation,  had  he  been  free  from  the 
restraints  of  ambition  and  artifice. 

IV.  The  rapid  success  which  attended  the 
propagation  of  this  new  religion,  was  produced 
by  causes  that  are  plain  and  evident,  and  must 
remove,  or  rather  prevent  our  surprise,  when 
they  are  attentively  considered.  The  terror  of 
Mohammed's  arms,  and  the  repeated  victories 
which  were  gained  by  him  and  his  successors, 
were,  without  doubt,  the  irresistible  argument 
that  persuaded  such  multitudes  to  embrace  his 
religion,  and  submit  to  his  dominion.  Besides, 
his  law  was  artfully  and  wonderfully  adapted  to 
the  corrupt  nature  of  man,  and,  in  a  more  par- 
ticular manner,  to  the  manners  and  opinions 
of  the  eastern  nations,  and  the  vices  to  which 
they  were  naturally  addicted;  for  the  articles 
of  faith  which  it  proposed  were  few  in  num- 
ber, and  extremely  simple;  and  the  duties  it  re- 


*  This,  perhaps,  is  the  best  way  of  adjusting  the  con- 
troversy that  has  been  carried  on  by  some  learned  men 
upon  this  curious  question, — whether  Mohammed  was 
a  fanatic  or  an  impostor.  See  Bayle's  Dictionary;  also 
Ocklcy's  Conquest'  of  Syria,  Persia,  and  Egypt,  by  the 
Saracens,  vol.  i.;  and  Sale's  Preface  to  his  Translation 
of  the  Koran,  sect.  ii. 


176 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  H. 


quired  were  neither  many  nor  difficult,  nor  such  I 
as  were  incompatible  with  tlie  empire  of  appe- 
tites and  passions.*  It  is  to  be  observed  far- 1 
ther,  that  the  gross  ignorance,  under  which  the  | 
Arabians,  Syrians,  Persians,  and  the  greatest; 
part  of  the  eastern  nations,  laboured  at  tliis ; 
time,  rendered  many  an  easy  prey  to  the  arti- . 
fice  and  eloquence  of  this  bold  adventurer.  [ 
To  these  causes  of  the  progress  of  the  Moham-  j 
medan  faith,  we  may  add  the  bitter  dissensions 
and  cruel  animosities  that  reigned  among  the 
Christian  sects,  particularly  the  Greeks,  Nes- 1 
torians,  Eutychians,  and  Mono phy sites,  dissen-  j 
sions  that  filled  a  great  part  of  the  east  with  j 
carnage,  assassinations,  and  such  detestable 
enormities,  as  rendered  the  very  name  of  Chris- 
tianity odious  to  many.  We  might  add  here, 
that  the  Monophysites  and  Nestorians,  full  of 
resentment  against  the  Greeks,  from  whom 
they  had  suffered  the  bitterest  and  most  inju- 
rious treatment,  assisted  the  Arabians  in  the 
conquest  of  several  provinces,!  into  which, 
consequently,  the  religion  of  Mohammed  was 
afterwards  introduced.  Other  causes  of  the 
sudden  progress  of  that  religion,  will  naturally 
occur  to  such  as  consider  attentively  its  spirit 
and  genius,  and  the  state  of  the  world  at  that 
time. 

V.  After  the  death  of  the  pseudo-prophet, 
which  happened  in  632,  his  followers,  led  on 
by  an  amazing  intrepidity  and  a  fanatical  fury, 
and  assisted,  as  we  have  already  observed,  by 
those  Christians  whom  the  Greeks  had  treated 
with  such  severity,  extended  their  conquests 
beyond  the  limits  of  Arabia,  and  subdued  Sy- 
ria, Persia,  Egypt,  and  other  countries.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  Greeks,  exhausted  with 
civil  discord,  and  wholly  occupied  by  intestine 
troubles,  were  unable  to  stop  these  intrepid 
conquerors  in  their  rapid  career. 

For  some  time  these  enthusiastic  invaders 
used  their  prosperity  with  moderation,  and 
treated  the  Christians,  particularly  those  who 
rejected  the  decrees  of  the  councils  of  Ephesus 
and  Chalcedon,  with  the  utmost  indulgence 
and  lenity.  But,  as  an  uninterrupted  course 
of  success  and  prosperity  renders,  too  general- 
ly, corrupt  mortals  insolent  and  imperious,  so 
the  moderation  of  this  victorious  sect  degene- 


*  See  Reland,  de  Religione  Mahumedica;  also  Sale's 
Preliminary  Discourse. 

t  See  Ockley's  Conquest  of  Syria,  Persia,  and  Egypt, 
by  the  Saracens. 


rated  by  degrees  into  severity,  and  they  treated 
the  Christians,  at  length,  rather  like  slaves 
than  citizens,  loading  them  with  insupportable 
taxes,  and  obliging  them  to  submit  to  a  variety 
of  vexatious  and  oppressive  measures. 

VI.  The  progress,  however,  of  this  trium- 
phant sect  received  a  considerable  check  by  the 
civil  dissensions  which  arose  among  them  im- 
mediately after  the  death  of  Mohammed. — • 
Abubeker  and  Ali,  the  former  the  father-in- 
law,  and  the  latter  the  son-in-law,  of  this  pre- 
tended prophet,  aspired  to  succeed  him  in  the 
empire  which  he  had  erected.  Upon  this  arose 
a  tedious  and  cruel  contest,  whose  flame  reach- 
ed to  succeeding  ages,  and  produced  that 
schism  which  divided  the  Mohammedans  into 
two  great  factions,  whose  separation  not  only 
gave  rise  to  a  variety  of  opinions  and  rites,  but 
also  excited  the  most  implacable  hatred  and 
the  most  deadly  animosities.  Of  these  factions, 
one  acknowledged  Abubeker  as  the  true  khalif, 
or  successor  of  Mohammed,  and  its  members 
were  distinguished  by  the  name  of  Sonnites; 
while  the  other  adhered  to  Ali,  and  received 
the  appellation  of  Shiites.*  Both,  however, 
adhered  to  the  Koran  as  a  divine  law,  and  as 
the  rule  of  faith  and  maimers;  to  which,  in- 
deed, the  former  added,  by  way  of  interpreta- 
tion, the  sonna,  i.  e.  a  certain  law  which  they 
looked  upon  as  derived  from  Mohammed  by 
oral  tradition,  and  which  the  Shiites  refused  to 
admit.  Among  the  Sonnites,  or  followers  of 
Abubeker,  we  are  to  reckon  the  Turks,  Tar- 
tars, Arabians,  Africans,  and  the  greatest  part 
of  the  Indian  Moslems;  whereas  the  Persians, 
and  the  subjects  of  the  great  Mogul,  are  gene- 
rally considered  as  the  followers  of  Ali;  though 
the  latter  indeed  seem  rather  to  observe  a  strict 
neutrality  in  this  contest. 

Beside  these  two  grand  factions,  there  are 
several  subordinate  sects  among  the  Moslems, 
which  dispute  with  warmth  upon  several  points 
of  religion,  though  without  violating  the  rules 
of  mutual  toleration. t  Of  these  sects  there 
are  four,  which  far  surpass  the  rest  in  point  of 
reputation  and  importance. 


*  See  Reland,  de  Religione  Turcica,  lib.  i.  p.  36,  70, 
74,  85;  and  Chardin's  Voyages  en  Perse,  torn.  ii.  p.  236. 

t  For  an  account  of  the  Mohammedan  sects,  see  Hot- 
tingeri  Histor.  Orient,  lib.  ii.  cap.  vi.  p.  340.— Ricaut'* 
Etat  de  I'Empire  Ottoman,  liv.  ii.  p.  242.— Chardin'» 
Voyages  en  Perse,  torn,  ii.;  and  Sale's  Preliminary  Di»- 
course,  sect.  viii. 


PART  II. 


THE  INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Concerning  the  State  of  Letters  and  Philosophy 
during  this  Century, 
I.  Nothing  can  equal  the  ignorance  and 
darkness  that  reigned  in  this  century;  the  most 
impartial  and  accurate  account  of  which  will 
appear  incredible  to  those  who  are  unacquaint- 


ed with  the  productions  of  this  barbarous  pe- 
riod. Any  remains  of  learning  and  philosophy 
that  yet  survived,  were,  a  few  particular  cases 
excepted,  to  be  found  principally  among  the 
Latins,  in  the  obscure  retreats  of  cloistered 
monks.  The  monastic  institutions  prohibited 
the  election  of  any  abbot  to  the  government 
of  a  convent,  who  was  not  a  man  of  learning, 


Chap.  I. 


LEARNING  AND  PHILOSOPHY. 


177 


or,  at  least,  endowed  with  some  share  of  tlie 
erudition  of  the  times.  The  monks  were 
obHged  to  consecrate  certain  hours  every  day  to 
reading  and  study:  and,  that  they  might  im- 
prove this  appointment  to  tlie  most  advantage- 
ous purposes,  there  were,  in  most  of  the  monas- 
teries, stated  times  marked  out,  at  which  they 
were  to  assemble,  in  order  to  communicate  to 
each  other  the  fruits  of  their  studies,  and  to 
discuss  the  matters  upon  which  they  had  been 
reading.*  The  youth  also,  who  were  destined 
for  the  service  of  the  church,  were  obliged  to 
prepare  themselves  for  their  ministry  by  a  di- 
ligent application  to  study;  and  in  this  they 
were  directed  by  the  monks,  one  of  whose  prin- 
cipal occupations  it  was  to  preside  over  the 
education  of  the  rising  priesthood. 

It  must,  however,  be  acknowledged,  that  all 
these  institutions  were  of  little  use  to  the  ad- 
vancement of  solid  learning,  or  of  rational 
theology,  because  very  few  in  those  days  were 
acquainted  with  the  true  nature  of  the  liberal 
arts  and  sciences,  or  with  the  important  ends 
which  they  were  adapted  to  serve;  and  the 
greatest  part  of  those  who  were  looked  upon 
as  learned  men,  threw  away  their  time  in  read- 
ing the  marvellous  lives  of  a  parcel  of  fanati- 
cal saints,  instead  of  employing  it  in  the  peru- 
sal of  well-chosen  and  excellent  authors.  They, 
who  distinguished  themselves  most  by  their 
taste  and  genius,  carried  their  studies  little  far- 
ther than  the  works  of  Augustin  and  Gregory 
the  Great;  and  it  was  of  scraps  collected  out 
of  these  two  writers,  and  patched  together 
without  much  uniformity,  that  the  best  produc- 
tions of  this  century  were  composed. 

II.  The  sciences  enjoyed  no  degree  of  pro- 
tection, at  this  time,  from  kings  and  princes; 
nor  did  they  owe  any  thing  to  men  of  high  and 
eminent  stations  in  the  empire.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  schools  which  had  been  committed 
to  the  care  and  inspection  of  the  bishops,  whose 
ignorance  and  indolence  were  now  become 
enormous,  began  to  decline  apace,  and  had,  in 
many  places,  fallen  into  ruin.f  The  bishops 
in  general  were  so  illiterate,  that  few  of  them 
were  capable  of  composing  the  discourses  which 
they  delivered  to  the  people.  Such  prelates  as 
were  not  totally  destitute  of  genius  composed, 
out  of  the  writings  of  Augustin  and  Gregory, 
a  certain  number  of  insipid  homilies,  which 
they  divided  between  themselves  and  their  stu- 
pid colleagues,  that  tlicy  might  not  be  obliged 
through  incapacity  to  discontinue  preacliing 
the  doctrines  of  Christianity  to  the  people,  as 
appears  from  the  examples  of  Cffisarius  bishop 
of  Aries,  and  Eloi  bishop  of  Noyon.J  There 
is  yet  extant  a  summary  of  theological  doc- 
trine, which  v;as  unskilfully  compiled  byTaion 
bishop  of  Saragossa,  from  the  writings  of  Au- 
gustin and  Gregory;  and  which  was  so  highly 


*  Mabillon,  Acta   Sanct.  Ord.   Benedicti,  torn.  ii.   p. 
479,  513. 

t  Histoire  Literaire  de  la  France,  torn.  iii.  p.  428. 

QQ-  \  In  the  original  we  read  Eligius  IS'oviomagensis, 
which  is  a  mistake  either  of  the  author,  or  printer,  it  is 
probable  that  Noviomagensis  slipped  from  the  pen  of  Dr. 
Moihe'im,  in  the  place  of  Novioduncnsis;  for  Eloi  was 
biihop  of  Novon,  and  not  of  Nimeguen. 
Vol.  I.— 2? 


extolled  in  this  illiterate  age,  that  its  author 
was  called,  by  the  rest  of  the  bishops,  the  tnit 
salt  of  the  earth,  and  a  divine  light  that  was 
sent  to  illuminate  the  world.*  Many  such  in- 
stances of  the  ignorance  and  barbarity  of  this 
century  will  occur  to  those  who  have  any  ac- 
quaintance with  the  writers  it  produced.  Eng- 
land, it  is  true,  was  happier  in  this  respect  than 
the  other  nations  of  Europe,  which  was  princi- 
pally owing  to  Theodore  of  Tarsus,  of  whom 
we  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  afterwards, 
who  was  appointed  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
and  contributed  much  to  introduce,  among  the 
English,  a  certain  taste  for  literary  pursuits, 
and  to  excite  in  that  kingdom  a  zeal  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  learning.! 

III.  In  Greece,  the  fate  of  the  sciences  was 
truly  lamentable.  A  turgid  eloquence,  and  an 
affected  pomp  and  splendour  of  style,  which 
cast  a  perplexing  obscurity  over  subjects  in 
themselves  the  most  clear  and  perspicuous,  now 
formed  the  highest  point  of  perfection  to  which 
both  prose  writers  and  poets  aspired.  The 
Latin  eloquence  was  still  very  considerably  be- 
low that  of  the  Greeks;  it  had  not  spirit  enough 
even  to  be  turgid,  and,  a  few  compositions  ex- 
cepted, it  had  sunk  to  the  very  lowest  degree 
of  barbarity  and  corruption.  Both  the  Greek 
and  Latin  writers,  who  attempted  historical 
compositions,  degraded  most  miserably  that 
important  science.  Moschus  and  Sophronius 
among  the  former;  and  among  the  latter  Brau- 
lio,  Jonas  an  Hibernian,  Audoenus,  Dado,  and 
Adamannus,  wrote  the  lives  of  several  saints, 
or  rather  a  heap  of  insipid  and  ridiculous  fa- 
bles, void  of  the  least  air  of  probability,  and 
without  the  smallest  tincture  of  eloquence. 
The  Greeks  related,  without  discernment  or 
choice,  the  most  vulgar  reports  that  were  hand- 
ed about  concerning  the  events  of  ancient 
times:  and  hence  arose  that  multitude  of  ab- 
surd fables,  which  the  Latins  afterwards  copied 
from  them  with  the  utmost  avidity. 

IV.  Among  the  Latins  philosophy  was  at  its 
lowest  ebb.  If  there  were  any  that  retained 
some  faint  reluctance  to  abandon  it  entirely, 
such  confined  their  studies  to  the  writings  of 
Boethius  and  Cassiodorus,  from  which  they 
committed  to  memory  a  certain  number  of 
phrases  and  sentences;  and  that  was  all  their 
philosophical  stock.  The  Greeks,  abandoning 
Plato  to  the  monks,  gave  themselves  entirely 
up  to  the  direction  of  Aristotle,  and  studied, 
with  eagerness,  the  subtiltics  of  his  logic,  which 
were  of  signal  use  in  the  controversies  carried 
on  between  the  Monophysites,  the  Nestorians, 
and  Monothelites.  All  these  different  sects 
called  the  Stagirite  to  their  assistance,  when 
they  were  to  plead  their  cause,  and  to  defend 
their  doctrines.  Hence  it  was  that  James, 
bishop  of  Edessa,  who  was  a  Monophysite, 
translated,  in  this  century,  the  dialectics  of 
Aristotle  into  the  Syriac  language.| 


'  Mabillon,  Analecta  veteris  JKy't,  torn.  ii.  p.  77. 

t  Wilkins'  Concilia  Magnae  Britannise,  torn.  i.  p.  42 

Conringii  Antiquitat.  Academica:,  p.  277. 

t  See  Assemani  Biblioth.  Oriental.  Vatican,  torn.  i.  p. 
498. 


178 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  H. 


CHAPTER  n. 

Concerning  the  Doctors  and  Ministers  of  the 
Church,  and  its  Form  of  Government  during 
this  Centiiry. 

I.  The  disputes  about  pre-eminence,  that 
had  so  long  subsisted  between  the  bishops  of 
Rome  and  Constantinople,  proceeded,  in  this 
century,  to  such  violent  lengths,  as  laid  the 
foundation  of  that  deplorable  schism,  which 
afterwards  separated  the  Greek  and  Latin 
churches.  The  most  learned  writers,  and 
those  who  are  most  remarkable  for  their  know- 
ledge of  antiquity,  are  generally  agreed  that 
Boniface  IH.  engaged  Phocas,  that  abomina- 
ble tyrant,  who  waded  to  the  imperial  throne 
through  the  blood  of  the  emperor  Mauritius, 
to  take  from  the  bishop  of  Constantinople  the 
title  of  cecumenical  or  universal  bishop,  and  to 
confer  it  upon  the  Roman  pontiff.  They  re- 
late this,  however,  upon  the  sole  authority  of 
Baronius;  for  none  of  the  ancient  writers  have 
mentioned  it.  If,  indeed,  we  are  to  give  credit 
to  Anastasius  and  Paul  the  Deacon,*  some- 
thing like  what  we  have  now  related  was  trans- 
acted by  Phocas:  for,  when  the  bishops  of  Con- 
stantinople maintained  that  their  church  was 
not  only  equal  in  dignity  and  authority  to  that 
of  Rome,  but  also  the  head  of  all  the  Christian 
churches,  this  tyrant  opposed  their  pretensions, 
and  granted  the  pre-eminence  to  the  church  of 
Rome:  and  thus  was  the  papal  supremacy  first 
introduced. 

II.  The  Roman  pontiffs  used  all  sorts  of 
methods  to  maintain  and  enlarge  the  authority 
and  pre-eminence  which  they  had  acquired  by 
a  grant  from  the  most  odious  tyrant  that  ever 
disgraced  the  annals  of  history.  We  find, 
however,  in  the  most  authentic  accounts  of  the 
transactions  of  this  century,  that  not  only  se- 
veral emperors  and  princes,  but  also  whole  na- 
tions, opposed  the  ambitious  views  of  the  bish- 
ops of  Rome.  The  Byzantine  history,  and  the 
Formulary  of  Marculfus,  contain  many  proofs 
of  the  influence  which  the  civil  magistrate  yet 
retained  in  religious  matters,  and  of  the  subor- 
dination of  the  Roman  pontiffs  to  the  regal 
authority.  It  is  true,  the  Roman  writers  af- 
firm, that  Constantino  Pogonatus  abdicated  the 
privilege  of  confirming,  by  his  approbation,  the 
election  of  the  bishop  of  that  city;  and,  as  a 
proof  of  this,  they  allege  a  passage  of  Anasta- 
sius, in  which  it  is  said,  that  according  to  an 
edict  of  Pogonatus,  the  pontiff,  uiho  should  be 
elected,  was  to  be  ordained  immediately,  and  with- 
out the  least  delay.'\  But  every  one  must  see, 
that  this  passage  is  insufficient  to  prove  what 
these  writers  assert  with  such  confidence.  It 
is  however  certain,  that  this  emperor  abated, 
some  say  remitted,  the  sum  which,  from  the 
time  of  Theodoric,  the  bishops  of  Rome  had 
been  obliged  to  pay  to  the  imperial  treasury 
before  they  could  be  ordained,  or  have  their 
election  confirmed. J 


*  Anastasius,  de  vitis  Poutificum.  Paul.  Diacon.  de 
rebus  gestis  Longobard.  lib.  iv.  cap.  xxxvii.  apud  Mura- 
torii  Scriptor.  rerum  Italicar.  torn.  i.  p.  465. 

*  Anastasii  vit.  Pontif.  in  Bened.  p.  146,  in  Muratorii 
Scriptor.  rcrum  Italicar.  torn.  iii. 

}  Anastas.  vit.  Pontif.  in  Agathone,  p.  144,  compared 
with  MaECOvii  Hist,  German,  torn.  ii.  p.  121,  in  the  au- 


The  ancient  Britons  and  Scots  persisted  long 
in  the  maintenance  of  their  religious  liberty; 
and  neither  the  threats  nor  promises  of  the  le- 
gates of  Rome  could  engage  them  to  submit 
to  the  decrees  and  authorit}'  of  the  ambitious 
pontiff,  as  appears  manifestly  from  the  testi- 
mony of  Bede.  The  churches  of  Gaul  and 
Spain  attributed  as  much  authority  to  the 
bishop  of  Rome,  as  they  thought  suitable  to 
their  own  dignity,  and  consistent  with  their  in- 
terests: even  in  Italy,  his  supreme  authority 
was  obstinately  rejected,  since  the  bishop  of 
Ravenna,  and  other  prelates,  refused  an  impli- 
cit submission  to  his  orders.*  Beside  all  this, 
multitudes  of  private  persons  expressed  pub- 
licly, and  without  the  least  hesitation,  their  ab- 
horrence of  the  vices,  and  particularly  of  the 
lordly  ambition  of  the  Roman  pontiffs:  and  it 
is  highly  probable,  that  the  Valdenses  or  Vau- 
dois  had  already,  in  this  century,  retired  into 
the  valleys  of  Piedmont,  that  they  might  be 
more  at  liberty  to  oppose  the  tyranny  of  those 
imperious  prelates. f 

III.  Tlie  progress  of  vice,  among  the  subor- 
dinate rulers  and  ministers  of  the  church,  was 
at  this  time  truly  deplorable:  neither  bishops, 
presbyters,  deacons,  nor  even  the  cloistered 
monks,  were  exempt  from  the  general  conta- 
gion, as  appears  from  the  unanimous  confes- 
sion of  all  the  writers  of  this  century  that  are 
worthy  of  credit.  In  those  very  places,  that 
were  consecrated  to  the  advancement  of  piety, 
and  the  service  of  God,  there  was  little  to  be 
seen  but  spiritual  ambition,  insatiable  avarice, 
pious  frauds,  intolerable  pride,  and  a  supercili- 
ous contempt  of  the  natural  rights  of  the  peo- 
ple, with  many  other  vices  still  more  enormous. 
There  reigned  also  in  many  places  the  most 
bitter  dissensions  between  the  bishops  and  the 
monks.  The  former  had  employed  the  greedy 
hands  of  the  latter  to  augment  the  episcopal 
treasure,  and  to  draw  the  contributions  from  all 
parts  to  support  them  in  their  luxury,  and  the 
indulgence  of  their  lusts.  The  monks  perceiv- 
ing this,  and  also  unwilling  to  serve  the  bish- 
ops in  such  a  dishonourable  character,  fled  for 
refuge  to  the  emperors  and  princes,  under  whose 
civil  jurisdiction  they  lived;  and  afterwards,  for 
their  farther  security,  had  recourse  to  tlie  pro- 
tection of  the  Roman  pontiff.  J  This  protec- 
tion they  readily  obtained;  and  the  imperious 
pontiffs,  always  fond  of  exerting  their  authori- 
ty, exempted,  by  degrees,  the  monastic  orders 
from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  bishops.  The 
monks,  in  return  for  this  important  service,  de- 
voted themselves  wholly  to  advance  the  inte- 
rests, and  to  maintain  the  dignity  of  the  bishop 


notations.  (fC^  It  will  not  be  improper  to  observe  here, 
that  by  the  same  edict,  which  diminished  the  ordination- 
money  paid  by  the  bishops  of  Rome  to  the  emperor,  Con- 
stantine  resumed  the  power  of  confirming  the  election  of 
the  pope,  which  his  predecessors  had  invested  in  the  ex- 
archs of  Ravenna;  so  tliat  the  bishop  elect  was  not  to  be 
ordained  till  his  election  was  notified  to  thecourt  of  Con- 
stantinople, and  the  imperial  decree  confirming  it  was  re- 
ceived by  the  electors  at  Rome.  See  Anastasius,  in  his 
life  of  Agatho. 

*  See  Geddes'  Miscellaneous  Tracts,  torn.  ii.  p.  6. 

t  See  Antoine  Leger's  Histoire  des  Eglises  Vaudoises, 
liv.  i.  p.  15. 

}  See  Launoii  Assertio  Inquisitionis  in  Chartam  Immu- 
nitatis  S.  Germani,  op.  torn.  iii.  par.  i.  p.  50.  Baluzii 
Miscellan.  torn.  ii.  p.  159;  tom.  iv.  p.  108.  Muratorii 
Antiq.  Italic,  tom.  ii.  p.  944,  949. 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


179 


of  Rome.  They  made  his  cause  their  own, 
and  represented  him  as  a  sort  of  god  to  the  ig- 
norant multitude,  over  whom  they  had  gained 
a  prodigious  ascendency  by  the  notion  tiiat  ge- 
nerally prevailed  of  the  sanctity  of  the  monas- 
tic order.  It  is,  at  the  same  time,  to  be  ob- 
served, that  this  humanity  toward  the  monks 
proved  a  fruitful  source  of  licentiousness  and 
disorder,  and  occasioned  the  greatest  part  of 
the  vices  with  which  they  were  afterwards  so 
justly  charged.  Such,  at  least,  is  the  judg- 
ment of  the  best  writers  upon  this  subject.* 

IV.  In  the  mean  time  the  monks  were  every 
where  in  high  repute,  and  their  cause  was  ac- 
companied with  the  most  surprising  success, 
particularly  among  the  Latins,  through  the 
protection  and  favour  of  the  Roman  pontiff, 
and  their  pharisaical  affectation  of  uncommon 
piety  and  devotion.  The  heads  of  families, 
striving  to  surpass  each  other  in  their  zeal  for 
the  propagation  and  advancement  of  monkery, 
dedicated  their  children  to  God,  by  shutting 
them  up  in  convents,  and  devoting  them  to  a 
solitary  life,  which  they  looked  upon  as  the 
highest  felicity;!  nor  did  they  fail  to  send  with 
these  innocent  victims  a  rich  dowry.  Aban- 
doned profligates,  who  had  passed  their  days 
in  the  most  vicious  pursuits,  and  whose  guilty 
consciences  filled  them  with  terror  and  remorse, 
were  comforted  with  the  delusive  hopes  of  ob- 
taining pardon,  and  making  atonement  for  their 
crimes,  by  leaving  the  greatest  part  of  their 
fortune  to  some  monastic  society.  Multitudes, 
impelled  by  the  unnatural  dictates  of  a  gloomy 
superstition,  deprived  their  children  of  fertile 
lands  and  rich  patrimonies,  in  favour  of  tlie 
monks,  by  whose  prayers  they  hoped  to  render 
tlie  Deity  propitious.  Several  ecclesiastics 
laid  down  rules  for  tiie  direction  of  the  monas- 
tic orders.  Those  among  the  Latins,  who  un- 
dertook this  pious  task,  were  Fructuosus,  Isi- 
dore, Johannes  Gerundinensis,  and  Columban.  J 
The  rule  of  discipline,  prescribed  by  St.  Bene- 
dict, was  not  yet  universally  followed,  so  as  to 
exclude  all  others. 

V.  The  writers  of  this  age,  who  distinguish- 
ed themselves  by  their  genius  or  erudition, 
were  very  few  in  number.  Among  the  Greeks, 
tlxe  first  rank  is  due  to  Maximus,  a  monk,  who 
disputed  with  great  obstinacy  and  warmth 
against  the  Monothelites,  composed  some  illus- 
trations upon  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  was, 
upon  the  whole,  a  man  of  no  mean  capacity, 
though  unhappy  through  the  impatience  and 
violence  of  his  natural  temper. 

Isychius,  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  explained  se- 
veral books  of  Scripture;^  and  left  several  hom- 
ilies, and  some  productions  of  less  importance. 

Dorotheus,  abbot  of  Palestine,  acquired  a 
considerable  name  by  his  Ascetic  Dissertations, 
in  which  he  laid  down  a  plan  of  monastic  life 
and  maimers. 


*  See  Lannoii  Eramen  Privilegii  S.  Gcrmani,  torn.  iii. 
par.  i.  p.  28:2.  WilUins'  Concilia  Magna;  Britannix,  torn. 
I.  p.  43,  44,  49,  &c. 

t  Gervais,  Histoire  de  I'Abbe  Suger,  torn.  i.  p.  9 — 16. 

SLucae  HoUlenii  Codex  Regular,  torn.  ii.  p.  2-25. 
See  Simon's  Critique  de  la  Bibliotheque  dcs  Autcurs 
Ecclesiastiques  de  M.  Du-Pin,  torn.  i.  p.  261. 


Antiochus,  a  monk  of  Saba  in  Palestine,  and 
a  monk  of  a  very  superstitious  complexion, 
composed  a  Pandect  of  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
i.  e.  a  summary  or  system  of  the  Christian 
doctrine,  which  is  by  no  means  worthy  of  high 
commendation. 

Sophronius,  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  was  ren- 
dered illustrious,  and  attracted  the  veneration 
of  succeeding  ages,  by  the  controversies  he 
carried  on  against  those  who,  at  this  time,  were 
branded  with  the  name  of  heretics;  and  partic- 
ularly against  the  Monothelites,  of  whose  doc- 
trine he  was  the  first  opposer,  and  also  the  fo- 
raenter  of  the  dispute  which  it  occasioned.* 

There  are  yet  extant  several  homilies,  attri- 
buted to  Andrew,  bishop  of  Crete,  which  are 
destitute  of  true  piety  and  eloquence,  and 
which  are,  moreover,  considered  by  some  wri- 
ters as  entirely  spurious. 

Gregory,  surnamed  Pisides,  deacon  of  Con- 
stantinople, beside  the  History  of  Heraclius 
and  the  Avares,  composed  several  poems,  and 
other  pieces  of  too  little  moment  to  deserve 
mention. 

Theodore,  abbot  of  Raithu,  published  a  book 
which  is  still  extant,  against  those  sects  who 
seemed  to  introduce  corrupt  innovations  into 
the  Christian  religion,  by  their  doctrine  relat- 
ing to  the  person  of  Clirist. 

VI.  Among  the  Latin  writers,  a  certain  num- 
ber were  distinguished  from  the  rest  by  their 
superior  abilities.  Ildefonso,  archbishop  of 
Toledo,  was  in  repute  for  his  learning;  the 
Spaniards,  however,  attribute  to  him  without 
foundation  certain  treatises  concerning  the  Vir- 
gin Mary.f 

We  have  yet  extant  two  books  of  Epistles, 
written  by  Desiderius,  bishop  of  Cahors,  and 
published  by  the  learned  Canisius. 

Eligius,  or  Eloi,  bishop  of  Limoges,  left  be- 
hind him  several  homilies,  and  some  other  pro- 
ductions. 

Marculf,  a  Gallic  monk,  composed  two 
books  of  ecclesiastical  forms,  which  are  highly 
valuable,  as  they  are  extremely  proper  to  give 
us  a  just  idea  of  the  deplorable  state  of  reli- 
gion and  learning  in  this  century. J 

Aldhelm,  an  English  prelate,  composed  se- 
veral poems  concerning  the  Christian  life, 
which  exhibit  but  indifferent  marks  of  genius 
and  fancy. § 

Julian  Pomerius  confuted  the  Jews,  and  ac- 
quired a  name  by  several  other  productions, 
which  are  neither  worthy  of  much  applause 
nor  of  utter  contempt.  To  all  these  wo  might 
add  Cresconius,  whose  Abridgement  of  the 
Canons  is  well  known;  Fredegarius  the  histo- 
rian, and  a  few  others. 


*  See  the  Acta  Sanctorum,  torn.  ii.  Martii  ad  d.  xi.  p- 
65. 

f  See  the  Acta  Sanctorum,  Januar.  torn.  ii.  p.  535. 

t  Histoire  Literaire  de  la  France,  torn.  iii.  p.  565. 

Ql^^  This  prelate  certainly  deserved  a  more  honoura- 
ble mention  than  is  here  made  of  him  by  Dr.  Masheim. 
His  poetical  talents  were  by  no  means  the  most  distin 
guishinc  part  of  his  character.  He  was  profoundly  ver» 
ed  in  the  Greek,  Latin,  and  Saxon  languages.  He  ap 
peared  also  willi  dignity  in  the  paschal  controversy,  that 
so  long  divided  the  Saxon  and  British  churches.  See  Coir 
lier't  Ecclesiastical  Hist.  vol.  i. 


180 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Concerning  the  Doctrine  of  the  Christian  Church 

during  this  Century. 

I.  In  this  barbarous  age,  religion  lay  expir- 
ing under  a  motley  and  enormous  heap  of  su- 
perstitious inventions,  and  had  neither  the 
courage  nor  the  force  to  raise  her  head,  or  to 
display  her  native  charms,  to  a  darkened  and 
deluded  world.  In  the  earlier  periods  of  the 
church,  the  Christian  worship  was  confined  to 
the  one  Supreme  God,  and  his  Son  Jesus 
Christ:  but  the  Christians  of  this  century  mul 
tiplied  the  objects  of  their  devotion,  and  paid 
homage  to  the  remains  of  the  true  cross,  to  the 
images  of  the  saints,  and  to  bones,  whose  real 
owners  were  extremely  dubious.*  The  primi- 
tive Christians,  in  order  to  excite  men  to  a 
course  of  piety  and  virtue,  set  before  them  that 
heavenly  state,  and  those  mansions  of  misery, 
which  the  Gospel  has  revealed  as  the  different 
portions  of  the  righteous  and  the  wicked;  while 
the  Christians  of  this  century  talked  of  nothing 
else  but  a  certain  fire  which  effaced  the  stains 
of  vice,  and  purified  souls  from  their  corruption 
The  former  taught  that  Christ,  by  his  suiFer- 
ings  and  death,  had  made  atonement  for  the 
sins  of  mortals;  the  latter  seemed,  by  their  su- 
perstitious doctrine,  to  exclude,  from  the  king- 
dom of  heaven,  such  as  had  not  contributed, 
by  their  offerings,  to  augment  the  riches  of  the 
clergy  or  the  church,  f     The  former  were  only 


*  It  will  not  be  amiss  to  quote  here  a  remarkable  pas- 
sage out  of  the  Life  of  St.  Eligius.  or  Eloi,  bishop  of 
Noyon,  which  is  to  be  found  iu  M.  d'Acherj''s  Spicilegi- 
um  veter.  Scriptor.  torn.  ii.  p.  92.  This  passage,  which 
is  very  proper  to  give  us  a  just  idea  of  the  piety  of  this 
age,  is  as  follows:  "  Huic  sauctissimo  viro,  inter  cetera 
rirtutum  suarum  miracula,  id  etiam  a  Domino  concessum 
erat,  ut  sanctorum  martyrum  corpora,  qua  per  tot  specu- 
la abdiia  populis  hactenus  habebantur,  eo  investigante  ac 
nimio  ardore  ficlei  indagantc,  patefacta  proderentur."  It 
appears  by  this  passage,  that  St.  Eloi  was  a  zealous  rflie- 
hunter;  and,  if  we  may  give  credit  to  the  writer  of  his 
life,  he  was  very  successful  at  this  kind  of  game;  for  he 
smelt  and  nnkeiinelled  the  carcasses  of  St.  Q,uintin,  St. 
Plato,  St.  Crispin,  St.  Crispinian,  St.  Lucian,  and  many 
more.  The  bishops  of  tliis  age,  who  were  either  ambi- 
tiously desirous  of  popular  applause,  or  intent  upon  accu- 
mulating rii;hes,  and  filling  their  coffers  with  the  oblations 
of  a  superstitions  people,  pretended  to  be  endowed  with 
a  miraculous  sa;;.icity  in  discovering  the  bodies  of  saints 
and  martyrs.[*] 

t  St.  Eloi  expresses  himself  upon  this  matter  in  the 
following  manner-  "  Bonus  Christianus  est,  qui  ad  eccle- 
•iam  frequenlius  vinit,  et  oblationem,  quse  in  allari  Deo 
offeratur,  exhibet;  qui  de  fructibus  suis  non  gustat,  nisi 
prius  Deo  aliquid  offerat;  qui,  quoties  sanctae  soleinnita- 
tes  adveniuni,  ante  dies  plures  castitatem  etiam  cum  pro- 
pria more  cusiodit,  ut  secura  conscientia  Domini  altare 
accedere  possit;  qui  postremo  symbolum  velorationemDo- 


[*]  That  much  ini|)osition  was  practised  m  this  respect, 
even  the  catholics  must  admit.  The  biographer  of  Eloi 
says,  that  "some  relies  were  honoured  with  popular 
worsliip  in  placi-s  where  they  did  not  exist,  while  no  one 
knew,  to  a  cerlainty,in  what  spot  they  were  to  be  found." 
To  supply  this  deTwicncy  of  knowledge,  it  became  expe- 
dient, iu  the  opinion  of  the  clerical  zealots,  to  point  out 
the  places  of  intermenl;  and  thus  relics  were  wantonly 
multiplied,  many  saints  hnving  two  or  three  heads  found 
for  each  person,  and  a  great  number  of  arms  and  legs. 
This  reminds  us  of  the  remark  of  a  lady,  who,  having 
seen  at  a  museum  a  relic  which  was  said  to  be  Crom- 
well's scull,  asked  the  keeper  of  another  repository, 
whether  he  could  produce  a  scull  of  the  same  great  per- 
sonage. "  No,  Madam,"  he  replied;  "  we  have  nothing 
of  the  kind." — -'That  seems  very  odd,"  said  the  lady; 
•'  I  saw  one  at  Oxford,  and  I  should  have  thought  that 
you  would  have  had  another.''— Kirf. 


studious  to  attain  a  virtuous  simplicity  of  life 
and  manners,  and  employed  their  principal  zeal 
and  diligence  in  the  culture  of  true  and  genu- 
ine piety,  while  the  latter  placed  the  whole  of 
religion  in  external  rites  and  bodily  exercises. 
The  methods  also  of  solving  the  diflaculties, 
and  dissipating  the  doubts,  which  often  arose 
in  inquisitive  minds,  were  of  a  piece  with  the 
rest  of  the  superstitious  system  that  now  pre- 
vailed. The  two  great  and  irresistible  argu- 
ments against  all  doubts,  were  the  authority  of 


minicam  memoriter  tenet. — Redimite  animas  veslras  de 
pcena,dum  habetis  in  potestate  rcmedia;  oblationes  et  de- 
cimas  ecclesiis  offerte,  luminaria  Sanctis  locis,  juxta  quod 
habetis,  exhibete;  ad  ecclesiam  quoque  frequentius  conve- 
uite,  sanctorum  patrocinia  humiliter  expelite;  quod  si  ob- 
servaveritis,  securi  in  die  judicii  ante  tribunal  seterni  judi- 
cis  venientes  dicetis,  Da,  Domine, quia dedimus."  {JlJ»  We 
see  here  a  large  and  ample  description  of  the  character  of 
a  "good  Christian,"  in  which  there  is  not  the  least  men- 
tion of  the  love  of  God,  resignation  to  his  will,  obedience 
to  his  laws,  or  of  justice,  benevolence,  and  charity  to- 
ward men;  and  in  which  the  whole  of  religion  is  made  to 
consist  in  coming  often  to  the  church,  bringing  offerings 
to  the  altar,  lighting  candles  ia  consecrated  places,  and 
the  like  vain  services. [*J 

f  *J  Some  modern  writers  of  the  Romish  persuasion  have 
exclaimed  against  these  strictures  in  terms  of  severe  repre- 
hension; and  Dr.  Lingard,  in  particular,  says,  "  This 
citation  from  the  writings  of  St.  Eloi  holds  a  distinguish- 
ed place  in  every  invective  which  has  beer,  published 
against  the  clergy  of  former  ages;  and  this  definition  of 
a  good  Christian  has  been  re-echoed  a  thousand  times 
by  the  credulity  of  writers  and  their  readers;"  but  it  ap- 
pears, upon  due  investigation,  he  adds,  that  the  "  bishop 
of  Noyon  has  been  foully  calummatcd;"  for  his  defini- 
tion of  a  good  Christian  is  of  the  following  tenor:  "  Non 
vobis  sufficit,  charissimi,  quod  Christianum  nomenaccep- 
istis,  si  opera  Christiana  non  facitis.  Illi  enim  prodest, 
quod  Christianus  vocatur,  qui  semper  Christ!  pracepta 
mente  retinet,  et  opere  perficit;  qui  furtum,  scilicet,  non 
facit;  qui  falsum  testimonium  nondicit;  qui  nee  meatitnr, 
nee  pejerat;  qui  adulterium  non  committit;  qui  nullum 
hominem  odit,  sed  omnes  sicut  semetipsum  diligit;  qui 
inimicis  suis  malum  non  reddit,  sed  magis  pro  ipsis  orat; 
qui  litcs  non  concitat,  sed  discordes  ad  concordiam  revo- 
cat."  "It  is  not  sufficient  for  your  characters  or  your 
credit,  my  dearest  friends,  that  you  merely  bear  the  name 
of  a  Christian;  you  must  perform  the  acts  and  duties  of  a 
Christian.  He  alone  is  worthy  of  the  name,  who  retains 
in  his  mind  the  precepts  of  religion,  and  carries  them  in- 
to effect;  who  avoids,  as  a  crime,  the  commission  of  theft; 
who  shuns  the  guilt  of  perjury  or  falsehood;  who  does 
not  commit  adultery;  who  hates  no  one,  but  is  ready  to 
serve  even  his  enemies;  and  who  is  so  far  from  promoting 
strife,  that  he  is  eager  to  prevent  all  disputes,  and  allay 
all  animosities."  These  and  other  evidences  of  the  Chris- 
tian character  and  temper,  in  the  century  to  which  Dr. 
Mosheim  refers,  are  given  by  the  catholic  historian  in  the 
words  of  Audoenus  (St.  Ouen,)  bishop  of  Rouen,  who 
wrote  the  life  of  St.  Eloi;  and  we  are  bound  to  state,  be- 
cause we  have  ascertained  the  point,  that  he  has  quoted 
the  original  fciirly  and  correctly,  according  to  the  best 
edition  of  the  Spicilegium.  (Paris,  1723,  3  vols,  folio.) 
We  are  induced  to  mention  this  circumstance,  because 
some  protestant  divines  have  been  so  eager  to  exculpate 
Dr.  Mosheim,  that  they  have  accused  Dr.  Lingard  of  fol- 
lowing a  spurious  edition,  in  which  various  interpolations 
might  have  been  made  by  the  Romanists  to  support  the 
credit  of  the  early  churcli.  We  are  aware  that  papists 
seem  to  have  a  fellow-feeling  with  their  religious  ances- 
tors, and  are  frequently  hurried  by  their  zeal  into  misre- 
presentation, and  sometimes  into  gross  deviations  from 
truth;  but  it  is  certainly  illiberal  to  suspect  them  without 
cause,  or  to  condemn  them  without  inquiry. 

In  the  present  case,  we  cannot  conscientiously  decide  iu 
favour  of  Dr.  Mosheim.  His  general  impartiality  we  rea- 
dily admit;  but  he  did  not,  on  this  occasion,  strictly  at- 
tend to  that  duty.  In  the  very  page  from  which  he  ex- 
tracted the  unfavourable  passage,  he  must,  wc  think,  have 
seen  (for  he  was  usually  keen  in  his  researches)  the  de- 
tail of  religious  and  moral  duties  quoted  by  Dr.  Lingard, 
and  he  ought  to  have  given  one  as  well  as  the  other. 
Some  blame  is  also  imputable  to  the  translator,  for  not 
making  due  inquiry  into  the  validity  of  Dr.  Mosheim's 
charge  against  the  churchmen  of  the  seventh  century. — 
Editor 


Chap.  III. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


181 


the  church  and  the  working  of  miracles,  and 
the  production  of  these  prodigies  required  no 
extraordinary  degree  of  de.\terity  in  an  age  of 
such  gross  and  universal  ignorance. 

II.  Few,  either  of  the  Greeks  or  Latins,  ap- 
plied themselves  to  the  interpretation  of  the 
Scriptures  during  this  century.  There  are  yet 
extant  some  commentaries  of  Isychius,  bishop 
of  Jerusalem,  upon  certain  books  of  the  Old 
Testament,  and  upon  the  Epistle  to  the  He- 
brews. Maximus  published  a  solution  of  sixty- 
five  questions  relating  to  the  Scriptures,  and 
other  productions  of  the  same  nature.  .Julian 
Pomerius  attempted,  but  without  success,  to 
reconcile  the  seeming  contradictions  that  are 
to  be  found  in  the  sacred  writings,  and  to  ex- 
plain the  prophecy  of  Nahum.  All  these  wri- 
ters were  manifestly  inferior  to  the  meanest  ex- 
positors of  modern  times.  The  Grecian  doc- 
tors, particularly  those  who  pretended  to  be 
initiated  in  the  most  mysterious  depths  of  theo- 
logy, were  continually  hunting  after  fantastic 
allegories,  as  is  evident  from  the  Questions  of 
Maximus  already  mentioned.  The  Latins,  on 
the  contrary,  were  so  diffident  of  their  abili- 
ties, that  they  did  not  dare  to  enter  these  alle- 
gorical labyrinths,  but  contented  themselves 
with  what  flowers  they  could  pluck  out  of  the 
rich  collections  of  Gregory  and  Augustin.  Of 
this  we  see  a  manifest  example  in  Paterius' 
Exposition  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament, 
which  is  entirely  compiled  from  the  writings  of 
Gregory  the  Great.*  Among  the  interpreters 
of  this  century,  we  must  not  forget  Thomas, 
bishop  of  Heraclea,  who  gave  a  second  Syriac 
version  of  the  New  Testament. ■( 

III.  While  philosophy  and  theology  had 
scarcely  any  remains  of  life,  any  marks  of  ex- 
istence among  the  Latins,  the  Greeks  were 
wholly  occupied  with  fruitless  controversies 
about  particular  branches  of  religion,  and  did 
not  think  of  reducing  all  the  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity into  one  regular  and  rational  system. 
It  is  true,  Antiochus,  a  monk  of  Palestine,  com- 
posed a  short  summary  of  the  Christian  doc- 
trine, which  he  entitled,  the  Pandect  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures.  It  is,  however,  easy  to  per- 
ceive what  sort  of  an  author  he  was,  how  void 
of  dignity  and  true  judgment,  from  many  cir- 
cumstances, and  particularly  from  that  rueful 
poem  which  is  subjoined  to  his  work;  in.  which 
he  deplores,  in  lamentable  strains,  the  loss  of 
that  precious  fragment  of  the  true  cross,  whicli 
is  said  to  have  been  carried  away,  by  the  Per- 
sians, among  other  spoils.  The  most  elegant 
and  judicious  summary  of  theology  that  ap- 
peared among  the  Latins  in  this  century,  was 
the  treatise  of  Ildefonso,  de  Cognitione  Bap- 
tism!, which  was  saved  by  Baluze  from  the 
ruins  of  time;  a  work,  indeed,  which  is  not 
extremely  necessary,  since  the  ignoble  frauds 
of  superstition  have  been  so  fully  brought  to 
light,  though  it  contains  remarkable  proofs, 
that  many  of  the  corrupt  inventions  and  prac- 
tices, which  disfigure  Christianity  in  the  popish 


*  This  useless  produclion  has  been  usually  published 
with  the  works  of  Gregory  the  Great;  in  cousequence 
of  which,  the  Benedictine  monks  have  inserted  it  in  their 
splendid  edition  of  the  works  of  that  pontiff,  torn.  iv. 
part  n. 

t  Assemani  Bibliolh.  Orient.  Vatican,  torn.  ii.  p.  93,94. 


churches,  were  not  contrived  till  after  this  pe- 
riod.* The  dry  and  insipid  body  of  divinity 
composed  by  Taio,  or  Tago,  bishop  of  Sara- 
gossa,  under  the  title  of  Five  Books  of  Sen- 
tences, and  compiled  from  the  writings  of  Gre- 
gory and  Augustin,  is  scarcely  worthy  of  men- 
tion, though,  in  this  century,  it  was  considered 
as  an  admirable  and  immortal  work.f 

Several  particular  branches  of  doctrine  were 
treated  by  the  theological  writers  of  this  age: 
thus  Maximus  wrote  of  the  nature  of  Theolo- 
gy, and  the  Manifestation  of  the  Son  in  the 
Flesh,  and  also  upon  the  Two  Natures  in  Christ; 
and  Theodore  Raithu  composed  a  treatise  con- 
cerning Christ's  Incarnation.  But  a  small  ac- 
quaintance with  the  state  of  learning  and  reli- 
gion at  this  period,  will  enable  us  to  form  a 
just,  though  disadvantageous  idea  of  the  merit 
of  these  performances,  and  also  of  their  au- 
thors. 

IV.  The  moral  writers  of  this  century,  and 
their  miserable  productions,  show  too  plainly 
to  what  a  wretched  state  that  noble  and  impor- 
tant science  was  now  reduced.  Among  these 
moralists,  the  first  rank  is  due  to  Dorotheus 
(author  of  tlie  Ascetic  Dissertations,)  Maxi- 
mus, Aldhelm,  Hesychius,  Thalassius,  and 
some  others:  yet,  even  in  their  productions, 
what  grovelling  notions  do  we  find!  what  rub- 
bish, what  a  heap  of  superstitious  fancies!  and 
how  many  marks  of  extravagance,  perplexity, 
and  doubt!  Besides,  the  laity  had  little  reason 
to  complain  of  the  severity  of  their  moral  di- 
rectors, whose  custom  it  was  to  reduce  all  the 
obligations  of  Christianity  to  the  practice  of  a 
small  number  of  virtues,  as  appears  from  Aid- 
helm's  Treatise  concerning  the  eight  principal 
Virtues.  Nor  was  the  neglect  of  these  duties 
attended  with  such  penalties  as  were  proper  to 
restrain  offenders.  The  false  notions  also, 
which  prevailed  in  this  age,  tended  much  to 
diminish  a  just  sense  of  the  nature  and  obliga- 
tion of  virtue;  for  the  solitude  of  the  monastic 
life,  though  accompanied  with  no  marks  of 
solid  and  genuine  piety,  was  deemed  sufficient 
to  atone  for  all  sorts  of  crimes,  and  was  there- 
fore honoured  among  the  Latins  with  the  title 
of  the  second  baptism;  which  circmnstance 
alone  may  serve  to  show  us  the  miserable  state 
of  Christianity  at  this  time.  The  greatest  part 
of  the  Grecian  and  Oriental  monks  laboured 
to  arrive  at  a  state  of  perfection  by  mere  con- 
templation, and  studiously  endeavoured  to  form 
their  tempers  and  characters  after  the  model 
of  Dionysius,  the  chief  of  the  Mystics. 

V.  Theodore  of  Tarsus,  a  Grecian  monk, 
restored  among  the  Latins  the.  discipline  of 
penance,  as  it  is  commonly  termed,  which  had 
been  for  a  long  time  almost  totally  neglected, 
and  enforced  it  by  a  body  of  severe  laws  bor- 


*  See  Baluzii  Miscellanea,  torn.  vi.  p.  1.  From  the 
work  of  Ildefonso  it  appears  evident,  that  the  monstrous 
doctrine  of  Transubstantiation  was  absolutely  unknown 
to  the  Latins  in  this  century,  and  that  the  Scriptures  were 
in  the  hands  of  all  Christians,  and  were  perused  by  them 
without  the  least  molestation  or  restraint.  Ildefonso,  it 
is  true,  is  zealous  for  banishing  reason  and  philosophy 
from  religious  matters;  he,  however,  establishes  the 
Scriptures,  and  the  writings  of  the  ancient  doctors,  a» 
the  supreme  tribunals  before  which  all  theological  opin- 
ions are  to  be  tried,  p.  14,  22. 

f  See  MabilloD's  AnalecU  veteris  .^^vi,  torn.  ii.  p.  6* 


182 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


r*ART  II. 


rowed  from  the  Grecian  canons.  This  zealous 
prelate,  being  raised  beyond  his  expectation  to 
the  see  of  Canterbury,  in  668,  formed  and  exe- 
cuted several  pious  and  laudable  projects;  and, 
among  other  things,  reduced  to  a  regular  sci- 
ence that  branch  of  ecclesiastical  law,  which 
is  known  by  the  name  of  penitential  discipline. 
He  published  a  Penitential,  which  was  entirely 
new  to  the  Latin  world,  by  which  the  clergy 
were  taught  to  distinguish  sins  into  various 
classes,  according  as  they  were  more  or  less 
heinous,  private  or  public;  to  judge  of  them, 
and  determine  the  degrees  of  their  guilt  by 
their  nature  and  consequences,  by  the  intention 
of  the  offender,  the  time  and  place  in  which 
they  were  committed,  and  the  circumstances 
with  which  they  were  attended.  This  new 
Penitential  contained  also  the  methods  of  pro- 
ceeding with  respect  to  offenders;  pointed  out 
the  penalties  that  were  suitable  to  the  various 
classes  of  transgressions;  prescribed  the  forms 
of  consolation,  exhortation,  and  absolution; 
and  described,  in  an  ample  and  accurate  man- 
ner, the  duties  and  obligations  of  those  who 
were  to  receive  the  confessions  of  the  penitent.* 
This  new  discipline,  though  of  Grecian  origin, 
was  eagerly  adopted  by  the  Latin  churches; 
and,  in  a  short  space  of  time,  passed  from  Bri- 
tain into  all  the  western  provinces,  where  the 
book  of  Theodore  became  the  model  of  all 
other  penitentials,  and  was  multiplied  in  a  vast 
number  of  copies.  The  duration  of  this  dis- 
cipline was  transitory;  for,  in  the  eighth  cen- 
tury, it  began  to  decline,  and  was,  at  length, 
entirely  supplanted  by  what  was  called  the  new 
canon  of  indulgences. 

VI.  The  doctors  who  opposed  the  various 
sects  are  scarcely  worthy  of  mention,  and  would 
still  less  deserve  an  attentive  perusal,  did  not 
their  writings  contribute  to  illustrate  the  histo- 
ry of  the  times  in  which  they  lived.  Nicias 
composed  two  books  against  the  Gentiles;  and 
Photius  informs  us,  that  a  certain  writer,  whose 
name  is  unknown,  embarked  in  the  same  con- 
troversy, and  supported  the  good  cause  by  a 
prodigious  number  of  arguments  drawn  from 
ancient  records  and  monuments,  f  Julian  Po- 
merius  exerted  his  polemic  talent  against  the 
Jews.  The  views  of  Timotheus  were  yet  more 
extensive;  for  he  gave  an  ample  description 
and  a  laboured  confutation  of  all  the  various 
heresies  that  divided  the  church,  in  his  book 
concerning  the  reception  of  Heretics. 

As  to  the  dissensions  of  the  catholic  Chris- 
tians among  themselves,  they  produced,  at  this 
time,  few  or  no  events  worthy  of  mention. — 
We  shall,  therefore,  only  observe,  that  in  this 
century  were  sown  the  seeds  of  those  fatal  dis- 
cords, which  rent  asunder  the  bonds  of  Chris- 
tian communion  between  the  Greek  and  Latin 
churches:  indeed,  these  seeds  had  already  taken 
root  in  the  minds  of  the  Greeks,  to  whom  the 
Roman  power  became  insupportable,  and  the 
pretensions  of  the  sovereign  pontiff  odious. 


*  The  Penitential  of  Theodore  is  yet  extant,  though 
maimed  and  imperfect,  in  an  edition  published  at  Paris  in 
1679,  by  Petit,  and  enriched  with  learned  dissertations 
and  notes  of  the  editor.  We  have  also  the  cxx  Capitula 
Eeclesiastica  Theodori,  published  in  the  Spicilegium  of 
M-  d'Achery,and  in  the  Concilia  Harduini. 

{  BibliotU.  cod.  clxx.  p.  379. 


In  Britain,  warm  controversies  concerning 
baptism  and  the  tonsure,  and  particularly  the 
famous  dispute  concerning  the  time  of  celebrat- 
ing the  Easter  festival,  were  carried  on  between 
the  ancient  Britons,  and  the  new  converts  to 
Christianity,  which  Augustin  had  made  among 
the  Anglo-Saxons.*  The  fimdamental  doc- 
trines of  Christianity  were  not  at  all  afiected 
by  these  controversies,  which,  on  that  account, 
were  more  innocent,  and  less  important  than 
they  would  have  otherwise  been.  Besides, 
they  were  entirely  terminated  in  the  eighth 
century,  in  favour  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  by  the 
Benedictine  monks,  f 

CHAPTER  IV.  ' 

Concerning  the  Rites  and  Ceremonies  used  in  the 

Church  during  this  Century. 

I.  In  the  council  of  Constantinople,  which 
was  called  Q,uinisextum,X  the  Greeks  enacted 
several  laws  concerning  the  ceremonies  that 
were  to  be  observed  in  divine  worship,  which 
rendered  their  ritual,  in  some  respects,  different 
from  that  of  the  Romans.  These  laws  were 
publicly  received  by  all  the  churches,  which 
were  established  in  the  dominions  of  the  Gre- 
cian emperors;  and  also  by  those  which  were 
joined  with  them  in  communion  and  doctrine, 
though  under  the  civil  jurisdiction  of  barba- 
rian princes.  Nor  was  this  all:  for  every  Ro- 
man pontiff  added  something  new  to  the  an- 
cient rites  and  institutions,  as  if  each  supposed 
it  to  be  an  essential  mark  of  zeal  for  religion, 
and  of  a  pious  discharge  of  the  ministerial 
functions,  to  divert  the  multitude  with  new 
shews  and  new  spectacles  of  devout  mumme- 
ry. These  superstitious  inventions  were,  in 
the  time  of  Charlemagne,  propagated  from 
Rome  among  the  other  Latin  churches,  whose 
subjection  to  the  Roman  ritual  was  necessary 
to  satisfy  the  ambitious  demands  of  the  lordly 
pontiff. 

II.  It  will  not  be  improper  to  select  here  a 
few,  out  of  the  many  instances  we  could  pro- 
duce of  the  multiplication  of  religious  rites  in 
this  century.  The  number  of  festivals  under 
which  the  church  already  groaned,  was  now 
augmented;  a  new  festival  was  instituted  in 
honour  of  the  true  cross  on  which  Christ  suf- 
fered, and  another  in  commemoration  of  the 
Saviour's  ascension  into  heaven.     Boniface  V. 


*  Cummani  Epistola  in  Jac.  Usserii  Sylloge  Epistolar. 
Hibernicar.  p.  23. — Bedae  Historia  Ecclesiast.  gentis  An- 
glor.  lib.  iii.  cap.  xxv.— Wilkins'  Concilia  Magnae  Bri- 
tann.  torn.  i.  p.  37,  42. — Acta  Sanctor.  Februar.  torn.  iii. 
p.  21,  84.  QtJ'  See  also  Dr.  Warner's  Ecclesiastical  His- 
tory of  England,  books  ii.  and  iii.  This  history,  which 
has  lately  appeared,  deserves  the  highest  applause,  on  ac- 
count of  the  noble  spirit  of  liberty,  candour,  and  modera- 
tion, that  seems  to  have  guided  the  pen  of  the  judicious 
author.  It  is,  at  the  same  time,  to  be  wished,  that  thi, 
elegant  historian  had  less  avoided  citing  authorities,  and 
been  a  little  more  lavish  of  that  erudition  which  he  C 
known  to  possess:  f»r  then,  after  having  surpassed  Collie 
in  all  other  respects,  he  would  have  equalled  him  in  tha' 
depth  of  learning,  which  is  the  only  meritorious  circum- 
stance of  his  partial  and  disagreeable  history. 

t  Mabillon,  Pra:f.  ad  Ssc.  iii.  Benedictinum,  P-  'i- 
dip-  See  also  Dr.  Warner's  Ecclesiastical  Hist,  book  iii. 

QQ~  \  This  council  was  called  Q^uinisextum,  from  iti 
being  considered  as  a  supplement  to  the  fifth  and  sixth 
councils  of  Constantinople,  in  which  nothing  had  beea 
decreed  concerning  the  morals  of  Christians,  or  religiout 
ceremonies. 


Chap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


183 


enacted  that  infamous  law,  by  which  the 
churches  became  places  of  refuge  to  all  who 
fled  thither  for  protection;  a  law  which  procur- 
ed a  sort  of  impunity  to  tlie  most  enormous 
crimes,  and  gave  indulgence  to  the  licentious- 
ness of  the  most  abandoned  profligates.  Ho- 
norius  employed  all  his  diligence  and  zeal  in 
embellishing  churches,  and  other  consecrated 
places,  with  the  most  pompous  and  magnifi 
cent  ornaments;  for,  as  neither  Christ  nor  his 
apostles  had  left  any  injunctions  of  this  nature 
to  their  followers,  their  pretended  vicar  thought 
it  but  just  to  supply  this  defect  by  the  most 
splendid  display  of  his  ostentatious  beneficence. 
We  shall  pass  in  silence  the  richness  and  va- 
riety of  the  sacerdotal  garments  that  were  now 
used  at  the  celebration  of  the  eucharist,  and  in 
the  performance  of  divine  worship,  as  this 
would  lead  us  into  a  tedious  detail  of  minute 
and  unimportant  matters. 

CHAPTER  V. 
Concerning  the  Divisions  and  Heresies  that  trou- 
bled the  Church  during  this  Century. 

I.  The  Greeks  were  engaged,  during  this 
century,  in  the  most  bitter  and  virulent  con- 
troversy with  the  Paulicians  of  Armenia,  and 
the  adjacent  countries,  whom  they  considered 
as  a  branch  of  the  Manichean  sect.  This  dis- 
pute was  carried  to  the  greatest  height  under 
the  reigns  of  Constans,  Constantino  Pogonatus, 
and  Justinian  II.;  and  the  Greeks  were  not 
only  armed  with  arguments,  but  were  also  aid- 
ed by  the  force  of  military  legions,  and  the  ter- 
ror of  penal  laws.  A  certain  person,  whose 
name  was  Constantine,  revived,  under  the 
reign  of  Constans,  the  drooping  faction  of  the 
Paulicians,  now  ready  to  expire;  and  propa- 
gated with  great  success  its  pestilential*  doc- 
trines. But  this  is  not  the  place  to  enlarge 
upon  the  tenets  and  history  of  this  sect,  whose 
origin  is  attributed  to  Paul  and  John,  two 
brothers,  who  revived  and  modified  the  doc- 
trine of  Manes.  As  it  was  in  the  ninth  cen- 
tury that  the  Paulicians  flourished  most,  and 
acquired  strength  sulficient  to  support  the  ri- 
gours of  an  open  and  cruel  war  with  the  Greeks, 
we  shall  reserve  a  more  particular  account  of 
them  for  our  history  of  that  period. 

II.  In  Italy,  the  Lombards  preferred  the 
opinions  of  the  Arians  to  the  doctrine  which 
was  established  by  the  coimcil  of  Nice.  In 
Gaul  and  in  England,  the  Pelagian  and  Semi- 
Pelagian  controversies  continued  to  excite  the 
warmest  animosities  and  dissensions.  In  the 
eastern  provinces,  the  ancient  sects,  which  had 
been  weakened  and  oppressed  by  the  imperial 
laws,  but  not  extirpated  or  destroyed,  began 
in  many  places  to  raise  their  heads,  to  recover 
their  vigour,  and  gain  proselytes.  The  terror 
of  penal  laws  had  obliged  them,  for  sometime, 
to  seek  safety  in  obscurity,  and  therefore  to 
conceal  their  opinions  from  the  public  eye;  but, 
as  soon  as  they  saw  the  fury  or  the  power  of 
their  adversaries  diminish,  their  hopes  return- 
ed, and  their  courage  was  renewed. 


*  Photius,  lib.  i.  contra  Maoich.  p.  61. — Petri  Siculi 
Historia  Manich,  p.  41. — Georg.  Cedrenus,  Compfnd. 
Hist. 


III.  The  condition,  both  of  the  Nestorians 
and  Monophysites,  was  much  more  flourishing 
under  the  Saracens,  who  had  now  become  lords 
of  the  east,  than  it  had  been  hitherto  under 
the  Christian  emperors,  or  even  the  Persian 
monarchs.  These  two  sects  met  with  a  distin- 
guished protection  from  their  new  masters, 
while  the  Greeks  suiTered  under  the  same 
sceptre  all  the  rigours  of  persecution  and  ban- 
ishment. Jesuiabas,  the  sovereign  pontiflT  of 
the  Nestorians,  concluded  a  treaty,  fiist  with 
Mohammed,  and  afterwards  with  Omar,  by 
which  he  obtained  many  signal  advantages  for 
his  sect.*  There  is  yet  extant  a  testamentary 
diploma  of  the  pseudo-prophet,  in  which  he 
promises  and  bequeaths  to  the  Christians,  in 
his  dominions,  the  quiet  and  undisturbed  en 
joyment  of  their  religion,  together  with  their 
temporal  advantages  and  possessions.  Some 
learned  men  have,  indeed,  called  in  question 
the  authenticity  of  this  deed;  it  is,  however, 
certain,  that  the  Mohammedans  unanimously 
acknowledge  it  to  be  genuine. f  Accordingly, 
the  successors  of  Mohanuned  in  Persia  em- 
ployed the  Nestorians  in  the  most  important 
affairs,  both  of  the  cabinet  and  of  the  provin- 
ces, and  suSered  the  patriarch  of  that  sect 
alone  to  reside  in  the  kingdom  of  Bagdad. J 
The  Monophysites  enjoyed  in  Syria  and  Egypt 
an  equal  degree  of  favour  and  protection. — 
Amrou,  having  made  himself  master  of  Alex- 
andria, in  644,  fixed  Benjamin,  the  pontiff  of 


*  Asscmani  Biblioth.  Orient.  Vatican,  torn.  iii.  part  ii. 

94. 

I  This  famous  Testament  was  brought  from  the  east  id 
the  seventeenth  century,  by  Pacificus  Scaliger,  a  Capu- 
chin monk,  and  was  published  first  in  Arabic  and  Latin 
at  Paris,  by  Gabriel  Sionita,  in  1630;  afterwards  in  Latin 
by  the  learned  Fabricius,  in  1638;  and  also  by  Hinckelman, 
in  1690.  See  Henr.  Hottinger.  Hist.  Orient,  lib.  ii.  cap. 
XX.  p.  237. — Assemani  Biblioth.  torn.  iii.  part  ii.  p.  95; 
and  Renaudot,  Histor.  Patriarchar.  Alexandr.  p.  168. — 
They  who,  in  conformity  with  the  opinion  of  Grolius, 
reject  this  testament,  suppose  it  to  have  been  forged  by 
the  Syrian  and  Arabian  monks,  with  a  view  to  soften  the 
Mohammedan  yoke  under  which  they  groaned,  and  to 
render  their  despotic  masters  less  severe.  Nor  is  this 
representation  of  the  matter  at  all  incredible;  for  it  l» 
certain,  that  the  monks  of  mount  Sinai  formerly  shewed 
an  edict  attributed  to  Mohammed,  of  the  same  nature 
with  the  one  now  under  consideration,  which  they  pre- 
tend was  drawn  up  by  him  while  he  was  yet  in  a  private 
station.  This  edict  was  extremely  advantageous  to  them, 
and  was,  undoubtedly,  an  artful  piece  of  forgery.  The 
fraud  was  plain;  but  the  Moslems,  in  consequence  of 
their  ignorance  and  stupidity,  believed  it  to  be  a  genuine 
production  of  their  chief,  and  continue  still  in  the  same 
opinion.  There  is  an  account  of  this  fraud  given  by 
Cantemir,  in  his  Histoire  de  I'Empire  Ottoman,  torn.  ii. 
p.  269.  The  argument  therefore  which  Renaudot  and 
others  draw  in  favour  of  the  testament  in  question,  from 
the  acknowledgement  which  the  Mohammedans  make  of 
its  authenticity,  is  of  little  or  no  weight,  since  those  infi- 
dels of  all  others  are  the  most  liable  to  be  deceived  in 
things  of  this  nature,  by  their  gross  and  unparalleled  ig- 
norance. On  the  other  hand,  several  of  the  argumenlf 
used  by  those  who  deny  its  authenticity,  arc  equally  un- 
satisfactory; that,  particularly,  which  is  drawn  from  the 
difference  between  the  style  of  this  deed  and  that  of  the 
Koran,  proves  absolutely  nothing  at  all,  since  it  is  not  es- 
sential to  the  genuineness  of  this  testament  to  suppose  it 
penned  by  Rlohammcd  himself,  because  the  impostor 
might  have  employed  a  secretary  to  compose  it.  But, 
whether  it  be  genuine  or  spurious,  it  is  certain  that  its 
contents  were  true,  since  many  learned  men  have  fully 
proved,  that  the  pseudo-prophet,  at  his  first  setting  out, 
prohibited,  in  the  «trougest  manner,  the  commission  of 
all  sorts  of  injuries  against  the  Christians,  and  especially 
the  Nestorians. 

JAsseman,  p.  97.— Benaud.  Histor.  Patriarch.  Alei- 
andr.  p.  163, 169. 


184 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


the  Monophysites,  in  the  episcopal  residence 
of  that  noble  city;  and,  from  this  period,  the 
Melchites*  were  without  a  bishop  for  almost  a 
whole  century. t 

IV.  Though  the  Greek  church  was  already 
torn  asunder  by  the  most  lamentable  divisions, 
yet  its  calamities  were  far  from  being-  at  an  end. 
A  new  sect  arose,  in  630,  under  the  reign  of 
the  emperor  Heraclius,  which,  in  a  short  course 
of  time,  excited  such  violent  commotions,  as 
engaged  the  eastern  and  western  churclies  to 
unite  their  forces"  in  order  to  its  extinction. 
The  source  of  this  tumult  was  an  unseasona- 
ble plan  of  peace  and  union.  Heraclius,  con- 
sidering, with  pain,  the  detriment  which  the 
Grecian  empire  had  suffered  by  the  emigration 
of  the  persecuted  Nestorians,  and  their  settle- 
ment in  Persia,  was  ardently  desirous  of  re- 
uniting the  Monophysites  to  the  bosom  of  the 
Greek  church,  lest  the  empire  should  receive  a 
new  wound  by  their  departure  from  it.  He 
therefore  held  a  conference  daring  the  Persian 
war,  in  622,  with  Paul,  a  man  of  great  credit 
and  authority  among  the  Armenian  Monophy- 
Bites;  and  another,  at  Hierapolis,  in  629,  with 
Athanasius,  the  Catholic  or  bishop  of  that  sect, 
upon  the  methods  that  seemed  most  proper  to 
restore  tranquillity  and  concord  to  a  divided 
church.  Both  these  persons  assured  the  em- 
peror, that  they  who  maintained  the  doctrine 
of  one  nature  might  be  induced  to  receive  the 
decrees  of  the  council  of  Chalcedon,  and  there- 
by  to  terminate  their  controversy  with  the 
Greeks,  provided  that  the  latter  would  give 
their  assent  to  the  truth  of  the  following  pro-  [ 
position,  namely,  that  in  Jesus  Christ  there  ex- 
isted, after  the  union  of  the  two  natures,  but 
one  will,  and  one  operation.  Heraclius  com- 
municated this  suggestion  to  Sergius,  patriarch 
of  Constantinople,  who  was  a  Syrian  by  birth, 
and  whose  parents  adhered  to  the  doctrine  of 
the  Monophysites.  This  prelate  gave  it  as  his 
opinion,  that  the  doctrine  of  one  will  and  one 
operation,  after  the  union  of  the  two  natures, 
might  be  safely  adopted  without  the  least  inju- 
ry to  truth,  or  the  smallest  detriment  to  the 
authority  of  the  council  of  Chalcedon.  In  con- 
sequence of  this,  the  emperor  published  an 
edict,  in  630,  in  favour  of  that  doctrine,  and 
hoped,  by  this  act  of  authority,  to  restore 
peace  and  concord,  both  in  church  and  state. J 

V.  The  first  reception  of  this  new  project 
was  promising,  and  things  seemed  to  go  on 
smoothly;  for,  though  some  ecclesiastics  re- 
fused to  submit  to  the  imperial  edict,  Cyrus  and 
Athanasius,  the  patriarchs  of  Alexandria  and 
Antioch,  received  it  without  hesitation;  and  the 
see  of  Jerusalem  was  at  that  time  vacant. §  As 
to  the  Roman  pontiff,  he  was  entirely  overlook- 


{(ij-  *  The  Melchites  were  those  Christians  in  Syria, 
Egypt,  and  the  Levant,  who,  though  not  Greeks,  follow- 
ed the  doctrines  and  ceremonies  of  the  Greek  church. 
They  were  called  Melchites,  i.  e.  Royalists,  by  their  ad- 
versaries, by  way  of  reproach,  on  account  of  their  im- 
plicit submission  to  the  edict  oi'  the  emperor  Marcian,  in 
favour  of  the  council  of  Chalcedon. 

f  Renaud.  Hist.  Patriarch.  Alexandr.  p.  168. 

}  The  authors,  who  have  written  of  this  sect,  are  men- 
tioned by  Jo.  Alb.  Fabricius,  in  his  Biblioth.  Grsec.  vol. 
T.  p.  204.  The  account  which  I  have  here  given  is  drawn 
from  the  fountain  head,  and  is  supported  by  the  best  au- 
thorities. 

§  See  Lequien  Oriens  Chri»tianu»,  torn.  iii.  p.  264. 


ed  in  the  matter,  as  his  consent  was  not  deem- 
ed necessary  in  an  affair  that  related  only  to 
the  eastern  church.  In  the  mean  time,  Cyrus, 
who  had  been  promoted  by  Heraclius  from  the 
see  of  Pliasis  to  that  of  Alexandria,  assembled 
a  council,  by  the  seventh  decree  of  which,  the 
doctrine  of  Monothelitism,  or  one  will,  which 
the  emperor  had  introduced  by  the  edict  alrea- 
dy mentioned,  was  solemnly  confirmed.  This 
new  modification  of  the  doctrine  of  the  coun- 
cil of  Chalcedon,  which  seemed  to  bring  it 
nearer  to  the  Eutychian  system,  had  the  desired 
effect  upon  the  Monothelites,  and  induced  great 
numbers  of  them,  who  were  dispersed  in  Egypt, 
Armenia,  and  other  remote  provinces,  to  re- 
turn into  the  bosom  of  the  church.  They, 
however,  explained  the  perplexed  and  ambigu- 
ous doctrine  of  one  will  in  Christ,  in  a  manner 
peculiar  to  theinselves,  and  not  quite  confor- 
mable to  the  true  principles  of  their  sect. 

VI.  This  smiling  prospect  of  peace  and  con- 
cord was,  however,  but  transitory,  and  was  un- 
happily succeeded  by  the  most  dreadful  tu- 
mults, excited  by  a  monk  of  Palestine,  whose 
name  was  Sophronius.  This  monk,  being  pre- 
sent at  the  council  assembled  at  Alexandria  by 
Cyrus,  in  633,  had  violently  opposed  the  de- 
cree, which  confirmed  the  doctrine  of  one  will 
in  Christ.  His  opposition,  which  was  then 
treated  with  contempt,  became  more  formidable 
in  the  following  year;  when,  raised  to  the  pa- 
triarchal see  of  Jerusalem, he  summoned  a  coun- 
cil, in  which  the  Monothehtes  were  condemn- 
ed as  heretics,  who  had  revived  and  propagated 
the  Eutychian  errors  concerning  the  mixture 
and  confusion  of  the  two  natures  in  Christ. 
Multitudes,  alarmed  at  the  cry  of  heresy  raised 
by  this  seditious  monk,  adopted  his  sentiments; 
but  it  was  Honorius,  the  Roman  pontiff,  that 
he  laboured  principally  to  gain  over  to  his  side. 
His  efforts,  however,  were  vain:  for  Sergius, 
the  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  having  inform- 
ed Honorius,  by  a  long  and  artful  letter,  of 
the  true  state  of  the  question,  determined  that 
pontiff  in  favour  of  the  doctrine,  which  main- 
tained one  will  and  one  operation  in  Christ.* 
Hence  arose  those  obstinate  contests,  which 
rent  the  church  into  two  sects,  and  the  state 
into  two  factions. 

VII.  In  order  to  put  an  end  to  these  com- 
motions, Heraclius  promulgated,  in  639,  the 
famous  edict  composed  by  Sergius,  and  called 
the  Ecthesis,  or  exposition  of  the  faith,  by 
which  all  controversies  upon  the  question, 
whether  in  Christ  there  were  two  operations,  or 


*  The  Roman  catholic  writers  have  employed  all  their 
art  and  industry  to  represent  the  conduct  of  Honorius  in 
such  a  manner,  as  to  save  his  pretended  infallibility  from 
the  charge  of  error  in  a  question  of  such  importance. 
(See,  among  others,  Harduin,  de  Sacramento  Altaris, 
published  in  his  Opera  Selecta,  p.  255.)  And,  indeed,  it 
is  easy  to  find  both  matter  of  accusation  and  defence  in 
the  case  of  tliis  pontiff.  On  one  hand,  it  would  appear 
that  he  himself  knew  not  his  own  sentiments,  nor  at- 
tached any  precise  and  definite  meaning  to  the  expres- 
sions he  used  in  the  course  of  this  controversy.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  is  certain,  that  he  gave  it  as  his  opinion, 
that  in  Christ  there  existed  only  one  will  and  one  opera- 
tion. It  was  for  this  that  he  was  condemned  in  the  coun- 
cil of  Constantinople;  and  he  must  consequently  have 
been  a  heretic,  if  it  is  true,  that  general  councils  cannot 
err.  See  Bossuet's  Defence  of  the  Declaration  made  by 
the  Gallican  Clergy,  in  the  year  1682,  concerning  Eccle- 
siastical Power;  and  also  Basnage,  torn.  i. 


Chap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


185 


only  one,  were  strictly  prohibited,  though  in 
the  same  edict  the  doctrine  of  one  will  was 
plainly  inculcated.  A  considerable  number  of 
the  eastern  bishops  declared  their  assent  to  this 
new  law,  which  was  also  submissively  received 
by  their  chief  Pyrrhus,  who,  on  the  death  of 
Sergius  in  639,  was  raised  to  the  see  of  Con- 
stantinople. In  the  west,  the  case  was  quite 
different.  John,  the  fourth  pontiff  of  that 
name,  assembled  a  council  at  Rome  in  639,  in 
which  the  Ecthesis  was  rejected,  and  the  Mo- 
nothelites  were  condemned.  Nor  was  this  all: 
for,  in  the  progress  of  this  contest,  a  new  edict, 
known  by  the  name  of  Type  or  Formiilanj,  was 
published  in  648  by  the  emperor  Constans,  by 
the  advice  of  Paul  of  Constantinople,*  by 
which  the  Ecthesis  was  suppressed,  and  the 
contending  parties  were  commanded  to  termi- 
nate their  disputes  concerning  one  will  and  one 
operation  in  Christ,  by  observing  a  profound 
silence  upon  that  difficult  and  ambiguous  sub- 
ject. This  silence,  so  wisely  commanded  in  a 
matter  which  it  was  impossible  to  determine  to 
the  satisfaction  of  the  contending  parties,  ap- 
peared highly  criminal  to  the  angry  and  con- 
tentious monks.  They,  therefore,  excited 
Martin,  bishop  of  Rome,  to  oppose  his  authori- 
ty to  an  edict  which  hindered  them  from  pro- 
pagating strife  and  contention  in  tlie  church; 
and  their  importunities  had  the  desired  effect; 
for  this  prelate,  in  a  comicil  of  a  hundred  and 
five  bishops  assembled  at  Rome,  in  649,  con- 
demned both  the  Ecthesis  and  the  Type,  though 
without  any  mention  of  the  names  of  the  em- 
perors who  had  published  those  edicts,  and 
thujidered  out  the  most  dreadful  anathemas 
against  the  Monothelites  and  their  patrons, 
who  were  solemnly  consigned  to  the  devil  and 
his  angels. 

VIII.  The  emperor  Constans,  justly  irritated 
at  these  haughty  and  impudent  proceedings  of 
Martin,  who  treated  the  imperial  laws  with 
such  contempt,  ordered  him  to  be  seised  and 
carried  into  the  isle  of  Naxos,  where  he  was 
kept  prisoner  a  whole  year.  This  order,  which 
was  followed  by  inuch  cruel  treatment,  was 
executed  by  Calliopas,  exarch  of  Italy,  in  650; 
and,  at  the  same  time,  Majtimus,  the  ring- 
leader of  the  seditious  monks,  was  banished  to 
Bizyca;  and  other  rioters  of  the  same  tribe 
were  differently  punished  in  proportion  to  the 
part  they  had  acted  in  this  rebellion.  These 
resolute  procccdiiig-s  rendered  Eiigenius  and 
Vilalianus,  tlie  su(;cceding  bishops  of  Rome, 
more  moderate  and  prudent  than  their  prede- 
cessor had  been;  especially  the  latter,  who  re- 
ceived Constans,  on  his  arrival  at  Rome  in  663, 
with  the  highest  marks  of  distinction  and  re- 
spect, and  used  the  wisest  precautions  to  pre- 
vent the  flame  of  that  unhappy  controversy 
from  breaking  out  a  second  time.  And  thus, 
for  several  years,  it  seemed  to  be  extinguished; 
but  it  was  so  only  in  appearance;  it  was  a  lurk- 
ing flame,  which  spread  itself  secretly,  and 


OtT"  »  It  is  proper  to  observe  here,  that  Paul,  wlio  was 
B  Moirothclite  in  his  heart,  and  hail  maintained  the  F,r- 
thesis  with  great  zeal,  devised  this  prudent  measure  Hitli 
ttvicw  to  appea<c  the  Roman  pontiff  and  the  African 
bishops,  who  were  incensed  against  him  to  the  highest 
degree,  on  account  of  his  attachment  to  the  doclriue  of 
one  will. 

Vol.  I.— 24 


gave  reason,  to  those  who  examined  things 
with  attention,  to  dread  new  commotions  both 
in  church  and  state.  To  prevent  these,  C^n- 
stantine  Pogonatus,  the  son  of  Constans,  in 
pursuance  of  the  advice  of  Agatho,the  Roman 
pontift',  summoned,  in  680,  the  sixth  oecumeni- 
cal or  general  council,  in  which  he  permitted 
the  Monothelites,  and  pope  Honorius  himself, 
to  be  solemnly  condemned  in  presence  of  the 
Roman  legates,  who  represented  Agatho  in 
tliat  assembly,  and  confirmed  the  sentence  pro- 
nounced by  the  council,  by  the  sanction  of 
penal  laws  enacted  against  such  as  should  dare 
to  oppose  it. 

IX.  It  is  difficult  to  give  a  clear  and  accu- 
rate accoimt  of  the  sentiments  of  those  who 
were  called  Monothelites;  nor  is  it  easy  to 
point  out  the  objections  of  their  adversaries. 
Neither  of  the  contending  parties  express 
themselves  consistently  with  what  seem  to 
have  been  their  respective  opinions;  and  they 
botli  disavow  the  errors  with  which  they  re- 
ciprocally charge  each  other.  The  following 
observations  contain  the  clearest  notion  we  can 
form  of  the  state  of  this  subtile  controversy. 
1.  The  Monothelites  declared,  that  they  had 
no  connexion  with  the  Eutychians  and  Mono- 
physites;  but  maintained,  in  opposition  to  these 
two  sects,  that  in  Christ  there  were  two  distinct 
natures,  which  were  so  united,  though  without 
the  least  mixture  or  confusion,  as  to  form  by 
their  union  only  one  person:  2.  They  ac- 
knowledged that  the  soul  of  Christ  was  en- 
dowed with  a  will,  or  faculty  of  volition, 
which  it  still  retained  after  its  union  with  the 
divine  nature;  for  they  taught  that  Christ  was 
not  only  perfbct  God,  but  also  perfect  man; 
whence  it  followed,  that  his  soul  was  endowed 
with  the  faculty  of  volition:  3,  Tliey  denied 
that  this  faculty  of  volition  in  the  soul  of 
Christ  was  absolutely  inactive,  maintaining, 
on  the  contrary,  that  it  co-operated  with  the 
divine  will:  4.  They,  therefore,  in  effect,  at- 
tributed to  our  Lord  two  wills,  and  these, 
moreover,  operating  and  active:  5.  They,  how- 
ever, aftlrmed,  that,  in  a  certain  sense,  only 
one  will  and  one  manner  of  operation  were  in 
Christ. 

X.  We  must  not  indeed  imagine,  that  all, 
who  were  distinguished  by  the  title  of  Mono- 
tiielites,  were  unanimous  in  tlieir  sentiments 
with  respect  to  the  points  now  mentioned. 
Some,  as  appears  from  undoubted  testimonies, 
meant  no  more  than  this,  that  the  two  wills  in 
Christ  were  one,  i.  e.  in  perfect  harmony;  that 
the  human  will  was  in  perpetual  conformity 
with  the  divine,  and  wa.s,  consequently,  always 
holy,  just,  and  good;  in  whicli  opinion  there 
is  notiiing  reprehensible.  Otliers,  more  nearly 
ap|)roaching  the  sentiment  of  the  Monophy- 
sites,  imagined  that  the  two  wills  or  faculties 
of  volition  in  Christ  were  blended  into  one, 
in  that  which  they  called  tlie  personal  iinion: 
acknowledging,  at  tlie  same  time,  that  the  dis- 
tinction between  these  wills  was  perceivable 
by  reason,  and  that  it  was  also  necessary  to 
distinguish  carefully  in  this  matter.  The  great- 
est part  of  this  sect,  and  lliose  who  were  also 
the  most  remarkable  for  their  subtilty  and 
penetration,  were  of  opinion,  that  the  human 
will  of  Christ  was  the  instriunent  of  the  di- 


186 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


vine;  or,  in  other  words,  never  operated  or 
acted  of  itself,  but  was  always  ruled,  influenc- 
ed, and  impelled  by  the  divine  will;  in  such  a 
manner,  however,  that,  when  it  was  once  set 
in  motion,  it  decreed  and  operated  with  the 
ruling  principle.  The  doctrine  of  one  will, 
and  of  one  operation  in  Christ,  which  the  Mo- 
nothelites  maintained  with  such  invincible  ob- 
stinacy, was  a  natural  consequence  of  this  hy- 
pothesis, since  the  operation  of  an  instrument 
and  of  the  being  who  employs  it,  is  one  simple 
operation,  and  not  two  distinct  operations  or 
energies.  According  to  this  view  of  things, 
the  Eutychian  doctrine  was  quite  out  of  the 
question;  and  the  only  point  of  controversy  to 
be  determined,  was,  whether  the  human  will 
in  Christ  was  a  self-moving  faculty  determined 
by  its  own  internal  impulse,  or  derived  all  its 
motion  and  operations  from  the  divine. 
r"  In  the  mean  time,  we  may  learn  from  this 
I  controversy,  that  nothing  is  more  precarious, 
and  nothing  more  dangerous  and  deceitful, 
than  the  religious  peace  and  concord  which 
are  founded  upon  ambiguous  doctrines,  and 
cemented  by  obscure  and  equivocal  proposi- 
tions, or  articles  of  faith.  The  partisans  of 
the  coimcil  of  Chalcedon  endeavoured  to  en- 
snare the  Monophysites,  by  proposing  their 
doctrine  m  a  manner  that  admitted  a  double 
explication;  and,  by  this  imprudent  piece  of 
cunning,  which  showed  so  little  reverence  for 
the  truth,  they  involved  both  the  church  and 
state  in  tedious  and  lamentable  divisions. 

XI.  The  doctrine  of  the  Monothelites,  con- 
demned and  exploded  by  the  council  of  Con- 
stantinople, found  a  place  of  refuge  among  the 
Mardaites,  a  people  who  inhabited  the  mounts 
Libanus  and  Anti-Libanus,  and  who,  about  the 
conclusion  of  this  century,  were  called  Maron- 
ites,  from  Maro  their  first  bishop,  a  name  which 
they  still  retain.  No  ancient  writers  give  any 
certain  account  of  the  first  person  who  instruct- 
ed these  mountaineers  in  the  doctrine  of  the 
Monothelites;  it  is  probable,  hovirever,  from 
several  circumstances,  that  it  was  John  Maro, 
whose  name  they  liad  adopted.*  One  thing, 
indeed,  we  know,  with  the  utmost  certainty, 
from  the  testimony  of  Tyrius  and  other  unex- 
ceptionable witnesses,  as  also  from  the  most 
authentic  records, — that  the  Maronites  retain- 
ed the  opinions  of  the  Monothelites  until  the 
twelfth  century,  when,  abandoning  and  re- 
nouncing the  doctrine  of  one  will  in  Christ, 
they  were  re-admitted,  in  1 182,  to  the  commu- 
nion of  .the  Romish  church.  The  most  learn- 
ed of  the  modern  Maronites  have  left  no  me- 
thod unemployed  to  defend  their  church  against 
this  accusation;  they  have  laboured  to  prove, 
by  a  variety  of  testimonies,  that  their  ances- 
tors always  persevered  in  the  Catholic  faith  and 
in  their  attachment  to  the  pope,  without  ever 
adopting  the  doctrines,  either  of  the  Mono- 
physites or  Monothelites.  But  all  their  efforts 
are  insufficient  to  prove  the  truth  of  these  as- 


*  This  ecclesiastic  received  the  uauie  of  Maro,  from  his 
having  lived  in  the  character  of  a  monk  in  the  famous  con- 
vent of  St.  Maro,  upon  the  borders  of  the  Orontes,  be- 
fore his  settlement  among  the  Mardaites.  For  an  ample 
account  of  this  prelate,  sec  Assemani  Biblioth.  Orient. 
Clement.  Vatic,  lorn.  i.  p.  496. 


sertions  to  such  as  have  any  acquaintance  with 
the  history  of  the  church,  and  the  records  of 
ancient  times;  for,  to  all  such,  the  testimonies 
they  allege  will  appear  absolutely  fictitious  and 
destitute  of  authority.* 

XII.  Neither  the  sixth  general  council,  in 
which  the  Monothelites  were  condemned,  nor 
the  fifth,  which  had  been  assembled  in  the  pre- 
ceding century,  had  determined  any  thing  con- 
cerning ecclesiastical  discipline,  or  religious 
ceremonies.  To  supply  this  defect,  a  new 
episcopal  assembly  was  holden  in  pursuance  of 
the  order  of  Justinian  II.  in  a  spacious  hall  of 
the  imperial  palace  called  Trullus,  i.  e.  Cupola, 
from  the  form  of  the  building.  This  coimcil, 
which  met  in  692,  was  called  Quinisextiun,  as 
we  had  occasion  to  observe  formerly,  from  its 
being  considered,  by  the  Greeks,  as  a  supple- 
ment to  the  fifth  and  sixth  oecumenical  coun- 
cils, and  as  having  given  to  the  acts  of  these 
assemblies  the  degree  of  perfection  which  they 
had  hitherto  wanted.  There  are  yet  extant  a 
hmidred  and  two  laws,  which  were  enacted  in 
this  coimcil,  and  which  related  to  the  external 
celebration  of  divine  worship,  the  government 
of  the  church,  and  the  lives  and  maimers  of 
Christians.  Six  of  these  are  diametrically 
opposite  to  several  opinions  and  rites  of  the 
Romish  church;  for  which  reason  the  pontiffs 
have  refused  to  adopt,  without  restriction,  the 
decisions  of  this  council,  or  to  reckon  it  in  the 
number  of  those  called  oecumenical,  though 
they  consider  the  greatest  part  of  its  decrees  as 
worthy  of  applause,  f 


*  The  cause  of  the  Maronites  has  been  pleaded  by  the 
writers  of  that  nation,  such  as  Abraham  Ecchellensis,  Ga- 
briel Sionita,  and  others;  but  the  most  ample  defence  of 
their  uninterrupted  orthodoxy  was  made  by  Faustus  Nai- 
ron,  partly  in  his  Dissertatio  de  Origiue,  Nomine,  ac  Re- 
ligione  Marouitarum,  published  at  Rome  in  1679,  and 
partly  in  his  Euoplia  Fidei  Catholicse  ex  Syrorum  et 
Chaldaiorum  Mouumentis,  published  in  1694.  None  of 
the  learned,  however,  appeared  to  be  persuaded  by  his  ar- 
guments, except  Pagi  [*]  andLa  Rocque,  of  whom  the  lat- 
ter has  given  us,  in  his  Voyage  de  Syrie  et  de  Mont-Li- 
ban,  torn.  ii.  p.  28 — 128,  a  long  dissertation  concerning 
the  origin  of  the  Maronites.  Even  the  learned  Assema- 
nus,  himself  a  Marouite,  and  who  has  spared  no  pains  to 
defend  his  nation  [t]  against  the  reproach  in  question,  inge- 
nuously ackuowledges,  that  among  the  arguments  used  by 
Nairon  and  others  in  favour  of  the  Maronites,  there  are 
many  destitute  of  force.  See  Jo.  Morinus,  de  Ordinat. 
Sacris,  p.  380. — Rich.  Simon,  Histoire  Critique  des  Chre- 
tiens Orientaux,  chap.  xiii.  p.  146. — Euseb.  Renaudot, 
Historia  Patriarchar.  Alexaudrinor.  p.  179., and  Fraf.  ad 
Liturgias  Orientales. — Le  Brun,  Explication  de  laMesse, 
torn.  li.  The  arguments  of  the  contending  parties  are 
enumerated  impartially,  in  such  a  manner  as  leaves  the 
decision  to  the  reader,  by  Le  Q,uien,  in  his  Oriens  Chris- 
tiauus,  torn.  iii. 

t  See  Franc.  Pagi  Breviar.  Fontif.  Roman,  torn.  i.  p. 
486.,  and  Christ.  Lupus,  Dissertat.  de  Concilio  Trulliano, 
in  Notis  et  Dissertat.  ad  Concilia,  tom.  iii.  op.  p.  168. — 
The  Roman  Catholics  reject  the  following  decisions  of 
this  council: — 1.  The  fifth  canon,  which  approves  the 
eighty-five  apostolical  canons  commonly  attributed  to 
Clement: — 2.  The  thirteenth,  which  allows  the  priests  to 
marry: — 3.  The  fifty-fifth,  which  condemns  the  Sabbath 
fast,  that  was  an  institution  of  the  Latin  church: — 4.  The 
sixty-seventh,  which  prescribes  the  most  rigorous  absti- 
nence from  blood  and  things  strangled: — 5.  The  eighty- 
second,  which  prohibits  the  representing  of  Christ  under 
the  image  of  a  lamb: — 6.  The  thirty-sixth,  concerning 
the  equal  rank  and  authority  of  the  bishops  of  Rome  and 
Constantinople. 

f*]  See  Critica  Baroniana  ad  A.  694. 
t]  Sec  Biblioth.  Oriental.  Vatican,  tom.  i.  p.  4%. 


AN 


ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY; 

BOOK  THE  THIRD, 
CONTAINING  THE  fflSTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH 


CHARLEMAGNE   TO   THE   REFORMATION   BY  LUTHER. 


THE  EIGHTH  CENTURY. 


PART  L 

THE  EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Concerning  the  Prosperous  Events  which  happen- 
ed to  the  Church  in  this  Century. 

I.  While  the  Mohammedans  were  infesting 
with  their  arms,  and  adding  to  their  conquests, 
the  most  flourishing  provinces  of  Asia,  and  ob- 
scuring, as  far  as  their  influence  could  extend, 
the  lustre  and  glory  of  the  rising  church,  the 
Nestorians  of  Chaldea  were  carrying  the  lamp 
of  Christianity  among  those  barbarous  nations, 
called  Scythians  by  the  ancients,  and  by  the 
moderns,  Tartars,  who,  unsubjected  to  the  Sa- 
racen yoke,  had  fixed  their  habitations  within 
the  limits  of  mount  Imaus.*  It  is  now  well 
known,  that  Timotheus,  the  Nestorian  pontiff, 
who  had  been  raised  to  that  dignity  in  778, 
converted  to  the  Christian  faith,  by  the  minis- 
try of  Subchal  Jesu,  whom  he  had  consecrated 
bishop,  first  the  Gelaj  and  Dailamites  by  whom 
a  part  of  Hyrcania  was  inhabited;  and  after- 
wards, by  the  labours  of  other  missionaries, 
the  rest  of  the  nations,  who  had  formed  settle- 
ments in  Hyrcania,  Bactria,  Margiana,  and 
Sogdia-t  It  is  also  certain,  that  Christianity 
enjoyed,  in  these  vast  regions,  notwithstanding 
occasional  attacks  from  the  Mohammedans,  the 


dtj^  *  The  southern  regions  of  Scythia  were  divided 
by  the  ancients  (to  whom  the  northern  were  unknown) 
into  three  parts,  namely,  Scythia  within,  and  Scythia  be- 
yond Imaus,  and  Sarmatia.  It  is  of  the  first  of  these 
three  lliat  Dr.  Moshcim  spcaUs,  as  enlightened  at  this  time 
with  the  knowledge  of  the  Gospel;  and  it  comprehended 
Turkestan,  the  Mongol,  Usbeck,  Kalmuck,  and  Nogaian 
Tartary,  which  were  peopled  by  the  Bactrians,  Sogdians, 
Gandari,  Sacs,  and  Massagetes,  not  to  mention  the  land 
of  Siberia,  Samoicdia,  and  Nova  Zcmbia,  which  were 
uninhabited  in  ancient  times. 

t  Thomas  Margcnsis,  Historia  Monastics,  lib,  iii,  in 
AiMoiani  Bibliotb.  Orient,  V  lie,  torn,  iii. 


advantages  of  a  firm  and  solid  establishment 
for  a  long  course  of  ages;  while  the  bishops, 
by  whose  ministry  it  was  propagated  and  sup- 
ported, were  all  consecrated  by  the  sole  au- 
thority of  the  Nestorian  pontiff". 

II.  If  we  turn  our  eyes  toward  Europe,  we 
find  many  nations  that  were  yet  unenlightened 
with  the  knowledge  of  the  Gospel.  Almost 
all  the  Germans,  (if  we  except  the  Bavarians, 
who  had  embraced  Christianity  under  Theodo- 
ric,  or  Thierry,  the  son  of  Clovis,  and  the 
eastern  Franks,  with  a  few  other  provinces) 
lay  buried  in  the  grossest  darkness  of  pagan 
superstition.  Many  attempts  were  made,  by 
pious  and  holy  men,  to  infuse  the  truth  into 
the  minds  of  these  savage  Germans;  and  va- 
rious efforts  were  used  for  the  same  purpose  by 
kings  and  princes,  whose  interest  it  was  to  pro- 
pagate a  religion  that  was  so  adapted  to  miti- 
gate and  tame  the  ferocity  of  those  warlike 
nations;  but  neither  the  attempts  of  pious  zeal, 
nor  the  efforts  of  policy,  were  attended  with 
success.  This  great  work  was,  however,  ef- 
fected in  -this  century,  by  the  ministry  of  Win- 
fred,  a  Benedictine  monk,  bom  in  England  of 
illustrious  parents,  and  afterwards  known  by 
the  name  of  Boniface.  This  famous  ecclesias- 
tic, attended  by  two  companions  of  his  pious 
labours,  passed  over  into  Friseland  in  715,  to 
preach  the  Gospel  to  the  people  of  that  coun- 
try; but  this  first  attempt  was  imsucccssful; 
and  a  war  breaking  out  between  Radbod,  the 
king  of  that  country,  and  Charles  Martel,  our 
zealous  missionary  returned  to  England.  He 
resiuned,  however,  his  pious  imdertaking  in 
719;  and  being  solemnly  empowered  by  the 
Roman  pontiff,  Gregory  II.,  to  preach  the 
Gospel,  not  only  in  Friseland,  but  all  over  Ger- 


188 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  I. 


many,  he  performed  the  functions  of  a  Chris- 
tian teacher  among  the  Thuringians,  Frise- 
landers,  and  Hessians,  with  considerable  suc- 
cess.* 

III.  This  eminent  missionarywas,  in  723, con- 
secrated bishop  by  Gregory  II.,  who  changed 
the  name  of  Winfred  into  that  of  Boniface: 
seconded  also  by  the  powerful  protection,  and 
encouraged  by  the  liberality  of  Charles  Martel, 
mayor  of  the  palace  to  Chilperic,  king  of 
Franc*,  he  resumed  his  ministerial  labours 
among  the  Hessians  and  Thuringians,  and 
finished  with  glory  the  task  he  had  undertaken, 
in  which  he  received  considerable  assistance 
from  a  number  of  pious  and  learned  men, 
who  repaired  to  him  from  England  and 
France.  As  the  Christian  churches  erected  by 
Boniface  were  too  numerous  to  be  governed 
by  one  bishop,  this  prelate  was  advanced  to 
the  dignity  of  archbishop,  in  738,  by  Gregory 
III.,  by  whose  authority,  and  the  auspicious 
protection  of  Carloman  and  Pepin,  the  sons  of 
Charles  Martel,  he  founded  the  bishoprics  of 
Wurtzburg,  Buraburg,  Erfort,  and  Eichstadt, 
to  which  he  added,  in  744,  the  famous  monas- 
tery of  Fulda.  His  last  promotion  (the  last 
recompense  of  his  assiduous  labours  in  the 
propagation  of  the  truth)  was  his  advance 
ment  to  the  archiepiscopal  see  of  Mentz,  in 
746,  by  Zachaiy,  bishop  of  Piome,  by  whom 
he  was,  at  the  same  time,  created  primate  of 
Germany  and  Belgium.  In  his  old  age,  he 
returned  to  Friseland,  that  he  might  finish  his 
ministry  in  the  same  place  where  he  had  en- 
tered first  upon  its  functions;  but  his  piety  was 
ill  rewarded  by  that  barbarous  people,  by  whom 
he  was  murdered  in  755,  while  fifty  ecclesias- 
tics, who  accompanied  him  in  his  journey, 
shared  the  same  unhappy  fate. 

IV.  Boniface,  on  account  of  his  ministerial 
labours  and  holy  exploits,  was  distinguished 
by  the  honourable  title  of  the  Apostle  of  the 
Germans;  nor,  if  we  consider  impartially  the 
eminent  services  he  rendered  to  Christianity, 
will  this  title  appear  to  have  been  midescrvedly 
bestowed.  But  it  is  necessary  to  observe,  that 
this  eminent  prelate  was  an  apostle  of  modern 
fashion,  and  had,  in  many  respects,  departed 
from  the  excellent  model  exhibited  in  the  con- 
duct and  ministry  of  the  primitive  and  true 
apostles.  Beside  his  zeal  for  the  glory  and 
authority  of  the  Roman  pontiti",  which  equalled, 
if  it  did  not  surpass,  his  zeal  for  the  service 
of  Christ  and  the  propagation  of  his  religion,! 
many  other  things  unworthy  of  a  truly  Chris- 
tian minister  are  laid  to  his  charge.  In  com- 
bating the  pagan  superstitions,  he  did  not  al- 
ways use  those  arms  with  which  the  ancient  her- 
alds of  the  Gospel  gained  such  victories  in  be- 


*  An  ample  account  of  lliis  eminent  man  is  to  be  found 
in  a  learned  dissertation  of  Gudenius,  de  S.  Bonifacio 
Germanorum  Apostolo,  published  at  Hclmstadt  in  1723. 
See  also  Fabricii  Biblioth.  Latina  medii  jEvi,  torn.  i.  p. 
709. — Hist.  Liter,  dc  la  France,  torn.  iv.  p.  92,  and  Ma- 
billon,  in  Annalibus  Benedictinis. 

t  The  French  Benedictine  monks  intjenuously  confess 
that  Boniface  was  an  ovcr-ztalous  partisan  of  the  Roman 
pontifT,  and  allributed  more  authority  to  him  than  was 
just  and  reasonable.  Their  words,  in  their  Histoire 
Literaire  de  la  France,  ton:,  iv.  p.  106,  are  as  follow: 
"  U  exprime  son  devouement  pour  le  Saint  Sie^e  en  des 
tcrmes  qui  ne  sont  pas  assez  proportionnes  a  la  dignite  du 
caractere  episcopal.'- 


half  of  the  truth;  but  often  employed  violence 
and  terror,  and  sometimes  artifice  and  fraud, 
in  order  to  multiply  the  number  of  Christians. 
His  epistles,  moreover,  discover  an  imperious 
and  arrogant  temper,  a  cunning  and  insidious 
turn  of  mind,  an  excessive  zeal  for  increasing 
the  honours  and  pretensions  of  the  sacerdotal 
order,  and  a  profound  ignorance  of  many 
things  of  which  the  knowledge  was  absolutely 
necessary  in  an  apostle,  and  particularly  of 
the  true  nature  and  genius  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion. 

V.  The  famous  prelate,  of  whom  we  have 
been  now  speaking,  was  not  the  only  Christian 
minister  who  attempted  to  deliver  the  German 
nations  from  the  miserable  bondage  of  pagan 
superstition;  several  others  signalised  their 
zeal  in  the  same  laudable  and  pious  undertak- 
ing. Corbinian,  a  F'rench  Benedictine  monk, 
after  having  laboured  with  great  assiduity  and 
fervour  in  planting  the  Gospel  among  the  Ba- 
varians, and  in  other  countries,  became  bishop 
of  Freysingen.*  Firmin,  a  Gaul  by  birth, 
preached  the  Gospel  under  various  kinds  of 
sufliering  and  opposition  in  Alsatia,  Bavaria, 
and  Helvetia,  now  Switzerland,  and  had  in- 
spection over  a  considerable  number  of  monas- 
teries.f  Lebuin,  an  Englishman,  laboured  with 
the  most  ardent  zeal  and  assiduity  to  engage 
the  fierce  and  warlike  Saxons,  and  also  the 
Friselanders,  Bolgse,  and  other  nations,  to  re- 
ceive the  light  of  Cliristianity:  but  his  minis- 
try was  attended  with  very  little  fruit. |  We 
pass  over  in  silence  several  apostles  of  less 
fame;  nor  is  it  necessary  to  mention  Willibrod, 
and  others  of  superior  reputation,  who  persist- 
ed now  with  great  alacrity  and  constancy  in 
the  labours  they  had  undertaken  in  the  preced- 
ing century,  in  order  to  the  propagation  of  di- 
vine truth. 

VI.  A  war  broke  out  at  this  time  between 
Charlemagne  and  the  Saxons,  which  con- 
tributed much  to  the  propagation  of  Chris- 
tianity, though  not  by  the  force  of  a  rational 
persuasion.  The  Saxons  of  that  age  were  a 
numerous  and  formidable  people,  who  inhabit- 
ed a  considerable  part  of  Germany,  and  were 
engaged  in  perpetual  quarrels  with  the  Franks 
concerning  their  boundaries,  and  other  matters 
of  complaint.  Hence  Charlemagne  turned 
his  arms  against  this  powerful  nation,  in  772, 
with  a  design,  not  only  to  subdue  that  spirit  of 
revolt  with  which  they  had  so  often  troubled 
the  empire,  but  also  to  abolish  their  idolatrous 
worship,  and  engage  them  to  embrace  the 
Christian  religion.  He  hoped,  by  their  con- 
version, to  vanquish  their  obstinacy,  imagining 
that  the  divine  precepts  of  the  Gospel  would 
assuage  their  impetuous  and  restless  passions, 
mitigate  their  ferocity,  and  induce  them  to 
submit  quietly  to  the  government  of  the 
Franks.  These  projects  were  great  in  idea, 
but  difficult  in  execution;  a£cordingly,  the  first 


Baronius,  Annal.  Eecles.  torn.  viii.  ad  annum  716. 
sect.  10.  Car.  Maichelbeck,  HistoriaFrisingensis,  torn.  i. 

t  Herm.  Bruschii,  Chronologia  Monaster.  German,  p. 
30.  Anton.  Pagi  Critica  in  Aunales  Baronii,  torn.  ii.  ad 
annum  759,  sect.  ix.  Histoire  Literaire  de  la  France,  torn, 
iv.  p.  124. 

}  Hucbaldi  Vita  S.  Lebuini  in  Laur.  Surii  Vitis  Sane- 
tor,  d.  12.  Nov.  p.  277.— Jo.  MoUeri  Cimbria  Literata, 
torn.  ii.  p.  464. 


Chap.  I. 


PROSPEROUS  EVENTS. 


189 


attempt  to  convert  tlie  Saxons,  after  having 
Bubdued  them,  was  unsuccessful,  because  it 
was  made,  without  tlie  aid  of  violence  or 
threats,  by  the  bishops  and  monks,  whom  the 
victor  had  left  among  that  conijuered  people, 
whose  obstinate  attachment  to  idolatry  no  ar- 
gimients  or  exhortations  could  overcome.  More 
forcible  means  were  afterwards  used  to  draw 
them  into  the  pale  of  the  church,  in  the  wars 
which  Charlemagne  carried  on,  in  the  years 
I'lb,  '776,and  780,  against  that  valiant  people, 
whose  love  of  liberty  was  excessive,  and  whose 
aversion  to  every  species  of  sacerdotal  authori- 
ty was  inexpressible.*  During  these  wars, 
their  attaclunent  to  the  superstition  of  their 
ancestors  was  so  warmly  combated  by  the  al- 
lurements of  reward,  by  the  terror  of  punish- 
ment, and  by  the  imperious  language  of  vic- 
tory, that  they  suffered  themselves  to  be  bap- 
tised, tliough  with  inward  reluctance,  by  the 
missionaries  whom  the  emperor  sent  among 
them  for  that  purpose. f  Fierce  seditions,  in- 
deed, were  soon  after  renewed,  and  fomented 
by  Witekind  and  Albion,  two  of  the  most 
valiant  among  the  Saxon  chiefs,  who  attempt- 
ed to  abolish  the  Christian  worship  by  the  same 
violent  methods  which  had  contributed  to  its 
establishment.  But  the  courage  and  liberality 
of  Charlemagne,  alternately  employed  to  sup- 
press this  new  rebellion,  engaged  these  chiefs 
to  make  a  public  and   solemn  profession  of 


*  It  will  be  proper  here  to  transcribe,  from  the  epistles 
of  the  famous  Alcuin,  once  abbot  of  Canterbury,  a  re- 
markable passage,  which  will  show  us  the  reasons  that 
contributed  principally  to  give  the  Saxons  an  aversion  to 
Christianity,  and  at  the  same  time  will  expose  the  absurd 
and  preposterous  manner  of  teaching  used  by  the  ecclesi- 
astics who  were  sent  to  convert  them.  This  passage  in 
the  104th  epistle,  and  the  1647th  page  of  his  works,  is  as 
follows:  "Si  tanta  instantia  leve  Christi  jugum  et  onus 
ejus  levc  durissimo  Saxonum  populo  pradicarentur, 
quanta  decimarum  redditi  vel  legalis  pro  parvissimis  qui- 
buslibct  culpis  ediotis  necessitas  exigebatur,  forte  baptis- 
malis  sacramenta  nan  abhorrerent.  Sint  taudcm  aliquan- 
do  doctores  fidei  apostolicis  eruditi  exemplis:  sint  pra;di- 
catore9,non  prsdatorcs."  Here  the  reader  maysec  a  live- 
ly picture  of  the  kind  of  apostles  that  flourished  at  this 
time:  apostles  who  were  more  zealous  in  exacting  tithes, 
and  extending  tlieir  authority,  than  in  propagating  the 
sublime  truths  and  precepts  of  the  Gospel;  ami  yet  these 
very  apostles  arc  said  to  have  wrought  stupendous  miracles. 

f  Alcuinus  apud  Gul.  Malmesbur.  de  Gestis  Regum 
Anglorum,  lib.  i.  cap.  iv,  p.  23,  inter  Rer.  Anglic.  Script, 
edit.  Francof.  1601.  In  this  work  we  find  the  following 
passage,  which  proves  what  we  have  said  with  respect  to 
the  unworthy  methods  that  were  used  in  converting  tlie 
Saxons.  "  Antiqui  .Saxoues  et  omnes  Fresonum  populi, 
instaute  rege  Carolo,  alios  prremiis  et  alios  minis  solici- 
tante,ad  fiuemChrisli  convcrsi  sunt."  Sec  also  two  pas- 
sages in  the  Capitularia  Regum  Francor.  torn.  i.  p.  21fi 
and  2.52.  From  the  first  we  learn,  that  those  Saxons  who 
abandoned  the  pagan  superstitions  were  "  restored  to  the 
liberty  they  had  forfeited  by  the  fate  of  arms,  and  freed 
from  the  obligation  of  paying  tribute;"  and,  in  the  se- 
cond, we  find  the  following  severe  law,  that "  every  Saxon 
who  contemptuously  refused  to  receive  the  sacrament  of 
baptism,  and  persisted  in  his  adherence  to  Paganism,  was 
to  be  punished  with  dealh."  While  such  rewards  and 
punishments  were  employed  in  the  cause  of  religion, 
there  was  nooccasion  for  miracles  to  advance  its  progress; 
for  these  motives  were  su/tlcieut  to  draw  all  mankind  to 
an  hypocritical  and  external  profession  of  the  Gospel;  but 
it  is  easy  to  imagine  what  sort  of  Christians  the  Saxons 
must  have  been,  who  were  dragooned  into  the  church  in 
this  abominable  manner.  Compare,  with  the  authors 
mentioned  in  this  note,  Launoius,  de  veteri  More  bapti- 
landi  Judajos  et  Infideles,  cap.  v.  vi.  p.  703,  torn.  ii.  op. 
part  ii.  This  author  assures  us,  that  Adrian,  the  first  Ro- 
man pontiff  of  that  name,  honoured  with  his  approbation 
Charlemagne's  method  of  converting  the  Saxons.  | 


Christianity  in  785,  and  to  promise  an  adher- 
ence to  that  divine  religion  for  the  rest  of  their 
days.*  To  prevent,  however,  the  Saxons  from 
renouncing  a  religion  which  they  had  embrac- 
ed with  reluctance,  many  bishops  were  ap- 
pointed to  reside  among  them,  schools  also 
were  erected,  and  monasteries  founded,  that 
the  means  of  instruction  might  not  be  wanting. 
The  same  precautions  were  employed  among 
the  Htms  in  Pannonia,  to  maintain  in  the  pro- 
fession of  Christianity  that  fierce  people  whom 
Charlemagne  had  converted  to  the  faitli,  when, 
exhausted  and  dejected  by  various  defeats,  they 
were  no  longer  able  to  make  head  against  his 
victorious  arms,  and  chose  rather  to  be  Chris- 
tians than  slaves.'\ 

VII.  Succeeding  generations,  filled  with  a 
grateful  sense  of  the  exploits  which  Charle- 
magne had  performed  in  the  service  of  Chris- 
tianity, canonised  his  memory,  and  turned  this 
bloody  icrn'rior  into  an  eminent  saint.  In  the 
twelfth  century,  Frederic  I.  emperor  of  the 
Romans,  ordered  Paschal  II.  whom  he  had 
raised  to  the  pontificate,  to  enroll  the  name  of 
this  mighty  conqueror  among  the  tutelary  saints 
of  the  church;]:  and  indeed  Charlemagne  mer- 
ited this  honour,  according  to  the  opinions 
which  prevailed  in  that  dark  period;  for,  to 
have  enriched  the  clergy  with  large  and  mag- 
nificent donations, §  and  to  have  extended  the 
boundaries  of  the  church,  no  matter  by  what 
methods,  were  then  considered  as  the  highest 
merits,  and  as  sufficient  pretensions  to  the  hon- 
our of  saintsldp;  but,  in  the  esteem  of  those 
who  judge  of  the  nature  and  characters  of 
sanctity  by  the  decisions  of  the  Gospel  upon 
that  head,  the  sainted  emperor  will  appear  to 
have  been  utterly  unworthy  of  that  dignity; 
for,  not  to  enter  into  a  particular  detail  of  his 
vices,  the  number  of  which  counterbalanced 
that  of  his  virtues,  it  is  undeniably  evident, 
that  his  ardent  and  ill-conducted  zeal  for  the 
conversion  of  the  Huns,  Friselanders,  and  Sax- 
ons, was  more  animated  by  the  suggestions  of 
ambition,  than  by  a  prijiciple  of  true  piety;  and 
that  his  main  view,  in  these  religious  exploits, 
was  to  subdue  the  converted  nations  under  his 
dominion,  and  to  tame  them  to  his  yoke,  which 
they  supported  with  impatience,  and  shook  off" 
by  frequent  revolts.  It  is,  moreover,  well 
known,  that  this  boasted  saint  made  no  scru- 
ple of  seeking  the  alliance  of  the  infidel  Sara- 
cens, that  he  might  be  more  effectually  enabled 
to  crush  the  Greeks,  notwithstanding  their  pro- 
fession of  the  Christian  religion.  || 

VITI.  The  many  and  stupendous  mirajcles 
which  are  said  to  have  been  wrought  by  the 
Christian  missionaries,  who  were  sent  to  con- 
vert the  barbarous  nations,  have  lost,  in  our 
times,  the  credit  they  obtained  in  former  ages. 


*  Eginhartus,  de  VitaCaroli  M. — Adam  Bremcnsis,1ib' 
i.  cap.  viii.  See  also  the  writers  of  the  history  and  ex- 
ploits of  Charlemagne,  enumerated  by  Jo.  Alb.  Fabricius, 
m  his  Bibliotheca  Latina  medii  iEvi,  tom.  i.  p.  9.iO. 

f  Vita  S.  Rudberti  in  Henric.  Canisii  Lectionibus  an- 
tiquis,  tom.  iii.  part  ii.  p.  340. — Pauli  Debreceni  Historia 
Ecclcsia;  Reformat,  in  Hungar.  et  Transylvania,  a  Lam- 
pio  edita, cap.  ii.  p.  10. 

t  Henr.  Canisii  Lect.  tom.  iii.  par.  li.  p.  207. — Wal- 
chii  Dissert,  de  Caroli  Magni  Canonizatione. 

^  Vid.  Caroli  Testamentum  in  Steph.  Baluzii  Capitula- 
ribus  Regum  Francor.  tom.  i.  p.  487. 

II  See  Basnagc,  Histoirc  dcs  Juils,  tom.  ix.  cap.  ii.  p.  40 


190 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  I. 


The  corrupt  discipline  that  then  prevailed,  ad- 
mitted those  fallacious  stratagems,  which  are 
very  improperly  called  pimis  frauds;  nor  did 
the  lieralds  of  the  Gospel  think  it  at  all  unlaw- 
ful to  terrify  or  allure  to  the  profession  of 
Christianity,  by  fictitious  prodigies,  those  obdu- 
rate hearts,  which  they  could  not  subdue  by 
reason  and  argument.  It  is  not,  however,  to 
be  supposed,  that  all  those,  who  acquired  re- 
nown br  their  miracles,  were  chargeable  with 
this  fanatical  species  of  artifice  and  fraud;  for 
as,  on  one  hand,  those  ignorant  and  supersti- 
tious nations  were  disposed  to  look  upon,  as 
miraculous,  every  event  which  had  an  unusual 
aspect,  so,  on  the  other,  the  Christian  doctors 
themselves  were  so  uninstructed  and  superfi- 
cial, so  httle  acquainted  with  the  powers  of 
nature,  and  the  relations  and  connexions  of 
things  in  their  ordinary  course,  that  uncommon 
events,  however  natural,  were  considered  by 
them  as  miraculous  interpositions  of  the  Most 
High.  This  will  appear  obvious  to  such  as 
read,  without  superstition  or  partiality,  the  Jlds 
of  the  Saints  who  flourished  in  this  and  the  fol- 
lowing centuries. 

CHAPTER  II. 

Concerning  the  calamitous  Events  that  happened 
to  the  Church  during  this  Century. 
I.  The  eastern  empire  had  now  fallen  from 
its  former  strength  and  grandeur  through  the  re- 
peated shocks  of  dreadful  revolutions,  and  the 
consuming  power  of  intestine  calamities.  The 
throne  was  now  become  the  seat  of  terror,  in- 
quietude, and  suspicion;  nor  was  any  reign  at- 
tended with  an  uninterrupted  tranquillity.  In 
this  century  three  emperors  were  dethroned, 
loaded  with  ignominy,  and  sent  into  banish- 
ment. Under  Leo  the  Isaurian,  and  his  son 
Constantine,  surnamed  Copronymus,  arose  that 
fatal  controversy  about  the  worship  of  images, 
which  proved  a  source  of  innumerable  calami- 
ties and  troubles,  and  weakened,  almost  incre- 
dibly, the  force  of  the  empire.  These  troubles 
and  dissensions  left  the  Saracens  at  liberty  to 
ravage  the  provinces  of  Asia  and  Africa,  to 
oppress  the  Greeks  in  the  most  barbarous  man- 
ner, and  to  extend  their  territories  and  domin- 
ion on  all  sides,  as  also  to  oppose  every  where 
the  progress  of  Christianity,  and,  in  some 
places,  even  to  extirpate  it.  But  the  troubles 
of  the  empire,  and  the  calamities  of  the  church, 
did  lot  end  here:  for,  about  the  middle  of  this 
centary,  they  were  assailed  by  new  enemies, 
still  more  fierce  and  inhuman  than  those  whose 
usurpations  they  had  hitherto  suffered.  These 
were  '.he  Turks,  a  tribe  of  the  Tartars,  or  at 
least  their  descendants,  who,  breaking  forth 
from  the  inaccessible  wilds  about  mount  Cau- 


casus, overspread  Colchis,  Iberia,  and  Albania, 
rushed  into  Armenia,  and,  after  having  subdu- 
ed the  Saracens,  turned  their  victorious  arms 
against  the  Greeks,  whom,  in  process  of  time, 
they  reduced  under  their  dominion. 

II.  In  7 14,  the  Saracens  crossed  the  sea 
which  separates  Spain  from  Africa,  dispersed 
the  army  of  Roderic  king  of  the  Spanish 
Goths,*  whose  defeat  was  principally  occasion- 
ed by  the  treachery  of  their  general  Julian, 
and  made  themselves  masters  of  the  greatest 
part  of  the  territories  of  this  vanquished  prince. 
At  that  time  the  empire  of  the  Visigoths,  which 
had  subsisted  in  Spain  above  three  hundred 
years,  was  totally  overturned  by  these  fierce 
and  savage  invaders,  who  also  took  possession 
of  all  the  maritime  parts  of  Gaul,  from  the 
Pyrenean  mountains  to  the  river  Rhone, 
whence  they  made  frequent  excursions,  and 
ravaged  the  neighbouring  coxmtries  with  fire 
and  sword. 

The  rapid  progress  of  these  bold  invaders 
was,  indeed,  checked  by  Charles  Martel,  who 
gained  a  signal  victory  over  them  in  a  bloody 
action  near  Poictiers,  in  732. f  But  the  van- 
quished spoilers  soon  recovered  their  strength 
and  their  ferocity,  and  returned  with  new  vio- 
lence to  their  devastations.  This  engaged 
Charlemagne  to  lead  a  formidable  army  into 
Spain,  in  the  hope  of  delivering  that  whole 
country  from  the  oppressive  yoke  of  the  Sara- 
cens: but  this  grand  enterprise,  though  it  did 
not  entirely  miscarry,  was  not  attended  vsdth 
the  signal  success  that  was  expected  from  it.J 

The  inroads  of  this  warlike  people  were  felt 
by  several  of  the  western  provinces,  beside 
those  of  France  and  Spain.  Several  parts  of 
Italy  suffered  from  their  incursions;  the  island 
of  Sardinia  was  reduced  under  their  yoke;  and 
Sicily  was  ravaged  and  oppressed  by  them  in 
the  most  inhuman  manner.  Hence  the  Chris- 
tian religion  in  Spain  and  Sardinia  suffered  in 
expressibly  under  these  violent  usurpers. 

In  Germany,  and  the  adjacent  countries,  the 
Christians  were  assailed  by  another  sort  of  ene- 
mies; for  all  such  as  adhered  to  the  pagan  su- 
perstitions beheld  them  with  the  most  inveter- 
ate hatred,  and  persecuted  them  with  the  most 
unrelenting  violence  and  fury.§  Hence,  in  se- 
veral places,  castles  and  various  fortifications 
were  erected  to  restrain  the  incursions  of  these 
barbarian  zealots. 


*  Jo.  Mariana,  Rerun)  Hispaniearum  Hist.  lib.  vi.  cap. 
xxi. — Renaudot,  Historia  Patriarch.  Alexandrin.  p.  253. 
— Jo.  de  Ferreras,  Hist,  de  Espana,  torn.  ii.  p.  425. 

t  Paulus  Diaconus,  de  Gestis  Longobard.  lib.  vi.  cap. 
xlvi.  liii. — Mariana,  lib.  vii.  cap.  iii. — Bayle's  Dictionary, 
at  the  article  Abderamus. — Ferreras,  torn.  ii.  p.  463. 

}  Henr.  de  Bunau,  Teutsche  Keyser-und-Reichs-His 
torie,  torn.  ii.  p.  392. — Ferreras,  torn.  ii.  p.  506. 

§  Servati  Lupi  Vita  Wigberti,  p.  304. 


PART  11. 


THE  INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Concerning  the  State  of  Letters  and  Philosophy 

during  this  Century. 

I.  Among  the  Greeks  of  this  age  were  some 
men  of  genius  and  talents,  who  might  have 
contributed  to  prevent  the  total  decline  of 
literature;  but  their  zeal  was  damped  by  the 
tumults  and  desolations  that  reigned  in  the 
empire;  and  while  both  church  and  state  were 
menaced  with  approaching  ruin,  the  learned 
Were  left  destitute  of  that  protection  which 
gives  both  vigour  and  success  to  the  culture  of 
the  arts  and  sciences.  Hence  few  or  none  of 
the  Greeks  were  famous,  either  for  elegance  of 
diction,  true  wit,  copious  erudition,  or  a  zeal- 
ous attachment  to  the  study  of  philosophy,  and 
the  investigation  of  truth.  Frigid  homilies,  in- 
sipid narrations  of  the  exploits  of  pretended 
saints,  vain  and  subtile  disputes  about  inessen- 
tial and  trivial  subjects,  vehement  and  bom- 
bastic declamations  for  or  against  the  erection 
and  worship  of  images,  and  histories  composed 
without  method  or  judgment,  were  the  monu- 
ments of  Grecian  learning  in  this  miserable 
age. 

II.  It  must,  however,  be  observed,  that  the 
Aristotelian  philosophy  was  taught  every  where 
in  the  public  schools,  and  was  propagated  in 
all  places  with  considerable  success.  The  doc- 
trine of  Plato  had  lost  all  its  credit  in  the 
schools,  after  the  repeated  sentences  of  con- 
demnation that  had  been  passed  upon  the 
opinions  of  Origen,  and  the  troubles  which 
the  Nestorian  and  Eutychian  controversies  had 
excited  in  the  church;  so  that  Platonism  now 
was  almost  confined  to  the  solitary  retreats  of 
the  monastic  orders.  Of  all  the  writers  in  this 
century,  who  contributed  to  the  illustration 
and  progress  of  the  Aristotelian  philosophy, 
the  most  eminent  was  John  Damascenus,  who 
composed  a  concise,  yet  comprehensive  view 
of  the  doctrines  of  the  Stagiritc,  for  the  in- 
struction of  the  more  ignorant,  and  in  a  man- 
ner adapted  to  common  capacities.  This  lit- 
tle work  excited  numbers,  both  in  Greece  and 
Syria,  to  the  study  of  that  philosoj)hy,  whose 
proselytes  increased  daily.  The  Nestorians 
and  Jacobites  were  also  extremely  diligent  in 
the  study  of  Aristotle's  writings;  and  from  this 
repository  they  anned  themselves  with  sophisms 
and  quibbles,  which  they  employed  against  the 
Greeks  in  the  controversy  concerning  the  na- 
ture and  person  of  Christ. 

III.  The  literary  history  of  the  Latins  ex- 
hibits innumerable  instances  of  llie  grossest 
ignorance,*  which  will  not,  however,  appear 
surprising  to  such  as  consider,  witli  attention, 
the  state  of  Europe  in  this  century.  If  we 
except  some  poor  remains  of  learning,  which 
were  yet  to  be  found  at  Rome,  and  in  certain 
cities  of  Italy ,■!  the  sciences  seemed  to  have 


'  See  Steph.  Baluz.  Obscrval,  ad  Rcginoncm  Prumicu- 
(em,  p.  540. 

t  Lud.  Ant.  Muratorij  Antiq.  Italicae  medii  JE\i,  torn 
iii.  p.  811, 


abandoned  the  continent,  and  fixed  their  resi- 
dence in  Britain  and  Ireland.*  Those,  there- 
fore, of  the  Latin  writers,  who  were  distin- 
guished by  their  learning  and  genius,  were  all 
(a  few  French  and  Italians  excepted)  either 
Britons  or  Hibernians,  such  as  Alcuin,  Bede, 
Egbert,  Clemens,  Dungallus,  Acca,  and  others. 
Charlemagne,  whose  political  talents  were 
embellished  by  a  considerable  degree  of  learn- 
ing, and  an  ardent  zeal  for  the  culture  of  the 
sciences,  endeavoured  to  dispel  the  profound 
ignorance  that  reigned  in  his  dominions;  in 
which  excellent  undertaking  he  was  animated 
and  directed  by  the  counsels  of  Alcuin.  "With 
this  view  he  drew,  first  from  Italy,  and  after- 
wards from  Britain  and  Ireland,  by  his  liberali- 
ty, eminent  men,  who  had  distinguished  them- 
selves in  the  various  branches  of  literature; 
and  excited  the  several  orders  of  the  clergy  and 
monks,  by  various  encouragements,  and  the 
nobility,  and  others  of  eminent  rank,  by  his 
own  example,  to  the  pursuit  of  knowledge  in 
all  its  branches,  human  and  divine. 

IV.  In  the  prosecution  of  this  noble  design, 
the  greatest  part  of  the  bishops  erected,  by  the 
express  order  of  the  emperor,  cathedral  schools 
(so  called  from  their  contiguity  to  the  princi- 
pal church  in  each  diocese,)  in  which  the 
youth,  set  apart  for  the  service  of  Christ,  re- 
ceived a  learned  and  religious  education. 
Those  abbots  also,  who  had  any  zeal  for  the 
cause  of  Christianity,  opened  schools  in  their 
monasteries,  in  which  the  more  learned  of  the 
fraternity  instructed  sucli  as  were  designed  for 
the  monastic  state,  or  the  sacerdotal  order,  in 
the  Latin  language,  and  other  branches  of 
learning,  suitable  to  their  future  destination. 
It  was  formerly  believed  that  the  university  of 
Paris  was  erected  by  Charlemagne;  but  this 
opinion  is  rejected  by  such  as  have  studied, 
with  impartiality,  the  history  of  this  age, 
though  it  is  undeniably  evident,  that  this  great 
prince  had  the  honour  of  laying,  in  some  mea- 
sure, the  foundation  of  that  noble  institution, 
and  that  the  beginnings  from  which  it  arose 
may  be  ascribed  to  him.t  However  this  ques- 
tion be  decided,  it  is  certain,  that  the  zeal  of 
this  emperor,  for  the  propagation  and  advance- 
ment of  letters,  was  very  great,  and  manifest- 
ed its  ardour  by  a  considerable  number  of  excel- 
lent establishments;  nor  among  others  must 
we  pass  with  silence  the  famous  Palatine 
school,  which  he  erected  with  a  view  to  banish 
ignorance  from  his  court,  and  in  which  the 
princes  of  the  blood,  and  the  children  of  the 
nobility,  were  educated  by  the  most  learned 
and  illustrious  masters  of  the  times.J 


*  Jac.  Usserius,  Praef.  ad  Syllogtn  EpislolaruniHiber 
nicarum. 

f  The  reasons  that  have  been  used,  to  prove  Charle- 
magne the  founder  of  the  university  of  Paris,  are  accu- 
rately collected  by  Du  Boulay,  Historia  Acadcmise  Paris, 
torn.  i.  p.  91.  But  they  have  been  refuted  by  the  follow- 
ing learned  men  in  a  victorious  manner,  viz.  MabilloD, 
Act.  Sanct.  Ord.  Benedict,  tom.  v.  Praef.  sect.  181,  182. 
Launoy.  Claud.  Joly,  de  Srholis. 

}  Boulay,  torn,  i.  p.  281.— MabiUon,  tect.  179. 


192 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  I. 


V.  These  establishments  were  not,  liovvever, 
attended  with  the  desired  success;  nor  was  the 
improvement  of  the  3'outh,  in  learning  and 
virtue,  at  all  proportioned  to  the  pains  that 
were  taken,  and  the  bounty  that  was  bestowed 
to  procure  them  a  liberal  education.  This,  in- 
deed, will  not  appear  surprising,  when  we  con- 
sider, that  the  most  learned  and  renowned 
masters  of  these  times  were  men  of  very  little 
genius  and  abilities,  and  that  their  system  of 
erudition  and  philosophy  was  nothing  more 
than  a  lean  and  ghastly  skeleton,  equally  unfit 
for  ornament  and  use.  The  whole  circle  of 
science  was  composed  of,  what  they  called, 
the  seven  liberal  arts,  viz.  grammar,  rhetoric, 
logic,  arithmetic,  geometry,  music,  and  astro- 
nomy;* the  three  former  of  which  they  distin- 
guished by  the  title  of  trivium,  and  the  four 
latter  by  that  of  quadrivium.  No  tiling  can  be 
conceived  more  wretchedly  barbarous  than  the 
manner  in  which  these  sciences  were  taught, 
as  we  may  easily  perceive  from  Alcuin's  trea- 
tise concerning  them,j  and  from  the  disserta- 
tions of  St.  Augustin  on  the  same  subject, 
which  were  in  the  highest  repute  at  this  time. 
In  the  greatest  part  of  the  schools,  the  public 
teachers  ventured  no  farther  than  the  trivium, 
and  confined  their  instructions  to  grammar, 
rhetoric,  and  logic:  they,  however,  who,  after 
passing  the  trivium  and  also  the  quadrivium, 
were  desirous  of  rising  yet  higher  in  their  lite- 
rary pursuits,  were  exhorted  to  apply  them- 
selves to  the  study  of  Cassiodore  and  Boethius, 
as  if  the  progress  of  human  knowledge  had 
been  bounded  by  the  discoveries  of  those  two 
learned  writers. 

CHAPTER  II. 

Concerning  the  Doctors  and  Ministers  of  the 
Church,  and  its  Form  of  Government  duriiig 
this  Century. 

I.  That  corruption  of  manners,  which  dis- 
honoured the  clergy  in  the  former  century,  in- 
creased, instead  of  diminishing,  in  this,  and  dis- 
covered itself  under  the  most  odious  charac- 
ters, both  in  the  eastern  and  western  provinces. 
In  the  east  there  arose  the  most  violent  dissen- 
sions and  quarrels  among  the  bishops  and  doc- 
tors of  the  church,  who,  forgetting  the  duties 
of  their  stations,  and  the  cause  of  Christ  in 
v.hich  they  were  engaged,  threw  the  state  into 
combustion  by  their  outrageous  clamours  and 
their  scandalous  divisions,  and  even  went  so 
far  as  to  stain  their  hands  with  the  blood  of 
their  brethren,  who  differed  from  them  in  opin- 
ion. In  the  western  world,  Christianity  was 
not  less  disgraced  by  the  lives  and  actions  of 
those  who  pretended  to  be  the  luminaries  of 
the  church,  and  who  ought  to  have  been  so  in 
reality,  by  exhibiting  examples  of  piety  and 
virtue  to  their  flock.  The  clergy  abandoned 
themselves  to  their  passions  without  modera- 
tion or  restraint:  they  were  distinguished   by 

*  Herm.  Conringii  Antiquitat.  Academic*,  Diss.  iii.  p. 
80. — Jac.  Thomasii  Programmala,  p.  3C8.— Observat. 
Halens.  torn.  vi.  Obs.  xiv.  p.  118. 

t  Alcuini  Opera,  par.  ii.  p.  1245,  edit.  Quercetani.  It 
is,  howeTcr,  to  be  observed,  that  the  treatise  of  Alciiiu, 
here  referred  to,  is  not  only  imperfect,  but  is  almost  en- 
tirely transcribed  from  Cas;iodore. 


their  luxury,  their  gluttony,  and  their  lust;  they 
gave  themselves  up  to  dissipations  of  various 
kinds,  to  the  pleasures  of  hunting,  and,  what 
seemed  still  more  remote  from  their  sacred 
character,  to  military  studies*  and  enterprises. 
They  had  also  so  far  extinguished  every  prin- 
ciple of  fear  and  shame,  that  they  became  in- 
corrigible; nor  could  the  various  laws  enacted 
against  their  vices  by  Carloman,  Pepin,  and 
Charlemagne,  at  all  contribute  to  set  bounds  to 
their  licentiousness,  or  to  bring  about  their  re- 
formation.i 

II.  It  is,  indeed,  amazing,  that,  notwith- 
standing the  shocking  nature  of  such  vices,  es- 
pecially in  a  set  of  men  whose  profession  re- 
quired them  to  display  to  the  world  the  attrac- 
tive lustre  of  virtuous  example;  and  notwith- 
standing the  perpetual  troubles  and  complaints 
which  these  vices  occasioned;  the  clergy  were 
still  thought  worthy  of  the  highest  veneration, 
and  honoured,  as  a  sort  of  deities,  by  the  sub- 
missive multitude.  This  veneration  for  the 
bishops  and  clergy,  and  the  influence  and  au- 
thority it  gave  them  over  the  people,  were,  in- 
deed, carried  much  higher  in  the  west  than  in 
the  eastern  provinces;  and  the  reasons  of  this 
difference  will  appear  manifest  to  such  as  con- 
sider the  customs  and  manners  that  prevailed 
among  the  barbarous  nations,  which  were,  at 
this  time,  masters  of  Europe,  before  their  con- 
version to  Christianity.  All  these  nations, 
during  their  continuance  under  the  darkness  of 
paganism,  were  absolutely  enslaved  to  their 
priests,  without  whose  counsel  and  authority 
they  transacted  nothing  of  the  least  impor- 
tance, either  in  civil  or  military  affairs.;};  On 
their  conversion  to  Christianity,  they,  there- 
fore, thought  proper  to  transfer,  to  the  minis- 
ters of  their  new  religion,  the  rights  and  privi- 
leges of  their  former  priests:  and  the  Christian 
bishops,  in  their  turn,  were  not  only  ready  to 


*  Sleph.  Baluzius,  ad  Reginon.  Pruraieusem,  p.  563.— 
Wilkiiis'  Concilia  Magnae  Britanniae,  torn.  i.  p.  90. 

f  Steph.  Baluz.  Capitular.  Regum  Francor.  torn.  i.  p. 
1S9,  208,  275,  493,  &c. 

\  Julius  Csesarjrfe  hello  Gallico,  lib.  vi.  cap.  13.  "  Dru 
ides  magno  sunt  apud  eos  honore:  nam  fere  de  omnibus 
controversiis, publicis  privatisque,constituunt;et,  si  quod 
est  admissum  facinus,  si  cades  facta,  si  de  hsereditate,  si 
de  finibus  coutroversia  est,  iidem  decernunt,  prsemia 
poenasque  constituunt:  si  quis  aut  privatus  aut  publicus 
eorum  decreto  non  stetit,  sacrificiis  interdicunt. — Druides 
a  bello  abesse  consueverunt,  ueque  tributa  una  cum  reli- 
quis  pendunt:  militise  vacationem,  omniumque  rerum 
habent  immunilatem.  Tantis  excitati  praeniiis,  et  sua 
sponte  multi  in  disciplinam  conveniunt,  et  a  parentibus 
propinquisque  mittuntur."  Tacitus  (de  Mor.  Germano- 
runi,  cap.  7.)  expresses  also  the  power  and  authority  of 
the  priests  or  Druids  in  the  following  terms:  "  Nequc 
enini  animadvertere,  neque  vincire,  ueque  vcrberare  qui- 
dem,  nisi  sacerdotibus  permissum,  non  quasi  in  poenani, 
nee  ducis  jussu,  sed  velut  Deo  imperante;"  and  again, 
cap.  ii. "  Silentium  per  sacerdotcs,  quibus  et  turn  coercendi 
jus  est,  iinperatur."  Helmoldus  (Chron.  Sclavoruin,lib. 
i.  cap.  xxxvi.)  expresses  himself  to  the  same  purpose. 
"  Major  flaminis  quam  regis,  apud  ipsos,  veneratio  est;" 
and  again,  lib.  ii.  cap.  xii.  "  Rex  apud  eo?  modicae  aesti- 
uiationis  est  comparatione  flamiuis;  ille  euim  rcsponsa  per- 
quirit; — rex  et  populus  ad  illius  uutum  pendent."  This 
ancient  custom  of  honouring  their  priests,  and  submitting 
in  all  things  to  their  decisions,  was  still  preserved  by  the 
Germans,  and  the  other  European  nations,  after  their 
conversion  to  Christianity;  and  this  furnishes  a  satisfac- 
tory answer  to  the  question,  how  it  came  to  pass  tliat  the 
Christian  priesthood  obtained  in  the  west  that  enormous 
degree  of  authority,  vshich  is  so  contrary  to  the  positive 
precepts  of  Christ,  and  the  nature  and  genius  of  his  di- 
vine religion. 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


193 


accept  the  offer,  but  used  all  their  diligence 
and  dexterity  to  secure  and  assert,  to  them- 
selves and  their  successors,  the  dominion  and 
authority  which  the  ministers  of  paganism  had 
usurped  over  an  ignorant  and  brutish  people. 

III.  The  honours  and  privileges,  wliich  the 
western  nations  had  voluntarily  conferred  upon 
the  bishops  and  other  doctors  of  the  churcli, 
were  now  augmented  with  new  and  immense 
accessions  of  opulence  and  authority.  The  en- 
dowments of  the  clmrch  and  monasteries,  and 
the  revenues  of  tlie  bishops,  were  hitherto  con- 
siderable; but  in  this  century  a  new  and  inge- 
nious method  was  found  out  of  acquiring  much 
greater  riches  to  the  church,  and  of  increasing 
its  wealtli  through  succeeding  ages.  An  opin- 
ion prevailed  universally  at  this  time,  though 
its  authors  are  not  known,  that  the  punishment 
which  the  righteous  judge  of  the  world  has  re- 
served for  the  transgressions  of  the  wicked,  was 
to  be  prevented  and  annulled  by  liberal  dona- 
tions to  Nod,  to  the  saints,  to  the  churches  and 
clergy.  In  consequence  of  this  notion,  the 
great  and  opulent,  who  were,  generally  speak- 
ing, the  most  remarkable  for  their  flagitious 
and  abominable  lives,  oflercd,  out  of  the  abun- 
dance which  they  had  received  by  inheritance 
or  acquired  by  rapine,  rich  donations  to  de- 
parted saints,  their  ministers  upon  earth,  and 
the  keepers  of  the  temples  that  were  erected  to 
their  honour,  in  order  to  avoid  the  suft'erings 
and  penalties  annexed  by  the  priests  to  trans- 
gression in  tills  life,*  and  to  e.'^cape  the  misery 
denounced  against  tiie  wicked  in  a  future  state. 
Tliis  new  and  commodious  method  of  making- 
atonement  for  iniquity,  was  the  principal  source 
of  those  immense  treasures,  which,  from  this 
period,  began  to  flow  in  upon  the  clergy,  the 
churches,  and  monasteries,  and  continued  to 
enrich  them  through  succeeding  ages  down  to 
the  present  time.j 

IV'.  But  here  it  is  highly  worthy  of  observa- 
tion, that  the  donations  which  prmces  and  per- 
sons of  the  first  rank  presented,  in  order  to 
make  expiation  for  their  sins,  and  to  satisfy  the 
justice  of  Nod  and  the  demands  of  the  clergy, 
did  not  merely  consist  of  those  private  posses- 
sions, which  every  citizen  may  enjoy,  and  with 
which  the  churches  and  convents  were  already 
abundantly  enriched;  for  these  donations  were 
carried  to  a  much  more  extravagant  length, 
and  the  church  was  endowed  witli  several  of 
those  public  grants,  wliicli  are  peculiar  to 
princes  and  sovereign  states,  and  which  are 
commonly  called  regalia,  or  royal  domams. 
Emperors,  kings,  and  princes,  signalised  their 

*  The  temporal  penalties  here  mentioned  were  rigorous 
fasts,  bodily  pains  and  mortitications,  long  and  frequent 
prayers,  pilgrimages  to  the  tombs  of  saints  and  martyrs, 
and  the  like  austerities.  These  were  the  penalties  which 
the  priests  imposed  upon  such  as  had  confessed  their 
crimes;  and,  as  ihcy  were  singularly  grievous  to  those  who 
had  led  voluptuous  lives,  and  were  desirous  of  continuing 
in  the  same  course  of  licentious  pleasure,  effeminacy, 
and  ease,  the  richer  sort  of  transgressors  embraced  eager- 
ly this  new  method  of  expiation,  and  willingly  gave  a 
part  of  their  substance  to  avoid  such  severe  and  rigor- 
ous penalties. 

t  Hence,  by  a  known  form  of  speech,  they  who  offered 
donations  lo  the  church  or  clergy  were  said  to  do  this  for 
the  redemption  of  their  souls;  and  the  gifts  themselves 
were  generally  called  the  price  of  tranxgression.  See 
Lud.  Ant.  Muratori  Diss,  de  Redemptione  Fecalonim, 
in  his  Antiquitates  Italics  medii  JEvi,  torn.  t.  p.  712. 
Vol.  I.— 26 


superstitious  veneration  for  the  clergy,  by  in- 
I  vesting  bishops,  churches,  and  monasteries, 
1  with  princely  possessions.  Those  who,  by  their 
I  holy  profession,  were  appointed  to  proclaim  to 
'  the  world  the  vanity  of  human  grandeur,  and 
jto  inspire  the  minds  of  men,  by  their  instruc- 
]  tions  and  their  example,  with  a  noble  contempt 
]  of  sublunary  things,  became  themselves  scan- 
dalous .spectacles  of  worldly  pomp,  ambition, 
I  and  splendour;  were  created  dtdtes,  counts,  and 
I  marquises,  judges,  legislators,  and  sovereigns; 
and  not  only  gave  laws  to  nations,  but  also, 
i  upon  many  occasions,  gave  battle  to  their  ene- 
mies at  the  head  of  numerous  armies  of  their 
own  raising.  It  is  here  that  we  are  to  look  for 
the  source  of  those  dreadful  tumults  and  ca- 
lamities that  spread  desolation  through  Europe 
in  after-times,  particularly  of  those  bloody  wars 
concerning  investitures,  and  those  obstinate 
contentions  and  disputes  about  the  regalia. 

V.  The  excessive  donations  that  were  made 
to  the  clergy,  and  the  extravagant  liberality 
tluit  augmented  daily  the  treasures  of  the  Eu- 
ropean churches  (to  which  those  donations  and 
'.]  this  liberality  were  totally  confined)  began  in 
ji  tills  century;  nor  do  we  find  any  examples  of 
the  like  munificence  in  preceding  times.  Hence 
we  may  conclude,  that  these  donations  were 
owing  to  customs  peculiar  to  the  European  na- 
tions, and  to  the  maxims  of  policy  which  were 
established  among  those  warhke  people.  The 
kings  of  these  nations,  who  were  employed 
either  in  usurpation  or  self-defence,  endeavour- 
ed, by  all  means,  to  attach  warmly  to  their  in- 
terests those  whom  they  considered  as  their 
friends  and  clients;  and,  for  this  purpose,  they 
distributed  among  them  extensive  territories, 
cities,  and  fortresses,  with  the  various  rights 
and  privileges  belonging  to  them,  reserving  to 
themselves  only  the  supreme  dominion,  and 
the  military  service  of  their  powerful  vassals. 
This  then  being  the  method  of  governing  cus- 
tomary in  Europe,  it  was  esteemed  by  princes 
a  high  instance  of  political  prudence  to  distri- 
bute among  the  bishops,  and  other  Christian 
doctors,  the  same  sort  of  donations  that  they 
had  formerly  made  to  their  generals  and  cli- 
ents; for  it  is  not  to  be  believed,  that  supersti- 
tion alone  was  always  the  principle  that  drew 
fortli  their  liberality.  They  expected  greater 
fidelity  and  loyalty  from  a  set  of  men  who  were 
bound  by  the  obligations  of  religion,  and  con- 
secrated to  the  service  of  Nod,  than  from  a 
body  of  nobility,  composed  of  fierce  and  impe- 
tuous warriors,  and  accustomed  to  little  else 
but  bloodshed  and  rapine;  and  they  hoped  also 
to  check  the  seditious  and  turbulent  spirits  of 
tlieir  vassals,  and  maintain  them  in  their  obedi- 
ence, by  the  influence  and  authority  of  the 
bishops,  whose  commands  were  highly  respect- 
ed, and  whose  spiritual  thunderbolts,  rendered 
formidable  by  ignorance,  struck  terror  into  the 
boldest  and  most  resolute  hearts.* 


*  The  account  here  giren  of  the  rise  of  the  clergy  to 
such  enormous  degrees  of  opulence  and  authority,  is  cor- 
robated  by  the  folfiiwing  remarkable  passage  of  William 
of  Malmesbury  (lib.  v.  de  Rebus  gestis  Rrguni  Angliae.) 
"  Carolus  Magnus,  pro  contundenda  gentiunm  illarum  fe- 
rocia,  omnes  pene  terras  ecclesiis  contulerat,  consiliosij- 
sime  perpendens,  nolle  sacri  ordinife  homineSj  tarn  facile 
quam  laicos,  fidelitatem  Domini   rejicere;   prieterca,  ti 


194 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


VI.  This  prodig-ious  accession  to  the  opu- 
lence and  authority  of  the  clergy  in  the  west 
began  with  their  head,  the  Roman  pontiff,  and 
spread  gradually  from  him  among  tlie  inferior 
bishops,  and  also  among  the  sacerdotal  and 
monastic  orders.  The  barbarous  nations,  who 
received  the  Gospel,  looked  upon  the  bishop 
of  Rome  as  the  successor  of  their  chief  druid, 
or  high  priest.  And  as  this  tremendous  druid 
had  enjoyed,  under  the  darkness  of  paganism, 
a  boundless  authority,  and  had  been  treated 
with  a  degree  of  veneration,  that,  throug-h  its 
servile  excess,  degenerated  into  terror;  so  the 
barbarous  nations,  on  their  conversion  to  Chris- 
tianity, thought  proper  to  confer  upon  the  chief 
of  the  bishops  the  same  honours  and  the  same 
authority  that  had  formerly  been  vested  in 
their  arch-druid.*  The  pope  received,  with 
something  more  than  a  mere  spiritual  delight, 
these  august  privileges;  and  lest,  upon  any 
change  of  affairs,  attempts  might  be  made  to 
deprive  him  of  them,  he  strengthened  his  title 
to  these  extraordinary  honours,  by  a  variety  of 
passages  drawn  from  ancient  history,  and 
(what  was  still  more  astonishing)  by  argu- 
ments of  a  religious  nature.  This  conduct  of 
a  superstitious  people  swelled  the  arrogance  of 
the  Roman  druid  to  an  enormous  size,  and 
gave  to  the  see  of  Rome,  in  civil  and  political 
affairs,  a  high  pre-eminence  and  a  despotic  au- 
thority, unknown  to  former  ages.  Hence, 
among  other  unhappy  circumstances,  arose 
that  monstrous  and  most  pernicious  opinion, 
that  such  persons  as  were  excluded  from  the 
communion  of  the  church  by  tiie  {wntitf  him- 
self, or  any  of  the  bishops,  forfeited  thereby 
not  only  their  civil   rights  and  advantages  as 


laici  rebellarent,  illos  posse  excommunicationis  auctori- 
tate  et  potentiae  severitate  compescere.'*  This  is,  doubt- 
less, the  true  reason  why  Charlemagne,  who  wm  Jar  from 
being  a  superstitious  prince,  or  a  slave  to  the  clergy,  aug 
mented  so  vastly  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Roman  pontiff  in 
Germany,  Italy,  and  tl)e  other  countries  where  he  had 
extended  his  conquests,  and  accumulated  upon  the  bish- 
ops such  ample  possessions.  He  expected  more  loyalty 
and  submission  from  the  clergy,  than  from  the  laity;  and 
he  augmented  the  riches  and  authority  of  the  former,  in 
order  to  secure  his  throne  against  the  assaults  of  the  latter. 
As  the  bishops  were  universally  held  in  the  highest  vene- 
ration, he  made  use  of  their  influence  in  checking  the  re- 
bellious spirit  of  his  dukes,  counts,  and  knights,  v^'ho 
were  frequently  very  troublesome.  For  instance,  he  had 
much  to  fear  from  the  dukes  of  Benevento,  Spoleto,  and 
Capua,  when  the  government  of  the  Lombards  was  over- 
turned; he  therefore  made  over  a  considerable  part  of 
Italy  to  the  Roman  pontiff,  whose  ghostly  authority,  opu- 
lence, and  threatenings,  were  so  proper  to  restrain  those 
powerful  and  vindictive  princes  from  seditious  insurrec- 
tions, or  to  quell  such  tumults  as  they  might  venture  to 
eicite.  Nor  was  he  the  only  prince  who  honoured  the 
clergy  from  such  political  views;  the  other  kings  and 
princes  of  Europe  acted  much  in  the  same  manner,  and 
from  the  same  principles,  as  will  appear  evident  to  all  who 
consider,  with  attention,  the  forms  of  government,  and 
the  methods  of  governing,  that  took  place  in  this  century: 
to  that  the  excessive  augmentation  of  sacerdotal  opulence 
sud  authority,  which  many  look  upon  as  the  work  of  su 
perstition  alone,  was,  in  many  instances,  an  effect  of  poli- 
tical prudence.  We  shall  consider,  presently,  the  terrors 
of  excommunication,  which  William  of  Malmesbury 
touches  but  cursorily  in  the  latter  words  of  the  passage 
above  quoted. 

*  Cajsar  speaks  thus  of  the  chief  or  arch-druid:  "His 
omnibus  druidibus  praeest  unus,  qui  summam  inter  eos 
(Celtas)  habet  anctoritatem.  Hoc  morluo,  si  qui  ex  re 
liquis  excellit  dignitate,  succedit.  At,  si  sunt  plures  pa 
res,  suffragio  Druidum  adlegitur:  nonuunquain  etiam  ar 
misde  principatu  conlendunt."  Jul.  Casar,  de  Belle  Gal- 
lico,  lib.  vi.  cap.  liii. 


citizens,  but  even  the  common  claims  and  pri- 
vileges of  humanity.  This  horrid  opinion, 
which  was  a  fatal  source  of  wars,  massacres, 
and  rebellions  without  number,  and  which  con- 
tributed more  than  any  other  means  to  aug- 
ment and  confirm  the  papal  authority,  was, 
unhappily  for  Europe,  borrowed  by  Christians, 
or  rather  by  the  clergy,  from  the  pagan  super- 
stitions." 

VII.  We  observe,  in  the  annals  of  the 
French  nation,  the  following  remarkable  and 
shocking  instance  of  the  enormous  power  that 
was,  at  this  time,  vested  in  the  Roman  pontiff. 
Pepin  was  mayor  of  the  palace  to  Childeric 
111.,  and,  in  the  exercise  of  that  high  office, 
possessed  in  reality  the  royal  power  and  au- 
thority; but,  not  content  with  this,  he  aspired 
to  the  titles  and  honours  of  majesty,  and  form- 
ed the  design  of  dethroning  his  sovereign.  For 
this  purpose,  the  states  of  the  realm  were  as- 
sembled by  Pepin,  in  751;  and  though  they 
were  devoted  to  the  interests  of  this  ambitious 
usurper,  they  gave  it  as  their  opinion,  that  the 
bishop  of  Rome  was  previously  to  be  consult- 
ed, whetiier  the  execution  of  such  a  project 
was  lawful  or  not.  In  consequence  of  this, 
ambassadors  were  sent  by  Pepin  to  Zachary, 
the  reigning  pontiff,  with  the  following  ques- 
tion: Whether  the  divine  law  did  not  permit  a 
valiant  and  warlike  people  to  dethrone  a  pu- 
sillanimous and  indolent  monarch,  who  was  in- 
capable of  discharging  any  of  the  functions  of 
royalty,  and  to  substitute  in  his  place  one  more 


*  Though  excommunication,  from  the  time  of  Constan- 
tine  the  Great,  was,  in  every  part  of  the  Christian  world, 
attended  with  many  disagreeable  effects,  yet  its  highest 
terrors  were  eu;ifined  to  Europe,  where  its  aspect  was 
truly  formidable  and  hideous.  It  acquired  also,  in  the 
eighth  century,  new  accessions  of  terror;  so  that,  from 
that  period,  the  excommunication  practised  in  Europe 
differed  entirely  from  that  which  was  in  use  in  otherparts 
of  Cliristendom.  Excommunicated  persons  were  indeed 
considered,  in  all  places,  as  objects  of  aversion  both  to 
God  and  men;  but  they  were  not,  on  this  account,  robbed 
of  the  privileges  of  citizens,  or  of  the  rights  of  humanity; 
much  less  were  those  kings  and  princes,  whom  an  inso- 
lent bishop  had  thought  proper  to  exclude  from  the  com- 
munion of  the  church,  supposed  to  forfeit,  on  that  ac- 
count, their  crown  or  their  territories.  But,  from  this 
century,  it  was  quite  otherwise  in  Europe;  excommuni- 
cation received  that  infernal  power  which  dissolved  all 
connexions;  so  that  those  whom  the  bishops,  or  their 
chief,  excluded  from  church  communion,  were  degraded 
to  a  level  with  the  beasts.  Under  this  horrid  sentence, 
the  king,  the  ruler,  the  husband,  the  father,  and  even  the 
man,  forfeited  all  their  rights,  all  their  advantages,  the 
claims  of  nature,  and  the  privileges  of  society.  What 
then  was  the  origin  of  this  unnatural  power  wiiich  excom- 
munication acquired.'  It  was  briefly  as  follows:  On  the 
conversion  of  the  barbarous  nations  to  Christianity,  those 
new  and  ignorant  proselytes  confounded  the  excommuni- 
cation in  use  among  Christians,  with  that  which  had  been 
practised  in  the  tnnes  of  paganism  by  the  priests  of  the 
gods,  and  considered  both  as  of  the  same  nature  and  ef- 
fect. The  Roman  pontiffs  on  the  other  hand,  were  too 
artful  not  to  countenance  and  encourage  this  error;  and, 
therefore,  employed  all  sorts  of  means  to  gain  credit  to 
an  opinion  that  tended  to  gratify  their  ambition,  and  to 
aggraiidise,  in  general,  the  episcopal  order.  That  this  is 
the  ti-ue  origin  of  the  extensive  and  horrid  influence  of 
the  European  and  papal  excommunication,  will  appear 
evident  to  such  as  cast  an  eye  upon  the  fijUowing  passage 
of  Caesar,  de  Bello  Gallico,  lib.  vi.  cap.  xiii.  "  .Si  quis 
aut  privatus  aut  publicus  Druidum  decreto  non  stetit,  sa- 
crificiis  ioterdicunt.  Haec  poena  est  apud  eos  gravissima. 
Q,uibu8  ita  est  interdictum,  ii  numero  impiorum  et  scele- 
ratorum  habentur,  iisomnesdectdunt,  aditum  eorum  ser- 
monemque  defugiunt,  ue  quid  ex  contagione  inconimodi 
accipiant;  neque  iis  petentibue  jui  redditur,  neque  hoDOs 
uUus  rommunicatur."' 


4 


Chap.  II- 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


195 


worthy  to  rule,  and  who  had  already  rendered 
most  important  services  to  the  state?  The 
situation  of  Zachary,  who  stood  much  in  need 
of  the  aid  of  Pepin  against  the  Greeks  and 
Lombards,  rendered  his  answer  such  as  the 
usurper  desired.  When  this  favourable  deci- 
sion of  the  Roman  oracle  was  publislied  in 
France,  the  unhappy  Childeric  was  stripped  of 
royalty  without  the  least  opposition;  and  Pepin, 
without  the  smallest  resistance  from  any  quar- 
ter, stepped  into  the  throne  of  his  master  and 
his  sovereign.  Let  the  abettors  of  the  papal 
authority  see,  how  they  can  justify,  in  Christ's 
pretended  vicegerent  upon  earth,  a  decision 
which  is  so  glaringly  repugnant  to  the  laws 
and  precepts  of  the  divine  Saviour.*  This  de- 
cision was  solemnly  confirmed  by  Stephen  II., 
the  successor  of  Zachary.  He  undertook  a 
journey  into  France,  in  754,  in  order  to  solicit 
assistance  against  the  Lombards;  dissolved  the 
obligation  of  the  oath  of  fidelity  and  allegi- 
ance which  Pepin  had  sworn  to  Childeric,  and 
violated  by  his  usurpation;  and,  to  render  his 
title  to  the  crown  as  sacred  as  possible,  anoint- 
ed and  crowned  him,  with  his  wife  and  two 
sons,  for  the  second  time.f 

VIII.  This  compliance  of  the  Roman  pon- 
tiff's proved  an  abundant  source  of  opulence 
and  credit  to  the  cliurch,  and  to  its  aspiring 
ministers.  When  that  part  of  Italy  which  was 
yet  subject  to  the  Grecian  empire,  was  involv- 
ed in  confusion  and  trouble,  by  the  seditions 
and  tumults  which  arose  from  the  imperial 
edicts],  against  the  erection  and  worshi])  of 
images,  the  kings  of  the  Lombards  employed 
the  united  influence  of  their  arms  and  negotia- 
tions  in    order   to   terminate    these   contests. 


»  See  Le  Cointe,  Mezeray,  Daniel,  and  other  Gallic  and 
German  historians,  concerning  this  important  event;  but 
particularly  Bossuet,  Del'ens.  Declarationis  Glcri  Gallieani, 
part  i.  p.  2-25. — -Pelr.  Rival,  Dissertations  Histor.  et  Criti- 
ques sur  divers  Sujets,  Diss.  ii.  ji.  70;  Diss.  iii.  p.  156. — 
Hcnr.  de  Bunau,  Historia  Imptrii  Germanici,  torn.  ii.  p. 
288.  This  remarkable  event  is  not,  indeed,  related  in  the 
same  manner  by  all  historians,  and  it  is  generally  represent- 
ed under  false  colours  by  those  who,  from  a  spirit  of  blind 
zeal  and  excessive  adulation,  seize  every  occasion  of  ex- 
alting the  dignity  and  authority  of  the  bishops  of  Rome. 
Such  writers  assert,  that  it  was  by  Zachary's  authority 
as  pontiff,  and  not  in  consequence  of  his  opinion  as  a  ca- 
luist  or  divine,  that  the  crown  was  taken  from  the  head 
of  Childeric,  and  placed  upon  tliat  of  Pepin.  But  tliij 
the  French  absolutely  and  justly  deny.  Had  it,  however, 
been  so,  the  crime  of  the  pontiff  would  have  been  much 
greater  than  it  was  in  reality. 

(((J»t  Pepin  had  been  anointed  by  the  legate  Boniface 
at  Soissons,  soon  after  his  election;  but,  thinking  that  the 
performance  of  such  a  ceremony  by  the  pope  would  re- 
commend him  more  to  the  respect  of  his  subjects,  he  de- 
sired that  the  unction  should  be  administered  anew  by 
Stephen.  Pepin  was  the  first  French  monarch  who  re- 
ceived this  unction  as  a  ceremony  of  coronation,  at  least 
according  to  the  reports  of  the  most  credible  historians. 
His  predecessors  were  proclaimed  by  being  lifted  up  on  a 
shield;  and  the  holy  phial  ol  Clovis  is  now  universally  re- 
garded as  fabulous.  The  custom  of  anointing  kings  at 
their  coronation  was,  however,  more  ancient  than  the 
time  of  Pepin,  and  was  observed  long  before  that  period 
both  in  Scotland  and  Spain.  See  Edmund  Martcnne,  dc 
Antiq.  Eceles.  Ritib.  lom.  iii.  cap.  \.;  and  also  Bunau, 
Historia  Imperii  Germanici,  torn.  ii.  p.  301,366. 

QC^  \  The  author  has  here  in  view  the  edicts  of  Leo 
Isauricus  and  Constanline  Copronymus.  The  former 
published,  in  726,  a  famous  edict  against  the  worship  of 
images,  which  occasioned  many  contests  and  much  dis- 
turbance both  in  church  and  state;  and  the  l.itttr  asstjn- 
bled  at  Constantinople,  in  754,  a  council  of  35ti  bishops, 
who  unanimously  condemned,  not  only  the  worship  but 
even  the  use  of  images. 


Their  success,  indeed,  was  only  advantageous 
to  themselves;  for  they  managed  matters  so  as 
to  become,  by  degrees,  masters  of  the  Grecian 
provinces  in  Italy,  which  were  subject  to  the 
exarch  who  resided  at  Ravenna.  One  of  these 
monarch.s,  named  A islulplms,  carried  his  views 
still  farther.  Elate  with  these  accessions  to 
his  dominions,  he  meditated  the  conquest  of 
Rome  and  its  territory,  and  formed  the  ambi- 
tious project  of  reducing  all  Italy  under  the 
yoke  of  the  Lombards.  Stephen  now  address- 
ed himself  to  liis  powerful  patron  and  protec- 
tor Pepin,  represented  to  him  his  deplorable 
condition,  and  implored  his  assistance.  The 
French  monarch  embarked  with  zeal  in  the 
cause  of  the  terrified  and  suppliant  pontitf; 
crossed  the  Alps,  in  '754,  with  a  numerous 
army;  and,  having  defeated  Aistulphus,  oblig- 
ed him,  by  a  solemn  treaty,  to  deliver  up  to 
the  see  of  Rome  the  exarchate  of  Ravenna, 
Pentapolis,  and  all  the  cities,  castles,  and  ter- 
ritories which  he  had  seized  in  the  Roman 
dukedom.  It  was  not,  however,  long  before 
the  Lombard  prince  violated,  without  remorse, 
an  engagement  which  he  had  contracted  with 
reluctance.  In  755,  he  laid  siege  to  Rome  for 
the  second  time,  but  was  again  obliged  to  sue 
for  peace  by  the  victorious  arms  of  Pepin,  who 
returned  into  Italy,  and,  forcing  the  Lombard 
to  execute  the  treaty  he  htid  so  audaciously 
violated,  made  a  new  grant  of  the  exarchate* 
and  of  Pentapolis  to  the  pontift"  and  his  suc- 
cessors. And  thus  was  the  bishop  of  Rome 
raised  to  the  rank  of  a  temporal  prince. 

LX.  After  the  death  of  Pepin,  a  new  attack 
was  made  upon  the  patrimony  of  St.  Peter, 
by  Dideric,  king  of  tiie  Lombards,  who  invad- 
ed the  territories  that  had  been  granted  by  the 


*  See  Car.  Sigonius,  de  Regno  Italia;,  lib.  iii.  p.  202, 
tom.  ii.  op. — Bunau,  Historia  Imperii  (jermanici,  torn, 
ii.  p.  301,  366. — Muratori  Annales  Italise,  tom.  iv.  p.  310. 
The  real  limits  of  the  exarchate  granted  by  Pepin  to  the 
Roman  pontiff,  liave  been  much  controverted  among  the 
learned,  and  have,  particularly  in  our  times,  employed 
the  researches  of  several  eminent  writers.  The  bishops 
of  Rome  extend  the  limits  of  this  territory  as  far  as  they 
can  with  any  appearance  of  decency  or  probability,  while 
their  adversaries  are  as  zealous  in  contracting  this  famous 
grant  within  narrower  bounds.  See  Lud.  Ant.  Murator. 
Droits  de  I'Empire  sur  I'Etat  Eeclesiastiqiie,  cap.  i.  ii.; 
as  also  his  Antiquitat.  Ital.  medii  TEvi,  tom.  i.  p.  64,  68, 
9^6,  987.  The  same  author  treats  the  matter  with  more 
circumspection,  tom.  v.  p.  790.  This  controversy  can 
only  be  terminated  with  facility  by  an  inspection  of  Pe- 
pin's grant  of  the  territory  in  question.  Kontanini,  in 
liis  first  Defence  of  the  tem^ioral  Jurisdiction  of  the  See 
of  Rome  over  the  City  of  Cojnmachio,  written  in  Italian, 
intimates  that  this  grant  is  yet  extant,  and  even  makes  use 
of  some  phrases  that  are  said  to  be  contained  in  it  (see 
the  pages  242  and  346  of  that  work.)  This,  however, 
will  scarcely  be  believed.  Were  it  indeed  true,  that  such 
a  deed  remains,  its  being  published  to  the  world  would 
be,  undoubtedly,  unfavoura<>le  to  the  pretensions  and  in- 
terests of  the  church  of  Rome.  It  is  at  least  certain, 
that,  in  the  dispute  between  the  emperor  Joseph  1.  and 
the  Roman  pontiff  concerning  Commachio,  the  partisans 
of  the  latter,  though  frequently  called  upon  by  those  of 
the  emperor  to  produce  this  grant,  refused  constantly  to 
comply  with  this  demand.  On  the  other  hand,  it  must  be 
confessed,  that  Bianchini,  in  his  Prolegom.  ad  Anastasium 
de  Vitis  Pontif  Rom.,  has  given  us,  from  a  Farnesian  ma- 
nuscript, a  specimen  of  this  grant,  which  seems  to  carry 
the  marks  of  remote  antiquity.  Be  that  as  it  may,  a  multi- 
tude of  witnesses  unite  in  assuring  us,  that  the  remorse 
of  a  wounded  conscience  was  the  source  of  Pepin's  libe- 
rality, and  that  his  grant  to  the  Roman  pontiff  was  the 
superstitious  remedy  by  which  he  hoped  to  expiate  his 
enormities,  and  particularly  his  horrid  perfidy  to  nit  mu 
ter  Childeric. 


196 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  H- 


French  monarch  to  the  see  of  Rome.  In  this 
extremity,  pope  Adrian  I.  fled  for  succour  to 
Charles,  the  son  of  Pepin,  who,  on  account  of 
his  heroic  exploits,  was  afterwards  distinguish- 
ed by  the  name  of  Charlemagne.  This  prince, 
whose  enterprising  genius  led  him  to  seize  with 
avidity  every  opportunity  of  extending  his 
conquests,  and  whose  veneration  for  the  Roman 
see  was  carried  very  far,  as  much  from  the 
dictates  of  policy  as  superstition,  adopted  im- 
mediately the  cause  of  the  trembling  pontiff. 
He  passed  the  Alps  with  a  formidable  army,  in 
774;  overturned  the  empire  of  the  Lombards 
in  Italy,  which  had  subsisted  above  two  hun- 
dred years;  sent  their  exiled  monarch  into 
France,  and  proclaimed  himself  king  of  the 
Lombards.  These  conquests  offered  to  Charle- 
magne an  occasion  of  visiting  Rome,  where  he 
not  only  confirmed  the  grants  which  had  been 
made  by  his  father  to  that  see,  but  added  to 
them  new  donations,  and  ceded  to  the  Roman 
pontiffs  several  cities  and  provinces  in  Italy, 
which  had  not  been  contained  in  Pepin's  grant. 
What  those  cities  and  provinces  were,  is  a 
question  difficult  to  be  resolved  at  this  period, 
as  it  is  perplexed  with  much  obscurity,  from 
the  want  of  authentic  records.* 


*  See  Car.  Sigonius,  de  regno  Italiae,  lib.  iii.  p.  223, 
torn,  ii.op. — Buiiau,  Hisloria  Imperii  Germaiiici,  torn.  ii. 
p.  368. — Petr.  de  Marca,  de  Concordia  Sacerdotii  et  Im- 
perii, lib.  i.  cap.  xii.  p.  67. — Lud.  Anton.  Muratori  Droits 
de  I'Empire  sur  I'Etat  Ecelesiastique,  cap.  ii.  p.  147. — 
Couringius,  de  Imperio  Roman.  German,  cap.  vi.  The 
extent  of  Charlemagne's  grant  to  the  see  of  Rome  is  as 
much  disputed  as  the  magnitude  of  Pepin's  donation,  be- 
tween the  partisans  of  the  pope,  and  those  of  the  emperor. 
They  who  plead  the  cause  of  the  Roman  see,  maintain  that 
Corsica,  Sardinia,  Sicily,  the  territory  of  Sabino,  the 
duchy  of  Spoleto,  and  several  other  districts,  were  solemn- 
ly granted  by  Charlemagne  to  St.  Peter  and  his  successors. 
They,  on  the  other  hand,  who  assert  the  rights  of  the 
emperor,  diminish  as  tar  as  they  can  the  munificence  of 
Charles,  and  confine  this  new  grant  within  narrow  limits. 
The  reader  may  consult  upon  this  subject  the  authors  of 
the  present  age,  who  have  published  their  opinions  of  the 
pretensions  of  the  emperors  and  the  popes  to  tlie  cities  of 
Commachio  and  Florence,  and  the  duchies  of  Parma  and 
Placentia;  but,  above  all,  the  learned  Berret's  excellent 
treatise,  entitled,  Dissertatio  Chorographica  de  Italia 
medii  Avi,  f.  33.  The  spirit  of  party  seems,  in  this  con- 
troversy, as  in  many  others,  to  have  blinded  the  dispu- 
tants on  both  sides  of  the  question;  and  this,  together 
with  the  difficulty  of  avoiding  mistakes  upon  a  pomt  in- 
volved in  such  deep  obscurity,  has,  in  many  cases,  ren- 
dered the  truth  invisible  to  both  the  contending  parties. 
With  respect  to  the  motives  that  induced  Charlemagne 
to  make  this  grant,  they  are  much  less  doubtful  than  the 
extent  of  the  grant  itself.  Adrian  affirms,  that  the 
monarch's  view  was  to  atone  for  his  sins  by  this  act  of 
liberality  to  the  church,  as  we  see  in  a  letter  from  that 
pontiff  to  Charlemagne,  which  is  published  in  Muratori's 
Scriptores  Rerum  Italicar.  torn.  iii.  part  ii.  p.  265, and  of 
which  ttie  following  passage  is  remarkable:  "Venientes 
ad  nos  de  Capua,  quam  bealo  Petro  apostolorum  principi 
pro  mercede  anima;  vestrae  atque  sempitcrna  memoria 
cum  ceteris  civitatibiis  obtulistis."  Is  it  not  indeed  im- 
probable, that  Charlemagne,  who  affected  that  kind  of 
piety  which  was  the  characteristic  of  this  barbarous  age, 
mentioned  this  superstitious  motive  in  the  act  of  cession 
by  which  he  confirmed  his  donation  to  the  church;  but 
such  as  are  acquainted  with  the  character  of  this  prince, 
and  the  history  of  this  period,  will  be  cautious  in  attribut- 
ing his  generosity  to  this  religious  principle  alone.  His 
grand  motive  was,  undoubtedly,  of  an  amliitious  kind;  he 
was  obstinately  bent  upon  adding  the  western  empire  to 
his  dominions;  and  the  success  of  this  grand  projeet  de- 
pended much  upon  the  consent  and  assistance  of  the  pope, 
whose  approbation,  in  those  times,  was  sufficient  to  sane 
tify  the  most  iniquitious  projects.  Thus  Charlemagne 
lavished  gifts  upon  the  bishops  of  Rome,  that,  by  their 
assistance,  he  might  as'ume,  with  a  certain  air  of  de- 
cency, the  empire  of  the  west,  and  confirm  his  new  do- 


X.  By  this  act  of  liberality,  which  seems  to 
carry  in  it  the  contradictory  characters  of  poli- 
cy and  imprudence,  Charlemagne  opened  for 
himself  a  passage  to  the  empire  of  the  west, 
and  to  the  supreme  dominion  over  the  city  of 
Rome  and  its  territory,  upon  which  the  western 
empire  seemed  then  to  depend.*  He  had,  no 
doubt,  been  meditating  for  a  considerable  time 
this  arduous  project,  which  his  father  Pepin 
had  probably  formed  before  him;  but  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  times  obliged  him  to  wait 
for  a  favourable  occasion  of  putting  it  in  execu- 
tion. This  was  offered  him  in  800,  when  the 
afiairs  of  the  Greeks  were  reduced  to  extremity 
after  the  deatli  of  Leo  III.  and  the  barbarous 
murder  of  his  son  Constantine,  and  while  the 
impious  Irene  held  the  reins  of  empire.  This 
opportunity  was  seized  with  avidity  by  Charles, 
who  set  out  for  Rome,  where  he  was  received 
with  lively  demonstrations  of  zeal  by  the  sove- 
reign pontiff,!  who  had  entered  into  his  views, 
and  persuaded  the  people,  elate  at  this  time 
with  high  notions  of  their  independence  and 
elective  power,  to  unite  their  suffrages  in  favour 
of  this  prince,  and  proclaim  him  emperor  of 
the  west. I 

XI.  Charles,  on  his  elevation  to  the  empire 
of  the  west  and  the  government  of  Rome, 
seems  to  have  reserved  to  himself  the  supreme 
dominion,  and  the  inalienable  rights  of  majesty, 
while  he  granted  to  the  church  of  Rome  a 
subordinate  jurisdiction  over  that  great  city 
and   its  annexed  territory.  §     This  grant  was 


minion  in  Italy.  Of  this  policy  we  have  already  taken 
notice,  and  it  must  aj)pear  manifest  to  all  who  view  things 
with  the  smallest  degree  of  impartiality  and  attention. 

*  Charles,  iu  reality,  was  already  emperor  of  the  west, 
that  is,  the  most  powerful  of  the  European  monarehs. 
He  wanted,  therefore,  nothing  more  than  the  title  of 
emperor,  and  the  supreme  dominion  in  Rome  and  its 
territory,  both  of  which  he  obtained  by  the  assistance  of 
Leo.  HI. 

t  Leo  III. 

\  See  the  historians  who  have  transmitted  to  us  ac- 
counts of  this  century,  and  more  especially  Bunau,  in  his 
Hist.  Imperii  Rcnnano-German.  torn.  ii.  p.  537.  The 
partisans  of  the  Roman  pontiffs  generally  maintain,  that 
Leo  HI.  by  a  divine  right,  vested  in  him  as  bishop  of 
Rome,  transferred  the  western  empire  from  the  Greeks 
to  the  Franks,  and  conferred  it  upon  Charlemagne,  the 
monarch  of  the  latter.  Hence  they  conclude,  that  the 
Roman  pontiff,  as  the  vicar  of  Christ,  is  the  supreme  lord 
of  the  whole  earth,  and,  in  a  particular  manner,  of  the 
Roman  empire.  The  temerity  of  these  pretensions,  and 
the  absurdity  of  this  reasoning,  are  exposed  with  much 
learning  and  judgment  by  the  celebrated  Fred.  Span- 
heim,  de  ficta  translatione  Imperii  iu  Carolum  M.  per 
Leonem  III.  torn.  ii.  op.  p.  557. 

§  That  Cliarlemagne,  in  effect,  preserved  entire  his 
supreme  authority  over  the  city  of  Rome  and  its  adjacent 
territory,  gave  law  to  the  citizens  by  judges  of  his  own 
appointment,  punished  malefactors,  enjoyed  the  preroga- 
tives, and  exercised  all  the  functions  of  royalty,  has  been 
demonstrated  by  several  of  the  learned  in  the  most  ample 
and  satisfactory  manner,  and  confirmed  by  the  most  un- 
exceptionable and  authentic  testimonies.  To  be  convinc- 
ed of  this,  it  will  be  sufllcient  to  consult  Muratori's  Droits 
de  I'Empire  sur  I'F.tat  Ecelesiastique,  cap.  vi.  p.  77. 
And,  indeed,  they  must  have  a  strange  power  of  resisting 
the  clearest  evidence,  who  are  absurd  enough  to  assert, 
as  does  Fontanini,  in  his  treatise,  entitled,  Dominio  della 
S.  Sede  sopra  Commachio,  Diss.  i.  c.  95,  96,  that  Charles 
sustained  at  Rome  the  character  of  the  advocate  of  the 
Roman  church,  and  not  that  of  its  sovereign  or  its  lord, 
the  dominion  of  the  pontiff  being  unlimited  and  univer- 
sal. On  the  other  hand,  we  must  acknowledge  ingenu- 
ously, that  the  power  of  the  pontiff,  both  in  the  city  of 
Rome  and  its  annexed  territory,  was  very  great,  and  that, 
in  several  rases,  he  seemed  to  act  with  a  princely  autho- 
ritv.     Bui  the  extent  and  the  foundations  of  that  authori- 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


197 


undoubtedly  suggested  to  him  by  the  ambitious 
pontiff"  as  a  matter  of  sacred  and  indispensable 
obligation;  and  many  fictitious  deeds  were 
probably  produced  to  make  out  the  jtreten- 
sions,  and  justify  the  claims  of  the  cliurch  to 
this  high  degree  of  temporal  authority  and 
civil  jurisdiction.  In  order  to  reconcile  the 
new  emperor  to  this  grant,  it  was  without 
doubt  alleged,  that  Constantino  the  Great,  his 
renowned  predecessor,  wiien  he  removed  the 
seat  of  empire  to  Constantinople,  delivered  up 
Rome,  the  old  metropolis,  with  its  adjacent 
territories,  commonly  called  the  Roman  duke- 
dom, to  be  possessed  and  governed  by  tiie 
church,  with  no  other  restriction,  than  that 
this  should  be  no  detriment  to  his  supreme 
dominion;  and  it  was  insinuated  to  Charles, 
that  he  could  not  depart  from  the  rule  estab- 
lished by  that  pious  emperor,  without  incur- 
ring tlie  wrath  of  God,  and  the  indignation  of 
St.  Peter.* 


ty  are  concealed  in  the  deepest  obscurity,  and  have  given 
occasion  to  endless  disputes.  Muratori  maintains,  in  liis 
work  above  cited,  p.  103,  that  the  bishop  of  Rome  dis- 
charged the  function  oCci-nrch,  or  i-icitr,  to  the  emperor; 
an  opiuitin  vvhicli  Clemeiil  XI.  rejected  as  injurious  to 
the  papal  dignity,  and  which,  indeed,  does  not  a])pear  to 
have  any  solid  foundation.  After  a  careful  cvaniiualion 
of  all  the  circumstances  that  can  contribute  toward  the 
solution  of  this  perplcred  question,  the  most  probable  ac 
count  of  the  matter  seems  lo  be  this:  That  the  Xtunian 
pontiff  possessed  the  city  of  Rome  and  its  territory,  by 
the  same  right  by  which  he  held  the  exarchate  of  Raven- 
na, and  the  other  lands  granted  by  Charlemagne;  that  is 
to  say,  he  possessed  Rome  by  a  feudal  tenure,  though 
charged  with  fewer  marks  of  dependence  than  other  fiefs 
generally  are,  on  account  of  the  lustre  and  dignity  of  a 
cMty  which  had  been  so  long  the  capital  of  the  empire. 
This  opinion  derives  much  strength  from  what  we  shall 
have  occasion  to  observe  in  the  following  note,  and  it  has 
the  peculiar  advantage  of  reconciling  the  jarring  testi- 
monies of  ancient  writers,  and  the  various  records  of  an- 
tiquity relating  to  this  point. 

*Mo9t  writers  are  of  opinion,  that  Constantine's  pre- 
tended grant  was  posterior  to  this  period,  and  was  forged 
in  the  tenth  century.  It  appears  to  me,  on  the  contrary, 
that  this  fictitious  grant  was  in  being  in  the  eighth  cen- 
tury; and  it  is  extremely  probable,  that  both  Adrian  and 
his  successor  Leo  111.  made  use  of  it  to  persuade  Charle- 
magne to  that  donation.  In  favour  of  this  opinion  we 
have  the  unexceptionable  testimony  of  Adrian  himself  in 
his  letter  to  Charlemagne,  which  is  published  in  Muralo- 
ri's  Rerum  Italicarum  Scriptores,  tom.  iii.  part  ii.  p.  194, 
and  which  is  extremely  worthy  of  an  attentive  perusal. 
In  this  letter,  Adrian  exhorts  Charles,  before  his  eleva- 
tion to  the  empire,  to  order  the  restitution  of  all  the 
grants  and  donations  that  had  formerly  been  made  to  St. 
Peter  and  to  the  chinch  of  Rome.  In  this  demand  also 
he  distinguishes,  in  the  plainest  manner,  the  donation  of 
Constantine  from  those  of  the  other  princes  and  empe- 
rors, and  what  is  particularly  remarkable,  from  the  ex- 
archate which  was  the  gill  of  Pepin,  and  even  from  the 
additions  that  Charles  had  already  made  to  his  father's 
grant;  whence  we  may  justly  conclude,  that  by  the  dona- 
tion of  Constantine,  Adrian  meant  the  city  of  Rome,  and 
its  annexed  territory.  He  speaks  first  of  this  grant  in 
the  following  terms;  "  Deprecamur  vestram  excelkntiain 
.  .  .  ]iro  Dei  amore  et  ipsius  clavigeri  rcgni  cceloruni 
.  .  .  ut  secundum  promissioncm  <pjam  pollioiti  eslis 
eidem  Dei  apostolo  pro  aniina;  vestr.T;  mercede  et  stabili- 
tate  regni  vestri,  omnia  noslris  temporibus  adiinplere  ju- 
beatis  .  .  .  et  sicut  temporibus  beati  Silvestri  Romani 
pontifjcis,  asancta:  recordationis  piissimo  Constantino  M. 
imperatorc,  per  ejus  largitalem  (here  Constantine's  dona- 
lion  is  evidently  mentioned)  sancta  Dei  catholica  et  apos- 
toliea  Romana  ecelesia  elcvata  atquc  exaltata  est,  et  po- 
testatcm  in  his  HesperiiE  partibus  largiri  dignatus  est; 
ita  et  in  his  vestris  felicissimis  temporibus  atqiie  nostris 
sancta  Dei  ecelesia  germinet .  .  .  et  ampliiis  alque  amplius 
exaltata  permaneat  .  .  .  (juia  ecce  iiovus  Christiauissimus 
Dei  gratia  Constantinus  im|ierator  (here  we  see  Charles, 
who  at  that  time  was  only  a  king,  styled  emperor  by  the 
pontifT,  and  compared  with  Constantine)  his  temporibus 
•urreiit,  per  quern  omnia  Deus  sancta;  sua;  ecelesia'  .   .   . 


XII.  While  the  power  and  opulence  of  the 

Roman  pontiff's  were  rising  to  the  greatest 
iicigiit  by  the  events  which  we  have  now  been 
relating,  they  received  a  mortifying  check  in 
consequence  of  a  quarrel  which  broke  out  be- 
tween those  haughty  priests  and  the  Grecian 
emperors.  Leo  the  Isaurian,  and  his  son  Con- 
stantine Copronynms,  incensed  at  the  zeal 
which  Gregory  II.  and  Hi.  discovered  for  the 
worship  of  images,  not  only  confiscated  tlie 
treasures  and  lands  which  the  church  of  Rome 
possessed  in  Sicily,  Calabria,  and  Apulia,  but 
also  withdrew  the  bishops  of  tjicse  countries, 
and  likewise  the  various  provinces  and  churches 
of  Illyricuni,  from  tlie  jurisdiction  of  the  Ro- 
man sec,  and  subjected  them  to  the  spiritual 
dominion  of  the  bishop  of  Constantinople.  And 
so  inliexibly  were  the  Grecian  emperors  bent 
upon  humbling  the  arrogance  of  the  Roman 
pontiff's,  that  no  intreaties,  supplications,  or 
threats,  could  engage  them  to  aliandon  their 
purpose,  or  to  restore  this  rich  and  signal  por- 
tion of  St.  Peter's  patrimony  to  his  greedy  suc- 
cessors.* It  is  here  that  we  mtist  look  for  the 
original  source,  and  the  principal  cause  of  that 
vehement  contest  between  tlie  Roman  pontiff 
and  the  bishop  of  Constantinople,  which,  in  the 
following  century,  divided  the  Greek  and  Latin 
churches,  and  proved  so  pernicious  to  the  in- 
terests and  advancement  of  true  Christianity. 
These  lamentable  divisions,  which  wanted  no 
new  incident  to  foment  them,  were  neverthe- 
less augmented  by  a  controversy  which  arose, 
in  this  century,  concerning  the  derivation  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  which  we  shall  have  occasion 
to  mention  more  largely  in  its  proper  place. 
It  is  more  than  probable  that  tiiis  controversy 
would  have  been  terminated  with  the  utmost 
facility,  had  not  the  spirits  of  the  contending 
parties  been  previously  exasperated  by  disputes 
founded  upon  avarice  and  ambition,  and  car- 
ried on,  without  either  moderation  or  decency, 
by  the  holy  patriarchs  of  Rome  and  Constanti- 
nople, in  defence  of  their  respective  preten- 
sions. 

XIII.  The  monastic  discipline  was  extremely 
relaxed  at  this  time  botii  in  the  eastern  and 
western  provinces,  and,  as  appears  by  the  con- 


largiri  dignatus  est."  So  much  for  that  part  of  the  letter 
that  relates  to  Constantine's  grant:  as  lo  the  other  dona- 
tions which  the  pontiff  evidently  distinguishes  from  it, 
observe  what  follows:  "  Sed  et  cuncia  alia  quae  jier  di- 
versos  imperatores,  patricios,  eliam  et  alios  Drum  linien- 
tes,  pro  eorum  anima;  mercede  et  venia  delictornm,  in 
partibus  Tusciae,  Spoleto,  seu  Benevento,  atque  Corsica, 
simul  et  Pavinensi  patrimonio,  beato  Petro  apostolo  con- 
eessa  sunt,  el  per  uefandam  geiilem  Longobardorum  per 
annorum  spatia  abslracta  et  ablata  sunt,  vestris  tempori- 
bus restitiiantur."  (The  pontiff  intimates  farther,  that 
all  these  grants  were  carefully  preserved  in  the  office  of 
the  Lateran,  and  that  he  sends  them  to  Charles  by  his  le- 
gates.) "  Unde  ct  plures  donationes  in  sacro  nostro  scri- 
nio  Laleranensi  reconditas  liabemus,  tamen  et  pro  satis- 
factione  Chrislianissimi  regni  vestri,  per  jam  fatos  viros, 
ad  demonstrandum  eas  vobis,  direximus,  et  pro  hoc  peti- 
mus  eximiani  pra;eellentiam  vestram,  ut  in  integro  ipsa 
pairimonia  beato  Petro  et  nobis  restitnere  jubeatis. "  By 
this  it  appears  that  Constan linn's  grant  was  now  in  being 
among  the  archives  of  the  Lateran,and  was  sent  lo  Char- 
lemagne with  the  other  donations  of  kings  and  princes, 
whose  examples  were  adduced  with  a  view  of  exciting  his 
liberality  to  the  church. 

*  See  Mich.  Lequien's  Oriens  Christianus,  tom.  i.  p. 
fW.  Among  the  Greek  writers  also  Thcophanes  and 
others  acknowledge  the  fact;  but  they  are  not  entirely 
agreed  about  the  reasons  to  which  it  is  to  be  attributed. 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


198 


curring  testimonies  of  the  writers  of  this  cen- 
tury, had  fallen  into  a  total  decay.  The  only 
monks  who  escaped  this  general  corruption, 
were  those  who  passed  their  days  in  the  deserts 
of  Egypt,  Syria,  and  Mesopotamia,  amidst  the 
austerities  of  a  wretched  life,  remote  from  all 
the  comforts  of  human  society:  yet  the  merit 
of  having  preserved  their  discipline  was  sadly 
counterbalanced  by  the  gross  ignorance,  the 
fanatical  madness,  and  the  sordid  superstition 
that  reigned  among  these  miserable  hermits. 
Those  of  the  monastic  orders,  who  lived  nearer 
to  cities  and  populous  towns,  frequently  dis- 
turbed the  public  tranquillity  by  tlie  tumults 
and  seditions  they  fomented  among  the  multi- 
tude, so  that  it  became  necessary  to  check  their 
rebellious  ambition  by  the  severe  laws  that 
were  enacted  against  them  by  Constantine  Co- 
pronymus,  and  other  emperors.  The  greatest 
part  of  the  western  monks  followed,  at  this 
time,  the  rule  of  St.  Benedict;  though  there 
were  every  where  convents  which  adopted  the 
discipline  of  other  orders.*  But,  as  they  m- 
creased  in  opulence,  they  lost  sight  of  all  rules, 
and  submitted,  at  length,  to  no  other  discipline 
than  that  of  intemperance,  voluptuousness, 
and  sloth. f  Charlemagne  attempted,  by  vari- 
ous edicts,  to  put  a  stop  to  this  growing  evil; 
but  his  efforts  were  attended  with  little  success. + 
XIV.  This  general  depravity  and  corruption 
of  the  monks  gave  rise  to  a  new  order  of  priests 
in  the  west,  a  sort  of  middle  order  between 
the  monks  or  regulars,  and  the  secular  clergy. 
This  new  species  of  ecclesiastics  adopted  the 
monastic  discipline  and  manner  of  life,  so  far 
as  to  have  their  dwelling  and  their  table  in 
common,  and  to  assemble  at  certain  hours  for 
divine  service;  but  they  entered  not  into  the 
vows  which  were  peculiar  to  the  monks,  and 
they  were  also  appointed  to  discharge  the  minis- 
terial functions  in  certain  churches  which  were 
committed  to  their  pastoral  direction.  These 
ecclesiastics  were  at  first  called  fratres  dominici, 
but  soon  after  received  the  name  of  canons.^ 
The  common  opinion  attributes  the  institution 
of  this  order  to  Chrodegangus,  bishop  of  Metz; 
nor  is  this  opinion  destitute  of  truth;|(  for 
though,  before  this  time,  there  were  in  Italy, 
Africa,  and  other  provinces,  convents  of  eccle- 
siastics, who  lived  after  the  manner  of  the  ca- 


Part  II. 


*  See  Mabillon,  Prief.  ad  acta  SS.  Ord.  Benedict!,  S;ec. 
i.  p.  24,  and  Saec.  iv.  part  i.  p.  26. 

t  The  author,  mentioned  in  the  preceding  note,  dis- 
courses with  a  noble  frankness  and  courage  concerning 
the  corruption  of  the  monks,  and  its  various  causes,  in 
the  same  work,  Pr^f.  ad  Siec.  iv.  part  i.  p.  64. 

I  .See  the  Capitularia  Caroli.  puhMshed  by  Balvize,  torn. 
i.  p.  148,  157,  237,  35.5,  '.m,  37.5,  .503.  Laws  so  severe, 
and  so  often  repeated,  shew  evidently  that  the  corruption 
of  the  monks  must  have  been  truly  enormous. 

^  See  Le  Baeuf,  Memnires  sur  I'Hisloire  d'Auxerre, 
torn.  i.  p.  174,  the  Paris  edition,  published  in  1743. 

II  See,  for  an  account  of  Chrodegangus,  the  Histoirc 
Literaire  de  la  France,  toin.  iv.  p.  108. — Calmct,  His- 
toire  de  Lorraine,  tom.  i.  p.  513. — .\cta  Sanctor.  torn.  i. 
Martii,  p.  452.  The  rule  which  li«  prescribed  to  his 
canons,  may  be  seen  in  Le  Coinle's  Annales  Francor. 
Eccles.  tom.  v.  ad  An.  7.57,  sect.  .'5;  as  also  in  the  Con- 
cilia Labbei,  tom.  vii.  1444.  He  is  not,  however,  the 
author  of  the  rule  which  is  published  in  his  name,  in  the 
Spicilegium  veter.  Scriptor.  tom.  i.  p.  56,5.  Longueval, 
in  his  Histoire  de  I'Eglise  Gallicane,  tom.  iv.  p.  4.35,  has 
given  a  neat  and  elogaut  abridgement  of  the  rule  of  Cliro- 
aegangua 


nons,*  yet  Chrodegangus,  who,  toward  the 
middle  of  this  century,  subjected  to  this  rule 
the  clergy  of  Metz,  not  only  added  to  their 
religions  ceremonies  the  custom  of  singing 
hymns  and  anthems  to  God,  at  certain  hours, 
and  probably  a  variety  of  rites,  but  also,  by 
his  example,  excited  the  Franks,  the  Italians, 
and  the  Germans,  to  distinguish  themselves  by 
their  zeal  in  favour  of  the  canons,  to  erect  col- 
leo-es  for  them,  and  to  introduce  their  rule  into 
their  respective  countries. 

XV.  The  supreme  dominion,  over  the  church 
and  its  possessions,  was  vested  in  the  emperors 
and  kings,  both  in  the  eastern  and  the  western 
world.  The  sovereignty  of  the  Grecian  em- 
perors, in  this  respect,  has  never  been  contest- 
ed; and  though  the  partisans  of  the  Roman 
pontiff's  endeavour  to  render  dubious  the  supre- 
macy of  the  Latin  monarchs  over  the  church, 
yet  this  supremacy  is  too  manifest  to  be  dis- 
puted by  such  as  have  considered  the  matter  at- 
tentively;1  ^'id  it  is  acknowleged  by  the  wisest 
and  most  candid  writers,  even  of  the  Romish 
communion.  Adrian  I.,  in  a  council  of  bish- 
ops assembled  at  Rome,  conferred  upon  Char- 
lemagne and  his  successors  the  right  of  elec- 
tion to  the  see  of  Rome;],  and  though  neither 
Charlemagne,  nor  his  son  Louis,  were  willing 
to  exercise  this  power  in  all  its  extent,  by 
naming  and  creating  the  pontiff  upon  every 
vacancy,  yet  they  reserved  the  right  of  ap- 
proving and  confirming  the  person  who  was 
elected  to  that  high  dignity  by  the  priests  and 
people:  nor  was  the  consecration  of  the  elect- 
ed pontiff  of  the  least  validity,  unless  perform- 
ed in  presence  of  the  emperor's  ambassadors.^ 
The  Roman  pontiffs  obeyed  the  laws  of  the 
emperojs,  received  their  judicial  decisions  as 
of  indispensable  obligation,  and  executed  them 
with  the  utmost  punctuality  and  submission. || 
The  kings  of  the  Franks  appointed  extraordi- 
nary judges,  whom  they  called  envoys,  to  in- 
spect the  lives  and  manners  of  the  clergy,  su- 
perior and  inferior,  take  cognisance  of  their 
contests,  terminate  their  disputes,  enact  laws 
concerning  the  public  worship,  and  punish  the 
crimes  of  the  sacred  order,  as  well  as  those  of 
the  other  citizens.lT  All  churches  also,  and 
monasteries,  were  obliged  to  pay  to  the  public 
treasury  a  tribute  proportioned  to  their  respec- 
tive lands  and  possessions,  e.xcept  such  as,  by 


*  Murator.  Antiq.  Italicas,  tom.  v.  p.  185;  as  also  Lud. 
Thomassin's  Disciplina  Rcclesite  Vet.  et  Nov.  part  i.  lib. 
iii.  The  design  of  this  institution  was  truly  excellent. 
The  authors  of  it,  justly  shocked  at  the  vicious  manners 
of  a  licentious  clergy,  hoped  that  this  new  institution 
would  have  a  tendency  to  prevent  the  irregularities  of 
that  order,  by  delivering  its  members  from  the  cares, 
anxieties,  and  occupations  of  this  present  life.  But  the 
event  shewed  how  much  these  pious  views  have  been  dis- 
appointed. 

f  For  an  accurate  account  of  the  rights  of  the  Grecian 
emperors  in  religious  matters,  we  refer  the  reader  to  Le- 
quien's  Oriens  Christianus,  tom.  i.  p.  136. 

j  This  act  is  mentioned  by  Anastasius;  it  has  been  pre- 
served by  Yvo  and  Gratian,  and  has  been  the  subject  of  a 
multitude  of  treatises. 

^  See  Mabillon,  Comm.  in  Ordinem  Romanum,  in  Mu- 
seo  ItaV  tom.  ii.  p.  113. — Muratori,  Droits  de  I'Empire 
sur  I'Etat  F.cclesiastique,  p.  87. 

II  This  has  been  amply  demonstrated  by  Baluze,  in  his 
Prsef.  ad  Capitularia  Regum  Francorum,  sect.  21. 

IT  See  Muratori  Antiq.  Ital.,  tom.  i.  Diss.  ix.  p.  470 

Franc,  de  Roye,  de  Missis  Dominicis,  cap.  x.  p.  44;  cap. 
viii.  p.  118,  134,  168,  195. 


Chap.  11. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


199 


the  pure  favour  of  the  supreme  powers,  were 
graciously  exempted  from  this  general  tax.* 

XVI.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  the  Latin  em- 
perors did  not  assume  to  themselves  the  admin- 
istration of  the  church,  or  tiie  cognisance  and 
decision  of  controversies  that  were  purely  of  a 
religious  nature.  They  aclcnowledged  on  the 
contrary,  that  these  affairs  belonged  to  the  tri- 
bunal of  the  Roman  pontitV  and  to  the  ecclesi- 
astical councils.)  But  tiiis  jurisdiction  of  the 
pontitF  was  confined  witliin  narrow  limits;  he 
could  decide  nothing  by  his  sole  authority,  but 
was  obliged  to  convene  a  council  when  any 
religious  diflercnces  were  to  lie  terminated  by 
an  authoritative  judgment.  Nor  did  the  pro- 
vinces, when  any  controversy  arose,  wait  for 
the  decision  of  the  bishop  of  Rome;  but  as- 
sembled, by  their  own  authority,  their  particu- 
lar councils,  in  which  the  bishops  gave  their 
thoughts  with  the  utmost  freedom  upon  the 
points  in  debate,  and  voted  often  in  direct  op- 
position to  what  was  known  to  be  the  opinion 
of  the  Roman  pontiff';  all  which  is  evident 
from  what  passed  in  tlie  councils  assembled  by 
the  Franks  and  Germans,  in  order  to  deter- 
mine the  celebrated  controversy  concerning 
the  use  and  worship  of  images.  It  is  farther 
to  be  observed,  that  the  power  of  convening 
councils,  and  the  right  of  presiding  in  them, 
were  the  prerogatives  of  the  emperors  and 
sovereign  princes,  in  whose  dominions  these 
assemblies  were  holden;  and  that  no  decrees 
of  any  council  obtained  the  force  of  laws,  un- 
til they  were  approved  and  confirmed  by  the 
supreme  magistrate.  J  Thus  was  the  spiritual 
authority  of  Rome  wisely  bounded  by  the  civil 
power;  but  its  ambitious  pontiffs  fretted  under 
the  imperial  curb,  and,  eager  to  loosen  their 
bonds,  left  no  means  unemployed  for  that  pur- 
pose. They  even  formed  projects  which  seem- 
ed less  the  effects  of  ambition  than  of  phrensy: 
for  they  claimed  a  supreme  dominion,  not  only 
over  the  church,  but  also  over  kings  them- 
selves, and  pretended  to  reduce  the  whole  uni- 
verse under  their  ghostly  jurisdiction.  How- 
ever extravagant  these  pretensions  were,  they 
were  followed  by  the  most  vigorous  eflbrts; 
and  the  wars  and  tumults  that  arose  in  tlie 
following  century,  contributed  much  to  render 
these  efforts  successful. 

XVII.  If  we  turn  our  eyes  toward  the  wri- 
ters of  this  century,  we  shall  find  very  few  that 
stand  distinguished  in  the  lists  of  fame,  eitlier 
on  account  of  erudition  or  genius.  Among 
the  Greeks,  the  following  only  seem  worthy 
of  mention. 

Germanus,  bishop  of  Constantinople,   the 


*  See  Muratori  Antiq.  Ital.,  torn.  i.  Diss.  xvii.  p.  9"^6. 
See  also  the  collection  of  the  various  pieces  that  were 
published  on  occ-asion  of  the  dispute  between  Louis  XV. 
and  his  clergy,  relating  to  the  immunities  of  that  order 
in  France.  These  pieces  were  printed  in  1751,  under  the 
following  title:  Kcrits  pour  et  conlre  les  Immunitcs  prc- 
teudues  par  le  Clerge  de  France. 

f  See  the  Dissertation  of  Charlemagne,  de  Imaginibus, 
lib.  i.  cap.  iv. 

■}  All  this  is  fully  and  admirably  demonstrated  by  Ba- 
luze,  in  his  preface  to  the  Capitularia,  or  laws  of  the 
kings  of  the  Franks,  and  is  also  amply  illustrated  in  that 
work.  See  also  J.  Basnage,  Hiftoire  de  I'Kglise,  tern.  i. 
p.  270. 


greatest  part  of  whose  high  renown  was  due 
to  his  violent  zeal  for  image  worship.* 

Cosmas,  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  who  acquired 
some  reputation  by  his  lyric  vein,  consecrated 
to  the  service  of  religion,  and  employed  in 
composing  hymns  for  public  and  private  devo- 
tion. 

George  Syncellus  and  Theophanes,  who  are 
not  the  least  considerable  among  the  writers 
of  the  Byzantine  history,  thougli  they  be  in 
all  respects  infinitely  below  the  ancient  Greek 
and  Latin  historians. 

But  the  writer,  who  surpassed  all  his  con- 
temporaries among  the  Greeks  and  Orientals, 
was  John  Daniascenus,  a  man  of  genius  and 
elotpience,  who,  in  a  variety  of  productions 
full  of  erudition,  explained  tiie  Peripatetic  phi- 
losophy, and  illustrated  the  capital  points  of 
the  Christian  doctrine.  It  must,  however,  be 
acknowledged  that  the  eminent  talents  of  tliis 
great  man  were  tainted  with  that  sordid  super- 
stition and  that  excessive  veneration  for  the 
ancient  fathers,  which  were  the  reigning  de- 
fects of  tlie  age  he  lived  in,  not  to  mention  his 
wretched  method  of  explaining  the  doctrines 
of  the  Gospel  according  to  the  principles  of 
the  Aristotelian  philosophy.! 

XVIII.  The  first  place,  among  the  Latin 
writers,  is  due  to  Ciiarlemagne,  whose  love  of 
letters  formed  one  of  the  brightest  ornaments 
of  his  imperial  dignity.  The  laws  which  are 
known  by  the  title  of  Capitularia,  with  several 
Epistles,  and  a  Book  concerning  Images,  are 
attributed  to  this  prince;  though  it  seems  highly 
probable  that  most  of  these  compositions  were 
drawn  up  by  other  pens.]; 

After  this  learned  prince,  we  may  justly 
place  the  venerable  Betle,  so  called  from  his 
illustrious  virtues;^  Alcuin,||  the  preceptor  of 
Charlemagne;  Paulinusof  Aqui]eia;1  who  were 
all  distinguished  by  their  laborious  apphcation, 
and  their  zeal  for  the  advancement  of  learn- 
ing and  science,  and  who  treated  the  various 
branches  of  literature,  known  in  this  century, 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  convince  us,  that  it 
was  the  infelicity  of  the  times,  rather  than  the 
want  of  genius,  that  prevented  them  from 
rising  to  higher  degrees  of  perfection  than 
what  they  attained  to.  Add  to  these,  Boni- 
face, of  whom  we  have  already  spoken:  Egin- 
hard,  the  celebrated  author  of  the  Life  of 
Charlemagne,  and  other  productions;  Paul, 
the  deacon,  who  acquired  a  considerable  and 
lasting  reputation  by  his  History  of  the  Lom- 
bards, his  Book  of  Homilies,  and  his  miscella- 
neous labours;  Ambrose  Authpert,  who  wrote 


*  See  Rich.  Simon,  Critique  de  la  Bibliotheque  Eccle- 
siastique  de  M.  Du-Pin,  torn.  i.  p.  270. 

t  Bayle,  Diction,  torn.  ii.  p.  950;  as  also  the  account  of 
the  writings  of  John  Damascenus,  which  is  published  in 
Le  Quien's  edition  of  his  works,  and  was  composed  by 
Leo  Allatius. 

t  See  Jo.  A.  Fabricii  Bibliotheca  medii  M,vi  Lat.  torn, 
i.  p.  9.'i6.  Histoire  Literairede  la  France,  torn.  iv.  p.  368. 

^  See  the  Acta  Sanctorum,  torn.  i.  April,  p.  866,  and 
the  Gen.  Dictionary,  at  the  article  Bedc.  A  list  of  the 
writings  of  this  venerable  Briton,  composed  by  himself,  is 
published  by  Muratori,  in  his  Antiq.  Italic,  medii  aevi, 
torn.  iii.  p.  325. 

II  Hist.  Liter,  de  la  France,  torn.  iv.  p.  295.— Gen.  Dic- 
tionary. 

IT  See  Hist.  Literaire,  *ic,  tom.  iv.  p.  286.— Acta  Sanet. 
torn.  i.  Januar.  p.  713. 


200 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


a  commentary  on  the  Revelations;  and  Theo- 
dulphus,  bishop  of  Orleans;  and  thus  we  shall 
have  a  complete  list  of  all  the  writers  who  ac- 
quired any  degree  of  esteem  in  this  century  by 
their  literary  productions,  either  sacred  or  pro- 
fane. 

CHAPTER  III. 

Concerning  the  Doctrine  of  the  Christian  Church 
during  this  Centurij. 

I.  The  fundamental  doctrines  of  Christian- 
ity were,  as  yet,  respected  and  preserved  in  the 
theological  writings,  both  of  the  Greeks  and 
Latins,  as  seems  evident  from  the  discourse  of 
John  Damascenus  concerning'  the  orthodox 
faith,  and  the  confession  of  faith  which  was 
drawn  up  by  Charlemagne.*  The  pure  seed 
of  celestial  truth  was,  however,  cholted  by  a 
monstrous  and  incredible  quantity  of  noxious 
weeds.  The  rational  simplicity  of  the  Chris- 
tian worship  was  corrupted  by  an  idolatrous 
veneration  for  images,  and  other  superstitious 
inventions,  and  the  sacred  flame  of  divine  cha- 
rity was  e.xtinguished  by  the  violent  conten- 
tions and  animosities  whicii  tiie  progress  of 
these  superstitions  occasioned  in  tlie  churcli. 
All  acknowledged  the  efficacy  of  our  Saviour's 
merits:  and  yet  all,  in  one  way  or  another, 
laboured,  in  effect,  to  diminisli  the  persuasion 
of  this  efficacy  in  the  minds  of  men,  by  teach- 
ing, that  Christians  miglit  appease  an  offended 
Deity  by  voluntary  acts  of  mortification,  or  by 
gifts  and  oblations  lavished  upon  the  church, 
and  by  exhorting  such  as  were  desirous  of  sal- 
vation to  place  their  confidence  in  the  works 
and  merits  of  the  saints.  Were  we  to  enlarge 
upon  all  the  absurdities  and  superstitions  wliich 
were  invented  to  flatter  the  passions  of  the 
misguided  multitude,  and  to  increase,  at  the 
expense  of  reason  and  Christianity,  the  opu- 
lence and  authority  of  a  licentious  clerg}^, 
such  an  immense  quantity  of  odious  materials 
would  swell  this  work  to  an  enormous  size. 

II.  The  piety  in  vogue,  during  this  and  some 
succeeding  ages,  consisted  in  building  and  em- 
bellisliing  churches  and  chapels,  in  endowing 
monasteries,  erecting  basilics,  hunting  after 
the  relics  of  saints  and  martyrs,  and  treating 
them  witli  an  e.xcessive  and  absurd  veneration, 
in  procuring  the  intercession  of  the  saints  by 
rich  oblations  or  superstitious  rites,  in  worship- 
ping images,  in  pilgrimages  to  those  places 
vvhicli  were  esteemed  holy,  and  chiefly  to 
Palestine,  and  the  like  absurd  and  extravagant 
practices  and  institutions.  The  pious  Chris- 
tian, and  the  profligate  transgressor,  showed 
equal  zeal  in  the  performance  of  these  super- 
stitious services,  which  were  looked  upon  as  of 
the  highest  etiicacy  in  order  to  the  attainment 
of  eternal  salvation:  they  were  performed  iiy 
the  latter  as  an  expiation  for  his  crimes,  and  a 
mean  of  appeasing  an  offended  Deity;   and  by 

*  See  the  treatise  of  this  prince  concerning  images, 
book  iii.  The  reader  may  also  consult  Mich.  Syncellus' 
Confession  of  Faith,  published  by  Monlfaucon,  in  his  Bib- 
liotheca  Coisliniana,  p.  90:  and,  among  the  Latins,  an  Ex- 
position of  the  principal  Doctrines  of  the  Christian  Reli- 
eion,  composed  by  Benedict,  abbot  of  Aniane,  and  pub- 
lished by  Baluze  in  his  Miscellanea,  torn.  v.  p.  5G;  as  also 
the  Creed  of  Leo  iii.,  published  in  the  same  work,  torn. 
vii.  p.  18. 


tlie  former  with  a  view  to  obtain,  from  above, 
the  good  things  of  this  life,  and  an  easy  and 
commodious  passage  to  life  eternal.  The  true 
religion  of  Jesus,  if  we  except  a  few  of  its  doc- 
trines contained  in  the  Creed,  was  utterly  un- 
known in  this  century,  not  only  to  the  multi- 
tude in  general,  but  also  to  the  doctors  of  the 
first  rank  and  eminence  in  the  church;  and  the 
consequences  of  this  corrupt  ignorance  were 
fatal  to  the  interests  of  virtue.  All  orders  of 
men,  regardless  of  the  obligations  of  morality, 
of  the  duties  of  the  Gospel,  and  of  the  culture 
and  improvement  of  their  minds,  rushed  head- 
long with  a  perfect  security  into  all  sorts  of 
wickedness,  from  the  delusive  hopes,  that  by  the 
intercession  and  prayers  of  the  saints,  and  the 
credit  of  the  priests  at  the  throne  of  God,  they 
niiglit  easily  obtain  the  remission  of  their  enor- 
mities, and  render  the  Deity  propitious.  This 
dismal  account  of  the  religion  and  morals  of 
the  eighth  century  is  confirmed  by  the  unani- 
mous testimony  of  all  the  liistorians  who  have 
written  of  the  affairs  of  that  period. 

III.  The  Greeks  were  of  opinion,  that  the 
holy  scriptures  had  been  successfully  interpret- 
ed and  explained  by  the  ancient  commentators, 
and  therefore  imagined,  that  they  rendered  a 
most  important  service  to  the  students  in  di- 
vinity, when,  without  either  judgment  or 
choice,  they  extracted  or  compiled  from  the 
works  of  these  admired  sages  their  explanatory 
observations  on  the  sacred  writings.  The 
commentary  of  John  Damascenus  upon  the 
epistles  of  St.  Paul,  which  was  taken  from  the 
writings  of  Chrysostom,  is  alone  sufficient  to 
serve  as  a  proof  of  tlie  little  discernment  with 
which  tliese  compilations  were  generally  made. 

The  Latin  expositors  may  be  divided  into 
two  classes,  according  to  the  different  nature 
of  their  productions.  In  tlie  first,  wo  place 
those  writers  who,  after  the  example  of  tlie 
Greeks,  employed  their  laliour  in  collecting 
into  one  body  the  interpretations  and  commen- 
taries of  the  ancients.  Bede  distinguished  him- 
self among  the  expositors  of  this  class  by  his 
explication  of  the  epistles  of  St.  Paul,  drawn 
from  the  writings  of  Augustin  and  others.* 
Still  more  estimable  are  the  writers  of  the  se- 
cond class,  who  made  use  of  their  own  pene- 
tration and  sagacity  in  investigating  the  sense 
of  the  holy  scriptures.  Such  were  Alcuin, 
Ambrose  Authpert,  the  expositor  of  the  Reve- 
lations, and  Bede  also,  who  belongs,  in  reality, 
to  both  classes.  It  must,  however,  be  acknow- 
ledged, that  all  these  commentators  were  desti- 
tute of  the  qualities  that  are  essential  to  the 
sacred  critic;  for  we  find  them  in  their  explica- 
tions neglecting  the  natural  sense  of  the  words 
of  Scripture,  and  running  blindfold  after  a  cer- 
tain hidden  and  mystical  meaning,  which,  to 
use  their  jargon,  they  usually  divided  into  alle- 
goi'ical,  analogical,  and  Iropological;]  and  thus 
they  delivered  their  own  rash  fictions  and  crude 
fancies,  as  the  true  and  genuine  sentiments  of 
the  sacred  writers.     Of  this  we  are  furnished 


*  See,  for  an  account  of  the  commentaries  of  Bede, 
Rich.  Simon's  Critique  de  la  Biblioth.  Ecclesiast.  de  M. 
Du-Pin,  torn.  i.  p.  280.  See  also  Bedae  Explicatio  Gene- 
seos  ex  Patribus,  in  Martenne's  Thesaur.  Anecdot.  torn. 
V.  p.  HI,  116,  140,  and  his  interpretation  of  Habakkuk, 
ibid.  p.  29.S. 
I     f  See  Caroluj  Magnus  de  Imaginibus,  lib.  i.  p.  138. 


Chap.  III. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


201 


with  many  examples  in  Alcuin's  Commentary 
on  St.  John,  Bede's  allegorical  illustrations 
of  the  Books  of  Samuel,  and  Charlemagne's 
Book  concerning  Images,  in  which  various  pas- 
sages of  the  lioly  scriptures  are  occasionally 
explained  according  to  the  taste  of  the  times.* 

IV.  The  veneration  of  Charlemagne  for  the 
Bacred  writings  was  so  excessive,!  as  to  induce 
him  to  suppose,  that  they  contained  the  latent 
seeds  and  principles  of  all  arts  and  sciences; 
an  opinion,  no  doubt,  which  he  early  imbibed 
from  the  lessons  of  his  preceptor  Alcuin,  and 
the  other  divines  who  frequented  his  court. 
Hence  arose  the  zeal  with  which  that  prince 
excited  and  encouraged  the  more  learned 
among  the  clergy  to  direct  their  pious  labours 
toward  the  illustration  of  the  holy  scriptures. 
Several  laws  which  he  published  to  encourage 
this  species  of  learning  are  yet  extant,  as  also 
various  monuments  of  his  deep  solicitude  about 
the  advancement  and  propagation  of  Christian 
knowledge. J  And  lest  the  faults  that  were  to 
be  found  in  several  places  of  the  Latin  trans- 
lation of  the  Scriptures  should  prove  an  obsta- 
cle to  the  e.xecution  and  accomplishment  of 
his  pious  views,  he  employed  Alcuin  in  cor- 
recting these  errors, §  and  is  said,  in  the  last 
years  of  his  life,  to  have  spent  a  considerable 
part  of  his  time  in  the  same  learned  and  pious 
work.  II  It  is  also  to  his  encouragement  and 
direction,  that  some  writers  attribute  the  first 
German  translation  of  the  sacred  writings, 
though  others  contend  that  this  honour  is  due 
to  his  son  and  successor  Louis,  surnanied  the 
Debonnaire. 

V.  This  zeal  and  industry  of  the  emperor 
contributed,  no  doubt,  to  rouse  from  their  sloth 
a  lazy  and  ignorant  clergy,  and  to  raise  up  a 
spirit  of  application  to  literary  pursuits.  We 
cannot,  however,  help  observing,  that  this  la- 
borious prince  imprudently  established  certain 
customs,  and  confirmed  others,  which  had  a 
manifest  tendency  to  defeat,  in  a  great  mea- 
sure, his  laudable  design  of  promoting  Chris- 
tian knowledge.  He  confirmed  the  practice 
already  in  use,  of  reading  and  explaining  to 
the  people,  in  the  public  assemblies,  certain 
portions  only  of  the  Scriptures;  and  reduced 
the  different  methods  of  worship,  followed  in 
different  churches,  into  one  fixed  rule,  which 
w£is  to  be  observed  with  the  most  perfect  uni- 
formity in  all.lT     Persuaded  also  that  tew  of 


*  See  the  same  imperial  author,  book  i.  p.  84,  91,  123, 
127,  131,  133,  136,  138, 145,  160,  164,  165,  &c. 

t  See  Carolus  Magnus,  de  Imagin.  lib.  i.  p.  231,  236. 

J  Jo.  Frickius,  de  Canone  Scripturse  Sacrae,  p.  184. 

^Baroniiis,  Annal.  ad  A.  DCCLXXVIII.  n.  xxvii.— Jo. 
A.  Fabricius,  Biblioth.  Lat.  mcdii  JEvi,  torn.  i.  p.  950. — 
Hist.  Lit.  de  la  France. 

II  J.  A.  Fabricius,  torn.  i.  p.  950. — Usserius,  de  sacris 
Scripturis  vernacul.  p.  110. 

IT  They  who  imagine  that  the  portions  of  Scripture 
which  arc  still  explained,  every  year,  to  Christians  in 
their  religious  assemblies,  were  selected  lor  that  purpose 
by  the  order  of  Charlemagne,  are  undoubtedly  in  an  er- 
ror; since  it  is  manifest,  that  in  the  preceding  ages  there 
were  certain  portions  of  Scripture  set  apart  for  each  day 
of  worship  iu  the  greatest  part  of  the  Latin  churches. 
See  Jo.  Henr.  Thameri  Schediasma  de  Origine  et  Digni- 
tate  Pericoparum  qua;  Evangelia  et  Epistolae  vulgo  vocan- 
tur.  See  also  Jo.  Franc.  Buddei  Isagoge  ad  Theologiam, 
torn.  ii.p.  1640.  It  must,  however,  be  confessed,  that  Char- 
lemagne introduced  some  new  regulations  into  this  part 
of  divine  service;  for  whereas,  before  his  time,  the  Latin 
churches  differed  from  each  other  in  several  circumstan- 
ces of  the  public  worship,  and  particularly  in  this,  that 
Vol.  I.— 26 


the  clergy  were  capable  of  explaining  with 
perspicuity  and  judgment  the  portions  of  Scrip- 
ture, which  are  distinguished  in  the  ritual  by 
the  name  of  epistle  and  gospel,  he  ordered 
Paul  the  deacon,  and  Alcuin,  to  compile  (from 
the  ancient  doctors  of  the  church)  homilies  or 
discourses  upon  the  epistles  and  gospels,  which 
a  stupid  and  ignorant  set  of  priests  were  to 
commit  to  memory,  and  recite  to  the  people. 
This  gave  rise  to  that  famous  collection,  which 
went  by  the  title  of  the  homiliarium  of  Char- 
lemagne," and  which,  being  followed  as  a 
model  by  many  productions  of  the  same  kind, 
composed  by  private  persons  from  a  principle 
of  pious  zeal,  contributed  much  to  nourish  the 
indolence,  and  to  perpetuate  the  ignorance  of 
a  worthless  clergy,  f  The  zeal  and  activity  of 
this  great  prince  did  not  stop  here;  for  he  or- 
dered the  lives  of  the  principal  saints  to  be 
written  in  a  moderate  volume,  of  which  copies 
were  dispersed  throughout  his  dominions,  that 
the  people  might  have,  in  the  dead,  examples 
of  piety  and  virtue,  wiiicli  were  no  where  to 
be  found  among  the  living.  All  these  projects 
and  designs  were  certainly  formed  and  execut- 
ed with  upright  and  pious  intentions,  and,  con- 
sidering the  state  of  things  in  this  century, 
were,  in  several  respects,  both  useful  and  ne- 
cessary; they,  however,  contrary  to  the  empe- 
ror's intention,  contributed,  undoubtedly,  to 
encourage  the  priests  in  their  criminal  sloth, 
and  their  shameful  neglect  of  the  study  of  the 
Scriptures.  For  the  majority  of  them  era- 
ployed  their  time  and  labour  only  upon  those 
parts  of  the  sacred  writings,  which  the  empe- 
ror had  appointed  to  be  read  in  the  churches. 


the  same  portions  of  Scripture  were  not  read  and  explain 
ed  in  them  all,  he  published  a  solemn  edict,  commanding 
all  the  religious  assemblies  within  his  territories  to  con- 
form themselves,  iu  that  respect,  to  the  rules  established 
in  the  church  of  Rome.  With  respect  to  the  portions  of 
Scripture  which  we  call  the  epistles  and  gospels,  and 
which,  from  the  time  of  Charlemagne  down  to  us,  con- 
tinue to  be  used  iu  divine  worship,  it  is  certain  that  they 
were  read  in  the  church  of  Rome  so  early  as  the  sixth 
century.  It  is  also  certain,  that  this  prince  was  extremely 
careful  in  reforming  the  service  of  the  Latin  churches, 
and  appointed  the  form  of  worship  used  at  Rome  to  be 
observed  in  all  of  them.  Hence  the  churches  which  did 
not  adopt  the  Roman  ritual,  have  different  epistles  and 
gospels  from  those  which  are  used  by  us  and  the  other 
western  churches,  who  were  commanded  by  Charlemagne 
to  imitate  the  Roman  service.  The  church  of  Corbetta 
is  an  example  of  this,  as  may  be  seen  in  Muratori's  Antiq. 
Hal.  tom.  iv.  p.  836;  and  also  the  churchof  Milan,  which 
follows  the  rite  of  St.  Ambrose.  If  any  are  desirous  to 
know  what  epistles  and  gospels  were  used  by  the  Franks 
and  other  western  churches  before  the  time  of  Charle- 
magne, they  have  only  to  consult  the  Calendars  published 
by  Martenue,  in  his  Thesaur.  Anecdot.  tom.  v.  p.  66,  the 
Discourses  of  Bede  published  in  the  same  work,  tom.  v. 
p.  339,  and  Mabillon,  de  Antiqua  Liturgia  Gallicana;  to 
all  which  may  be  added  Peyrat,  Antiquites  de  la  Chapelle 
du  Roi  de  France,  p.  566. 

*  See,  for  an  account  of  this  book  of  Homilies,  the 
learned  .Seelen's  SelectaLiteraria,  p.  252. 

t  Alan,  abbot  of  Farfa  in  Italy,  wrote  in  this  century  a 
very  copious  Book  of  Homilies,  the  preface  to  which  is 
published  by  Bernard  Pe/.ius,  in  the  Thesaur.  Anecdot. 
torn.  vi.  part  i.  p.  83.  In  the  following  age  several  worka 
under  the  same  title  were  composed  by  learned  men;  one 
by  Haymo,  of  Halberstadt,  which  is  still  extant;  another 
by  Rabanus  Maurus,  at  the  request  of  the  emperor  Lo- 
thaire;  and  a  third  by  Hericus,  mentioned  by  Pezius  in 
the  work  above  quoted,  p.  93.  All  these  were  written  in 
Latin.  The  famous  Ottfrid,  of  Weissenburg,  was  the 
first  who  composed  a  Book  of  Homilies  in  the  Teutonic 
language;  for  an  account  of  this  work,  which  was  written 
in  {he  ninth  century,  see  Lambecius,  de  Biblioth.  Vindo- 
bon.  August,  tom.  ii.  cap.  v.  p.  419, 


202 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


and  explained  to  the  people;  and  never  at- 
tempted to  exercise  their  capacities  upon  the 
reBt  of  the  divine  word.  The  greatest  part  of 
the  clergy  also,  instead  of  composing  them- 
eelves  the  discourses  they  recited  in  public, 
confined  themselves  to  the  book  of  homilies, 
published  by  the  authority  of  their  sovereign, 
and  thus  suffered  their  talents  to  lie  unoulti-  j 
vated  and  unemployed. 

VI.  None  of  the  Latins  carried  their  tjieolo-  i 
gical  enterprises  so  far  as  to  give  a  complete,  j 
connected,  and  accurate  S3'stem  of  the  various  | 
doctrines  of  Christianity.  It  would  be  absurd  i 
to  comprehend,  under  this  title,  the  various 
discourses  concerning  the  person  and  nature  of; 
Christ,  which  were  designed  to  refute  the  er- 
rors of  Felix*  and  Elipand,  or  to  combat  the 
opinions  wliich  were  now  spread  abroad  con- 
cerning the  origin  of  the  Holy  Ghost, f  and 
several  other  points;  since  these  discourses  af- 
ford no  proofs  either  of  precision  or  diligence 
in  their  authors.  The  labours  and  industry  of 
the  divines  of  this  age  were  vi'holly  employed 
in  collecting  the  opinions  and  authorities  of 
the  fathers,  by  whom  are  meant  the  theologi- 
cal writers  of  the  first  six  centuries;  and  so 
blind  and  servile  was  their  veneration  for  these 
doctors,  that  they  regarded  their  dictates  as  in- 
fallible, and  their  writings  as  the  boundaries  of 
truth,  beyond  which  reason  was  not  permitted 
to  push  its  researches.  The  Irish,  or  Hiber- 
nians, who  in  this  century  were  known  by  the 
name  of  Scots,  were  the  only  divines  who  re- 
fused to  dishonour  their  reason  by  subjecting 
it  implicitly  to  the  dictates  of  authority.  Na- 
turally subtile  and  sagacious,  they  applied  their 
philosophy  (such  as  it  was)  to  the  illustration 
of  the  truth  and  doctrines  of  religion;  a  me- 
thod which  was  almost  generally  abhorred  and 
exploded  by  all  other  nations.J 


Q(^  *  The  doctrine  taught  by  Felix,  bishop  of  Urge], 
and  his  disciple  Elipand.  archbishop  of  Toledo,  was,  tliat 
Jesus  Christ  was  the  .Son  of  God,  not  by  nature,  but  by 
adoption.  This  doctrine  was  also  intimately  connected 
with  the  Nestorian  hypothesis,  and  was  condemned,  in 
this  century,  by  the  synod  of  Ratisbon,  and  the  councils 
of  Frankfort  and  Frioul. 

{(U-fThe  error  now  p\iblished  relating  to  the  Holy 
Ghost  was,  that  it  proceeded  from  the  Father  only,  and 
not  from  tlie  Father  and  the  Son. 

J  That  the  Hibernians,  who  were  called  Scots  in  this 
sentury,  were  lovers  of  learning,  and  distinguishf  d  theni- 
•elvcs,  in  those  times  of  ignorance,  by  the  culture  of  the 
sciences  beyond  all  the  other  European  nations,  travelling 
through  the  most  distant  lands,  both  with  a  view  to  im- 
prove and  to  communicate  their  knowledge, is  a  fact  with 
which  I  have  long  been  acquainted, as  we  see  them,  in  the 
most  authentic  records  of  antiquity,  discharging,  with 
the  highest  reputation  and  applause,  the  doctorial  lunc- 
tion  in  France,  Germany,  and  Italy,  both  during  this  and 
the  following  century.  But  that  these  Hibernians  were 
the  first  teachers  of  the  scholastic  theology  in  Europe,  and, 
so  early  as  the  eighth  century,  illustrated  the  doctrines  of 
religion  by  the  principles  of  philosophy,  I  learned  but 
lately  from  tl\e  testimony  of  Benedict,  abbot  of  Aniane, 
who  lived  in  this  period.  This  learned  abbot,  in  his  Let- 
ter to  Guarnarius,  p.  54,  expresses  himself  thus:  "  Apud 
mode'rnos  scholasticos  (i.  e.  public  teachers,  or  school- 
masters) maxime  apud  Scotos  est  syllogismus  delusionis, 
ut  dicant,  Trinitatem,  sicut  personarum,  ita  esse  substan- 
tiarum;"  (by  this  it  appears,  that  the  Irish  divines  made 
use  of  a  certain  syllogism,  which  Benedict  calls  delusive. 
t.  e.  fallacious  and  sophistical,  to  demonstrate  that  the  per- 
sons in  the  Godhead  were  substances;  a  captious  syllo- 
gism this,  as  we  may  see  from  what  follows,  and  also  every 
way  proper  to  throw  the  ignorant  into  the  greatest  per- 
plexity) "  quatenus  si  adsenserit  illectus  auditor,  Trinita- 
tem e«8e  trium  sabstantianim  Deum,trium  derogetur  cul- 


The  Greeks  were  not  so  destitute  of  syste- 
matical divines  as  the  Latins.  John  Damasce- 
nus  co.mposed  a  complete  body  of  the  Chria- 
tian  doctrine  in  a  scientifical  method,  under 
the  title  of  Four  Books  concerning  the  Ortho- 
dox Faith.  The  two  kinds  of  theology,  which 
the  Latins  termed  scholastic  and  didactic,  were 
united  in  this  laborious  performance,  in  which 
the  author  not  only  explains  the  doctrines  he 
delivers  by  subtile  and  profound  reasoning,  but 
also  confirms  his  explications  by  the  authority 
of  the  ancient  doctors.  This  book  was  receiv- 
ed among  the  Greeks  with  the  highest  ap- 
plause, and  was  so  excessively  admired,  that  at 
length  it  came  to  be  acknowledged  among  that 
people  as  the  only  rule  of  divine  truth.  Many, 
however,  complain  of  this  applauded  writer, 
as  having  consulted  more,  in  his  theological 
system,  the  conjectures  of  human  reason  and 
the  opinions  of  the  ancients,  than  the  genuine 
dictates  of  the  sacred  oracles,  and  of  having, 
in  consequence  of  this  method,  deviated  from 
the  true  source  and  the  essential  principles  of 
theology.*  To  the  work  of  Damascenus  now 
mentioned,  we  may  add  his  Sacred  Parallels, 
in  which  he  has  collected,  with  uncommon 
care  and  industry,  the  opinions  of  the  ancient 
doctors  concerning  various  points  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion.  We  may,  therefore,  look  upon 
this  writer  as  the  Thomas  and  Lombard  of  the 
Greeiis. 

VII.  None  of  the  moral  writers  of  this  cen- 
tury attempted  to  form  a  complete  system  of 
the  duties  and  virtues  of  the  Christian  life. 
John,  surnamed  Carpathius,  a  Greek  writer, 
composed  some  e.xhortatory  discourses,  in 
whicli  there  are  scarcely  any  marks  of  judgment 
or  genius.  Among  the  monastic  orders  no- 
thing was  relished  but  the  enthusiastic  strains 
of  the  Mystics,  and  the  doctrines  of  Dionysius 
the  Areopagite,  their  pretended  chief,  whose 
si;ppositilioiis  writings  were  interpreted  and 
explained  by  Johannes  Darensis  out  of  com- 
plaisance to  the  monks. t  The  Latin  writers 
confined  their  labours  in  morality  to  some  ge- 
neral precepts  concerning  virtue  and  vice, 
which  seemed  rather  intended  to  regulate  the 
external  actions  of  Christians,  than  to  purify 
their  inward  principles,  or  to  fix  duty  upon  its 
proper  foundations.     Their  precepts  also,  such 


tor  Dcorum:  si  autem  abnuerit,  personarum  denegator 
culpetur."  It  was  with  such  miserable  sophistry,  that 
these  subtile  divines  puzzled  and  tormented  their  disciple» 
and  hearers,  accusing  those  of  Tritheism  who  admitted 
their  argument,  and  casting  the  reproach  of  Sabellianism 
upon  those  who  rejected  it.  For  thus  they  reasoned,  or 
rather  quibbled;  "You  must  eitlier  affirm  or  deny  that 
the  three  Persons  in  the  Deity  are  three  substances.  If 
you  affirm  it,  you  are  undoubtedly  a  Tritheist,  and  wor- 
ship three  Gods:  if  you  deny  it,  this  denial  implies  that 
they  are  not  three  distinct  persons,  and  thus  you  fall  into 
Sabellianism."  Benedict  condemns  this  Hibernian  sub- 
tilty,  and  severely  animadverts  upon  the  introduction  of 
it  into  theology;  lie  also  recommends  in  its  place  that  ami- 
able simplicity  which  is  so  conformable  to  the  nature  and 
genius  of  the  Gospel: — "Sed  haec  de  fide  (says  he)  et  om- 
nis  callidilatis  versutia,  simplicitate  fidei  catholicae  et  pu- 
ritate,  vitanda,  non  captiosa  interjectione  linguarum,  scae- 
va  impact ione  interpolanda. "  Hence  it  appears,  that  the 
philosophical  or  scholastic  theology,  among  the  Latins,  is 
of  more  ancient  date  than  is  commonly  imagined. 

*Jo.  Henr.  Hottinger.  Bibliothecar.  Quadripart. 
lib.  iii.  cap.  ii.  sect.  lii.  p.  372. — Mart.  Chcmnitius,  d» 
Usu  et  Utilitate  Locor.  Commun.p.  26. 

f  Aesemani  Biblioth.  Oriental.  Vatican,  torn.  ii.  p.  120. 


Cbap.  III. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


203 


as  they  were,  and  their  manner  of  explaining 
them,  had  now  imbibed  a  strong  tincture  of 
the  Peripatetic  philosophy,  as  appears  from 
certain  tracts  of  Bade,  and  the  treatise  of  Al- 
cuin  concerning  virtue  and  vice."  That  the 
people,  however,  might  be  animated  to  the 
pursuit  of  virtue  by  tiie  commanding  power  of 
example,  Bede,  FJorus,  Alcuin,  Marcellinus, 
Ambrose,  Autiipert,  and  others,  employed  tiieir 
pious  industry  in  writing  tlie  lives  of  such  as 
had  been  eminent  for  their  piety  and  worthy 
deeds. 

VIII.  Tne  controversies  that  turned  upon 
the  main  and  essential  points  of  religion  were, 
during  this  century,  few  in  number,  and 
scarcely  any  of  tliem  were  managed  with  tole- 
rable sagacity  or  judgment.  The  greatest  part 
of  the  Greeks  were  involved  in  the  dis])ute 
concerning  images,  in  which  their  reasonings 
were  utterly  destitute  of  precision  and  perspi- 
cuity, while  the  Latins  employed  their  chief 
zeal  and  industry  in  confuting  and  extirpating 
the  doctrine  of  Elipand  concerning  the  person 
of  Christ.  John  Damascenus  exposed  the  er- 
rors of  all  the  different  sects  in  a  short  but 
useful  and  interesting  treatise;  he  also  attack- 
ed the  Manichffians  and  Nestorians  with  a  par- 
ticular vehemence,  and  even  went  so  far  in  his 
polemic  labours,  as  to  combat  the  erroneous 
doctrines  of  the  Saracens.  In  these  composi- 
tions we  find  several  proofs  of  subtilty  and  ge- 
nius, but  very  little  of  that  clearness  and  sim- 
plicity that  constitute  the  cliief  merit  of  po- 
lemic writings.  The  Jews  were  left  almost 
unmolested,  as  the  Christians  were  sufficient!}' 
employed  by  the  controversies  that  had  arisen 
among  themselves:  Anastasius,  abbot  of  Pales- 
tine, however,  made  some  attempts  to  subdue 
the  infidelity  of  that  obstinate  people. 

IX.  Of  all  the  controversies  which  agitated 
and  perplexed  the  Christian  church  during  this 
century,  that  which  arose  concerning  tiie  wor- 
ship of  images  in  Greece,  and  was  thence  car- 
ried into  both  the  eastern  and  western  pro- 
vinces, was  tiie  most  unhappy  and  pernicious 
in  its  consequences.  The  first  sparks  of  this 
terrible  flame,  which  threatened  ruin  both  to 
the  interests  of  religion  and  government,  had 
already  appeared  under  the  reign  of  Philippi- 
cus  Bardanes,  who  was  created  emperor  of  the 
Greeks  soon  after  the  commencement  of  this 
c«ntury.  This  prince,  with  the  consent  of 
John  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  ordered  a 
picture,  which  represented  the  sixth  general 
council,  to  be  pulled  down  from  its  place  in  the 
church  of  Sophia,  in  '12,  because  this  council 
had  condemned  the  Monothelites,  whose  cause 
the  emperor  espoused  with  the  greatest  ardour 
and  vehemence.  Nor  did  Bardanes  stop  here; 
but  sent  immediately  an  order  to  Rome  to  re- 
move all  representations  of  that  nature  from 
the  churches  and  other  places  of  worship.  His 
orders,  however,  were  far  from  being  received 
with  submission,  or  producing  their  designed 
effect:  on  the  contrary,  Constantino,  the  Ro- 
man pontiff,  not  only  rejected,  by  a  formal  pro- 
test, the  imperial  edict,  but  resolved  to  express 
his  contempt  of  it  by  his  actions  as  well  as  his 


*  This  treatise  is  extant  in  the  works  of  Alcuin,  pub- 
lulicd  by  Quercetanus,  torn.  ii.  p.  1218. 


words.  He  ordered  six  pictures,  representing 
the  six  general  councils,  to  be  placed  in  the 
porch  of  St.  Peter's  church;  and  that  no  act 
of  rebellion  or  arrogance  might  be  left  unem- 
ployed, he  assembled  a  council  at  Rome,  in 
whicli  he  caused  the  emperor  himself  to  be 
condemned  as  an  apostate  from  the  true  reli- 
gion. These  first  tumults  were  quelled  by  a 
revolution,  which,  in  the  following  year,  de- 
prived Bardanes  of  the  imperial  throne.* 

X.  Tlie  dispute,  however,  broke  out  with 
redoubled  fury  under  Leo  the  Isaurian,  a  prince 
of  the  greatest  resolution  and  intrepidity;  and 
the  new  tumults  which  it  excited  were  both 
violent  and  durable.  Leo,  unable  to  bear  any 
longer  the  excessive  height  to  which  the 
Greeks  carried  their  superstitious  attachment 
to  tlie  worship  of  images,  and  the  sharp  raille- 
ries and  serious  reproaches  which  tliis  idola- 
trous service  drew  upon  the  Christians  from 
the  Jews  and  Saracens,  resolved,  by  the  most 
vigorous  proceedings,  to  root  out  at  once  this 
growing  evil.  For  this  purpose  he  issued  an 
edict  in  726,  by  which  it  was  ordered,  not  only 
that  the  worship  of  images  should  be  abrogat- 
ed and  relinquished,  but  also  that  all  the  im- 
ages, except  that  of  Christ's  crucifixion,  should 
be  removed  out  of  the  churches.]  In  this  pro- 
ceeding the  emperor  acted  more  from  the  im- 
pulse of  his  natural  character,  which  was  warm 
and  vehement,  than  from  the  dictates  of  pru- 
dence, which  avoids  precipitancy  where  preju- 
dices are  to  be  combated,  and  destroys  and  un- 
dermines inveterate  superstitions  rather  by 
slow  and  imperceptible  attacks,  than  by  open 
and  violent  assaults.  The  imperial  edict  pro- 
duced such  effects  as  might  have  been  expect- 
ed from  the  frantic  enthusiasm  of  a  supersti- 
tious people.  A  civil  war  broke  out  in  the 
islands  of  tite  Archipelago,  ravaged  a  part  of 
Asia,  and  afterwards  reached  Italy.  The  peo- 
ple, partly  from  their  own  ignorance,  but  prin- 
cipally in  consequence  of  the  perfidious  sug- 

j  gestions  of  the  priests  and  monks,  who  had 
I  artfully  rendered  the  worship  of  images  a 
[source  of  opulence  to  their  churches  and  clois- 
!  ters,  were  led  to  regard  the  emperor  as  an  apos- 
t  tate;  and  hence  they  considered  themselves  as 
I  freed  from  their  oath  of  allegiance,  and  from 

all  the  obligations   which    attach  subjects  to 

their  lawful  sovereign. 

XI.  The  Roman  pontiffs,  Gregory  II.  and 
III.,  were  the  authors  and  ringleaders  of  these 
civil  connnotions  and  insurrections  in  Italy. 
The  former,  on  the  emperor's  refusing  to  re- 
voke his  edict  against  images,  declared  him, 

*  See  Fred.  Spauhemii  Historia  Iinaginuni  restituta; 
aUo  llie  Annalis  Italinc  by  Muratori,  vol.  iv. — Maim- 
bourg's  history  of  this  controversy  is  full  of  the  most 
absurd  and  malignant  fictions. 

{)t7"t  In  tli's  account  of  the  imperial  edict.  Dr.  Mo 
sheim  follows  the  opinions  of  Baroiiius,  Fleury,  and  Le 
Sueur.  Others  affirm,  with  greater  probability,  that  this 
famous  edict  did  not  enjoin  the  pulling  down  images  every 
where,  and  casting  them  out  of  the  churches,  but  only 
proliibiltd  the  paying  to  tliem  any  kind  of  adoration  or 
worship.  It  would  seem  as  if  Leo  was  not,  at  first,  averse 
to  the  use  of  images,  as  ornaments,  or  even  as  helps  to 
devotion  and  memory;  for,  at  the  same  time  that  he  for- 
bade them  to  be  worshipped,  he  ordered  them  to  be  placed 
higher  in  the  churches,  some  say,  to  avoid  this  adoration; 
but  afterwards  finding  that  they  were  the  occasion  of 
idolatry,  he  caused  them  to  be  removed  from  the  ohurche* 
and  broken. 


204 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  IL 


without  hesitation,  unwortiiy  of  the  name  and 
privileges  of  a  Christian,  and  thus  excluded 
him  from  the  communion  of  the  church;  and 
no  sooner  was  this  formidable  sentence  made 
public,  than  the  Romans,  and  otlier  Italian 
communities,  that  were  subject  to  the  Grecian 
empire,  violated  their  allegiance,  and,  rising 
in  arms,  either  massacred  or  banished  all  the 
emperor's  deputies  and  officers.  Leo,  exaspe- 
rated by  these  insolent  proceedings,  resolved 
to  chastise  the  Italian  rebels,  and  to  make  the 
haughty  pontiff  feel  in  a  particular  manner  tlie 
effects  of  his  resentment;  but  he  failed  in  the 
attempt.  Doubly  irritated  by  this  disappoint- 
ment, he  vented  his  fury  against  images,  and 
their  worshippers,  in  730,  in  a  much  more  ter- 
rible manner  than  he  had  hitherto  done;  for, 
in  a  council  assembled  at  Constantinople,  he 
degraded  from  his  office  Germanus,  the  bishop 
of  that  imperial  city,  who  was  a  patron  of  im- 
ages, put  Anastasius  in  his  place,  ordered  all 
the  images  to  be  publicly  burned,  and  inflicted 
a  variety  of  severe  punishments  upon  such  as 
were  attached  to  that  idolatrous  worship.  These 
rigorous  measures  divided  the  Christian  church 
into  two  violent  factions,  whose  contests  were 
carried  on  with  an  ungoverned  rage,  and  pro- 
duced nothing  but  mutual  invectives,  crimes, 
and  assassinations.  Of  these  factions,  one 
adopted  the  adoration  and  worship  of  images, 
and  were  on  that  account  called  Iconoduli  or 
IconolatriE;  while  the  other  maintained  that 
Buch  worship  was  unlawful,  and  that  nothing 
was  more  worthy  of  the  zeal  of  Christians, 
than  to  demolish  and  destroy  the  statues  and 
pictures  that  were  the  occasions  and  objects  of 
this  gross  idolatry;  and  hence  they  were  dis- 
tinguished by  the  titles  of  Iconomachi  and 
IconoclastsB.  The  furious  zeal  which  Gregory 
II.  had  shewn  in  defending  the  odious  super- 
stition of  image-worship,  was  not  only  imita- 
ted, but  even  surpassed  by  his  successor,  who 
was  the  third  pontiff  of  that  name;  and  though, 
at  this  distance  of  time,  we  are  not  acquainted 
with  all  the  criminal  circumstances  that  at- 
tended the  intemperate  zeal  of  these  insolent 
prelates,  we  know  with  certainty  that  it  was 
their  extravagant  attachment  to  image-wor- 
ship that  chiefly  occasioned  the  separation  of 
the  Italian  provinces  from  the  Grecian  empire.* 


•  The  Greek  writers  tell  us,  that  both  the  Gregories 
carried  their  insolence  so  far  as  to  excommunicate  Leo 
and  his  son  Coustantine,  to  dissolve  the  obligation  of  llie 
oath  of  allegiance,  ■yvliich  the  people  of  Italy  had  taken 
to  these  princes,  and  to  prohibit  their  paying  tribute  to 
them,  or  showing  them  any  marks  of  submissiou  and  obe- 
dience. These  facts  are  also  acknowledged  by  many  of 
the  partisans  of  the  Roman  pontISs,  such  as  Baronius, 
Sigonius,  and  their  numerous  followers.  On  the  otlier 
hand,  some  learned  writers,  particularly  among  the 
French,  alleviate  considerably  the  crime  of  the  Gregories, 
and  positively  deny  that  they  either  excommunicated  the 
emperors  above-mentioned,  or  called  off  the  people  from 
their  duty  and  allegiance.  See  Launoius,  Epist.  lib.  vii. 
Ep.  vii.  p.  456.  lorn.  v.  op.  par.  ii. — Nat.  Alexander,  Se- 
lect. Histor.  Ecclesiast.  Capit.  Siec.  viii.  dissert,  i.  p.  456. 
Dc  Marca,  Concordia  Sacerdotii  et  Imperii,  lib.  iii.  cap. 
xi. — Bossuet,  Defens.  Declarationis  Cleri  Giallic.  de  Po- 
testate  Eccles.  par.  i.  lib.  vi.  cap.  xii.  p.  197. — Giannone, 
Historiadi  A^apoli,vol.  i.  All  these  found  their  opinions, 
Boncerning  the  conduct  of  the  Gregories,  chiefly  upon  the 
authority  of  the  Latin  writers,  such  as  Anastasius,  Paul 
the  Deacon,  and  others,  who  seem  to  have  known  nothing 
of  that  audacious  insolence,  with  which  these  pontiffs  are 
laid  to  hare  opposed   the  emperors,  and  even  represent 


XII.  Constantino,  to  whom  the  furious  tribe 
of  the  image-worshippers  had  given  by  way  of 
derision  the  name  of  Copronymus,*  succeeded 
his  father  Leo  in  the  empire,  in  741,  and,  ani- 
mated with  an  equal  zeal  and  ardour  against 
the  new  idolatry,  employed  all  his  influence 
for  the  abolition  of  the  worship  of  images,  in 
opposition  to  the  vigorous  efforts  of  the  Ro- 
man pontiffs  and  the  superstitious  monks.  His 
manner  of  proceeding  was  attended  with 
greater  marks  of  equity  and  moderation,  than 
had  appeared  in  the  measures  pursued  by  Leo: 
for,  knowing  the  respect  which  the  Greeks  had 
for  the  decisions  ol^  general  councils,  whose 
authority  they  considered  as  supreme  and  un- 
hmited  in  religious  matters,  he  assembled  at 
Constantinople,  in  754,  a  council  composed  of 
the  eastern  bishops,  in  order  to  have  this  im- 
portant question  examined  with  the  utmost 
care,  and  decided  with  wisdom,  seconded  by  a 
just  and  lawful  authority.  This  assembly, 
which  the  Greeks  regard  as  the  seventh  oecu- 
menical council,  gave  judgment,  as  was  the 
custom  of  those  times,  in  favour  of  the  opin- 
ion embraced  by  the  emperor,  and  solemnly 
condemned  the  worship  and  also  the  use  of 
images.!  But  this  decision  was  not  sufficient 
to  vanquish  the  blind  obstinacy  of  superstition: 
many  adhered  still  to  their  idolatrous  worship; 
and  none  made  a  more  turbulent  resistance  to 
the  wise  decree  of  this  council  than  the  monks, 
who  still  continued  to  excite  commotions  in 
the  state,  and  to  blow  the  flames  of  sedition 
and  rebellion  among  the  people.  Their  ma- 
lignity was,  however,  chastised  by  Constan- 
tino, who,  filled  with  a  just  indignation  at 
their  seditious  practices,  pimished  several  of 
them  in  an  exemplary  manner,  and  by  new 
laws  set  bounds  to  the  violence  of  monastic 
rage.  Leo  IV.,  who,  after  the  death  of  Con- 
stantino, was  declared  emperor,  in  775,  adopt- 
ed the  sentiments  of  his  father  and  grandfa- 
ther, and  pursued  the  measures  which  they 
had  concerted  for  the  extirpation  of  idolatry 
out  of  the  Christian  churcli;  for,  having  per- 
ceived that  the  worshippers  of  images  could 
not  be  engaged  by  mild  and  gentle  proceed- 
ings to  abandon  this  superstitious  practice,  he 
had  recourse  to  the  coercive  influence  of  penal 
laws. 

XIII.  A  cup  of  poison,  administered  by  the 
impious  counsel  of  a  perfidious  wife,  deprived 
Leo  IV.  of  his  life,  in  7S0,  and  rendered  the 
idolatrous  cause  of  images  triumphant.  The 
profligate  Irene,  after  having  thus  dismissed 
her  husband  from  the  world,  held  the  reins  of 
empire  during  the  minorit}'  of  her  son  Con- 


them  as  having  given  several  marks  of  their  submission 
and  obedience  to  the  imperial  authority.  Such  are  the 
contrary  accounts  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  writers;  and 
the  most  prudent  use  we  can  make  of  them  is,  to  suspend 
our  judgment  with  respect  to  a  matter,  which  the  obscu- 
rity that  covers  the  history  of  this  period  renders  it  im- 
possible to  clear  up.  All  tfiat  we  can  know  with  certainty 
is,  that  the  zeal  of  the  tv^•o  pontiffs  above-mentioned  for 
the  worship  of  images,  furnished  to  the  people  of  Italy 
the  occasion  of  falling  from  their  allegiance  to  the  Gre- 
cian emperors. 

(t(^  *  This  nick-name  was  given  to  Constantine,  from 
his  iiaviug  defiled  the  sacred  font  at  his  baptism. 

(}C^  f  The  authority  of  this  council  is  not  acknowledg 
ed  by  the  Roman  catholics,  who  also  disregard  the  obli 
gation  of  the  second  commandment,  which  they  have  pru 
dently  struck  out  of  the  decalogue. 


Chap.  III. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


stantine;  and,  to  establish  her  authority  on 
more  soHd  foundations,  entered  into  an  alh- 
ance  with  Adrian,  bishop  of  Rome,  in  786, 
and  summoned  a  council  at  Nice  in  Bithynia, 
which  is  known  by  the  title  of  the  second  Ni- 
cene  council.  In  this  assembly  the  imperial 
laws  concerning  the  new  idolatry  were  abro- 
gated, the  decrees  of  the  council  of  Constanti- 
nople reversed,  the  worshij)  of  images  and  of 
the  cross  restored,  and  severe  punishments  de- 
nounced against  such  as  maintained  tliat  God 
was  the  only  object  of  religious  adoration.  It 
is  impossible  to  imagine  any  thing  more  ridi- 
culous and  trilling  tlian  the  arguments  upon 
which  the  bishops,  assembled  in  this  council, 
founded  their  decrees.*  Tlie  Romans,  how- 
ever, held  sacred  the  authority  of  these  de- 
crees; and  the  Greeks  considered  in  the  light 
of  parricides  and  traitors  all  such  as  refused  to 
submit  to  them.  The  other  enormities  of  the 
flagitious  Irene,  and  her  deserved  fate,  cannot, 
with  propriety,  be  treated  of  here. 

XIV.  In  these  violent  contests,  the  greater 
part  of  the  Latins,  such  as  the  Britons,  Ger- 
mans, and  Gauls,  seemed  to  steer  a  middle 
way  between  the  opposite  tenets  of  the  con- 
tending parties.  Tliey  were  of  opinion  that 
images  might  be  lawfully  preserved,  and  even 
placed  in  the  churches;  but,  at  the  same  time, 
they  looked  upon  all  worship  of  them  as  highly 
injurious  and  offensive  to  the  Supreme  Being. f 
Such,  particularly,  were  the  sentiments  of 
Charlemagne,  who  distinguished  himself  in  j 
this  important  controversy.  By  the  advice  of 
the  French  bishops,  who  were  no  friends  to  j 
this  second  council  of  Nice,  he  ordered  some  I 
learned  and  judicious  divine  to  compose  Four 
Books  concerning  Images,  which  lie  sent,  in 
790,  to  Adrian,  the  Roman  pontiff,  with  a 
view  of  engaging  him  to  withdraw  his  appro- 
bation of  the  decrees  of  that  council.  In  this 
performance  the  reasons  alleged  by  the  Nicene 
bishops  to  justify  the  worship  of  images,  are 
refuted  with  great  accuracy  and  spirit.  J  They 
were  not,  however,  left  without  defence: — 
Adrian,  who  was  afraid  of  acknowledging 
even  an  emperor  for  his  master,  composed  an 
answer  to  the  four  books  mentioned  above;  but 
neither  his  arguments,  nor  his  authority,  were 
sufficient  to  support  the  superstition  he  endea- 
voured to  maintain;  for,  in  794,  Charlemagne 


*  Mart.  Chemnitius,  Exaraen  Concilii  Tridentini,  par. 
IT.  lib.  ii.  cap.  v.  p.  52.— L'Enfant,  Preservatif  contre  la 
Reunion  avec  le  Siege  de  Rome,  par.  iii.  lettre  xvii.  p.  446. 

t  The  aversion  the  Britons  had  to  the  worship  of  ima- 
ges, may  be  seen  in  .Spelman,  Concil,  Maguae  Brilanniae, 
torn.  i.  p.  73. 

{The  books  of  Charlemagne  concerning  Images,  which 
deserve  an  attentive  perusal,  are  yet  extant;  and,  whin 
they  were  extremely  scarce,  were  republished  at  Hanover, 
in  1731,  by  the  celebrated  Christopher  Aug.  Heuman, 
who  enriched  this  edition  with  a  learned  preface.  These 
books  are  adorned  with  the  venerable  name  of  Charle- 
magne; but  it  is  easy  to  perceive  that  they  are  the  produc- 
tions of  a  scholastic  divine,  and  not  of  an  emperor.  .Seve- 
ral learned  men  have  conjectured,  that  Charlemagne  com- 
posed these  books  with  the  assistance  of  his  preceptor  Al- 
cuin;  see  Heuman's  Pref.  p.  51;  and  Bunau'sHistoria  Im- 
perii German,  torn.  i.  p.  490.  This  conjecture,  though 
Ur  from  being  contemptible,  cannot  be  admitted  without 
hesitation,  since  Alcuiu  was  in  England  when  these  book,s 
were  composed.  We  learn  from  the  history  of  his  life, 
that  he  went  into  England  in  789,  and  did  not  thence  re- 
turn before  792. 


205 

assembled,  at  Frankfort  on  the  Maine,  a  coun- 
cil of  three  hundred  bishops,  in  order  to  re-ex- 
amine this  important  question;  in  which  the 
opinions  contained  in  the  four  books  were  so- 
lemnly confirmed,  and  the  worship  of  images 
unanimously  condemned.*  Hence  we  may 
conclude,  that  in  this  century  the  Latins  deem- 
ed it  neither  impious,  nor  unlawful,  to  dissent 
from  the  opinion  of  the  Roman  pontiff,  and 
even  to  cliarge  that  prelate  with  error. 

XV.  While  the  controversy  concerning  ima- 
ges was  at  its  Iieight,  a  new  contest  arose 
among  the  Latins  and  Greeks  about  the  source 
whence  the  Holy  Gliost  proceeded.  The  Latins 
affirmed,  that  this  divine  Spirit  proceeded 
from  the  Father  and  the  Son:  the  Greeks,  on 
the  contrary,  asserted,  that  it  proceeded  froni 
the  Father  only.  The  origin  of  tiiis  contro- 
versy is  r;overed  with  perple.xity  and  doubt.  It 
is,  however,  certain,  that  it  was  agitated  in  the 
council  of  Gentilli,  near  Paris,  in  767,  in  pre- 
sence of  the  emperor's  legates;|  and  from  this 
we  may  conclude,  with  a  high  degree  of  pro- 
bability, that  it  arose  in  Greece  at  that  time 
when  the  contest  about  images  was  carried  on 
with  the  greatest  vehemence.  In  this  contro- 
versy the  Latins  alleged,  in  favour  of  their 
opinions,  the  creed  of  Constantinople,  which 
tlie  Spaniards  and  French  had  successively 
corrupted  (upon  what  occasion  is  not  well 
known,)  by  adding  the  words  filio-que  to  that 
part  of  it  which  contained  tlie  doctrine  con- 
cerning tlie  Holy  Ghost.  The  Greeks,  on  the 
other  hand,  made  loud  complaints  of  this  cri- 
minal attempt  of  the  Latins  to  corrupt  by  a 
manifest  interpolation  a  creed,  which  served  as 
a  rule  of  doctrine  for  the  church  universal,  and 
declared  tiiis  attempt  impudent  and  sacrile- 
gious. Thus,  the  dispute  changed  at  length  its 
object,  and  was  transferred  from  the  matter  to 
tlie  interpolated  words  above  mentioned.];  In 
the  following  century  it  was  carried  on  with 
still  greater  vehemence,  and  added  new  fuel  to 
the    dissensions    which   already   portended    a 


*This  event  is  treated  with  a  degree  of  candour,  not 
more  laudable  than  surprising,  by  Mabillon,  in  Prsef.  ad 
Si^culum  iv.  Actorum  SS.  CJrd.  Benedict,  part  v.  See 
also  Jo.  Georg.  Dorscheus,  Collat.  ad  Concilium  I'Vanco- 
fordiense. 

f  See  Le  Cointe,  Annates  Eccles,  Francorum,  lorn.  v. 
p.  698. 

}  Learned  men  generally  iniaginc  that  this  controversy 
began  about  the  words  jilio-qiipf  which  some  of  the  Latins 
had  added  to  the  creed  that  had  been  drawn  up  by  the 
council  of  Constantinople,  and  that  from  llie  words  the 
dispute  proceeded  to  the  doctrine  itself;  see  Mabillon 
(Act.  Sanotor.  Ord.  Bened.  Sa^c.  iv.  part  i.  Praef.  p.  iv.) 
who  is  followed  by  many  in  this  particular.  But  this 
opinion  is  certainly  erroneous.  The  doctrine  was  the 
first  subject  of  controversy,  which  afterwards  extended 
to  the  words  filio-qtie,  con.sidercd  by  the  Greeks  as  a  ma- 
nifest interpolation.  Among  other  proofs  of  this,  the 
council  of  Gentilli  shows  evidently,  that  the  doctrine  con- 
cerning the  Holy  Spirit  had  been,  for  a  considerable  time, 
the  subject  of  controversy  when  the  dispute  arose  about 
the  words  now  mentioned.  Pagi,  in  his  Critica  in  Baro- 
nium,  torn.  iii.  p.  323,  is  of  opinion,  that  this  controversy 
had  both  its  date  and  its  occasion  iVom  the  ilispute  con- 
cerning images;  for,  when  the  Latins  treated  the  Greeks 
as  heretics,  on  account  of  their  opposition  to  image-wor- 
ship, the  Greeks  in  their  turn  charged  the  Latins  also 
with  heresy,  on  account  of  their  maintainii]g  that  the 
Holy  Ghost  proceeded  from  the  Father  and  the  Son. 
The  learned  critic  has,  however,  advanced  this  opinion 
without  sufficient  proof;  and  we  must  therefore  consider 
it  a.s  no  more  than  a  probable  conjecture. 


206 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II 


schism    between    the    eastern    and     western 
churches.* 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Concerning  the  Rites  and  Ceremonies  tuied  in  the 

Church  during  this  Ceniurij. 

I.  The  religion  of  this  century  consisted 
almost  entirely  in  a  motley  round  of  external 
rites  and  ceremonies.  We  are  not,  therefore, 
to  wonder  that  more  zeal  and  diligence  were 
employed  in  multiplying  and  regulating  these 
outward  marks  of  a  superstitious  devotion, 
than  in  correcting  the  vices  and  follies  of  men, 
in  enlightening  their  understandings,  a«d  form- 
ing their  hearts.  The  administration  of  the 
Bacrament  of  the  Lord's  sapper,  which  was 
deemed  the  most  solemn  and  important  branch 
of  divine  worship,  was  no«'  every  where  em- 
bellished, or  rather  deformed,  with  a  variety 
of  senseless  fopperies,  which  destroyed  the 
beautiful  simplicity  of  that  affecting  and  salu- 
tary institution.  We  also  find  manifest  traces, 
in  this  century,  of  that  superstitious  custom  of 
celebrating  what  were  called  solitary  masses,] 
though  it  be  difficult  to  decide  whether  they 
were  instituted  by  a  public  law,  or  introduced 
by  the  authority  of  private  persons.};  Be  that 
as  it  may,  this  single  custom  is  sufficient  to 
give  us  an  idea  of  the  superstition  and  dark- 
ness that  sat  brooding  over  the  Christian 
church  in  this  ignorant  age,  and  renders  it  un- 
necessary to  enter  into  a  farther  detail  of  the 
absurd  rites  with  which- a  designing  priesthood 
continued  to  disfigure  the   religion  of  Jesus. 

IL  Charlemagne  seemed  disposed  to  stem 
this  torrent  of  superstition,  which  gathered 
force  from  day  to  day;  for,  not  to  mention  the 
zeal  with  which  he  opposed  the  worship  of 
images,  there  are  other  circumstances  that  bear 
testimony  to  his  intentions  in  this  matter,  such 
as  his  preventing  the  multiplication  of  festi- 
vals, by  reducing  them  to  a  fixed  and  limited 
number,  his  prohibiting  the  ceremony  of  con- 
secrating the  church  bells  by  the  rite  of  holy 
aspersion,  and  his  enactment  of  other  ecclesi- 
astical laws,  which  redound  to  his  honour. 
Several  circumstances,  however,  concurred  to 
render  his  designs  abortive,  and  to  blast  the 
success  of  his  worthy  purposes;  and  none  more 
than  his  excessive  attaclunent  to  the  Roman 
pontiffs,  who  were  the  patrons  and  protectors 
of  those  who  everted  themselves  in  the  cause 
of  ceremonies.  This  vehement  pa.5sion  for  the 
lordly  pontifl'  was  inherited  by  the  great  prince 
of  whom  we  are  now  speaking,  from  his  father 
Pepin,  who  had  already  commanded  the  man- 
ner of  singing,  and  the  kind  of  church-music 


*  .See  Pithaii  Hist.  Conlrov.  ie  Prr'ccssione  Spiritns  S. 
at  the  end  of  his  Cod.  Canon.  Eroles.  Uomari.  p.  SS.*). — 
Le  Quicn,  Oriens  Chrislian.  torn.  iii.  p.  3.54. — Oer.  J. 
Vosiiua,  de  Tnbiis  Symboli?,  Diss.  iii.  p.  6.'i;  and,  above 
all.  Jo.  Georg.  Walchiu?,  Hislor.  Controv.  de  Processione 
Spirilu.s  S.  published  at  Jena  in  17j1. 

t^IJ-  t  Solitary  or  private  masses  were  snch  as  were  cele- 
brated by  the  priest  alone  in  behalf  of  souls  detained  in 
purg.itory,  as  well  as  on  some  other  particular  occasions. 
These  masses  were  prohibited  by  the  laws  of  the  church; 
but  they  were  a  rich  source  of  profit  to  the  clergy.  They 
were  condemned  by  the  canons  of  a  synod  assembled  at 
Mentz  under  Charlemagne,  as  criminal  innovations,  and 
as  the  fruits  of  avarice  and  sloth. 

}  See  the  Treatise  concerning  Images,  attributed  to 
Charlemagn*,  p.  245;  aa  also  George  Calixtus,  de  Missis 
Solitariis,  sect.  13.  • 


in  use  at  Rome,  to  be  observed  in  all  Christian 
churches.  It  was  in  conformity  with  his  exam- 
ple, and  in  compliance  with  the  repeated  and 
importunate  solicitation  of  the  pontiff  Adrian, 
that  Charlemagne  laboured  to  bring  all  the 
Latin  churches  to  follow,  as  their  model,  the 
church  of  Rome,  not  only  in  the  article  now 
mentioned,  but  also  in  the  whole  form  of  their 
worship,  in  every  circumstance  of  their  reli- 
gious service.*  Several  churches,  however, 
among  which  those  of  Milan  and  Corbetta  dis- 
tinguished themselves  eminently,  absolutely 
rejected  this  proposal,  and  could  neither  be 
brought,  by  persuasion  or  by  violence,  to 
change  their  usual  method  of  worship. 

CHAPTER  V. 

Concerning  the  Divisions  and  Heresies  that  trou- 
bled the  Church  during  this  Centuuj. 

T.  The  Arians,  Manicheans,  and  Marcion- 
ites,  though  often  depressed  by  the  force  of 
penal  laws  and  the  power  of  the  secular  arm, 
gathered  strength  in  the  east,  amidst  the  tu- 
mults and  divisions  with  which  the  Grecian 
empire  was  perpetually  agitated,  and  drew 
great  numbers  into  the  profession  of  their  opin- 
ions, f  The  Monothelites,  to  whose  cause  the 
emperor  Philippicus,  and  many  others  of  the 
first  rank  and  dignity,  were  most  zealous  well- 
wishers,  regained  their  credit  in  various  coun- 
tries. The  condition  also  both  of  the  Nestori- 
ans  and  Monophysites  was  easy  and  agreeable 
under  the  dominion  of  the  Arabians;  their 
power  and  influence  were  considerable;  nor 
were  they  destitute  of  means  of  weakening 
the  Greeks,  their  irreconcileable  adversaries, 
of  spreading  their  doctrines,  and  extensively 
multiplying  the  number  of  their  adherents. 

II.  In  the  church  which  Boniflice  had  newly 
erected  in  Germany,  he  himself  tells  us,  that 
there  were  many  perverse  and  erroneous  repro- 
bates, who  had  no  true  notion  of  religion;  and 
his  friends  and  adherents  confirm  this  assertion. 
But  the  testimony  is  undoubtedly  partial,  and 
unworthy  of  credit,  since  it  appears  from  the 
most  evident  proofs,  that  the  persons  here  ac- 
cused of  errors  and  heresies  were  Irish  and 
French  divines,  who  refused  that  blind  sub- 
inission  to  the  church  of  Rome,  which  Boni- 
face was  so  zealous  to  propagate  every  where. 
Adalbert,  a  Gaul,  and  Clement,  a  native  of 
Ireland,  were  the  persons  whose  opposition 
gave  the  most  trouble  to  the  ambitious  legate. 
The  former  procured  himself  to  be  consecrated 
bishop,  without  the  consent  of  Boniface;  ex- 
cited seditions  and  tumults  among  the  eastern 
Franks;  and  appears,  indeed,  to  have  been  both 
flagitious  in  his  conduct,  and  erroneous  in  hia 
opinions.  Among  other  irregularities,  he  was 
the  forgerj;  of  a  letter  to  the  human  race, 
which  was  said  to  have  been  written  by  Jesua 
Christ,  and  to  have  been  brought  from  heaven 
by  the  arch-angel  Michael. §     As  to  Clement, 

*  See  the  Treatise  concerning  Images,  p.  52;  and  Egin- 
hard,  de  Vita  Caroli  Magni,  cap.  26. 

t  In  Europe  also  Arianism  prevailed  greatly  among  the 
barbarous  nations  that  embraced  the  Christian  faith. 

J  See  the  Histoire  Literairc  de  !a  France,  torn.  iv.  p.  82. 

^  There  is  an  edition  of  this  letter  published  by  the 
learned  Baluze  in  the  Capitularia  Regum  Fraucoriun, 
torn.  ii.  p.  1396. 


i 


Chap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


207 

part  of  the  Latin  doctors,  looked  upon  this 
opinion  as  a  renovation  of  the  Nestorian  here- 
sy, by  its  representing  Christ  as  divided  into 
two  distinct  persons.  In  consequence  of  this, 
Felix  was  successively  condemned  by  the  coun- 
cils of  Narbonne,  Ratisbon,  Frankfort  on  the 
Maine,  and  Rome,  and  was  finally  obliged,  by 
the  council  of  Ai.\-la-C'hapelle,  to  retract  his  er- 
ror, and  to  change  his  opinion.*  The  change  he 
made  was,  however,  rather  nominal  than  real, 
the  common  shift  of  temporising  divines;  for 
he  still  retained  his  doctrine,  and  died  in  the 
firm  belief  of  it  at  Lyons,  to  which  city  he  had 
been  banished  by  C'iiarlemagne.j  Elipand,  on 
the  contrary,  lived  secure  in  Spain  under  the 
dominion  of  the  Saracens,  far  removed  from 
the  thunder  of  synods  and  councils,  and  out 
of  the  reach  of  that  coercive  power  in  reli- 
gious matters,  wJiose  utmost  efi'orts  can  go  no 
farther  than  to  make  the  erroneous,  hypocrites 
or  martyrs.  Many  are  of  opinion,  that  the 
disciples  of  Felix,  who  were  called  Adoplians, 
departed  much  less  from  the  doctrine  generally 
received  among  Christians,  than  is  commonly 
imagined;  and  that  what  chiefiy  distinguished 
their  tenets  were  the  terms  they  used,  and  their 
manner  of  expression,  rather  than  a  real  diver- 
sity of  sentiments.  J  But,  as  this  sect  and  their 
chief  thought  proper  to  make  use  of  singular 
and  sometimes  of  contradictory  expressions, 
this  furnished  such  as  accused  them  of  Nesto- 
rianism,  with  plausible  reasons  to  support  their 
charge. 


his  character  and  sentiments  were  maliciously 
misrepresented,  since  it  appears,  by  the  best 
and  most  autlientic  accounts,  that  he  was 
much  better  acquainted  with  the  true  princi- 
ples and  doctrines  of  Christianity  than  Boni- 
face himself;  and  hence  he  is  considered  by 
many  as  a  confessor  and  sufferer  for  tlie  truth 
in  this  barbarous  age.*  Be  that  as  it  will, 
both  Adalbert  and  Clement  were  condemned, 
at  the  instigation  of  Boniface,  by  the  pontiff 
Zachary,  in  a  council  assembled  at  Rome,  in 
748, t  and  were  committed  to  prison,  where,  in 
all  probability,  they  concluded  their  days. 

111.  Religious  discord  ran  still  higher  in 
Spain,  France,  and  Germany,  toward  tlie  con- 
clusion of  tins  century;  and  the  most  unhappy 
tumults  and  commotions  were  occasioned  by  a 
question  proposed  to  Felix  bishop  of  Urgel,  by 
Elipand,  archbishop  of  Toledo,  who  desired  to 
know  in  what  sense  Clirist  was  the  son  of 
God.  The  answer  given  to  this  question,  was, 
that  Christ,  considered  in  his  divine  nature, 
was  truly  and  essentially  the  Son  of  God;  butj 
that,  considered  as  a  man,  he  was  only  so, 
nominally  and  by  adoption.  This  doctrine  | 
was  spread  abroad  by  the  two  prelates;  Eli- 
pand propagated  it  in  the  difi'erent  provinces 
of  Spain,  and  Felix  throughout  Septimania, 
while   the  pontiff  Adrian,  and  the  greatest 


*Wc  find  an  enumeration  of  the  erroneous  opinions 
of  Clement  in  the  letters  of  Boniface,  Epistol.  cxxxv.  p. 
139.  See  also  Usserii  Sjllcige  Kpistolaruin  Hibernica- 
rum,  p.  12.  JN'ouveau  Diclionnaire  Histor.  et  Critique, 
torn.  i.  p.  133.  (t(^  The  zealous  Bonilace  was  too  Ignorant 
to  be  a  proper  judge  of  heresy,  as  appears  by  his  condemn- 
ing Vigilius  for  believing  that  there  were  antipodes.  The 
great  licresy  of  Clement  seems  to  have  been  his  preferring 
the  decisions  of  Scripture  to  the  decrees  of  councils  and 
the  opinions  of  the  fathers,  which  he  took  the  liberty  to 
reiect  when  they  were  not  conformable  to  the  word  of 
GlA. 

(iC^t  This  is  the  true  date  of  the  council  assembled  by 
Zaciiary  for  the  condemnation  of  .\dalbert  and  Clement, 
and  not  the  year  745,  as  Fleury  and  JVlabillon  have  pre- 
tended; in  which  error  they  are  followed  by  Mr.  Bower, 
in  his  History  of  the  Popes.  The  truth  is,  that  the  letter 
of  Boniface,  in  consequence  of  which  this  council  was 
tieembled,  must  have  been  written  in  748,  since  he  de- 
clares in  that  letter,  that  he  had  been  near  thirty  years 
legate  of  the  holy  see,  into  which  commission  he  entered, 
ai  all  authors  agree,  about  the  year  719. 


^PJ'*  The  council  of  Narbonne,  which  condemned 
Felix,  was  holden  in  768,  that  of  Ratisbon  in  792,  that  of 
Frankfort  in  794,  that  of  Rome  in  799. 

t  The  authors,  who  have  written  of  the  sect  of  Felix, 
are  mentioned  by  Fabricius,  Bibliolh.  Lat.  mtdii  /tTvi, 
lorn.  ii.  p.  482.  Add  to  these  I'etrus  de  Marca,  in  his 
Marca  Hispanica,  lib.  iii.  cap.  xii.  p.  368. — Jo.  de  Ferre- 
ras,  Historia  de  Espaiia,  torn.  ii. — MabiUou,  I'raf.  ad 
Saec.  iv.  Actor.  SS.  Ord.  Benedict!,  part  ii.  There  are 
also  very  particular  accounts  given  of  Felix  by  Dom.  Co- 
Ionia,  in  his  Histoire  Literaire  de  la  Ville  de  Lyon,  torn, 
li.  and  by  the  Benedictine  monks  in  their  Histoire  Lite- 
raire de  la  France,  torn.  iv. 

}  Jo.  G.  Dorscheus,  Collat.  ad  Concilium  Francofurt, 
p.  101. — Werenfels,  de  Logomachiis  Eruditoruin,  p.  459. 
Basnagius,  Praef.  ad  Elherium  in  Canisii  Lection,  auliquit, 
torn.  ii.  part  i.  p.  284. — G.  Calixtus,  Singul.  Diss. 


THE  NINTH   CENTURY. 


PART  I. 


THE  EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Concerning  tke  Prosperous  Events  lohich  happen- 
ed to  the  Church  in  this  Century. 

I.  The  reign  of  Charlemagne  had  been  sin- 
gularly auspicious  to  the  Christian  cause;  the 
life  of  that  great  prince  was  principally  em- 
ployed in  the  most  zealous  etForts  to  propagate 
and  establish  the  religion  of  Jesus  among  the 
Huns,  Saxons,  Friselanders,  and  other  unen- 
lightened nations;  but  his  piety  was  mixed 
with  violence,  his  spiritual  conquests  were  ge- 
nerally made  by  the  force  of  arms,  and  this 
impure  mixture  tarnishes  the  lustre  of  his  no- 
blest exploits.  His  son  Louis,  undeservedly 
surnamed  the  Debonnaire,  or  the  Meek,  in- 
herited the  defects  of  his  father  without  his 
virtues,  and  was  his  equal  in  violence  and  cru- 
elty, but  greatly  his  inferior  in  all  worthy  and 
valuable  accomplishments.  Under  his  reign  a 
very  favourable  opportunity  was  offered  of  pro- 
pagating the  Gospel  among  the  northern  na- 
tions, and  particularly  among  the  inhabitants 
of  Sweden  and  Denmark.  A  petty  king  of 
Jutland,  named  Harald  Klack,  being  driven 
from  his  kingdom  and  country,  in  826,  by 
Regner  Lodbrock,  threw  himself  at  the  em- 
peror's feet,  and  implored  his  succours  against 
the  usurper.  Louis  granted  his  request,  and 
promised  the  exiled  prince  his  protection  and 
assistance,  on  condition,  however,  that  he 
would  embrace  Christianity,  and  admit  the 
ministers  of  that  religion  to  preach  in  his  do- 
minions. Harald  submitted  to  these  condi- 
tions, was  baptised  with  his  brother  at  Mentz, 
m  826,  and  returned  into  his  country  attended 
by  two  eminent  divines,  Ansgar  or  Anschaire, 
and  Authbert;  the  former  a  monk  of  Corbey 
m  Westphalia,  and  the  latter  belonging  to  a 
monastery  of  the  same  name  in  France. — 
These  venerable  missionaries  preached  the 
Gospel  with  remarkable  success,  during  the 
course  of  two  years,  to  the  inhabitants  of 
Cimbria  and  Jutland. 

n.  After  the  death  of  his  learned  and  pious 
companion  Authbert,  the  zealous  and  indefati- 
gable Ansgar  made  a  voyage  into  Sweden,  in 
828,  where  his  ministerial  labours  were  also 
crowned  with  distinguished  success.  Return- 
mg  into  Germany,  in  831,  he  was  loaded  by 
Louis  with  ecclesiastical  honours,  being  creat- 
ed archbishop  of  the  new  church  at  Hamburg, 
and  also  of  the  whole  north,  to  which  dignity, 
m  844,  the  superintendence  of  the  church  at 
Bremen  was  added.  The  profits  attached  to 
this  high  and  honourable  charge  were  very  hi- 
considerable,  while  the  perils  and  labours,  in 
which  it  involved  the  pious  prelate,  were  truly 
formidable.      Accordingly    he    travelled    fre- 


quently among  the  Danes,  Cimbrians,  and 
Swedes,  in  order  to  promote  the  cause  of 
Christ,  to  form  new  churches,  and  to  confirm 
and  establish  those  which  he  had  already  in- 
corporated; in  all  which  arduous  enterprises 
he  passed  his  life  in  the  most  imminent  dan- 
gers, until,  in  865,  he  concluded  his  glorious 
course.* 

III.  About  the  middle  of  this  century  the 
Moesians,t  Bulgarians,  and  Gazarians,  and 
after  them  the  Bohemians  and  Moravians, 
were  converted  to  Christianity  by  Methodius 
and  Cyril,  two  Greek  monks,  whom  the  em- 
press Theodora  had  sent  to  dispel  the  darkness 
of  those  idolatrous  nations. J  The  zeal  of 
Charlemagne,  and  of  his  pious  missionaries, 
had  been  formerly  exerted  in  the  same  cause, 
and  among  the  same  people, §  but  with  so  little 
success,  that  any  faint  notions  which  they  had 
received  of  the  Christian  doctrine  were  entirely 
effaced.  The  instructions  of  the  Grecian  doc- 
tors had  a  much  better,  and  also  a  more  per- 
manent effect;  but,  as  they  recommended  to 
their  new  disciples  the  forms  of  worship,  and 
the  various  rites  and  ceremonies  used  among 
the  Greeks,  II  this  was  the  occasion  of  much 
religious  animosity  and  contention  in  afler- 
times,  when  the  lordly  pontiffs  exerted  all  their 
vehemence,  and  employed  all  the  means  which 
they  could  devise,  though  with  imperfect  suc- 
cess, for  reducing  these  nations  under  the  dis- 
cipline and  jurisdiction  of  the  Latin  church. 

IV.  Under  the  reign  of  Basilius,  the  Mace- 
donian, who  ascended  the  imperial,  throne  of 
the  Greeks  in  867,  the  Sclavonians,  Arentani, 
and  certain  communities  of  Dalmatia,  sent  a 
solemn  embassy  to  Constantinople  to  declare 
their  resolution  of  submitting  to  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  Grecian  empire,  and  of  embracing, 
at  the  same  time,  the  Christian  religion.    This 


*  The  writers  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  accountt 
of  this  pious  and  illustrious  prelate,  the  founder  of  the 
Cimbrian,  Danish,  and  Swedish  churches,  are  mentioned 
by  Fabricius  in  his  Biblioth.  Latin,  medii  M\i,  torn.  i. 
p.  292,  as  also  in  his  Lux  Evangelii  Orbi  Terrarum  exo- 
riens,  p.  425.  Add  to  these  the  Benedictine  monks,  in 
their  Histoire  Lit.  de  la  France,  torn.  v.  p.  277. — Acta 
Sanctor.  Mens.  Februar.  torn.  i.  p.  391. — Erici  Pontoppi- 
flani  Aunales  Eccles.  Danicae  Diplomat,  torn.  i.  p.  18. — 
Molleri  Cimbria  Literata,  torn.  iii.  These  writers  give 
us  also  circumstantial  accounts  of  Ebbo,  Withmar,  Rem- 
bert,  and  others,  who  were  either  the  fellow-labourers  or 
successors  of  Ansgar. 

([Jp»  t  We  have  translated  thus  the  term  Mysi, -which 
is  an  error  in  the  original.  Dr.  Mosheira,  like  many 
others,  has  confounded  the  Mysians  with  the  inhabitants 
of  Moesia,  by  giving  to  the  latter,  who  were  Europeans, 
the  title  of  the  former,  who  dwelt  in  Asia. 

{  Jo.  George  Stredowsky,  Sacra  Moraviae  Historia,  lib. 
ii.  cap.  ii.  p.  94,  compared  with  Pet.  Kohlii  Introduct.  in 
Historiam  et  Rem  liter.  Slavorum,  p.  124. 

^  Stredowsky,  lib.  i.  cap.  ix.  p.  55. 

II  L'Enfant,  Histoire  de  la  Guerre  des  Hussites,  livr,  i. 


Chap.  II. 


CALAMITOUS  EVENTS. 


209 


proposal  was  received  with  admiration  and  joy; 
and  it  was  also  answered  by  a  suitable  ardour 
and  zeal  for  the  conversion  of  a  people  that 
Beemed  so  ingenuously  disposed  to  embrace  the 
truth:  accordingly,  a  competent  number  of 
Grecian  doctors  were  sent  among  tiiem  to  in- 
struct them  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Gospel, 
and  to  admit  them  by  baptism  into  the  Chris- 
tian church.*  Tlie  vvarlilce  nation  of  the  Rus- 
sians were  converted  under  the  same  emperor, 
but  not  in  the  same  manner,  or  from  tiie  same 
noble  and  rational  motives.  Having  entered 
into  a  treaty  of  peace  with  tliat  prince,  tliey 
were  engaged  by  various  presents  and  promises 
to  embrace  the  Gospel,  in  consequence  of 
which  they  received  not  only  the  Christian 
ministers  that  were  appointed  to  instruct  them, 
but  also  an  archbishop,  whom  the  Grecian 
patriarch  Ignatius  had  sent  among  them,  to 
perfect  tlieir  conversion  and  establisli  their 
church. t  Such  were  the  beginnings  of  Chris- 
tianity among  tlie  bold  and  warlike  Russians, 
who  were  inhabitants  of  the  Ukraine,  and  who, 
before  their  conversion,  had  fitted  out  a  formi- 
dable fleet,  and,  setting  sail  from  Kiow  for 
Constantinople,  had  spread  terror  and  dismay 
through  the  whole  empire. | 

V.  It  is  proper  to  observe,  with  respect  to 
the  various  conversions  which  we  have  novi^ 
been  relating,  that  they  were  undertaken  upon 
much  better  principles,  and  executed  in  a  more 
pious  and  rational  manner,  than  tliose  of  the 
preceding  ages.  The  ministers,  who  were  now 
sent  to  instruct  and  convert  the  barbarous  na- 
tions, did  not,  like  many  of  tlieir  predecessors, 
employ  the  terror  of  penal  laws,  to  affright 
men  into  the  profession  of  Christianity;  nor,  in 
establishing  churciies  upon  the  ruins  of  idola- 
try, were  they  principally  attentive  to  promote 
the  grandeur  and  e.xtend  the  authority  of  tlie 
Roman  pontiffs;  their  views  were  more  noble, 
and  their  conduct  more  suitable  to  the  genius 
of  the    religion  they  professed.     They    had 


*  We  are  indebted  for  this  account  of  the  conversion 
of  the  Scliivonians  to  the  treatise  de  administraiida  Impe- 
rio,  composed  by  the  learned  emperor  Constantine  I'or- 
phyrogeneta,  and  published  by  Bandurius  in  his  Imprr. 
Orient,  torn.  i.  Constantine  »ives  Ihc  same  account  of  this 
event  in  the  life  of  his  grandfather  Basilius,  the  Macedo- 
nian, sect.  ,'54,  published  iu  the  Corpus  Scripturum  By- 
zantinorum,  torn.  xvi. 

f  Constantinus  Forph.  iu  Vita  Basilii  Maccdonis,  sect. 
96.  p.  157.  Corp.  Byzant.  See  also  the  Narratio  de 
Ruthenorum  Conversione,  published  both  in  Greek  and 
Latin  by  Bandurius,  in  his  Irr.per.  Orient. 

t  The  learned  Lequien  in  his  Oriens  Chrislianns,  torn. 
i.  p.  1257,  gives  a  very  inaccurate  account  of  those  Rus- 
sians who  were  converted  to  Christianity  under  the  reign 
of  Basilius  the  Macedonian;  and  in  this  he  does  no  more 
than  adopt  the  errors  of  many  who  wrote  before  him 
upon  the  same  subject.  Nor  is  he  consistent  with  him- 
self; for  in  one  place  he  affirms,  that  the  people  here  spo- 
ken of  were  the  Russians  who  lived  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  Bulgarians,  while  in  another  he  mainlains, 
that  by  these  Russians  we  are  to  understand  the  Gazari- 
ans.  The  only  reason  he  alleges  to  support  the  latter 
opinion  is,  that,  among  the  Christian  doctors  sent  to  in- 
struct the  Russians,  mention  is  made  of  Cyril,  who  con- 
verted the  Gazari  to  Christianity.  This  reason  shows, 
that  the  learned  writer  had  a  most  imperfect  knowledge 
both  of  these  Russians  and  the  Gazari.  He  is  also  guilty 
of  other  mistakes  upon  the  same  subject.  There  is  a 
much  better  explanation  of  this  matter  given  by  the  very 
learned  Theoph.  Sigifred  Bayer,  Dissert,  de  Russorum 
prima  Expeditione  Constantinopolitana,  which  is  publish- 
ed in  the  sixth  volume  of  the  Commentaria  Acad.  Scien- 
tiar.  Petropolitanae. 

Vol.  I.— 27 


chiefly  in  view  the  happiness  of  mankind,  en- 
deavoured to  promote  tlie  gospel  of  truth  and 
peace  by  rational  persuasion,  and  seconded 
their  arguments  by  the  victorious  power  of  ex- 
emplary lives.  It  must,  however,  be  confess- 
ed, tiiat  the  doctrine  they  taught  was  far  from 
being  conformable  to  tlie  pure  and  e.xcellent 
rules  of  faith  and  practice  laid  down  by  our 
divine  Saviour  and  liis  holy  apostles;  for  their 
religious  system  was  corrujiteci  by  a  variety  of 
superstitious  rites,  and  a  multitude  of  absurd 
inventions.  It  is  farther  certain,  tiiat  there 
remained  among  these  converted  nations  too 
many  traces  of  the  idolatrous  religion  of  their 
ancestors,  notwithstanding  the  zealous  labours 
of  their  Christian  guides:  and  it  appears  also, 
that  these  pious  missionaries  were  content  with 
introducing  an  e.xternal  profession  of  tlie  true 
religion  among  their  new  proselytes.  It  would 
be,  iiowever,  unjust  to  accuse  them  on  this  ac- 
count of  negligence  or  corruption  in  the  dis- 
charge of  their  ministry,  since  in  order  to  gain 
over  these  fierce  and  savage  nations  to  the 
church,  it  may  have  been  absolutely  necessary 
to  indulge  them  in  some  of  their  infirmities 
and  prejudices,  and  to  connive  at  many  things, 
which  pious  missionaries  could  not  approve, 
and  which,  in  other  circumstances,  they  would 
have  been  careful  to  correct. 

CHAPTER  II. 

Concerning  the  Calamitous  Events  that  happened 
to  the  Church  during  this  Century. 

I.  The  Saracens  had  now  extended  their 
usurpations  with  amazing  success.  Masters 
of  Asia,  a  few  provinces  excepted,  they  pushed 
their  conquests  to  the  extremities  of  India,  and 
obliged  a  great  part  of  Africa  to  receive  their 
yoke;  nor  were  their  enterprises  iy  the  west 
without  effect,  since  Spain  and  Sardinia  sub- 
mitted to  their  arms,  and  fell  under  their  do- 
minion. But  their  conquests  did  not  end  here; 
for,  in  827,  by  the  treason  of  Euphemius,  they 
made  themselves  masters  of  the  rich  and  fertile 
island  of  Sicily;  and,  toward  the  conclusion  of 
this  century,  an  army  of  those  barbarians,  pro- 
ceeding from  Asia,  seized  several  cities  of  Ca- 
labria, and  spread  the  terror  of  their  victorious 
arms  even  to  the  very  walls  of  Rome,  while 
Crete,  Corsica,  and  other  islands,  were  either 
joined  to  their  possessions,  or  ravaged  by  their 
incursions.  It  is  easy  to  comprehend  that  this 
overgrown  prosperity  of  a  nation  accustomed 
to  bloodshed  and  rapine,  and  which  also  beheld 
the  Christians  with  the  utmost  aversion,  must 
have  been  every  where  detrimental  to  the  pro- 
gress of  the  Gospel,  and  to  the  tranquillity  of 
the  church.  In  the  east,  more  especially,  a 
prodigious  number  of  Christian  families  em- 
braced the  religion  of  their  conquerors,  that 
they  might  live  in  the  peaceful  enjoyment  of 
their  possessions.  Many,  indeed,  refused  this 
base  and  criminal  compliance,  and  with  a  pious 
magnanimity  adhered  to  their  principles  in  the 
face  of  persecution:  but  such  were  gradually 
reduced  to  a  miserable  condition,  and  were  not 
only  robbed  of  the  best  part  of  their  wealth, 
and  deprived  of  their  worldly  advantages,  but, 
what  was  still  more  deplorable,  they  fell  by 
degrees  into  such  incredible  ignorance  and  stu- 


210 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


pidity,  that,  in  process  of  time,  there  were 
scarcely  any  remains  of  Christianity  to  be  found 
among  tliem,  beside  the  mere  name,  and  a  few 
external  rites  and  ceremonies.  The  Saracens 
who  had  fixed  themselves  in  Europe,  particu- 
larly those  who  were  settled  in  Spain,  were  of  a 
much  milder  disposition,  and  seemed  to  have 
put  oft'  tlie  greatest  part  of  their  native  feroci- 
ty; so  that  the  Christians,  generally  speaking, 
lived  peaceably  under  their  dominion,  and 
were  permitted  to  observe  the  laws,  and  to 
enjoy  the  privileges  of  tiieir  holy  profession. 
It  must,  however,  be  confessed,  that  this  mild 
and  tolerating  conduct  of  the  Saracens  was 
not  without  some  few  exceptions  of  cruelty.* 
II.  The  European  Christians  had  tlie  most 
cruel  sutfcrings  to  undergo  from  another  quar- 
ter,— even  I'rom  the  insatiable  fury  of  a  swarm 
of  barbarians  that  issued  out  from  the  northern 
provinces.  The  Normans,  under  which  gene- 
ral term  are  comprehended  the  Danes,  Norwe- 
gians, and  Swedes,  whose  habitations  lay  along 
the  coasts  of  the  Baltic  sea,  were  a  people  ac- 
customed to  carnage  and  rapine.  Their  petty 
kings  and  chiefs,  who  subsisted  by  piracy  and 
plunder,  had  already,  during  the  reign  of  Char- 
lemagne, infested  with  their  fleets  the  coasts 
of  the  German  ocean,  but  were  restrained  by 
the  opposition  they  met  with  from  the  vigi- 
lance and  activity  of  that  warlike  prince.  In 
this  century,  however,  they  became  more  bold 
and  enterprising,  made  frequent  irrujjtions  into 
Germany,  Britain,  Friseland,  and  Gaul,  and 
carried  along  with  them,  wherever  they  went, 
fire  and  sword,  desolation  and  horror.  The 
impetuous  fury  ol'  these  savage  barbarians  not 
only  spread  desolation  through  the  Spanish 
provinces,!  but  even  penetrated  into  the  very 


*  See,  for  example,  the  account  that  is  given  of  Eulo- 
gius,  who  suffered  martyrdoiu  at  Cordova,  in  the  Acta 
Sanctorum  ad  d.  xi.  Marlii,  torn.  ii.  p.  88;  as  also  of  Ro- 
deric  and  Solomon,  two  .Spanish  martyrs  of  this  century. 
Ibid,  ad  d.  xiii.  Martii,  p.  328. 

t  Jo.  de  Ferreras,  Hisloria  de  Espana,  vol.  ii.  Piracy 
was  esteemed  among  the  northern  nations  a  very  lionoura- 
ble  and  noble  profession;  and  hejice  the  sons  of  kings,  and 
the  young  nobility,  were  trained  up  to  this  species  of  rob- 
bery, and  made  it  their  principal  business  to  perfect  them- 


heart  of  Italy;  for,  in  857,  they  ravaged  and 
plundered  the  city  of  Luna  in  the  most  cruel 
manner;  and,  about  three  years  after,  Pisa,  and 
several  otlier  towns  of  Italy,  met  with  the  same 
fate.*  The  ancient  histories  of  the  Franks 
abound  with  the  most  dismal  accounts  of  their 
horrid  exploits. 

III.  The  first  views  of  these  savage  invaders 
extended  no  farther  than  plunder;  but,  charm- 
ed at  length  with  the  beauty  and  fertility  of 
the  provinces  which  they  were  so  cruelly  de- 
populating, they  began  to  form  settlements  in 
them;  nor  were  the  European  princes  in  a  con- 
dition to  oppose  their  usurpations.  On  the 
contrary,  Charles  the  Bald  was  obliged,  in  850, 
to  resign  a  considerable  part  of  his  dominions 
to  the  powerful  banditti;!  and  a  few  years 
after,  under  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Gross, 
emperor  and  king  of  France,  the  famous  Nor- 
man chief  Godofred  entered  with  an  army  into 
Friseland,  and  obstinately  refused  to  sheath  his 
sword  before  he  was  master  of  the  whole  pro- 
vince.j  Such,  however,  of  the  Normans  as 
settled  among  tlie  Christians,  contracted  a  more 
gentle  turn  of  mind,  and  gradually  departed 
trom  their  primitive  brutality.  Their  marri- 
ages Willi  the  Christians  contributed,  no  doubt, 
to  civilize  them;  and  engaged  them  to  abandon 
the  superstition  of  their  ancestors  with  more 
facility,  and  to  embrace  the  Gospel  with  more 
readiness  than  they  would  have  otherwise  done. 
Thus  the  proud  conqueror  of  Friseland  solemnly 
embraced  the  Christian  religion  after  he  had 
received  in  marriage,  from  Charles  the  Gross, 
Gisela,  the  daughter  of  Lothaire  the  younger. 


selves  in  it.  Nor  will  this  appear  very  surprising  to  such 
as  consider  the  religion  of  these  nations,  and  the  barba- 
rism of  the  times.  See  Jo.  Lnd.  Holberg,  Historia  Da- 
norum  et  Norvegorum  JVavalis,  in  Scriptis  Societatis 
Scientiar.  Hafnieusis,  torn.  iii.  p.  349,  in  which  there  are 
a  multitude  of  curious  and  interesting  relations  concern- 
ing the  ancient  piracies,  drawn  from  the  Danish  and 
Norwegian  annals. 

'  See  the  Scriptores  Rerum  Italicarum,  published  by 
Muralori. 

t  Annales  incerti  Auctoris,  in  Pithsei  Scriptor.  Fraucic. 
p.  45. 

}  Reginonis  Prumiensis  Anual.  lib.  ii, 


PART  IL 

THE  INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH 


CHAPTER  I. 

Concerning  the  State  of  Letters  and  Philosophy 

during  this  Century. 

I.  The  Grecian  empire,  in  this  century,  was 
in  circumstances  seemingly  calculated  to  ex- 
tinguish all  taste  for  letters  and  philosophy, 
and  all  zeal  for  the  cultivation  of  the  sciences. 
The  liberality,  however,  of  the  emperors,  some 
of  whom  were  men  of  learning  and  taste,  and 
the  wise  precautions  taken  by  the  patriarchs 
of  Constantinople,  among  whom  Pholius  de- 
Berves  the  first  rank  in  point  of  erudition,  con- 
tributed to  attach  a  certain  number  of  learned 
men  to  that  imperial  city,  and  thus  prevented 
the  total  decline  of  letters.     Accordingly,  we 


find  in  Constantinople,  at  this  time,  several  per- 
sons who  excelled  in  eloquence  and  poetry; 
some  who  displayed,  in  their  writings  against 
the  Latins,  a  considerable  knowledge  of  the 
art  of  reasoning,  and  a  high  degree  of  dexterity 
in  the  management  of  controversy;  and  others 
who  composed  the  history  of  their  own  times 
with  accuracy  and  elegance.  The  controversy 
with  the  Latins,  when  it  grew  more  keen  and 
animated,  contributed,  in  a  particular  manner, 
to  excite  the  literary  emulation  of  the  dispu- 
tants; rendered  them  studious  to  acquire  new 
ideas,  and  a  rich  and  copious  elocution,  adorn- 
ed with  the  graces  of  elegance  and  wit;  and 
thus  roused  and  invigorated  talents  that  were 
ready  to  perish  in  indolence  and  sloth. 


Chap.  I. 


LEARNING  AND  PHILOSOPHY. 


211 


II.  We  learn  from  Zonaras,  that  the  study 
of  philosophy  lay  for  a  long  time  neglected  in 
this  age;  but  it  was  revived,  with  a  zeal  for  the 
sciences  in  general,  under  the  emperor  The- 
ophilus,  and  his  son  Michael  III.  This  revival 
of  letters  may  principally  be  ascribed*  to  the 
encouragement  and  protection  which  the  learn- 
ed received  from  Bardas,  who  had  been  declar- 
ed by  Ca;sar,  himself  an  illiterate  man,  but  a 
warm  friend  of  the  celebrated  Pliotius,  the 
great  patron  of  science,  by  whose  counsel  he 
was,  undoubtedly,  directed  in  this  matter.  At 
the  head  of  all  the  learned  men  to  whom  Bar- 
das committed  the  culture  of  the  sciences,  he 
placed  Leo,  surnamed  the  Wise,  a  man  of  the 
most  profound  and  uncommon  eriuiition,  and 
who  afterwards  was  consecrated  bishop  of 
Thessalonica.  Photius  explained  the  Catego- 
ries of  Aristotle,  while  Michael  Psellus  gave  a 
brief  exposition  of  the  better  works  of  that 
great  philosopher. 

III.  The  Arabians,  who,  instead  of  cultivat- 
ing the  arts  and  sciences,  had  thought  of  no- 
thing hitherto,  but  of  extending  their  territo- 
ries, were  now  excited  to  literary  pursuits  by 
Almamoun,  otherwise  called  Abu  Giafar  Ab- 
dallah,  whose  zeal  for  the  advancement  of  let- 
ters was  great,  and  whose  munificence  toward 
men  of  learning  and  genius  was  truly  royal. 
Under  the  auspicious  protection  of  this  cele- 
brated khalif  of  Sj'ria  and  Egypt,  the  Arabi- 
ans made  a  rapid  and  astonishing  progress  in 
various  kinds  of  learning.  This  excellent  prince 
began  to  reign  about  tlie  time  of  the  deatli  of 
Charlemagne,  and  died  in  833.  He  erected 
the  famous  schools  of  Bagdad,  Cufa,  and  Basra, 
and  established  seminaries  of  learning  in  seve- 
ral other  cities;  he  drew  to  his  court  men  of 
eminent  parts  by  his  extraordinary  liberality, 
set  up  noble  libraries  in  various  places,  caused 
translations  to  be  made  of  the  best  Grecian 
productions  into  the  Arabic  language  at  a  vast 
expense,  and  employed  every  method  of  pro- 
moting the  cause  of  learning,  that  became  a 
great  and  generous  prince,  whose  zeal  for  the 
sciences  was  attended  with  knowledge.!  It 
was  under  the  reign  of  this  celebrated  khalif, 
that  the  Arabians  began  to  take  pleasure  in  the 
Grecian  learning,  and  to  propagate  it,  by  de- 
grees, not  only  in  Syria  and  Africa,  but  also  in 
Spain  and  Italy;  and  from  tiiis  period  they 
give  us  a  long  catalogue  of  celebrated  philoso- 
phers, physicians,  astronomers,  and  mathema- 
ticians, who  Were  ornaments  to  their  nation 
through  several  succeeding  ages;J  and  in  this 
certainly  they  do  not  boast  without  reason, 
though  we  are  not  to  consider,  as  literally  true, 
all  tiie  wonderful  and  pompous  things  which 
the  more  modern  writers  of  the  Saracen  his- 
tory tell  us  of  these  illustrious  pliilosophers. 

After  this  period  the  European  Christians 
profitted  much  by  the  Arabian  learning,  and 
were  highly  indebted  to  the  Saracens  for  im- 
provement in  tlie  various  sciences;   for  the 


*  Zonar.  Annal.  torn-  ii.  lib.  xvi. 

t  Abulpharajius,  Historia  Dyuasliar.  p.  246. — Georg. 
F.lmacin.  Histor.  Sarac«n.  lib.  ii.  p.  139. — Herbclot,  Bib- 
lioth.  Orient,  article  Mamun,  p.  .')45. 

{  See  the  treatise  of  Leo  Africamis,  de  Mediois  et  Phi- 
losophis  Arabibu.i,  published  by  Fabriciui  in  his  Biblio 
theca  Grseca,  torn.  xii.  p.  259. 


mathematics,  astronomy,  physic,  and  philoso- 
phy, that  were  tauglit  in  Europe  from  the  tenth 
century,  were,  for  the  most  part,  drawn  from 
the  Arabian  schools  that  were  established  in 
Spain  and  Italy,  or  from  the  writings  of  the 
Arabian  sages.  Hence  the  Saranens  may,  in 
one  respect,  Ikj  justly  considered  as  the  restorers 
of  learning  in  i'-urope. 

IV^.  In  that  j)art  of  Europe  whicli  was  sub- 
ject to  the  dominion  of  the  Franks,  Charle- 
magne laboured  with  incredible  zeal  and  ardour 
for  the  advancement  of  useful  learning,  and 
animated  his  subjects  to  the  culttire  of  the 
sciences  in  all  their  various  brandies:  so  that, 
had  his  successors  been  disposed  to  follow  his 
example,  and  capable  of  acting  upon  the  noble 
plan  which  he  formed,  the  empire,  in  a  little 
time,  would  have  liecn  entirely  delivered  from 
barbarism  and  ignorance.  It  is  true,  this  great 
prince  left  in  his  family  a  certain  spirit  of  emu- 
lation, which  animated  his  immediate  succes- 
sors to  imitate,  in  some  measure,  his  zeal  for 
the  prosperity  of  the  republic  of  letters.  Louis 
the  Debonnaire  both  formed  and  executed  se- 
veral designs  that  were  extremely  conducive 
to  the  progress  of  the  arts  and  sciences;*  and 
his  zeal,  in  this  respect,  was  surpassed  by  the 
ardour  with  which  his  son  Charles  the  Bald 
exerted  himself  in  the  propagation  of  letters, 
and  in  exciting  the  emulation  of  the  learned 
b}'  the  most  alluring  marks  of  his  protection 
and  favour.  This  great  patron  of  the  sciences 
drew  the  literati  to  his  court  from  all  parts, 
took  a  particular  delight  in  their  conversation, 
multiplied  and  embellished  the  seminaries  of 
learning,  and  protected,  in  a  more  especial 
manner,  the  Aulic  school,  of  which  mention 
has  already  been  made,  and  which  was  first 
erected  in  the  seventh  century,  for  the  educa- 
tion of  the  royal  family  and  the  first  nobility.) 
His  brother  Lothaire  endeavoured  to  revive  in 
Italy  the  drooping  sciences,  and  to  rescue  them 
from  that  state  of  languor  and  decay  into 
which  the  corruption  and  indolence  of  the 
clergy  had  permitted  them  to  fall.  For  this 
purpose  he  erected  schools  in  the  eight  princi- 
pal cities  of  Italy,  in  823,];  but  with  little  suc- 
cess, since  that  country  appears  to  have  been 
entirely  destitute  of  men  of  learning  and  ge- 
nius during  the  ninth  century. § 

In  England  learning  had  a  better  fate  under 
the  auspicious  protection  of  king  Alfred,  who 
acquired  an  immortal  name,  not  onl}'  by  the 
admirable  progress  he  made  in  all  kinds  of  ele- 
gant and  useful  knowledge, ||  but  also  by  the 
care  he  took  to  multiply  men  of  letters  and 
genius  in  his  dominions,  and  to  restore  to  the 


*  See  the  Histoire  Littraire  de  la  France,  torn.  iv.  p. 
58.'!. 

\  Herman.  Conringii  Antiquit.  AcademieiE,  p.  300. — 
Ca:s.  Eg.  du  Boulay,  Hist.  Acad.  Paris,  torn.  i.  p.  178. — 
Launoy,  de  Scholis  Caroli  M.  cap.  xi,  xii.  p.  47. — His- 
toire Liter,  de  la  France,  torn.  v.  p.  483. 

}  See  the  edict  for  that  purpose  among  the  Capitularia, 
published  by  Muratori  in  the  first  volume  of  his  compila- 
tion de  Rebus  Italivis. 

6  See  Muratori's  Antiq.  Ital.  medii  jEvi,  torn.  iii.  p. 
829. 

II  See  Ant.  Wood.  Hist,  et  Antiquit.  Academ.  Oxonicns. 
lib.  i.  p.  13.— Boulay,  Hist.  Acad.  Parie.  torn.  i.  p.  211. — 
General  Dictionary,  at  the  article  Alfred.  (This  prince, 
among  other  pious  and  learned  labours,  translated  the 
Pastoral  of  Gregory  L,  Boetius  de  Consolatione,  and 
Bede's  Ecclesiastical  History.) 


212 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II- 


sciences,  sacred   and  profane,  the  credit  and 
lustre  which  they  so  eminently  deserve.* 

V.  But  the  infelicity  of  tJie  times  rendered 
the  effects  of  all  this  zeal  and  all  these  projects 
for  the  advancement  of  learning  much  less 
considerable  than  might  have  otherwise  been 
•expected.  The  protectors  and  patrons  of  the 
learned  were  themselves  learned;  their  authori- 
ty was  respectable,  and  their  munificence  was 
boundless;  and  yet  the  progress  of  science  to- 
ward perfection  was  but  slow,  because  the  in- 
terruptions arising  from  the  troubled  state  of 
Europe  were  frequent.  The  discords  that 
arose  between  Louis  and  his  sons,  which  were 
succeeded  by  a  rupture  between  the  latter,  re- 
tarded considerably  the  progress  of  letters  in 
the  empire;  and  the  incursions  and  victories 
of  the  Normans,  which  afflicted  Europe  during 
the  whole  course  of  this  century,  were  so  in- 
imical to  the  culture  of  the  arts  and  sciences, 
that,  in  most  of  the  regions  of  this  part  of  the 
world,  and  even  in  France,  there  remained  but  I 
a  small  number  who  truly  deserved  the  title  of  \ 
learned  men.f  The  wretched  and  incoherent 
fragments  of  erudition  that  yet  remained 
among  the  clergy  were  confined  to  the  monas- 
teries, and  to  the  episcopal  schools;  but  the 
zeal  of  the  monkish  and  priestly  orders  for  the 
improvement  of  the  mind,  and  the  culture  of 
the  sciences,  diminished  in  proportion  as  their 
revenues  increased,  so  that  their  indolence  and 
ignorance  grew  with  their  possessions. 

VI.  It  must,  however,  be  confessed,  that  se- 
veral examples  of  learned  men,  whose  zeal  for 
science  was  kindled  by  the  encouragement  and 
munificence  of  Charlemagne,  shone  forth  with 
a  distinguished  lustre  through  the  darkness  of 
this  barbarous  age.  Among  these,  the  first 
rank  is  due  to  Rabanus  Maurus,  whose  fame 
was  great  through  all  Germany  and  France, 
and  to  whom  the  youth  resorted,  in  prodigious 
numbers,  from  all  parts,  to  receive  his  instruc- 
tions in  the  liberal  arts  and  sciences.  The 
writers  of  history,  whose  works  have  deserved- 
ly preserved  their  names  from  oblivion,  are 
Eginhard,  Freculph,  Thegan,  Haymo,  Anas- 
tasius,  Ado,  and  others  of  less  note.  Florus, 
Walafridus  Strabo,  Bertharius,  and  Rabanus, 
excelled  in  poetry.  Smaragdus  and  Bertharius 
were  eminent  for  their  skill  in  grammar  and 
languages,  as  was  also  the  celebrated  Rabanus 
already  mentioned,  who  acquired  a  very  high 
degree  of  reputation  by  a  learned  and  subtile 
treatise  concerning  the  causes  and  the  rise  of 
languages.  The  Greek  and  Hebrew  erudition 
was  cultivated  with   considerable  success  by 


{}IJ^*  This  excellent  prince  not  only  encouraged  by  his 
protection  and  liberality  such  of  his  own  subjects  as  made 
any  progress  in  the  liberal  arts  and  sciences,  but  invited 
over  from  foreign  countries  men  of  distinguished  talents, 
whom  he  fixed  in  a  seminary  at  Oxford,  and,  in  conse- 
quence, may  be  looked  upon  as  the  founder  of  that  noble 
university.  Johannes  Scotus  Erigena,  who  had  been  in 
the  service  of  Charles  the  Bald,  and  Grimbald,a  monk  of 
St.  Bertin  in  France,  were  the  most  famous  of  those 
learned  men  who  came  from  abroad:  Asserius,  Werefrid, 
Plegmund,  Dunwuf,  Wulfsig,  and  the  abbot  of  St.  Ncot's, 
deserve  the  first  rank  among  the  English  literati  who 
adorned  the  age  of  Alfred.  See  Collier's  Ecclesiastical 
History,  vol.  i.  book  iii.,  and  Rapin's  History  of  England, 
t  Servati  Lupi  Op.  Epist.  xxxiv.  p.  69. — Conringii  An- 
tiq.  Acad.  p.  322. — Histoire  Liter,  jle  la  France,  torn.  iV. 
p.  25!. 


William,  Servatus  Lupus,  Scotus,  and  others. 
Eginhard,  Agobard,  Hincmar,  and  Servatus 
Lupus,  were  famed  for  the  eloquence  which 
appeared  both  in  their  discourses  and  in  their 
writings.* 

VII.  The  philosophy  and  logic  that  were 
taught  in  the  European  schools  during  this 
century,  scarcely  deserved  such  honourable 
titles,  and  were  little  better  than  an  empty  jar- 
gon. There  were,  however,  to  be  found  in 
various  countries,  particularly  among  the  Irish, 
men  of  acute  parts  and  extensive  knowledge, 
who  were  perfectly  well  entitled  to  the  appel- 
lation of  philosophers.  Of  these,  the  chief 
was  Johannes  Scotus  Erigena,!  a  native  of 
Ireland,  the  friend  and  companion  of  Charles 
the  Bald,  who  delighted  so  much  in  his  con- 
versation as  to  honour  him  with  a  place  at  his 
table.  Scotus  was  endowed  with  an  excellent 
and  truly  superior  genius,  and  was  considera- 
bly versed  both  in  Greek  and  Latin  erudition. 
He  explained  to  his  disciples  the  philosophy  of 
Aristotle,  for  which  he  was  singularly  well 
qualified  by  his  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
Greek  language;  but,  as  his  genius  was  too 
bold  and  aspiring  to  confine  itself  to  the  au- 
thority and  decisions  of  the  Stagirite,  he  push- 
ed his  philosophical  researches  yet  farther, 
dared  to  think  for  himself,  and  ventured  to 
pursue  truth  without  any  other  guide  than  his 
own  reason.  We  have  yet  extant  of  his  com- 
position, five  Books  concerning  the  Division 
of  Nature;  an  intricate  and  subtile  production, 
in  which  the  causes  and  principles  of  all  things 
are  investigated  with  a  considerable  degree  of 
sagacity,  and  in  which  also  the  precepts  of 
Christianity  are  allegorically  explained,  yet  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  show,  that  their  ultimate 
end  is  the  union  of  the  soul  with  the  Supreme 
Being.  He  was  the  first  who  blended  the 
scholastic  theology  with  the  mystic,  and  form- 
ed both  into  one  system.  It  has  also  been 
imagined,  that  he  was  far  from  rejecting  the 
opinions  of  those  who  consider  the  union  of 
God  and  nature,  as  similar  to  the  imion  that 
subsists  between  the  soul  and  the  body, — a  no- 
tion much  the  same  with  that  of  many  ancient 
philosophers,  who  looked  upon  the  Deity  as 
the  soul  of  the  world.  But  it  may,  perhaps, 
be  alleged,  and  not  without  reason,  that  what 
Scotus  said  upon  this  subject  amounted  to  no 
more  than  what  the  Realists,],  as  they  are  call- 


*  Such  as  are  desirous  of  a  more  circumstantial  ac- 
count of  these  writers,  and  of  their  various  productions, 
may  consult  the  Histoire  Literaire  de  la  France,  tom.  iv. 
p.  2.t1  Io  971;  or  the  more  ample  account  given  of  them 
by  the  celebrated  Le  Bceuf,  in  his  Etat  des  Sciences  en 
trance  depuis  Charlemagne,  jusqu'au  Roi  Robert,  which 
is  published  in  his  Recueil  de  divers  Ecrits  pour  servir 
d'Eclaircisscment  a  I'Histoire  de  France,  tom.  ii. 

(fC^i  Erigena  signifies  properly  a  native  of  Ireland,  as 
Erin  was  (he  ancient  name  of  that  kingdom. 

{Ij^JThe  Realists,  who  followed  the  doctrine  of  Aris- 
totle with  respect  to  universal  ideas,  were  so  called  in  oj>- 
position  to  the  Nominalists,  who  embraced  the  hypothesis 
of  Zeno  and  the  Stoics  upon  that  perplexed  and  intricate 
subject.  Aristotle  held,  against  Plato,  that  previous  to, 
and  independent  of  matter,  there  were  no  universal  ideas 
or  essences;  and  that  th«  ideas,  or  exemplars,  which  the 
latter  supposed  to  have  existed  in  the  divine  mind,  and  to 
have  been  the  models  of  a!!  created  things,  had  been  eter- 
nally impressed  upon  matter,  and  were  coeval  with,  and 
inherent  in,  their  objects.  Zeno  and  his  followers,  de- 
parting both  from  the  Platonic  and  Aristotelian  systems, 
maintained  that  tliesc  pretended  universals  had  neither 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


213 


ed,  maintained  afterwards,  though  it  must  be  western  provinces,  the  bishops  were  voluptu- 
allowed  that  he  has  expressed  himself  in  aj'ous  and  effeminate  in  a  very  high  degree, 
very  perplexed  and  obscure  manner.*  This!  They  passed  their  lives  amidst  the  splendour  of 
celebrated  philosopher  formed  no  particular  j  courts  and  the  pleasures  of  a  luxurious  indo- 
sect,  at  least  as  far  as  we  know;  and  this  will  j!  lence,  which  corrupted  their  taste,  extinguish- 
be  considered,  by  those  who  are  acquainted  l|ed  their  zeal,  and  rendered  them  incapable  of 
with  the  spirit  of  the  times  in  which  he  lived,  i;  performing   the  solemn  duties  of  tiieir  funC' 


as  a  proof  that  his  immense  learning  was  ac- 
companied with  meekness  and  modesty. 

About  this  time  a  certain  person  named  Ma- 
carius,  a  native  of  Ireland,  propagated  in 
France  that  enormous  error,  which  was  after- 
wards adopted  and  profossed  by  Averroes,  tiiat 
one  individual  intelligence,  one  soul,  perform- 
ed tlie  spiritual  and  rational  functions  in  all 


tions;*  wliile  tlie  inferior  clergy  were  sunk  in 
licentiousness,  minded  nothing  but  sensual  gra* 
tifications,  and  infected  with  the  most  heinous 
vices  the  flock,  wliom  it  was  the  very  business 
of  their  ministry  to  preserve,  or  to  deliver  from 
the  contagion  of  iniquity.  Besides,  the  igno- 
rance of  the  sacred  order  was,  in  many  places, 
so  deplorable,  that  few  of  them  could  eitlier  read 


the  human  race.  This  error  was  confuted  by  |  or  write;  and  still  fewer  were  capable  of  express- 
Ratram,  a  famous  monk  of  Corbey.f  Before  ''.  ing  tiieir  wretched  notions  with  any  degree  of 
these  writers  flourished,  Dungal,  a  native  of  ,|metliod  or  perspicuity.  Hence  it  happened, 
Ireland  also,  who  left  his  country,  and  retired  [  that,  when  letters  were  to  be  penned,  or  any 
into  a  French  monastery,  where  he  lived  dur-  ji  matter  of  consequence  was  to  be  committed  to 
'.ng  the  reigns  of  Charlemagne  and  his  son  |j  writing,  they  commonly  had  recourse  to  some 
Louis,  and  taught  pliilosophy  and  astronomy  ;  person  who  was  supposed  to  be  endowed  with 
with  the  greatest  reputation. +     Heric,  a  monk  i,  superior  abilities,  as  appears  in  the  case  of  Ser 


of  Auxerre,  made  likewise  an  eminent  figure 
among  tiie  learned  of  this  age;  he  was  a  man 
of  uncommon  sagacity,  was  endowed  with  a 
great  and  aspiring  genius,  and  is  said,  in  many 
things,  to  have  anticipated  the  famous  Descar- 
tes in  the  manner  of  investigating  truth. § 

CHAPTER  II. 
Concerning    the   Doctors  and  J\Iinisters   of  the 
Church,  and  its  Form  of  Government  daring 
this  Century. 

I.  The  impiety  and  licentiousness  of  the 
greatest  part  of  the  clergy  arose,  at  this  time, 
to  an  enormous  height,  and  stand  upon  record, 
in  the  unanimous  complaints  of  the  most  can- 
did and  impartial  writers  of  this  century. ||  In 
the  east,  tumult,  discord,  conspiracies,  and  trea- 
son, reigned  uncontrolled,  and  all  things  were 
carried  by  violence  and  force.  These  abuses 
appeared  in  many  things,  but  particularly  in 
the  election  of  the  patriarchs  of  Constantino- 
ple. The  favour  of  the  court  was  now  the  only 
etep  to  that  high  and  important  office;  and, 
as  the  patriarch's  continuance  in  that  eminent 
post  depended  upon  such  an  uncertain  and  pre- 
;arious  foundation,  nothing  was  more  usual 
than  to  see  a  prelate  pulled  down  from  his 
episcopal  throne  by  an  imperial  decree.     In  the 

form  nor  essence,  and  were  no  more  than  mere  lerms  and 
nominal  represenlations  of  their  particular  objects.  The 
doctrine  of  Aristotle  prevailed  until  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury, when  RosccUinus  embraced  the  Stoical  system,  and 
founded  the  sect  of  the  IVoniinalists,  whose  sentiments 
were  propagated  with  f;rcat  success  by  the  famous  Abe- 
lard.  Tliese  two  sects  uiflered  considerably  among  Ihem- 
lelves,  and  explained,  or  rather  obscured,  tiieir  respective 
tenets  in  a  variety  of  ways. 

*  The  work  here  alluded  to  was  published  by  Mr. 
Thomas  Gale,  in  1681.  The  learned  Heuman  has  made 
leveral  extracts  from  it,  and  has  given  also  an  ample  ac- 
count of  Scotus,  in  his  Acts  of  the  Philosophers,  writtea 
in  German,  torn.  iii.  p.  858. 

\  Mabillon,  Pnf  part  ii.  Actor.  SS.  Ord.  Beuedicti, 
tect.  1.56.  p.  5^. 

iHistoire  Literaire  de  la  France,  torn.  iv.  p.  493. 
Le  Boeuf,  Memoires  pour  I'Histoire  d'Auxerre,  tom. 
ii.  p.  4P1. — .\cla  Sanctorum,  tom.  iv.  M.    Junii  ad  d. 
xx'iv.  p.  829,  et  ad  d.   ixxi.  Jul.  p.  249;  for  this  philoso- 
pher has  obtained  a  place  among  the  saintly  order. 

II  See  Agobardus,  de  Privilegiis  et  Jure  Sacerdotii, 
MCt.  13. 


vatus  Lupus.f 

II.  Many  circumstances  concurred,  particu- 
larly in  the  European  nations,  to  produce  and 
augment  this  corruption  and  licentiousness,  so 
shameful  in  an  order  of  men,  who  were  set 
apart  to  exhibit  examples  of  piety  to  the  rest 
of  the  world.  Among  these  we  may  reckon, 
as  the  chief  sources  of  the  evil  under  considera- 
tion, the  calamities  of  the  limes,  the  bloody 
and  perpetual  wars  that  were  carried  on  be- 
tween Louis  the  Debonnaire  and  his  family, 
the  incursions  and  conquests  of  tlie  barbarous 
nations,  the  gross  and  incredible  ignorance  of 
the  nobility,  and  tlie  riches  that  flowed  in  upon 
the  churches  and  religious  seminaries  from 
all  quarters.  Many  other  cause."?  also  contri- 
buted to  dishonour  tlie  churcii,  by  introducing 
into  it  a  corrupt  ministry.  A  nobleman,  who, 
tlirough  want  of  talents,  of  activity,  or  cour- 
age, was  rendered  incapable  of  appearing  with 
dignity  in  the  cabinet,  or  with  honour  in  the 
lield,  immediately  turned  his  views  toward  the 
church,  aimed  at  a  distinguished  place  among 
its  chiefs  and  rulers,  and  became,  in  conse- 
qaence,  a  contagious  example  of  stupidity  and 
vice  to  the  inferior  clerffy.t  The  patrons  of 
churches,  in  whom  resided  the  rigiit  of  elec- 
tion, unwilling  to  submit  their  disorderly  con- 
duct to  the  keen  censure  of  zealous  and  upright 
pastors,  industriously  looked  for  the  most  ab- 
ject, ignorant,  and  worthless  ecclesiastics,  to 
whom  they  committed  the  care  of  souls.§  But 
one  of  the  circumstances,  which  contributed  in 
a  particular  manner  to  render,  at  least,  the 
higher  clergy  wicked  and  depraved,  and  to 
take  off"  their  minds  from  the  duties  of  their 

*  The  reader  will  be  convinced  of  this  by  consultine 
Agobard,  passim,  and  by  looking  over  the  laws  enacted 
in  the  Latin  councils  for  restraining  the  disorders  of  the 
clergy.  See  also  Servatus  Lupus,  Kpist.  txtv.  p.  73, 
281,  and  Sleph.  Balnze,  in  Adnot.  p.  378. 

f  See  the  works  of  Servatus  Lupus,  Epist.  xcviii.  xcii. 
p.  126,  142,  148;  as  also  his  Life.  See  also  Rodolphi 
Bituriccnsis  Capitula  ad  Clerum  suum,  in  Baluzii  Mis- 
cellancis,  tom.  vi.  p.  139,  148. 

\  Hincmarus,  in  Opere  Posteriore  contra  Godeschal- 
cum,  cap.  xixvi.  tom.  i.  op.  p.  318. — Servatus  Lupus, 
Epist.  Ixxix.  p.  120. 

§  Agobardus,  de  Privilegiis  et  Jure  Sacerdotii,  cap.  xi 
p.  341.  tom.  i.  op. 


214 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


station,  was  the  obligation  of  performing  cer- 
tain services  to  tiieir  sovereigns,  in  consequence 
of  the' possessions  they  derived  from  the  royal 
bounty.  The  bishops  and  heads  of  monaste- 
ries held  many  lands  and  castles  by  a  feudal 
tenure;  and,  being  thereby  bound  to  furnish 
their  princes  with  a  certain  number  of  soldiers 
in  time  of  war,  were  obliged  also  to  take  the 
field  themselves  at  the  head  of  these  troops,* 
and  thus  to  act  in  a  spliere  that  was  utterly  in- 
consistent witli  the  nature  and  duties  of  their 
sacred  character.  Beside  all  this,  it  often  hap- 
pened that  rapacious  princes,  in  order  to  satis- 
fy the  craving  wants  of  their  soldiers  and  do- 
mestics, boldly  invaded  the  possessions  of  the 
church,  wliich  they  distributed  among  their  ar- 
mies; in  consequence  of  which  the  priests  and 
monks,  in  order  to  avoid  perishing  through 
hunger,  abandoned  themselves  to  the  practice 
of  violence,  fraud,  and  all  sorts  of  crimes,  con- 
sidering these  acts  as  the  only  remaining 
means  by  which  they  could  procure  a  subsist- 
ence.f 

III.  The  Roman  pontiffs  were  raised  to  that 
high  dignity  by  the  suffrages  of  the  sacerdotal 
order,  accompanied  by  the  voice  of  the  people; 
but,  after  their  election,  the  approbation  of  the 
emperor  was  necessary,  in  order  to  their  conse- 
cration.+  An  edict,  indeed,  is  yet  extant,  sup- 
posed to  have  been  published,  in  817,  by  Louis 
the  Debonnaire,  in  which  he  abolishes  this  im- 
perial right,  and  grants  to  the  Romans,  not 
only  the  power  of  electing  their  pontiff,  but  also 
the  privilege  of  installing  and  consecrating  him 
when  elected,  without  waiting  for  the  consent 
of  the  emperor. §  But  this  grant  will  not  de- 
ceive those  who  inquire  into  the  affair  with 
any  degree  of  attention  and  diligence,  since 
several  learned  men  have  proved  it  spurious 
by  the  most  irresistible  arguments.  ||  It  must, 
however,  be  confessed,  that,  after  the  time  of 
Charles  the  Bald,  a  new  scene  of  things  arose; 
and  the  important  change  above-mentioned 
was  really  introduced.  That  prince,  having 
obtained  the  imperial  dignity  by  the  good  offi- 
ces of  the  bishop  of  Rome,  returned  this  emi- 
nent service  by  delivering  the  succeeding  pon- 
tiffs from  the  obligation  of  waiting  for  the  con- 
sent of  the  emperors,  in  order  to  their  being  in- 
stalled in  their  office;  and  thus  we  find,  that 
from  the  time  of  Eugenius  III.  who  was  raised 

*  Steph.  Baliizii  Appendix  Aetor.  ad  Servatum,  p. 
508.— Muratori  Antiq.  Ital.  medii  iEvi,  torn.  ii.  p.  4-lt). 
Mabilloii,  Annal.  Bcntdicl.  torn.  vi.  p.  587. — Du-Fresne, 
ad  Joinvillii  Hist.  Ludovici  S.  p.  75,  76. 

f  Agobardus,  dc  Dispens.  Rerum  Ecclesiast.  sect, 
iv. — Flodoardus,  Hislor.  Ecclfs,  Rhemensis,  lib.  iii.  cap. 
iK. — Scrvaius  Lupus,  Epist.  xlv.  p.  87,  4.'i7,  &.c. — Mura- 
tori, loin.  vi.  Anliq.  Ital.  p.  302. — Lud.  Tliomassin,  Dis 
ciplina  Ecclesiae  vet.  et  iiovee  circa  Beneticia,  par.  ii. 
lib.  iii.  cap.  xi.  These  corrupt  measures  prevailed  also 
among  the  Greeks  and  Lombards,  as  may  be  seen  in  the 
OricHs  Christianus  of  Lequien,  torn.  i.  p.  142. 

}  Se«  De  Bunau,  Histor.  Imper.  German,  torn.  iii. 

tj  Harduiai  Concilia,  torn.  iv.  p.  1336. — Le  Cointe, 
Anuales  Eccles.  Fraiicor.  torn.  vii.  ad  An.  S17.  «ect.  €. 
Baluzii  Capitular.  Regum  Francor.  torn.  i.  p.  .^>91. 

II  Muratori,  Droits  de  I'Empire  s«r  I'Etal  Ecclesiast. 
p.  54,  and  Anti<j.  Ital.  lorn.  iii.  p.  29,  30,  in  which  that 
learned  man  conjectures,  that  this  edict  was  forged  in 
the  eleventh  century.  Bunau,  Hist.  Imper.  German, 
torn.  iii.  p.  34.  The  partisans,  however,  of  the  papal 
authority,  such  as  Fontanini  and  others,  plead  strenuous- 
ly, though  ineffectually,  for  the  authenticity  of  the  edict 
in  question. 


to  the  pontificate  in  884,  the  election  of  the 
pope  was  carried  on  without  the  least  regard 
to  law,  order,  and  decency,  and  was  generally 
attended  with  civil  tumults  and  dissensions, 
until  the  reign  of  Otho  the  Great,  who  put  a 
stop  to  these  disorderly  proceedings. 

IV.  Among  the  pontiffs  of  this  century,  there 
were  very  few  who  distinguished  themselves 
by  their  learning,  prudence,  and  virtue,  or  who 
were  studious  of  those  particular  qualities  which 
are  essential  to  the  character  of  a  Christian 
bishop.  On  the  contrary,  the  greatest  part  of 
them  are  only  known  by  the  flagitious  actions 
that  have  transmitted  their  names  with  infamy 
to  our  times;  and  all  seem  to  have  vied  with 
each  other  in  their  ambitious  efforts  to  extend 
their  authority,  and  render  their  dominion  im- 
limited  and  universal.  It  is  here  that  we  may 
place,  with  propriety,  an  event  which  is  said 
to  have  interrupted  the  much-vaunted  succes- 
sion of  regular  bishops  in  the  see  of  Rome, 
from  the  first  foundation  of  that  church  to  the 
present  times.  Between  the  pontificate  of  Leo 
IV.,  who  died  in  855,  and  that  of  Benedict  III., 
a  certain  woman,  who  artfully  disguised  her 
sex  for  a  considerable  time,  is  said,  by  learning, 
genius,  and  dexterity,  to  have  made  good  her 
way  to  the  papal  chair,  and  to  have  governed 
the  church  with  the  title  and  dignity  of  pontiff 
about  two  years.  This  extraordinary  person 
is  yet  known  by  the  title  of  Pope  Joan.  Dur- 
ing the  five  succeeding  centuries  this  event  was 
generally  believed,  and  a  vast  number  of  wri- 
ters bore  testimony  to  its  truth;  nor,  before 
the  reformation  undertaken  by  Luther,  was 
it  considered  by  any,  either  as  incredible  in  it- 
self, or  as  disgraceful  to  the  church.*  But,  in 
the  last  century,  the  elevation,  and  indeed  tlie 
existence  of  this  female  pontiff,  became  the 
subject  of  a  keen  and  learned  controversy;  and 
several  men  of  distinguished  abilities,  both 
among  the  Roman  catholics  and  protestants, 
employed  all  the  force  of  their  genius  and  eru- 
dition to  destroy  the  credit  of  this  story,  by  in- 
validating, on  the  one  hand,  the  weight  of  the 
testimonies  on  which  it  was  founded,  and  by 
showing,  on  the  other,  that  it  was  inconsistent 
with  the  most  accurate  chronological  compu- 
tations.f       Between   the   contending   parties, 


*  The  arguments  of  those  who  maintained  the  truth 
of  this  extraordinary  event  are  collected  in  one  striking 
point  of  view,  with  great  learning  and  industry,  by 
Fred.  Spanheim,  in  his  Exercitatio  de  Papa  Foemina, 
torn.  ii.  op.  p.  577.  This  dissertation  was  translated  into 
French  by  the  celebrated  L'Enfant,  who  digested  it  into 
a  better  method,  and  enriched  it  with  several  additions. 

t  The  arguments  of  those  who  reject  the  story  of 
Pope  Joan  as  a  fable,  have  been  collected  by  David  Blou- 
del,  and  after  him  with  still  more  art  and  erudition  by 
Bayle,  in  the  third  volume  of  his  Dictionary,  at  the  arti- 
cle Papessc.  Add  to  these  Jo.  Georg.  Eccard.  (Histor. 
Francise  Oriental,  tom.  ii.  lib.  xxx.  sect.  119.  p.  436,) 
who  has  adopted  and  appropriated  the  sentiments  of 
the  great  Leibnitz,  upon  the  matter  in  question.  See 
also  Lequien 's  Oriens  Christian,  tom.  ii.  p.  777,  and 
Heuman's  Sylloge  Dissert.  Sacr.  torn.  i.  part  ii.  p.  352. 
The  very  learned  Jo.  Christoph.  Wagenselius  has  given 
a  just  and  a<^curate  view  of  the  arguments  on  both 
sides,  wliich  may  be  seen  in  the  Amoenitates  Literariae 
of  Schelhornius,  part  i.  p.  146;  and  the  same  has  been 
done  by  Basnage  in  his  Histoire  de  I'Eglise,  tom.  i.  p. 
408.  A  list  of  the  other  writers,  who  have  employed 
their  labours  upon  this  intricate  question,  may  be  seen  in 
Casp.  SagiUarius'  Introd.  in  Hist.  Eccles.  tom.  i.  cap. 
xxv!  p.  676,  and  in  the  Bibljoth.  Brtmenf  tom.  viii.  part 
V.  p.  935. 


Chap.  II 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


215 


some  of  the  wisest  and  most  learned  writere 
have  judiciously  steered  a  middle  course;  they 
grant  that  many  fictitious  and  fabidous  circum- 
stances have  been  interwoven  with  this  story; 
but  they  deny  that  it  is  entirely  destitute  of 
foundation,  or  that  the  controversy  is  yet  end- 
ed, in  a  satisfactory  manner,  in  favour  of  those 
who  dispute  the  truth;  and,  indee<l,  Upon  a  de- 
liberate and  impartial  view  of  this  whole  mat- 
ter, it  will  appear  more  than  probable,  tJiat 
some  unusual  event  must  have  happened  at 
Rome,  from  which  this  story  derived  its  origin, 
because  it  is  not  at  all  credible,  from  any  prin- 
ciples of  moral  evidence,  that  an  event  should 
be  universally  believed  and  related  in  the  same 
manner  by  a  multitude  of  historians,  during 
five  centuries  immediately  succeeding  its  sup- 
posed date,  if  that  event  had  been  absolutely 
destitute  of  all  foundation.  But  what  it  was 
that  gave  rise  to  this  story  is  yet  to  be  disco- 
vered, and  is  likely  to  remain  uncertain.* 

V.  The  enormous  vices,  that  must  have  co- 
vered so  many  pontiffs  with  infamy  in  the  judg- 
ment of  the  wise,  formed  not  the  least  obsta- 
cle to  their  ambition  in  these  miserable  times, 
nor  hindered  them  from  extending  their  influ- 
ence, and  augmenting  their  authority,  both  in 
church  and  state.  It  does  not,  indeed,  appear 
from  any  authentic  records,  that  their  posses- 
sions increased  in  proportion  to  the  progress  of 
their  authority,  or  that  any  new  grants  of  land 
were  added  to  what  they  had  already  obtained 
from  the  liberality  of  the  kings  of  France. — 
The  donations,  which  Louis  the  Debonnaire 
is  reported  to  have  made  to  them,  are  mere  in- 
ventions, equally  destitute  of  truth  and  proba- 
bility;! and  nothing  is  more  groundless  than 
the  accounts  of  those  writers  who  affirm  that 
Ciiarles  the  Bald  divested  himself,  in  815,  of 
his  right  to  the  city  of  Rome  and  its  territory, 
in  favour  of  the  pontiffs,  whom  he  at  the  same 
time  enriched  witli  a  variety  of  noble  and  cost- 
ly presents,  in  return  for  the  good  services  of 
Jolin  VIII.,  by  whose  assistance  he  had  been 
raised  to  the  empire.  Be  that  as  it  may,  it  is 
certain,  that  the  authority  and  affluence  of  the 
bishops  of  Rome  increased  greatly  from  the 
time  of  Louis,  but  more  especially  from  the 
accession  of  Charles  the  Bald  to  the  imperial 
throne,  as  all  the  historical  records  of  that 
period  abundantly  testify.]; 

VI.  After  the  death  of  Louis  II.  a  fierce  and 
dreadful  war  broke  out  between  the  posterity 
of  Charlemagne,  among  which  there  were  seve- 
ral competitors  for  the  empire.  This  furnished 
the  Italian  princes  and  pope  John  VIII.  with 


*  Such  is  the  opiuioii  of  Paul  Sarpi,  in  his  Lcttere 
Italiaiie,  Lett.  Ixxxii.  p.  452;  of  L'Eiifatit,  Biblioth.  Gcr- 
Dianique,  torn.  x.  p.  27;  of  Theod.  Hasaus,  Biblioth. 
Bremens.  torn.  viii.  part  v.  p.  935;  and  of  the  ceK-brated 
Pfaff,  Instit.  Histor.  Eocles.  p.  402;  to  whom  we  might 
add  Wernsdorf,  Boeder,  Holberg,  and  many  others, 
were  such  an  enumeration  necessary.  Without  assum- 
ing the  character  of  a  judge  in  this  intricate  contro- 
versy, concerning  which  so  many  decisions  have  been 
confidently  pronounced,  I  shall  only  take  the  liberty  to 
observe,  that  the  matter  in  debate  is  yet  dubious,  and  has 
not,  on  either  side,  been  represented  in  such  a  light  as  to 
bring  conviction. 

t  See  above,  sect.  3. 

}  Bunau  Histor.  Imperii  Rom.  German,  torn.  ii.  p. 
482. — Jo.  George  Eccard,  Histor.  Franciae  Orient,  tom. 
■i.  lib.  mi.  p.  t>06. 


an  opportunity  of  assuming  the  right  of  nomi 
nating  to  the  imperial  throne,  and  of  excluding 
from  all  concern  in  this  election  the  nations 
who  had  formerly  the  right  of  suffrage;  and,  as 
the  occasion  was  favourable,  it  was  seized  with 
avidity,  and  improved  with  the  utmost  dexte- 
rity and  zeal.  Their  favour  and  interest  were 
earnestly  soHcited  by  Charles  the  Bald,  whose 
intreaties  were  rendered  effectual  by  rich  pre- 
sents, prodigious  sums  of  money,  and  most 
pompous  promises,  in  consequence  of  which  he 
was  proclaimed,  in  S'i6,  by  the  pope  and  the 
Italian  princes  assembled  at  Pavia,  king  of 
Italy  and  emperor  of  the  Romans.  Carloman 
and  Charles  tiie  Gross,  who  succeeded  him  in 
tlie  kingdom  of  Italy,  and  in  the  Roman  em 
pire,  were  also  elected  by  the  Roman  pontiff" 
and  the  princes  of  Italy.  After  the  reigrif 
of  those  potentates,  the  empire  was  torn  in 
pieces:  the  most  deplorable  tumults  and  com 
motions  arose  in  Italy,  France,  and  Germany, 
which  were  governed  or  rather  subdued  and 
usurped  by  various  chiefs;  and,  in  this  confused 
scene,  the  highest  bidder  was,  by  the  aid  of  the 
greedy  ponti  ffs,  generally  rai.sed  to  the  govern- 
ment of  Italy,  and  to  the  imperial  throne.* 

Vll.  Thus  the  power  and  influence  of  the 
pontiffs,  in  civil  affairs,  rose  in  a  short  time  to 
an  enormous  height,  through  the  favour  and 
protection  of  the  princes,  in  whose  cause  they 
had  employed  the  influence  which  superstition 
had  given  them  over  the  minds  of  the  people. 
The  increase  of  their  authority,  in  religious 
n)atters,  was  not  less  rapid  or  less  considerable; 
and  it  arose  from  the  same  causes.  The  wisest 
and  most  impartial  among  the  Roman  catholic 
writers,  not  only  acknowledge,  but  have  even 
taken  pains  to  demonstrate,  that,  from  the  time 
of  Louis  the  Debonnaire,  tiie  ancient  rules 
of  ecclesiastical  government  were  gradually 
changed  in  Europe  by  tlic  counsels  and  instiga- 
tion of  the  court  of  Rome,  and  new  laws  sub- 
stituted in  their  place.  The  European  princes 
suffered  themselves  to  be  divested  of  the  su- 
preme authority  in  religious  matters,  which 
they  had  derived  from  CTiarlemagne;  the  epis- 
copal power  was  greatly  diminished,  and  even 
the  authority  of  both  provincial  and  general 
councils  began  to  decline.  The  Roman  pon- 
tiff's, elate  with  tiieir  overgrown  prosperity 
and  the  daily  accessions  that  were  made  to 
their  authority,  were  eagerly  bent  upon  per- 
suading all,  and  had,  indeed,  the  good  fortune 
to  persuade  many,  that  the  bisliop  of  Rome 
was  constituted,  by  Jesus  Christ,  supreme  legis- 
lator and  judge  of  the  churcii  universal;  and 
that,  therefore,  the  bishops  derived  all  their  au- 
thority from  the  pope,  nor  could  the  councils 
determine  any  thing  without  his  permission  and 
consent.!     This  opinion,  which  was  inculcated 

*  This  matter  is  amply  illustrated  by  Sigonius,  in  bis  fa- 
mous book  de  Regno  Italia;,  and  by  the  other  writers  of 
German  and  Italian  history. 

I  See  the  excellent  work  of  an  anonymous  and  unknown 
author,  who  signs  himself  D.  B.  and  whose  book  is  enti- 
tled, Histoire  du  Droit  Ecclesiastique  public  Francois, 
published  first  at  London,  in  1737,  and  lately  republished 
m  a  more  splendid  edition.  The  author  of  this  perform- 
ance shows,  in  a  judiciousand  concise  manner, the  various 
steps  by  which  the  papal  au'hority  rose  to  such  a  mon- 
strous height.  His  account  of  the  ninth  century  may  be 
seen  in  the  first  volume  of  his  work,  at  the  160lh  page. 


216 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


with  the  utmost  zeal  and  ardour,  was  opposed 
by  such  as  were  acquainted  with  the  ancient 
ecclesiastical  constitutions,  and  the  government 
of  the  church  in  the  earher  ages;  but  it  was 
opposed  in  vain. 

VJIl.  In  order  to  gain  credit  to  this  new  ec- 
clesiastical system,  so  ditferent  from  the  ancient 
rules  of  church  government,  and  to  support  the 
haughty  pretensions  of  the  pontitfs  to  supre- 
macy and  independence,  it  was  necessary  to  pro- 
duce the  autl)ority  of  ancient  deeds,  to  stop  the 
mouths  of  sucii  as  were  disposed  to  set  bounds 
to  their  usurpations.  The  bishops  of  Rome 
were  aware  of  this;  and  as  those  means  were 
deemed  the  most  lawful  that  tended  best  to  the 
accomplishment  of  tlieir  purposes,  they  em- 
ployed some  of  their  most  ingenious  and  zealous 
partisans  in  forging  conventions,  acts  of  coun- 
cils, epistles,  and  the  like  records,  by  which  it 
might  appear,  that,  in  the  first  ages  of  the 
church,  tlie  Roman  pontiffs  were  clothed  with 
the  same  spiritual  majesty  and  supreme  autho- 
rity which  they  now  assumed.*  Among  these 
fictitious  supports  of  the  papal  dignity,  the  fa- 
mous Decretal  Epistles,  as  they  are  called,  said 
to  have  been  written  by  the  pontiffs  of  the 
primitive  time,  deserve  chiefly  to  be  stigma- 
tised. They  were  the  productions  of  an  obscure 
writer,  who  fraudulently  prefixed  to  them  the 
name  of  Isidore,  bisliop  of  fcieville,!  to  make  the 
world  believe  tiiat  they  had  been  collected  by 
this  illustrious  and  learned  prelate.  Some  of 
thein  had  appeared  in  the  eighth  century ,|  but 
they  were  now  entirely  drawn  from  their  ob- 
scurity, and  produced,  with  an  air  of  ostentation 
and  triumph,  to  demonstrate  the  supremacy  of 
the  Roman  pontiffs.  §     The  decisions  of  a  cer- 

*  There  is  just  reason  to  imagine,  that  these  decretals, 
and  various  other  acts,  such  as  the  grants  of  Charlemagne 
and  his  son  Louis,  wtre  I'orged  with  the  knowledge  and 
consent  of  the  Roman  pontiff-,  since  it  is  utterly  incredi- 
ble, that  these  pontiffs  sliould,  for  many  ages,  liave  con- 
stantly appealed,  in  support  of  their  pretended  rights  and 
privileges,  to  acts  and  records  that  were  only  the  Ilctions 
of  private  persons, and  should  with  such  weak  arms  have 
stood  out  against  kings,  princes,  councils,  and  bishops, 
who  were  unwilling  to  receive  their  yoke.  Acts  of  a  pri- 
vate nature  would  have  been  useless  here,  and  public  deeds 
were  necessary  to  accomplish  the  views  of  papa!  ambition. 
Such  forgeries  were  in  this  century  deemed  lawful,  on 
account  of  their  supposed  tendency  to  promote  the  glory 
of  God,  and  to  advance  the  prosperity  of  the  church:  and, 
therefore,  it  is  not  surprising,  that  the  good  pontiffs  should 
feel  no  remorse  in  imposing  upon  the  world  frauds  and 
forgeries,  that  were  designed  to  enrich  the  patrimony  of 
St.  Peter,  and  to  aggrandise  his  successors  in  the  apostolic 
tte. 

\  It  is  certain  that  the  forger  of  the  decretals  was  ex- 
tremely desirous  of  persuading  the  world,  that  they  were 
collected  by  Isidore,  the  celebrated  bishop  of  Seville,  who 
lived  in  the  sixth  century.  See  Fabricii  Biblioth.  Latin. 
medii  JEvi,  torn.  v.  p.  561.  It  was  a  custom  among  the 
bishops  to  add,  from  a  principle  of  humility,  the  epithet 
pecccUor,  i.  e.  sinner,  to  their  titles;  and,  accordingly,  this 
forger  has  added  the  word  peccator  after  the  name  of  Isi- 
dore: but  this  some  ignorant  transcribers  have  absurdly 
changed  into  the  word  mercator;  and  hence  it  happens 
that  one  Isidorus  Mercator  passes  for  the  fraudulent  col- 
lector, or  forger  of  the  decretals. 

I  See  Calinet,  Histoire  de  Lorraine,  tom.  i.  p.  528. — B. 
Just.  Hen.  Bohmer,  Praef.  ad  novam  Edit.  Juris  Canon, 
tom.  i.  p.  X.  xix.  Not. 

^  Beside  the  authors  of  the  Centuria;  Magdeburgenses 
and  other  writers,  the  learned  Blondel  has  demonstrated, 
in  an  ample  and  satisfactory  manner,  the  spuriousness  of 
the  decretals,  in  his  Fseudo-Isidorus  et  Turrianus  vapu- 
lantes;  and  in  our  time  the  imposition  is  acknowledged 
tven  by  the  Roman  catholics,  at  least  by  such  of  them  as 
poiseu  some  degree  of  judgment  and  impartiality.     See 


tain  Roman  council,  which  is  said  to  have  been 
holden  during  the  pontificate  of  Sylvester,  were 
likewise  alleged  in  behalf  of  the  same  cause; 
but  this  council  had  not  been  heard  of  before 
the  present  century,  and  the  accounts  now 
given  of  it  proceeded  from  the  same  source 
with  the  decretals,  and  were  equally  authentic. 
Be  tliat  as  it  may,  the  decrees  of  tliis  pretended 
council  contributed  much  to  enrich  and  aggran- 
dise the  Roman  pontiffs,  and  exalt  them  above 
all  human  authority  and  jurisdiction.* 

IX.  There  were,  however,  among  the  Latin 
bishops,  some  men  of  prudence  and  sagacity, 
wjio  saw  through  these  impious  frauds,  and 
perceived  the  cliains  that  were  forging  both  for 
them  and  for  the  church.  The  French  bishops 
distinguished  tliemselves,  in  a  particular  and 
glorious  manner,  by  the  zeal  and  vehemence 
witli  which  they  opposed  the  spurious  decretals, 
and  other  fictitious  monuments  and  records,  and 
protested  against  their  being  received  among 
the  laws  of  the  church.  But  the  obstinacy  of 
the  pontiffs,  and  particularly  of  Nicolas  I., 
conquered  tliis  opposition,  and  reduced  it  to 
silence.  And  as  tiie  empire,  in  the  periods 
tliat  succeeded  this  contest,  fell  back  into  the 
grossest  ignorance  and  darkness,  there  scarcely 
remained  any  who  were  capable  of  detecting 
these  odious  impositions,  or  disposed  to  support 
the  expiring  liberty  of  the  church.  The  history 
of  the  following  ages  shows,  in  a  multitude 
of  deplorable  examples,  the  disorders  and  ca- 
lamities that  sprang  from  the  ambition  of  the 
aspiring  pontiffs;  it  represents  these  despotic 
lords  of  the  church,  labouring,  by  the  aid  of 
their  impious  frauds,  to  overturn  its  ancient 
government,  to  undermine  the  autliority  of  its 
bishops,  to  engross  its  riches  and  revenues  into 
their  own  hands;  and,  what  is  still  more  horri- 
ble, it  represents  them  aiming  perfidious  blows 
at  the  tlirones  of  princes,  and  endeavouring  to 
lessen  their  power,  and  to  set  bounds  to  their 
dominion.  All  this  is  unanimously  acknow- 
ledged by  such  as  have  looked,  witii  attention 
and  impartiality,  into  the  history  of  the  times 
of  which  we  now  write,  and  is  ingenuously 
confessed  by  men  of  learning  and  probity,  who 
are  well  atiected  to  the  Romish  ciiurch  and  its 
sovereign  pontiff.f 

X.  Tiie  monastic  life  was  now  universally 
in  the  highest  esteem;  and  nothing  could  equal 
the  veneration  that  was  paid  to  such  as  devoted 
themselves  to  the  sacred  gloom  and  indolence 
of  a  convent.  The  Greeks  and  Orientals  had 
been  long  accustomed  to  regard  the  monkish 
orders  and  discipline  with  the  greatest  admira- 
tion; but  it  was  only  from  tlie  beginning  of  the 
eighth  century,  that  tliis  holy  passion  was  in- 
dulged among  the  Latins  to  such  an  extrava- 
gant length.  In  the  present  age  it  went  beyond 
all  bounds:  kings,  dukes,  and  counts,  forgot 
their  true  dignity,  even  the  zealous  discharge^ 


Buddeus'  Isagoge  in  Theologiam,  tom.  ii.  p.  726;  as  also 
Petr.  Constantius'  Prolegom.  ad  Epistolas  Fontificum, 
tom.  i.  p.  30;  and  a  dissertation  of  Fleury,  prefixed  to  the 
sixteentn  volume  of  his  Ecclesiastical  History. 

*  See  J.  Launoy.  de  cura  Ecelesiae  erga  pauperes  et 
miseros,  cap.  i.  Observat.  i.  p.  576.  torn.  ii.  part  li.  op. 

t  See  the  above-mentioned  author's  treatise  entitled, 
Regia  Potestas  in  Causis  Matrimonial,  tom.  i.  part  ii. 
op.  p.  764;  as  also  Petr.  Constantiui,  Frsf.  ad  Epist 
Romanor.  Pontif.  tom.  i.  p.  127. 


Chap.  II 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


817 


of  the  duties  of  their  high  stations,  and  affected 
that  contempt  of  the  world  and  its  grandeur, 
which  they  took  for  magnanimity,  though  it 
was  really  the  result  of  a  narrow  and  super- 
stitious sj)irit.  They  abandoned  their  thrones, 
their  honours,  and  their  treasures,  and  shut 
tliemselves  up  in  monasteries  witli  a  view  of 
devoting  themselves  entirely  to  God.  Several 
examples  of  this  fanatical  extravagance  were 
exhibited  in  Italy,  France,  Germany,  and 
Spain,  both  in  this  and  in  tlie  preceding  cen- 
tury; and  if  tlie  allurements  of  worldly  pleasures 
and  honours  had  too  much  power  over  the  minds 
of  many,  to  permit  their  separating  themselves 
from  human  society  during  tiieir  lives,  such 
endeavoured  to  make  amends  for  this  in  their 
last  hours;  for,  when  they  perceived  death  ap- 
proaching, they  demanded  the  monastic  habit, 
and  actually  put  it  on  before  their  departure, 
that  they  might  be  regarded  as  of  the  fraternity, 
and  be  in  consequence  entitled  to  the  fervent 
prayers  and  other  spiritual  succours  of  their 
ghostly  brethren. 

But  nothing  affords  such  a  striking  and  re- 
markable proof  of  the  excessive  and  fanatical 
veneration  that  was  paid  to  the  monastic  order, 
as  the  conduct  of  several  kings  and  emperors, 
who  drew  numbers  of  monks  and  abbots  from 
their  cloisters,  and  placed  them  in  stations  en- 
tirely foreign  to  their  vows  and  their  character, 
even  amidst  the  splendour  of  a  court,  and  at 
the  head  of  affairs.  The  transition,  indeed, 
was  violent,  from  the  obscurity  of  a  convent, 
and  the  study  of  a  liturgy,  to  sit  at  the  helm 
of  an  empire,  and  manage  the  political  interests 
of  nations.  But  such  was  the  case;  and  pious 
princes  alleged,  as  a  reason  for  this  singular 
choice,  that  the  government  of  a  state  could 
never  be  better  placed  than  in  the  hands  of  such 
holy  men,  who  had  subdued  all  irregular  ap- 
{)etites  and  passions,  and  were  so  divested  of 
the  lusts  of  pleasure  and  ambition,  as  to  be  m- 
capable  of  any  unworthy  designs,  or  any  low, 
sordid,  or  selfish  views.  Hence  we  find,  in  the 
history  of  these  times,  frequent  examples  of 
monks  and  abbots  performing  the  functions 
of  ambassadors,  envoys,  and  ministers  of  state, 
and  displaying  their  talents  witb  various  suc- 
cess in  these  high  and  eminent  stations. 

XI.  The  morals,  however,  of  the  monks, 
were  far  from  being  so  pure  as  to  justify  the 
reason  alleged  for  their  promotion.  Their 
patrons  and  protectors,  who  loaded  them  with 
honours  and  preferment,  were  sensible  of  the 
irregular  and  licentious  lives  that  many  of  them 
led,  and  used  their  utmost  efforts  to  correct  their 
vices,  and  to  reform  their  manners.  Louis  the 
Debonnaire  distinguished  his  zeal  in  the  exe- 
cution of  this  virtuous  and  noble  design;  and, 
to  render  it  more  effectual,  he  employed  the 
pious  labours  of  Benedict,  abbot  of  Aniane,  in 
reforming  the  monasteries,  first  in  Aquitaine, 
and  afterwards  throughout  the  whole  kingdom 
of  France,  and  in  restoring,  by  new  and  salu- 
tary laws,  the  monastic  discipline,  which  had 
been  so  neglected  as  to  fall  into  decay.  This 
worthy  ecclesiastic  presided,  in  8111,  in  the 
council  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  where  several  wise 
measures  were  taken  for  removing  the  dis- 
orders that  reigned  in  the  cloisters;  and,  in 
consequence  of  the  unlimited  authority  he  had 
Vol-  I.— 2S 


received  from  the  emperor,  he  subjected  all  the 
monks,  without  exception,  to  the  rule  of  the- 
famous  Benedict  abbot  of  Mont-Cassin,  an- 
nulled the  variety  of  rites  and  customs  that 
had  prevailed  in  the  diflerent  monasteries,  pre- 
scribed to  tliem*ll  one  uniform  method  of  liv- 
ing, and  thus  united,  as  it  were,  into  one  general 
body  or  society,  tlie  various  orders  which  had 
hitherto  been  connected  by  no  common  bond.* 
This  admirable  discipline,  which  acquired  to 
Benedict  of  Aniane  the  highest  reputation,  and 
occasioned  him  to  be  revered  as  the  second 
father  of  the  western  monks,  flourished  during 
a  certain  time,  but  afterwards  declined  through 
various  causes,  until  the  conclusion  of  this 
century,  when,  under  the  calamities  that  op- 
pressed both  the  church  and  the  enjpire,  it  al- 
most entirely  disappeared. 

XII.  The  same  emperor,  who  had  appeared 
with  such  zeal,  both  in  protecting  and  reform- 
ing the  monks,  gave  also  distinguished  marks 
of  his  favour  to  the  order  of  canons,  which 
Ciirodegangus  had  introduced  in  several  places 
during  the  last  century.  He  distributed  them 
through  all  the  provinces  of  the  empire,  and 
instituted  also  an  order  of  canonesses,  the  first 
female  convent  known  in  the  Christian  world. f 
For  each  of  these  orders  the  zealous  emperor 
had  a  rule  drawn  up,  in  817,  in  the  council  of 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  sub.stituting  it  for  that  which 
had  been  appointed  by  Chrodegangus;  and  this 
new  rule  was  observed  in  most  of  the  monas- 
teries and  convents  of  the  canons  and  canon- 
esses  in  the  west  until  the  twelfth  century, 
although  it  was  disapproved  by  the  court  of 
Rome. J  The  author  of  the  rule,  framed  for 
the  canons,  was  undoubtedly  Amalarius,  a 
presbyter  of  Metz;  but  it  is  not  so  certain 
whether  that  which  was  drawn  up  for  the  ca- 
nonesses, was  composed  by  the  same  liand.^ 
Be  that  as  it  may,  the  canonical  order  grew 
into  high  repute;  and  from  this  time  a  great 
number  of  convents  were  erected  for  its  mem- 
bers in  all   the  western  provinces,  and  were 

*  Jo.  MabilloD,  Acta  Sanctor.  Ord.  Benedict.  Saec.  iv. 
jiar.  i.  Prffif.  p.  xxvii.  aud  Praef.  ad.  Sa;e.  v.  p.  xxv.  ct 
fjusdem  Annales  Ordiii.  S.  Benedict,  torn.  ii.  p,  430. — 
Calinet,  Hist,  de  Lorraine,  torn.  j.  p.  .596.  For  a  par- 
ticular account  of  Benedict  of  Aniane,  and  his  illustrious 
virtues,  see  the  Acta  Sanctor,  torn.  ii.  Febr.  606;  and  the 
Histoire  Lit.  de  la  France,  torn.  iv.  p.  447. 

t  See  Mabillon,  Anual.  Ordin.  S.  Benedict!,  torn.  ii. 
p.  4-38. 

j  This  rule  was  condemned  in  a  council  held  at  Rome, 
A.  I).  1059,  under  the  pontilV  Nicolas  Ii.  The  pretexts 
Used  by  the  pontiff  and  the  assembled  prelates,  to  justify 
Iheir  disapprobation  of  this  rule,  were,  that  it  permitted 
the  canons  to  enjoy  the  possessions  they  had  before  their 
VOH9,  and  allowed  to  each  of  them  too  large  a  portion  of 
bread  and  wine;  but  the  true  reason  was,  that  this  order 
had  been  instituted  by  an  emperor  without  either  the  con- 
sent or  Imowledge  of  the  Roman  pontiff.  For  an  account 
of  the  rule  aud  discipline  of  these  canons,  see  Fleury'j 
Hist.  Eccles.  torn.  x.  p.  163,  164,  &c.  Brussels  edition 
in  l'2mo. 

^^  Lud.  Thomassin,  Disciplin.  Eccles.  Vet.  et  Novse, 
part  i.  lib.  iii.  cap.  xlii,  xliii. — Mnratori,  Antiq.  Ital. 
niedii  Kvi,  torn.  v.  p.  186,  540.  No  accounts  of  the 
Canons  are  less  worthy  of  credit,  than  those  which  are 
given  by  writers,  who  have  been  themselves  members  of 
that  order,  such  as  Kaymond  Chapponel's  Histoire  det 
Chanoines,  published  at  Paris  in  1699;  for  these  writers, 
from  fond  prejudices  in  favour  of  their  institution,  and 
an  ambitious  desire  of  enhancing  its  merit  and  rendering 
it  respectable,  derive  the  origin  of  the  canonical  order 
from  Christ  and  his  apostles,  or  trace  it  up.  at  leatt,  to 
the  first  ages  of  the  Christian  church. 


218 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  U. 


richly  endowed  by  the  liberality  of  pious  and 
opulent  Christians.  But  this  institution  de- 
generated in  a  short  time,  like  all  others,  from 
its  primitive  purity,  and  ceased  to  answer  the 
laudable  intention  and  design  of  its  worthy 
founders.* 

XIII.  Of  the  theological  writers  who  flou- 
rished among  the  Greelvs,  the  following  are  the 
most  remarkable: 

Photius,  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  a  man 
of  most  profound  and  universal  erudition,  whose 
Bibliotheca,"f  Epistles,  and  other  writings,  are 
yet  valuable  on  many  accounts. 

Nicephorus,  also  a  patriarch  of  the  above- 
mentioned  city,  who,  among  other  productions, 
published  a  warm  defence  of  the  worship  of 
images  against  the  enemies  of  that  idolatrous 
service. j; 

Theodorus  Studites,  who  acquired  a  name 
chiefly  by  his  warm  opposition  to  the  Icono- 
clasts, and  by  the  zeal  with  which  he  wrote  in 
favour  of  image  worship. § 

The  same  cause  has  principally  contributed 
to  transmit  to  after-ages  tlie  names  of  Theo- 
dorus Graptus,  Methodius,  who  obtained  the 
title  of  Confessor  for  his  adherence  to  image- 
worship  in  tlie  very  face  of  persecution,  Theo- 
dorus Abucara,|[  Petrus  Siculus,  Nieetas  David, 
and  others,  who  would  probably  have  been  long 
since  buried  in  oblivion,  had  not  the  various 
contests  between  the  Greek  and  Latin  church- 
es, and  the  divisions  of  the  former  among  them- 
selves upon  the  question  concerning  images, 
excited  the  vehemence  of  these  inconsiderable 
writers,  and  furnished  them  with  an  occasion 
of  making  some  noise  in  the  world. 

Moses  Barcepha,  a  Syrian  bishop,  far  sur- 
passed all  vvliom  we  have  now  been  mentioning, 
and  deserved  the  shining  reputation  which  he 
has  obtained  in  the  republic  of  letters,  as  what 
we  have  yet  extant  of  his  works  discover  marks 
of  true  genius,  and  an  uncommon  acquaintance 
with  the  art  of  writing.li 

XIV.  Rabanus  Maurus,  archbishop  of  Mentz, 
is  deservedly  placed  at  the  head  of  the  Latin 
writers  of  this  age;  the  force  of  his  genius,  the 
extent  of  his  knowledge,  and  the  multitude  of 
productions  that  flowed  from  his  i>en,  entitle 
him  to  this  distinguished  rank,  and  render  im- 
proper all  comparison  between  him  and  his 
contemporaries.  He  may  be  called  tlie  great 
light  of  Germany  and  France,  since  it  was  from 
the  prodigious  fund  of  knowledge  he  possessed, 
that  those  nations  derived  principally  their  re- 
ligious instruction.  His  writings  were  every 
where  in  the  hands  of  the  learned,**  and  were 

•  Calmet,  Hist,  de  Lorraine,  torn.  i.  p.  591. — Hist. 
Lit.  de  la  France,  torn.  iv.  p.  536. 

t  See  Camusat,  Hisloire  des  Journaux,  torn.  i.  p.  87. 

\  Acta  Saiictor.  torn.  ii.  Martii  ad  d.  xiii.  p.  293. — Ou- 
dinus,  Scriptor.  Eccles.  torn.  ii.  p.  2. 

{7(3-  ^  Theodore  Studites  was  one  of  the  most  volumi- 
nous writers  of  this  century,  and  would  certainly  have 
been  known  as  a  man  of  genius  and  learning  in  after-ages, 
even  if  the  controversy  concerning  images  had  never  ex- 
isted. There  are  of  his  writings,  yet  extant,  265  letters, 
several  treatises  against  the  Iconoclasts,  124  epigrams  in 
iambics,  and  a  large  manuscript,  which  contain^  a  course 
of  catechetical  instruction  concerning  the  duties  of  the 
monastic  life. 

II  See  Bayle's  Dictionary,  vol.  i. 

%  Assemani  Biblioth.  Orient.  Vatican,  torn.  li.  p.  127. 

**  See,  for  a  particular  account  of  the  life  and  writings 
of  Rabanus  Maurus,  the  Histoire  Literaire  de  la  France, 


holden  in  such  veneration,  that,  during  foiur 
centuries,  the  most  eminent  of  the  Latin  di- 
vines appealed  to  them  as  authority  in  religious 
matters,  and  adopted  almost  universally  the 
sentiments  they  contained.  After  this  illus- 
trious prelate,  tlie  writers  who  are  most  worthy 
of  mention  are, 

Agobard,  arclibishop  of  Lyons,  a  man  of 
wisdom  and  prudence,  and  far  from  being  des- 
titute of  literary  merit;  but  whose  reputation 
has  deservedly  suffered  by  his  vindicating,  and 
even  fomenting  the  rebellion  of  Lothaire  and 
Pepin  against  Louis  the  Debonnaire,  their  fa- 
ther and  their  sovereign.* 

Hilduin,  abbot  of  St.  Denis,  who  acquired  no 
small  reputation  by  a  work  entitled  Areopa- 
gitica.f 

Eginhard,  abbot  of  Selingestadt,  the  cele- 
brated author  of  the  Life  of  Charlemagne,  re- 
markable for  the  beauty  of  his  diction,  the 
perspicuity  and  elegance  of  his  style,  and  a 
variety  of  otlier  literary  accomplishments.]; 

Claudius,  bishop  of  Turin,  whose  e.\position 
of  several  books  of  Scripture, §  as  also  his  Chro- 
nology, gained  him  an  eminent  and  lasting 
reputation.  II 

Freculph,  bishop  of  Lisieux,  whose  Chroni- 
cle, which  is  no  more  tiian  a  heavy  compilation, 
is  yet  extant. 

Servatus  Lupus,  of  whose  composition  we 
have  several  epistles  and  treatises:  and  who, 
though  a  copious  and  subtile  writer,  is  yet  de- 
fective in  point  of  elegance  and  erudition. 11 

Drepanius  Florus,  who  left  behind  him  seve- 
ral poems,  an  exposition  of  certain  books  of 
Scriptine,  and  other  performances  less  worthy 
of  attention.** 

Christian  Druthmar,  the  author  of  a  Com- 
mentary upon  St.  Matthew's  Gospel. If 

Godeschalc,  a  monkof  Orbais,  who  rendered 
his  name  immortal  by  the  controversy  which 
he  commenced  concerning  predestination  and 
free  grace. 

Paschasius  Radbert,iJ  a  name  famous  in  the 
contests  concerning  the  real  presence  of  Clirist's 
body  in  tlie  eucharist;  and  w^ho,  to  pass  in  si- 
lence his  other  writings,  composed  a  book  upon 

tom.  v.  p.  151;  as  also  the  Acta  Saoctor.  torn.  i.  Febr.  p. 
500. 

*  See  Colonia,  Hist.  Liter,  de  la  ville  de  Lyon,  tom.  ii. 
p.  93. — General  Dictionary,  at  the  article  Agobard — Hist. 
Lit.  de  la  France,  tom.  iv.  p.  567.  [Agobard  opposed 
with  great  zeal  both  the  worship  and  the  use  of  images, 
in  his  famous  book,  de  Picturis  et  Imagiuibus,  a  work 
which  has  greatly  embarrassed  the  doctors  of  the  Romish 
church.] 

t  Hist.  Lit.  de  la  France,  tom.  iv.  p.  607, 

{  Hist.  Lit.  de  la  France,  tom.  iv.  p.  550.  See  also  the 
Life  of  Charlemagne,  the  best  editioji  of  which  is  that 
published  by  Schminkius,  at  Utreclit,  in  1711. 

d^^  §  This  prelate,  who  was  famous  for  h;s  knowledge 
of  the  holy  Scriptures,  composed  HI  books  of  commenta- 
ries upon  Genesis,  4  upon  Exodus,  and  several  upon  Le- 
viticus. He  wrote  also  a  commentary  upon  the  Gospel  of 
St.  Matthew,  in  which  there  are  many  excellent  things, 
and  an  exposition  of  all  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul.  His  com- 
mentary on  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatiaus  is  printed,  but  all 
the  rest  arc  in  manuscript. 

Il  See  Simon,  Critique  de  la  Biblioth.  Eccles.  de  M.  Du- 
Pin,  tom.  1.  p.  284. 

5r  Histoire  Lit.  de  la  France,  tom.  v.  p.  255. 

**  Colonia,  Histoire  Liter,  de  Lyon,  tom.  ii,  p.  135, — 
Hist.  Lit.  de  la  France,  tom.  v.  p.  213. 

tt  Hist.  Lit.  de  la  France,  tom.  v.  p.  84. 

jj  For  an  account  of  Radbert,  see  the  work  last  quoted, 
tom,  V.  p.  267. 


1 


\ 


Chap.  III. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


219 


this  very  subject,  which  furnished  abundant 
matter  of  dispute  throughout  this  century. 

Bertram,  or  Ratram,  a  monk  of  Corby,  who 
deserves  the  first  rank  among  the  writers  that 
refuted  the  doctrine  of  Radbert;  and  wliose 
book  concerning  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
supper,  composed  by  the  order  of  Charles  the 
Bald,  gave  occasion  to  many  contests  among 
learned  divines.* 

Haymo,  bishop  of  Ilalberstadt,  the  laborious 
author  of  several  treatises  upon  various  sub- 
jects, and  who  is  more  to  be  esteemed  for  his 
industry  and  diligence,  than  for  his  genius  and 
learning.! 

Walafridus  Strabo,  who  acquired  no  mean 
reputation  by  his  Poems,  his  Lives  of  the 
Saints,  and  his  e-xplications  of  many  of  the 
more  difficult  passages  of  Scripture. J 

Hincmar,  archbishop  of  Rheims,  a  man  of 
an  imperious  and  turbulent  spirit,  but  who  de- 
serves a  distinguislied  place  among  the  Latin 
writers  of  this  century,  since  his  works  discover 
an  aspiring  genius,  and  an  ardent  zeal  in  the 
pursuit  of  truth,  and  tend,  in  a  singular  man- 
ner, to  throw  light,  both  upon  the  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  history  of  the  age  in  which  he 
lived. § 

Johannes  Scotus  Erigena,  the  friend  and 
companion  of  Charles  the  Bald,  an  eminent 
philosopher,  and  a  learned  divine,  whose  eru- 
dition was  accompanied  with  uncommon  marks 
of  sagacity  and  genius,  and  whose  various  per- 
formances, as  well  as  his  translations  from  the 
Greek,  gained  him  a  shining  and  lasting  repu- 
tation. || 

It  is  sufficient  barely  to  name  Remigius 
Bertharius,  Ado,  Aimoin,  Heric,  Regino,  abbot 
of  Prum,  and  others,  of  whom  the  most  common 
writers  of  ecclesyastical  history  give  ample  ac- 
counts. 

CHAPTER  III. 
Concei-ning  the  doctrine  of  the  Chnstian  Church 
during  this  Century. 
I.  The  zeal  of  Charlemagne  for  the  interests 
of  Christianity,  and  his  liberality  to  the  learned, 
encouraged  many  to  apply  themselves  dili- 
gently to  the  study  of  the  Scriptures,  and  to  the 
pursuit  of  religious  truth:  and,  as  long  as  this 
eminent  set  of  divines  remained,  the  western 
provinces  were  happily  preserved  from  many 
errors,  and  from  a  variety  of  superstitious  prac- 
tices. Tims  we  find  among  the  writers  of  this 
age  several  men  of  eminent  talents,  whose  pro- 
ductions show  that  the  lustre  of  true  erudition 
and  theology  was  not  yet  totally  eclipsed.  But 
these  illustrious  luminaries  of  tlic  cliurcii  dis- 
appeared one  after  another;  and  barbarism  and 
ignorance,  encouraged  by  their  departure,  re- 


*  We  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  more  particularly  of 
Bertram,  and  his  book,  in  the  I'ullowing  chapter. 

t  It  is  proper  to  observe,  that  a  great  part  of  the  writings 
that  are  attributed  to  Haymo, bishopof  HalberstadI,  were 
composed  by  Remi,  or  Remigius,  of  Auxerre.  Sec  Casi- 
mir  Oudinus,  Comment,  dc  Soriptor.  Kccles.  tom.  ii.  p. 
330.— Hisloire  Literaire  dc  la  F'rance,  tom.  v.  p.  Ill, 
tom.  vi.  p.  106. — Le  Boeuf,  Recucil  de  Diss,  sur  I'Histoire 
de  la  France,  tom.  i.  p.  278. 

\  See  the  Histoire  de  la  France,  tom.  v.  p.  644. 

^  The  same  work,  tom.  v.  p.  416. 

II  See  Herm.  Couringius,  Antiq.  Academics,  p.  309, 
and  the  Hist.  Lit.  de  la  France,  tom.  T.  p.  416. 


sumed  their  ancient  seats,  and  brought,  in  their 
train,  a  prodigious  multitude  of  devout  follies, 
odious  superstitions,  and  abominable  errors. 
Nor  did  any  encourage  and  propagate  with 
more  zeal  and  ardour  these  superstitious  inno- 
vations, than  the  sacerdotal  orders,  the  spiritual 
guides  of  a  deluded  people;  and  if  we  inquire 
how  it  came  to  pass,  tliat  the  clergy  were  so 
zealous  in  sucii  an  inglorious  cause,  we  shall 
find  tiiat  this  zeal  was,  in  some,  the  effect  of 
ignorance,  and,  in  others,  the  fruit  of  avarice 
and  ambition,  since  much  was  to  be  gained, 
both  ill  point  of  authority  and  opulence,  from 
the  progress  of  superstition.  Among  tiie  Greeks 
and  Orientals,  Christianity  was  almost  in  the 
same  declining  and  deplorable  state,  though 
there  arose,  from  time  to  tiine,  in  the  eastern 
provinces,  men  of  superior  abilities,  who  en- 
deavoured to  support  the  cause  of  true  religion, 
and  to  raise  it  from  the  pressures  under  which 
it  laboured. 

II.  The  causes  of  this  unhappy  revolution, 
that  covered  the  Christian  church  with  super- 
stition and  darkness,  will  appear  evident  to  such 
as  are  at  all  acquainted  with  the  history  of 
these  times.  The  Oriental  doctors,  miserably 
divided  among  themselves,  and  involved  in  the 
bitterest  contentions  and  quarrels  with  the 
western  churches,  lost  all  notion  of  the  true 
spirit  and  genius  of  Christianity,  and,  corrupted 
and  biased  by  the  prejudices  and  passions  that 
are  generally  excited  and  nourished  by  ill-ma- 
naged controversy,  became  incapable  of  pro- 
moting the  true  and  essential  interests  of  reli- 
gion. Intent  also  upon  defending  the  excellence 
and  divine  authority  of  their  doctrine,  and  dis- 
cipline against  the  Latin  doctors,  and  in  main- 
taining among  themselves  the  worship  of 
images,  which  began  to  be  warmly  opposed, 
they  advanced,  in  the  course  of  these  disputes, 
many  things  that  were  highly  erroneous;  and, 
as  one  error  follows  another,  their  number  in- 
creased from  day  to  day.  The  savage  and  un- 
natural lives  of  the  monks  and  hermits,  whoso 
number  was  prodigious,  and  whose  authority 
was  considerable, — who  haunted  the  woods  and 
deserts,  the  gloomy  scenes  of  their  extravagant 
devotion, — contributed  much,  amonor  otiier 
causes,  to  the  decay  of  solid  and  rational  piety. 
Add,  to  all  this,  the  irruptions  of  the  barbarous 
nations  into  the  west,  the  atrocious  exploits  of 
usurping  princes,  the  drooping  and  neglected 
condition  of  the  various  branches  of  learninir 
the  ambitious  phrensy  of  the  Roman  pontiffs, 
(who  were  incessantly  gaping  after  new  acces- 
sions of  authority  and  dominion,)  the  frauds 
and  tricks  of  the  monastic  orders  carried  on 
under  the  specious  mask  of  religion;  and  then 
we  sliall  .see  the  true  causes  tfiat  founded  the 
empire  of  superstition  and  error,  upon  the  ruin 
of  virtue,  piety,  and  reason. 

III.  The  ignorance  and  corruption  that  dis- 
honoured the  Christian  church,  in  this  century, 
were  great  beyond  measure;  and  if  there  were 
no  other  e.xamples  of  their  enormity  upon  re- 
cord, than  the  single  instance  of  the  stupid 
veneration  that  was  paid  to  the  bones  and  car- 
casses of  departed  saints,  this  would  be  sufficient 
to  convince  us  of  the  deplorable  progress  of 
superstition.  Tliis  idolatrous  devotion  was  now 
considered  as  the  most  sacred  and  momentous 


220 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


branch  of  religion;  nor  did  any  dare  to  entertain 
the  smallest  hopes  of  finding  the  Deity  propi- 
tious, before  they  had  assured  themselves  of  tlie 
protection  and  intercession  of  some  one  or  other 
of  the  saintly  order.  Hence  it  was  that  every 
church,  and  indeed  every  private  Christian,  had 
their  particular  patron  among  the  saints,  from 
an  apprehension  that  tlieir  spiritual  interests 
would  be  but  inditferently  managed  by  those, 
who  were  already  employed  about  tlie  souls  of 
others;  for  they  judged,  in  this  respect,  of  the 
saints  as  they  did  of  mortals,  whose  capacity  is 
too  limited  to  comprehend  a  vast  variety  of 
objects.  This  notion  rendered  it  necessary  to 
multiply  prodigiously  the  number  of  the  saints, 
and  to  create  daily  new  patrons  for  the  deluded 
people;  and  this  was  done  with  the  utmost  zeal. 
The  priests  and  monks  set  their  invention  at 
work,  and  peopled,  at  discretion,  the  invisible 
world  with  imaginary  protectors.  They  dis- 
pelled the  thick  darkness  which  covered  the 
pretended  spiritual  exploits  of  many  holy  men; 
and  invented  both  names  and  histories  of  saints* 
that  never  existed,  that  they  might  not  be  at  a 
loss  to  furnish  the  credulous  and  wretched  mul- 
titude with  objects  proper  to  perpetuate  their 
superstition,  and  to  nourish  their  confidence. 
Many  chose  their  own  guides,  and  committed 
their  spiritual  interests  either  to  phantoms  of 
their  own  creation,  or  to  distracted  fanatics, 
whom  they  esteemed  as  saints,  for  no  other  rea- 
son than  tlieir  having  lived  like  madmen. 

IV.  The  ecclesiastical  councils  found  it  ne- 
cessary, at  length,  to  set  limits  to  the  licentious 
superstition  of  those  ignorant  wretches,  who, 
with  a  view  to  have  still  more  friends  at  court, 
(for  such  were  their  gross  notions  of  things,) 
were  daily  adding  new  saints  to  the  list  of  their 
celestial  mediators.  They,  accordingly,  de- 
clared by  a  solemn  decree,  that  no  departed 
Christian  should  be  considered  as  a  member  of 
the  saintly  order  before  the  bishop,  in  a  provin- 
cial council,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  people, 
had  pronounced  him  vv^ortliy  of  that  distin- 
guished honour. f  This  remedy,  feeble  and 
illusory  as  it  was,  contributed,  in  some  mea- 
sure, to  restrain  the  fanatical  temerity  of  the 
saint-makers:  but,  in  its  consequences,  it  was 
the  occasion  of  a  new  accession  of  power  to  the 
Roman  pontiff.  Even  so  early  as  this  century, 
many  were  of  opinion,  that  it  was  proper  and 
expedient,  thougli  not  absolutely  necessary, 
that  the  decisions  of  bishops  and  councils  should 
be  confirmed  by  the  consent  and  authority  of 
the  pope,  whom  they  considered  as  the  supreme 
and  universal  bishop;  and  this  will  not  appear 
surprising  to  any  who  reflect  upon  the  enormous 
strides  which  the  bishops  of  Rome  made  toward 
unbounded  dominion  in  this  barbarous  and  su- 
perstitious age,  whose  corruption  and  darkness 
were  peculiarly  favourable  to  their  ambitious 
pretensions.  It  is  true,  we  have  no  example 
of  any  person  solemnly  sainted  by  the  bishop 
of  Rome  alone,  before  the  tenth  century,  J  when 


[*  See  Dr.  Middleton's  Letter  from  Rome,  in  which  we 
find  the  names  of  St.  Baccho,  St.  Viar.  St.  Amphibolus, 
Euodia,  &.O.] 

j  Mabillon,  Act.  Sanctor.  Ord.  Benedict!,  Saec.  v.  Pra;f 
p.  44.  — Launoy,  dc  Lazari,  IWagdalena!,  et  Martha?  in 
rrovinciam  Apjuilsn,  cap.  i.  sect.  xii. — Franc.  Pagi  Bre- 
viarum  Pontif  Rom^nor.  torn.  ii.  p.  ?i)9,  torn,  iii,  p.  30. 

\  See  Dan.  Fapebruchiiis,  de  wleuniuni  Cauouizationum 


Udalric,  bishop  of  Augsburg,  received  this  dig- 
nity in  a  formal  manner  from  John  XV.  It  is, 
however,  certain,  that  before  that  time  the 
pontiffs  were  consulted  in  matters  of  that  na- 
ture, and  their  judgment  respected  in  the  choice 
of  those  who  were  to  be  honoured  with  saint- 
ship;*  and  it  was  by  such  steps  as  these,  that 
the  church  of  Rome  engrossed  to  itself  the  crea- 
tion of  these  tutelary  divinities,  which  at  length 
was  distinguished  by  the  title  o{  canonization. 

V.  This  preposterous  multiplication  of  saints 
was  a  new  source  of  abuses  and  frauds.  It  was 
thouglit  necessary  to  write  the  lives  of  these 
celestial  patrons,  in  order  to  procure  for  them 
the  veneration  and  confidence  of  a  deluded 
multitude;  and  here  lying  wonders  were  in- 
vented, and  all  the  resources  of  forgery  and  fa- 
ble exhausted,  to  celebrate  exploits  which  had 
never  been  performed,  and  to  perpetuate  the 
memory  of  holy  persons  who  had  never  exist- 
ed. We  have  yet  extant  a  prodigious  quanti- 
ty of  tiiese  trifling  legends,  the  greatest  part 
of  which  were,  luidoubtedly,  forged  after  the 
time  of  Charlemagne,  by  the  monastic  writers, 
who  had  both  the  inclination  and  leisure  to 
edify  the  church  by  these  pious  frauds.  The 
same  impostors,  who  peopled  the  celestial  re- 
gions witli  fictitious  saints,  employed  also  their 
fruitful  inventions  in  embellishing,  with  false 
miracles  and  various  other  impertinent  forge- 
ries, the  histories  of  those  who  had  been  really 
martyrs  or  confessors  in  the  cause  of  Christj 
tliese  fictions,  however,  did  not  pass  without 
animadversion,  but  were  severely  censured  by 
some  of  the  most  eminent  writers  of  the  times. | 
Various  were  the  motives  that  engaged  differ- 
ent persons  to  propagate  these  impositions,  and 
countenance  their  authors.  Some  were  incited 
to  this  by  the  seductions  of  a  false  devotion, 
which  reigned  in  this  perverse  and  ignorant 
age,  and  made  them  imagine,  that  departed 
saints  were  highly  delighted  with  the  applause 
and  veneration  of  mortals,  and  never  failed  to 
crown,  with  peculiar  marks  of  their  favour  and 
protection,  such  as  were  zealous  in  honouring 
their  memories,  and  in  celebrating  their  ex- 
ploits. The  prospect  of  gain,  and  the  ambi- 
tious desire  of  being  reverenced  by  the  multi- 
tude, engaged  otliers  to  multiply  the  number, 
and  to  maintain  the  credit  of  the  legends,  or 
saintly  registers.  The  churches,  that  were  de- 
dicated to  the  saints,  were  perpetually  crowded 

Initiis  et  Progress,  in  Propylseo  Actor,  SS.  mens.  Mail, 
p.  171;  and  the  other  authors  who  have  written  upon  this 
subject,  of  which  there  is  an  ample  list  in  the  Bibliogra- 
phia  Autiqiiar.  of  Fabricius,  cap.  vii.  sect.  25. 

*  See  the  candid  and  impartial  account  that  is  given  of 
this  matter  by  the  late  pope  Benedict  XIV.  in  his  labo- 
rious work,  de  Servorum  Dei  Beatilicatione  et  Beatorum 
Canonizatione,  lib.  i.  cap.  7.  p.  50,  torn.  i.  op.  It  is  to  be 
wished,  that  historians  of  the  church  of  Rome  would  leara 
to  imitate  the  prudence,  moderation,  and  equity  of  that 
illustrious  pontiff. 

t  See  Servatus  Lupus'  Vita  Maximini,  p.  275,  and  the 
candid  and  learned  observations  upon  this  subject  that  are 
to  be  found  in  various  places  of  the  works  of  the  cele- 
brated Launoy:  e.  g.  in  his  Dispunctio  Epistolse  Petri  de 
Marca,  de  Tempore  quo  in  Gallia  Christi  Fides  recepta, 
cap.  xiv.  p.  110,  in  hisDiasertationesdeprimis  Christians 
Rclig.  in  Gallia  Initiis,  diss.  ii.  142,  144,  145,  147,  168, 
169,  181. — De  Lazari,  Magdal.  et  Marthse,  in  Galliam 
Appulsu,  p.  340. — De  duobus  Dionysiis,  p.  527,  529,  530, 
torn.  ii.  part  i,  op. — See  also  Martenne,  Thesaurus  Anec- 
dotor.  torn.  i.  p.  151. — Histoire  Lit.  de  la  France,  torn.  iv. 
p..  273. 


Chap.  III. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


with  supplicants,  who  llocked  to  them  with 
ricli  presents,  in  order  to  obtain  succour  under 
the  alHictions  tliey  suli'ered,  or  deHverance  Irom 
tlie  dangers  wliicli  they  had  reason  to  appre- 
hend; and  it  was  regarded  also  as  a  very  great 
honour  to  be  the  more  immediate  ministers  of 
these  mediators,  vvlio,  as  it  is  likewise  i)roper 
to  observe,  were  esteemed  and  }Ve(iiienled  in 
proportion  to  their  anticjuity,  and  to  tae  num- 
ber and  importance  ot'  the  pretended  miracles 
tliat  iiad  rendered  their  lives  illustrious.  The 
latter  circumstance  ottered  a  strong  temptatioji 
to  such  as  were  employed  by  the  various 
churches  in  writing  tlie  lives  ol'  their  tutelar 
saints,  to  supply  by  invention  the  delects  ot" 
truth,  and  to  embellish  their  legends  with  ticti- 
tious  prodigies;  indeed,  they  were  not  only 
tempted  to  this  imposture,  but  were  even  obli- 
ged to  make  use  of  it  in  order  to  swell  the 
tiirne  of  their  respective  patrons.* 

Vl.  But  even  all  this  was  insufficient  to  sa- 
tisty  the  demands  of  superstition,  nourished  by 
the  stratagems  of  a  corrupt  and  designing 
priesthood,  and  fomented  by  the  zeal  of  tlie 
more  ignorant  and  stupid  sons  of  tiie  church. 
It  was  not  enough  to  reverence  departed  saints, 
and  to  conride  in  their  mtercession  and  suc- 
cours; it  was  not  enough  to  clothe  tliem  with 
an  imaginary  power  of  liealing  diseases,  woik- 
ing  miracles,  and  delivering  from  all  sorts  of 
calamities  and  dangers;  their  bones,  their 
clothes,  tlie  apparel  and  furniture  they  had  pos- 
sessed during  their  lives,  tlie  very  ground  wliich 
they  had  touched,  or  in  which  their  putritied 
carcasses  were  laid,  were  treated  with  a  stupid 
veneration,  and  supposed  to  retain  the  power 
of  healing  all  disorders  both  of  body  and  mind,  | 
and  of  detending  such  as  possessed  lliem  against 
all  the  assaults  and  devices  of  Satan.  The  con- 
sequence of  this  absurd  notion  was,  that  every 
one  was  eager  to  provide  himself  with  these 
salutary  remedies;  for  which  purpose  great 
numbers  undertook  fatiguing  and  perilous  voy- 
ages, and  subjected  themselves  to  all  sorts  of 
hardships,  while  others  made  u.se  of  this  delu- 
sion to  accumulate  riches,  and  to  impose  upon 
the  miserable  multitude  by  the  most  imj)ious 
and  shocking  inventions.  As  the  demand  for 
relics  was  prodigious  and  universal,  the  clergy 
employed  all  their  dexterity  to  satisly  these  de- 
mands, and  were  far  from  being  scrupulous  in 
the  methods  they  used  for  that  end.  The  bod- 
ies of  the  saints  were  sought  by  fasting  and 
prayer,  instituted  by  the  priest  in  order  to  ob- 
tain a  divine  answer  and  an  infallible  direction, 
and  this  pretended  direction  never  failed  to  ac- 
complish their  desires;  the  holy  body  was  al- 
ways found,  in  consequence,  as  they  impiously 
gave  out,  of  the  suggestion  and  inspiration  of 
God  himself.  Each  discovery  of  this  kind  was 
attended  with  e.xcessive  demonstrations  of  joy, 
and  animated  the  zeal  of  these  devout  seekers 
to  enrich  the  church  still  more  and  more  with 
this  new  kind  of  treasure.  Many  travelled 
with  this  view  into  the  eastern  provinces,  and 
frequented  the  places  which  Christ  and  his  dis- 
cipleg  had  honoured  with  their  presence,  that, 

*  Of  a)l  the  lives  of  the  saints  written  in  this  century, 
those  which  were  drawn  up  by  the  monks  of  (ircat  Bri- 
tain, and  of  Bretagne  in  Fiance, seem  tube  the  mcisl  liable 
to  suspicion.     Mabillun,  Praef.  ad  Sasc.  i.  Beuedictio. 


_^____ ^ 

with  the  bones  and  other  secret  remains  of  the 
first  heralds  of  the  Gospel,  they  might  comfort 
dejected  minds,  calm  trembling  consciences, 
save  sinking  states,  and  defend  their  inhabit- 
ants from  all  sorts  of  calamities.  Nor  did  these 
pious  pilgrims  return  home  with  empty  hands; 
for  the  craft,  dexterity,  and  knavery  of  the 
Greeks  found  a  rich  prey  in  the  stupid  creduli- 
ty of  the  Latin  relic-hunters,  and  made  profit- 
able commerce  of  this  new  devotion.  The  lat- 
ter paid  considerable  sums  for  legs  and  arms, 
sculls  and  jaw-bones  (several  of  which  were 
pagan,  and  some  not  human,)  and  other  things 
tliat  were  supposed  to  have  belonged  to  the 
primitive  worthies  of  the  Christian  church;  and 
thus  the  Latin  cliurches  came  to  the  posses- 
sion of  those  celebrated  relics  of  St.  Mark,  St. 
James,  St.  Bartholomew,  Cyprian,  Pantaleon, 
and  others,  which  they  show  at  this  day  with 
so  much  ostentation.  But  there  were  many, 
who,  unable  to  procure  for  themselves  these 
spiritual  treasures  by  voyages  and  prayer,  had 
recourse  to  violence  and  theft;  for  all  sorts  of 
means,  and  all  sorts  of  attempts  in  a  cause  of 
this  nature,  were  considered,  when  successful, 
as  pious  and  acceptable  to  the  Supreme  Beinc.* 
VI [.  The  study  of  the  Scriptures  languish- 
ed much  among  the  Greeks  in  this  century. 
Photius,  who  composed  a  book  of  Questions,! 
relating  to  various  passages  of  Scripture,  an 
exposition  of  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  and  other 
productions  of  the  same  nature|,  was  one  of 
the  few  who  employed  their  talents  in  the  illus- 
tration of  the  sacred  writings.  He  was  a  man 
of  great  sagacity  and  gen.ius,  who  preferred  the 
dictates  of  reason  to  tiie  decisions  of  authority; 
notwithstanding  all  which,  he  cannot  be  recom- 
mended as  a  model  to  other  commentators. — 
The  other  Greek  writers,  who  attempted  to 
explain  the  Scriptures,  did  little  more  than 
compile  and  accumulate  various  passages  from 
the  commentators  of  the  preceding  ages;  and 
this  method  was  the  origin  of  those  Catena,  or 
chains  of  commentaries,  so  much  in  voo-ue 
among  the  Greeks  during  this  century,  of 
which  a  considerable  number  have  come  down 
to  our  times,  and  which  consisted  entirely  in  a 
collection  of  the  explications  of  Scripture  that 
were  scattered  up  and  down  in  the  ancient  au- 
thors. The  greatest  part  of  tiie  theological 
writers,  finding  themselves  incapable  of  more 
arduous  undertakings,  confined  their  labours  to 
this  compilatory  practice,  to  the  great  detri- 
ment of  sacred  criticism. 

VIII.  The  Latin  commentators  were  greatly 
superior  in  number  to  those  among  the  Greeks, 


*  See  Muratori  (Antiq.  Ital.  torn,  v.,)  who  gives  exam- 
ples of  the  truth  of  this  assertion. 

OlJ-  t  This  work,  which  is  entitled  Amphilochia,  from 
its  having  been  addressed  to  Amphilochius,  bishop  of  Cy- 
zicum,  consists  of  308  questions,  and  answers  to  them;  a 
sixth  part  of  which,  at  least,  are  (o  be  found  in  the  Epis- 
tles of  Photius,  published  in  1651  by  bishop  Montague. 
The  greater  part  of  these  questions  relate  to  different 
texti  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament;  but  these  are  inter- 
spersed with  others  of  a  philosophical  and  literary  kind. 
This  work  is  still  extant  in  manuscript  in  the  Vatican, 
Barberinian,  and  Bavarian  libraries. 

(tQf-  \  Such  as  a  catena  (a  chain)  of  commentaries  on 
Ihebookof  Psalms,  compiled  from  the  writings  of  Athana- 
sius,  Basil,  Chrysostom,  &c.,  and  a  commentary  upon  the 
Prophets,  hoth  of  which  are  yet  extant  in  manuscript,  the 
former  in  the  Bibliotheca  Segueriana  or  Coiiliuiana,  and 
the  latter  in  the  Vatican  library. 


222 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


in  consequence  of  the  zeal  and  munificence  of 
Charlemagne,  who,  both  by  his  liberality  and 
by  his  example,  had  excited  and  encouraged  the 
doctors  of  the  preceding  age  to  the  study  of 
the  Scriptures.  Of  these  expositors  there  are 
two,  at  least,  who  are  worthy  of  esteem, — 
Christian  Drutlimar,  whose  Commentary  on 
St.  Matthew  has  reached  our  times;*  and  the 
abbot  Bertharius,  whose  Two  Books  concern- 
ing Fundamentals  are  also  said  to  be  yet  ex- 
tant. The  rest  seem  to  have  been  unequal  to 
the  important  office  of  sacred  critics,  and  may 
be  divided  into  two  classes,  which  we  have 
already  had  occasion  to  mention  in  tlie  course 
of  this  history;  the  class  of  those  who  merely 
collected  and  reduced  into  a  mass  the  opinions 
and  explications  of  the  ancients,  and  that  of  a 
fantastic  set  of  expositors,  who  were  always 
limiting  after  mysteries  in  the  plainest  expres- 
sions, and  labouring  to  deduce  a  variety  of  ab- 
struse and  hidden  significations  from  every  pas- 
sage of  Scripture,  all  which  they  did,  for  the 
most  part,  in  a  very  clumsy  and  uncouth  man- 
ner. At  the  head  of  the  first  class  was  Raba- 
nus  Maurus,  who  acknowledges  tliat  he  bor- 
rowed from  the  ancient  doctors  tlie  materials 
of  which  he  made  use  in  illustrating  the  Gos- 
pel of  St.  Matthew  and  the  Epistles  of  St. 
Paul.  To  this  class  also  belonged  Walafrid 
Strabo,  who  borrowed  his  explications  chiefly 
from  Rabanus;  Claudius  of  Turin,  who  trod 
in  the  footsteps  of  Augustin  and  Origen;  Hinc- 
mar,  whose  Exposition  of  the  four  Books  of 
Kings,  compiled  from  the  fathers,  we  still  pos- 
sess; Remigius  of  Auxerre,  who  derived  from 
the  same  source  his  illustrations  of  the  Psalms 
and  other  books  of  sacred  writ;  Sedulius,  who 
explained  in  the  same  manner  the  Epistles  of 
St.  Paul;  Floras,  Haymo  bishop  of  Halber- 
stadt,  and  others,  whom  for  the  sake  of  bre- 
vity, we  pass  in  silence. 

IX.  Rabanus  Maurus,  whom  we  introduced 
above  at  the  head  of  the  compilers  from  the 
fathers,  deserves  also  an  eminent  place  among 
the  allegorical  commentators,  on  account  of 
his  difi^'use  and  tedious  work,  entitled  Scripture 
Allegories.  To  this  class  also  belong  Smarag- 
dus,  Haymo,  Scotus,  Paschasius  llaribert,  and 
many  others,  whom  it  is  not  necessary  to  par- 
ticularize. The  fundamental  and  general  prin- 
ciple, in  which  all  the  writers  of  this  class 
agree,  is,  tliat,  beside  tlie  literal  signification 
of  each  passage  in  Scripture,  there  are  hidden 
and  deep  senses  wliich  escape  the  vulgar  eye; 
but  they  are  not  agreed  about  the  number  of  I 
these  mysterious  significations.  Some  attri- 
bute to  every  phrase  three  senses,  others  four, 
and  some  five;  and  the  number  is  carried  to 
seven  by  Angelome,  a  monk  of  Lisieux,  an 
acute,  though  fantastic  writer,  whc  is  far  from 
deserving  the  meanest  rank  among  the  exposi- 
tors of  this  century. t 


*  See  R.  Simon,  Histoire  critiijue  des  principaux  Com- 
mentateurs  du  Nouv.  Teslamont.  cli«p.  x\v.  p.  348;  as 
also  his  Critique  de  la  Bibliothcijue  Kcclesiastique  de  M. 
Du-Pin,  torn.  i.  p.  293. 

f  See  tlie  preface  to  his  Commentary  on  the  Book  of 
Kings,  in  the  Bibliotheca  Patrum  Maxima,  torn.  xv.  p. 
308.  The  commentary  of  Angelone  upon  tlie  book  of 
Genesis  was  published  by  Bernard  Pezius,  in  his  Thesau- 
rus Anecdotorum,  tom.  i.  part  i.;  but,  indeed,  the  loss 
would  not  have  been  great,  if  it  had  never  seen  the  light. 


X.  The  teachers  of  theology  were  still  more 
contemptible  than  the  commentators;  and  the 
Greeks,  as  well  as  the  Latins,  were  extremely 
negligent  both  in  unfolding  the  nature,  and 
proving  tlie  truth  of  the  doctrines  of  Christian- 
ity. Their  method  of  inculcating  divine  truth 
was  dry  and  unsatisfactory,  and  more  adapted 
to  fill  the  memory  with  sentences,  than  to  en- 
lighten the  understanding,  or  to  improve  the 
judgment.  The  Greeks,  for  the  most  part,  fol- 
lowed implicitly  Damascenus,  while  the  Latins 
submitted  their  hoodwinked  intellects  to  the  au- 
thority of  Augustine.  Authority  became  the 
test  of  truth,  and  supplied  in  arrogance  what  it 
wanted  in  argument.  That  magisterial  deci- 
sions were  employed  in  the  place  of  reason,  ap- 
pears manifestly  from  the  Colkdaneum  de  trir 
bus  Q^iutstionibus  of  Servatus  Lupus;  and  also 
from  a  treatise  of  Remigius,  concerning  the 
necessity  of  holding  fast  the  truths  of  the  Gos- 
pel, and  of  maintaining  inviolable  the  sacred 
authority  of  the  holy  and  orthodox  fathers. — 
If  any  deigned  to  appeal  to  the  authority  of 
the  Scriptures  in  defence  of  their  systems,  they 
either  explained  them  in  an  allegorical  man- 
ner, or  understood  them  in  the  sense  that  had 
been  given  to  them  by  the  decrees  of  councils, 
or  in  the  writings  of  the  fathers;  from  which 
senses  they  thought  it  both  unlawful  and  impi- 
ous to  depart.  The  Irish  doctors  alone,  and 
particularly  Johannes  Scotus,  had  the  courage 
to  spurn  the  ignominious  fetters  of  authority, 
and  to  explain  the  sublime  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity in  a  manner  conformable  to  the  dictates 
of  reason,  and  the  principles  of  true  philoso- 
phy. But  this  noble  attempt  drew  upon  them 
the  malignant  fury  of  a  superstitious  age,  and 
exposed  them  to  the  hatred  of  the  Latin  theo- 
logians, who  would  not  permit  either  reason 
or  philosophy  to  interfere  in  religious  matters.* 

XI.  The  important  science  of  morals  suffer- 
ed, like  all  others,  in  the  hands  of  iafnorant 
and  unskilful  writers.  The  labours  of  some 
were  wholly  emploj'ed  in  collecting  from  the 
fathers  an  indigested  heap  of  maxims  and  sen- 
tences concerning  religious  and  moral  duties; 
and  such,  among  others,  was  the  work  of  Al- 
varus,  intitled  ScintUlce.  Patrum.  Others  wrote 
of  virtue  and  vice,  in  a  more  systematic  man- 
ner; such  as  Halitgarius,  Rabanus  Maurus,  and 
Jonas,,  bishop  of  Orleans;  but  the  representa- 
tions they  gave  of  one  and  the  other  were  very 
different  from  those  which  we  find  in  the  Gos- 
pel. Some  deviated  into  that  most  absurd  and 
delusive  method  of  instructing  the  ignorant  in 
the  will  of  God  by  a  fantastic  combination  of 
figures  and  allegories;  and  several  of  the  Greeks  ^1 
began  to  turn  their  studies  towards  the  solution  ^| 
of  Cases  of  conscience,!  in  order  to  remove  the  •" 
difficulties  that  arose  in  scrupulous  and  timorous 
minds.  We  pass  in  silence  the  writers  of  ho- 
milies and  books  of  penance,  of  which  a  consi- 
derable number  appeared  in  this  century. 

XII.  The  doctrine  of  the  mystics,  whose  ori- 
gin is  falsely  attributed  to  Dionysius  the  Are- 


*  For  an  account  of  the  persecution  and  hatred  thai 
Johannes  Scotus  suffered  in  the  cause  of  reason  and  liberty, 
see  Du  Boulay,  Hist.  Aeadem.  Paris,  tom.  i.  p.  182;  as 
also  Mabillon,  Acta  Sanctor.  Ord.  Bened.  saec.  v.  p.  392. 

t  Sfe  Nicfiihori  Chartophylac.  Epistolae  Duas,  in  th» 
Bibliotheca  Magna  Patrum,  tom.  iii.  p.  413. 


Chap.  III. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


223 


opagagite,  and  whose  precepts  were  designed 
to  elevate  the  soul  above  all  sensible  and  ter- 
restrial objects,  and  to  unite  it  to  the  Deity 
in  an  inetfable  manner,  had  been  now  for  a 
long  time  in  vogue  among  the  Greeks,  and 
more  especially  among  the  monastic  orders; 
and  to  augment  the  credit  of  this  fimatical 
sect,  and  multiply  its  followers,  Michael  Syn- 
cellus  and  Methodius  composed  the  most  pom- 
pous and  eloquent  panegyrics  upon  the  memo- 
ry of  Dionysius,  in  which  his  virtues  were  ce- 
lebrated \Vith  the  utmost  exaggeration.  The 
Latins  were  not  yet  bewitched  with  the  spe- 
cious appearance,  and  the  illusory  charms  of 
the  mystic  devotion,  whicli  was  equally  adapt- 
ed to  affect  persons  of  a  lively  fmcy  and  those 
of  a  more  gloomy  turn  of  mind.  They  lived 
in  a  happy  ignorance  of  this  contagious  doc- 
trine, when  the  Grecian  emperor  Michael  Bal- 
bus  sent  to  Louis  the  Debonnaire,  in  824,  a  co- 
py of  the  pretended  works '^  of  Dionysius  the 
Areopagite,  wliich  fatal  present  immediately 
kindled  the  holy  flame  of  mysticism  in  the 
western  provinces,  and  filled  the  Latins  with 
the  most  enthusiastic  admiration  of  this  new 
religion.  The  translation  of  these  spurious 
works  into  Latin  by  the  express  order  of  the 
emperor,t  who  could  not  be  easy  while  his  sub- 
jects were  deprived  of  such  a  valuable  trcasiu-e, 
contributed  much  to  tlie  progress  of  mysticism. 
By  the  order  of  the  same  emperor,Hilduin,  abbot 
of  St.  Denys,  composed  an  accoimt  of  the  life, 
actions,  and  writings  of  Dionysius,  midcr  the 
title  of  Aereopagitica,  in  which  work,  among 
other  impudent  fictions,  usual  in  those  times 
of  superstition  and  imposture,  he  maintained, 
m  order  to  exalt  the  honour  of  his  nation,  that 
Dionysius  the  Areopagite,  and  Dionysius  the 
bishop  of  Paris,  were  one  and  the  same  per- 
son.J  This  fable,  which  was  invented  with 
unparalleled  assurance,  was  received  with  tlie 
most  perfect  and  unthinking  credulity,  and 


*  Usserii  Sylloj;(;  Ep.  Hibernicar.  p.  54,  55.  iU"  The 
spuriousiiess  of  these  works  is  now  admitted  by  the 
most  learned  and  impartial  of  the  Koman  Catholic 
writers,  as  tliey  contain  accounts  of  many  events 
that  happened  several  aces  after  the  time  of  Diony- 
sius, and  were  not  at  all  mentioned  until  after  the 
fifth  century.  See  Floury,  Hist.  Eccles.  liv.  54.  tom. 
xi.  p.  5-iH.  eilit.  Bruxelles. 

t  That  these  books  were  translated  by  the  order 
of  Louis,  a|ipv:irH  manifestly  from  the  Epistle  to  that 
emperor,  which  llildiiin  prefixed  to  his  Areopagitica, 
and  in  which  we  find  the  following  passage:  "  de  no- 
titia  librorum,  quos  (Dionysius)  patrio  sermone  coii- 
scripsit,  et  puibus  petentibus  illos  composuit,  lectio 
nobis  per  Dei  gratiam  et  Vestram  ordinationem,  cii- 
jus  dispenaatione  interpretatos,  scrinia  nostra  eos 
petentibus  reserat,  satisfacit."  From  this  passage, 
it  is  evident  that  they  are  in  an  error,  who  affirm 
that  the  Latin  translation  of  the  works  of  Diony- 
sius was  not  executed  before  the  time  of  Charles  the 
Bald.  And  they  err  also,  who,  with  Mabillon,  (An- 
nal.  Benedict,  tom.  ii.  lib.  xxix.  sect.  5U.  p.  488,)  and 
the  authors  of  the  Hist.  Lit.  de  la  France  (tom.  v.  p. 
425.)  inform  us,  that  Michael  Balbus  sent  these 
works  already  translated  into  Latin  to  tlw!  emperor 
Louis.  It  is  amazing  how  men  of  learning  roiild 
fall  into  the  latter  error,  after  niading  the  followini.' 
passage  in  the  Epistle  above  quoted:  "  Aut'ienticos 
"  namque  eosdem  (Dionysii)  librosGrajca  lingua  con- 
"  scriptos,  cum  tBconomus  ecclesite  Constantinopoli- 
"  tanse  et  ceteri  missi  Michaelis  legatione — funrti 
"  sunt — pro  munere  magno  suscepimus." 

t  Launoy,  Diss,  de  Discrimine  Dionysii  Areopag. 
et  Parisiensis,  cap.  iv.  p.  38.  torn.  ii.  p.  i.  op.;  as  also 
the  writings  of  tlii?  great  man  concerning  boih  those 
divines. 


made  such  a  deep  and  permanent  impression 
upon  the  minds  of  the  French,  that  the  repeat- 
ed demonstrations  of  its  falsehood  have  not  yet 
been  suflicient  entirely  to  ruin  its  credit.  As 
the  first  translation  of  the  works  of  Dionysius 
that  had  been  executed  by  order  of  Louis, 
was  probably  in  a  barbarous  and  obscure  style, 
a  new  and  more  elegant  one  was  given  by  the 
famous  Johannes  Scotus  Erigena,  at  the  re- 
quest of  Charles  the  Bald,  the  publication  of 
which  increased  considerably  the  partisans  of 
the  mystic  theology  among  the  French,  Ital- 
ians, and  Germans.  Scotus  himself  was  so 
enchanted  with  this  new  doctrine,  that  he  in- 
corporated it  into  his  philosophical  system,  and 
upon  all  occasions  cither  accommodated  his 
philosophy  to  it,  or  explained  it  according  to 
the  principles  of  his  philosophy. 

XIII.  The  defence  of  Christianity,  against 
the  Jews  and  Pagans,  was  greatly  neglected 
in  this  century,  in  which  the  intestine  disputes 
and  dissensions  that  divided  the  church,  gave 
sufficient  employment  to  such  as  had  an  incli- 
nation to  controversy,  or  a  talent  of  managing 
it  with  dexterity  and  knowledge.  Agobard, 
however,  as  also  Anmlo  and  Rabanus  Maurus, 
chastised  the  insolence  and  malignity  of  the 
Jews,  and  exposed  their  various  absurdities  and 
errors,  while  the  emperor  Leo,  Theodorus  Abu- 
cara,  and  other  writers,  whose  performances 
are  lost,  employed  their  polemic  labors  against 
the  progress  of  the  Saracens,  and  refuted  their 
impious  and  extravagant  system.  But  it  may 
be  observed  in  general  of  those  who  wrote 
against  the  Saracens,  that  they  reported  many 
things,  both  concerning  Mohammed  and  his 
religion,  wliich  were  far  from  being  true;  and 
if,  as  there  is  too  much  reason  to  imagine,  they 
did  this  designedly,  knowing  the  falsehood,  or 
at  least  the  uncertainty  of  their  allegations 
against  these  infidels,  we  must  look  upon  their 
writings  rather  as  intended  to  deter  the  Cluis- 
tians  from  apostasy,  than  to  give  a  rational  re- 
futation of  the  Saracen  doctrine. 

XIV.  The  contests  of  the  Christians  among 
themselves  were  carried  on  with  greater  eager- 
ness and  animosity  than  the  disputes  in  which 
they  were  engaged  with  the  common  enemies 
of  their  faith;  and  these  contests  were  daily 
productive  of  new  calamities  and  disorders, 
which  dishonoured  their  profession,  and  threw 
a  heavy,  though  undeserved  reproach  upon  the 
cause  of  true  religion.  After  the  banishment 
of  Irene,  the  controversy,  concerning  Images 
broke  out  anew  among  the  Greeks,  and  was 
carried  on  by  the  contending  parties,  during 
the  half  of  this  century,  with  various  and  im- 
certain  success.  The  emperor  Nicephorus, 
though  he  did  not  abrogate  the  decrees  of  the 
council  of  Nice,  or  order  the  images  to  be  tak- 
en out  of  the  churches,  deprived  the  patrons 
of  image-worship  of  all  power  to  molest  or  in- 
jure their  adversaries,  and  seems  upon  the 
whole  to  have  been  an  enemy  to  that  idola- 
trous service.  But  his  successor  Michael  Cu- 
ropalates,  surnamed  Rhangebe,  acted  in  a  very 
different  manner.  Feeble  and  timorous,  and 
dreading  the  rage  of  the  priests  and  monks 
who  maintained  the  cause  of  images,  he  fa- 
voured that  cause  during  his  short  reign,  and 
persecuted  its  adversaries  with  the  greatest  bit- 


224 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


terness  and  cruelty.  The  scene  changed  again, 
upon  the  accession  of  Leo  the  Armenian  to 
the  empire,  wlio  abolished  the  decrees  of  the 
Nicene  council  relating  to  the  use  and  wor- 
ship of  images,  in  a  council  assembled  at  Con- 
stantinople, in  814;*  without  however  enacting 
any  penal  laws  against  their  idolatrous  wor- 
shippers. This  moderation,  far  from  satisfy- 
ing the  patriarch  Nicephorus,  and  the  other 
partisans  of  image-worship,  only  served  to  en- 
courage their  obstinacy,  and  to  increase  their 
insolence;  upon  which  the  emperor  removed 
the  haughty  prelate  from  his  office,  and  chas- 
tised the  fury  of  several  of  his  adherents  with 
a  deserved  punishment.  His  successor  Mi- 
chael, surnamed  Balbus,  or  the  Stammerer, 
was  obliged  to  observe  the  same  conduct,  and 
to  depart  from  the  clemency  and  indulgence 
which,  in  the  beginning  of  his  reign,  he  had 
discovered  toward  the  worshippers  of  images, 
whose  idolatry,  however,  he  was  far  from  ap- 
proving. The  monks  more  especially  pro- 
voked his  indignation  by  their  fanatical  rage, 
and  forced  him  to  treat  them  with  particular 
severity.  But  tlie  zeal  of  his  son  and  succes- 
sor Theophilus,  in  discouraging  this  new  ido- 
latry, was  still  more  vehement;  for  he  opposed 
the  adorers  of  images  with  great  violence,  and 
went  so  far  as  to  put  to  death  some  of  the  more 
obstinate  ringleaders  of  that  impetuous  faction. 
XV.  On  tlie  death  of  Theophilus,  which 
happened  in  84"2,  the  regency  was  entrusted  to 
the  empress  Theodora  during  her  son's  mino- 
rity. Tliis  superstitious  princess,  fatigued  witJi 
the  importunate  solicitations  of  tlie  monks, 
deluded  by  tiieir  forged  miracles,  and  not  a  lit- 
tle influenced  also  by  their  insolent  threats, 
assembled,  in  the  year  above-mentioned,  a 
council  at  Constantinople,  in  which  the  de- 
crees of  the  second  Nicene  council  were  rein- 
stated in  their  lost  authority,  and  the  Greelis 
were  indulged  in  their  corrupt  propensity  to 
image-worsiiip  by  a  law  which  encouraged 
that  wretched  idolatry;|  so  that,  after  a  con- 
troversy, which  had  been  carried  on  dm'ing 
the  space  of  a  hundred  and  ten  years,  the 
cause  of  idolatry  triumphed  over  the  dictates 
of  reason  and  Christianity;  the  whole  east,  the 
Armenians  excepted,  bowed  down  before  the 
victorious  images;  nor  did  any  of  the  succeed- 
ing emperors  attempt  to  cure  the  Greeks  of 
this  superstitious  phrensy,  or  restram  them  in 
the  performance  of  this  puerile  worship.  The 
council  that  was  holden  at  Constantinople  un- 
der Photius,  in  879,  and  which  is  reckoned  by 
the  Greeks  the  eighth  general  council,  gave  a 
farther  degree  of  force  and  vigor  to  idolatry, 
by  maintaining  the  sanctity  of  images,  and 
approving,  confirming,  and  renewing  the  Ni- 
cene decrees.  The  superstitious  Greeks,  who 
were  blind-led  by  the  monks  in  the  most  igno- 
minious manner,  esteemed  this  coimcil  as  a 
most  signal  blessing  derived  to  them  from  the 
immediate  interposition  of  Heaven,  and  ac- 
cordingly instituted,  in  commemoration  there- 


tr^  *  Fleury  and  some  other  visiters  place  the 
meeting  of  this  council  in  815. 

t  See  Fred.  Spanheim,  Historia  Imaginum,  sect. 
viii.  p.  845,  torn.  ii.  op.— L'Enfant,  Preservatif  con- 
tre  la  Reunion  avec  le  Siege  de  Rome,  torn  iii.  lett. 
xiv.  p.  147 ;  lett.  xviii.  xix.  p.  509. 


of,  an  anniversary  festival,  which  was  called 
the  Feast  of  Orthodoxy.* 

XVI.  The  triumph  of  images,  notwithstand- 
ing the  zealous  efforts  of  the  Roman  pontiffs 
in  their  favour,  was  obtained  with  much  more 
difficulty  among  the  Latins,  than  it  had  been 
among  the  Greeks;  for  the  former  yet  main- 
tained the  inalienal)le  privilege  of  judging  for 
themselves  in  religious  matters,  and  were  far 
from  being  disposed  to  submit  tiieir  reason  im- 
plicitly to  the  decisions  of  the  pontiff,  or  to 
regard  any  thing  as  infallible  and  true,  which 
had  autliority  for  its  only  foundation.  The 
greater  part  of  the  European  Cliristians,  as  we 
have  seen  already,  steered  a  middle  course 
between  the  idolaters  and  the  Iconoclasts,  be- 
tween those  who  were  zealous  for  tlie  worship 
of  images  on  tlie  one  hand,  and  those  who 
were  averse  to  all  use  of  them  on  the  other. 
They  were  of  opinion,  that  images  might  be 
suffered  as  the  means  of  aiding  the  memory  of 
tiie  faitliful,  and  of  calling  to  their  remem- 
brance the  pious  exploits  and  the  virtuous  ac- 
tions of  the  persons  they  represented;  but  they 
detested  all  thoughts  of  paying  them  the  least 
marks  of  religious  homage  or  adoration.  Mi- 
chael Balbus,  when  he  sent,  in  824,  a  solemn 
embassy  to  Louis  the  Debonnaire,  to  renew 
and  confirm  the  treaties  of  peace  Jlnd  friend- 
ship which  had  been  concluded  between  his 
predecessors  in  the  empire  and  Charlemagne, 
charged  liis  ministers,  in  a  particular  maimer, 
to  bring  over  the  king  of  the  Franksf  to  the 
party  of  the  Iconoclasts,  that  they  might  gra- 
dually suppress,  by  their  united  influence,  the 
worsiiip  of  images,  and  thus  restore  concord 
and  tranquillity  to  the  church.  Louis,  on  thiR 
occasion,  assembled  a  council  at  Paris,  in  824,]: 
in  order  to  examine  the  proposal  of  the  Grecian 
emperor;  in  which  it  was  resolved  to  adhere  to 
the  decrees  of  the  comicil  of  Frankfort,  which 
allowed  the  use  of  images  in  the  churches,  bat 
severely  prohibited  tlie  treating  of  them  with 
the  smallest  marks  of  religious  tcorship.  But 
in  process  of  time  the  European  Christians  de- 
parted gradually  from  the  observance  of  this 
injunction,  and  fell  imperceptibly  into  a  blind 
submission  to  the  decisions  of  the  pope,  whose 
influence  and  authority  daily  became  more 
formidable;  so  that,  toward  the  conclusion  of 


*  See  Gretser's  Observat.  in  (>idjnuni  de  Otficiis 
AulcE  et  Eccles.  Constantinopolitans,  lib.  iii.  cap. 
viii.;  as  also  the  Ceremoniale  Byzantinum,  pub 
lishod  by  Reisk,  lib.  i.  c.  ssviii.  p.  92. 

itj- 1  So  Michael  and  his  son  Theophilus  style  Louis 
in  their  letter  to  him,  refusing  hini  the  title  of  em- 
peror, to  which,  however,  he  had  an  undoubted 
right  in  consequence  of  the  treaties  which  they  now 
desired  to  renew. 

nJ'  X  Fleury,  Le  Sueur,  and  other  historians,  una- 
nimously place  this  council  in  825.  It  may  be  pro- 
per to  observe,  that  the  proceedings  of  this  council 
evidently  show,  that  the  decisions  of  the  Roman 
pontitfwere  by  no  means  looked  upon  at  this  time 
either  as  obligatory  or  infallible;  for,  when  the  let- 
ter of  pope  Adrian,  in  favour  of  images,  was  read 
in  the  council,  it  was  almost  unanimously  rejected, 
as  containing  absurd  and  erroneous  opinions.  The 
decrees  of  the  second  council  of  Nice,  relating  to 
image-worship,  were  also  censured  by  the  Gallican 
bishops;  and  the  authority  of  that  council,  though 
received  by  several  popes  as  an  oecumenical  one. 
absolutely  rejected;  and  what  is  remarkable  is,  that 
the  pope  did  not,  on  this  account,  declare  the  Galli- 
can bisho(is  heretics,  or  exclude  them  from  the  com- 
munion of  the  apostolic  see.   See  Fleury,  liv.  xlvii. 


Chap.  IH. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


225 


this  century',  tlie  GaJlican  clergy  began  to  pay 
a  certain  kind  of  religious  homage  to  the 
saintly  images,  in  which  their  example  was 
followed  by  the  Germans  and  other  nations.* 

XVII.  Notwithstanding  this  apostasy,  the 
Iconoclasts  were  not  destitute  of  adherents 
among  the  Latins.  Of  these,  the  most  eminent 
was  Claudius,  bishop  of  Turin,  by  birth  a  Spa- 
niard, and  also  a  disciple  of  Felix,  bishop  of 
Urgel.  This  zealous  prelate,  as  soon  as  he 
had  obtained  the  episcopal  dignity  through  the 
favour  of  Louis  the  Debonnaire,  began  to  ex- 
ercise the  duties  of  his  function  in  823,  by 
ordering  all  images,  and  even  the  cross,  to  be 
cast  out  of  the  churches,  and  committed  to  the 
flames.  The  year  following  he  composed  a 
treatise,  in  which  he  not  only  defended  these 
veliement  proceedings,  and  declared  against 
the  use,  as  well  as  the  worship,  of  images,  but 
also  broached  several  other  opinions,  tliat  were 
quite  contrary  to  the  notions  of  the  multitude, 
and  to  the  prejudices  of  the  times.  He  denied, 
among  other  things,  in  opposition  to  the 
Greeks,  that  the  cross  was  to  be  honoured  with 
any  kind  of  worship;  he  treated  relics  with  the 
utmost  contempt,  els  absolutely  destitute  of  the 
virtues  that  were  attributed  to  them,  and  cen- 
sured with  great  freedom  and  severity  those 
pilgrimages  to  the  holy  land,  and  those  jour- 
neys to  tlie  tombs  of  the  saints,  which,  in  this 
century,  were  looked  upon  as  extremely  salu- 
tary, and  particularly  meritorious.  This  noble 
stand,  in  the  defence  of  true  religion,  drew 
upon  Claudius  a  multitude  of  adversaries;  the 
sons  of  superstition  rushed  upon  him  from  all 
quarters;  Theodemir,  Dungallus,  Jonas  of  Or- 
leans, and  Walafrid  Strabo,t  combined  to 
overwhelm  him  with  their  voluminous  an- 
s^vers.  But  the  learned  and  venerable  prelate 
maintained  his  ground, |  and  supported  his 
cause  with  such  dexterity  and  force,  that  it 
remained  triumphant,  and  gained  new  credit; 
and  hence  it  happened,  that  the  city  of  Turin 
and  the  adjacent  country  were,  for  a  long 
time  after  the  death  of  Claudius,  much  less 
infected  with  superstition  than  the  other  parts 
of  Europe. 

XVIII.  The  controversy  that  had  been  car- 
ried on  in  the  preceding  centmy  concerning 
the  procession  (if  we  may  be  allowed  to  use 
that  term)  of  the  Holy  Gliost  from  the  Father 
and  the  Son,  and  also  concerning  the  words 
Jilio-que,  foisted  by  the  Latins  into  the  creed  of 
Constantinople,  broke  out  now  with  redoubled 
vehemence,  and  from  a  private  dispute  became 
a  flaming  contest  between  the  Greek  and 
Latin  churches.  The  monks  of  Jerusalem 
distinguished  themselves  in  this  controversy, 
and  complained  particularly  of  the  interpola- 
tion of  the  words  J'dio-que,  i.  e.  and  from  the 


*  Mabillon,  Aiinal.  Bencflictin.  torn.  ii.  p.  -l.-f^,  ct 
Act.  Sanctorum  Ord.  Bened.  src.  iv. — Lo  Coiiite, 
Annal.  Ecclcs.  Francor.  torn.  iv.  ad  Annum  B'iA. 

flj"  t  In  order  to  do  justice  to  tho  adversaries  of 
Claudius  here  mentioned,  it  is  necessary  to  observe, 
that  they  only  maintained  the  innocence  and  use- 
fulness of  images,  without  pretending  to  represent 
th»!m  as  objects  of  religious  worship. 

I  Mabillon,  Annal.  Benediclin.  torn.  ii.  p.  488. — 
Praef.  ad  saec.  iv.  Actor.  9S.  Ord.  Benedict,  p.  8. — His- 
toirfi  Liter,  de  la  France,  torn.  iv.  p.  491,  and  tom.  v. 
p.  27,  54. — Baenage,  Histoire  des  Eglises  Reformees, 
torn.  i. 

Vol.  I.— 29 


son,  in  the  above  mentioned  symbol ;  nor  did 
they  stop  here,  but  despatched  to  Charle- 
magne, in  809,  a  certain  ecclesiastic  of  their 
order,  whose  name  was  John,  to  obtain  satis- 
faction in  this  matter.*  The  affair  was  de- 
bated in  due  form,  in  a  council  assembled  in 
tliat  year  at  Ai.x-la-Chapelle,  and  also  at 
Rome,  in  the  presence  of  pope  Leo  III.,  to 
whom  the  emperor  had  sent  ambassadors  for 
that  purpose.  Leo  adopted  the  doctrine  which 
represented  the  Holy  Gliost  as  proceeding 
from  the  Father  and  the  Son,  but  he  con- 
demned the  addition  tliat  had  been  made  to 
the  symbol,!  find  declared  it  as  his  opinion, 
that  fdio-que,  being  evidently  an  interpolation, 
ought  to  be  omitted  in  reading  the  symbol, 
and  at  length  stricken  out  of  it  entirely,  not 
every  where  at  once,  but  in  such  a  prudent 
maimer  as  to  prevent  disturbance.  His  suc- 
cessors were  of  the  same  opinion ;  the  word, 
however,  being  once  admitted,  not  only  kept 
its  place  in  opposition  to  the  Roman  pontiffs, 
but  was  by  degrees  added  to  the  symbol  in  all 
the  Latin  churches. J 

XIX.  To  these  disputes  of  ancient  origin 
were  added  controversies  entirely  new,  and 
particularly  that  famous  one  concerning  the 
manner  in  which  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ 
were  present  in  the  eucharist.  It  had  been 
hitherto  the  unanimous  opinion  of  the  church 
that  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  were  admin- 
istered to  those  who  received  the  sacrament  of 
the  Lord's  Supper,  and  that  they  were  conse- 
quently present  at  that  holy  institution ;  but 
the  sentiments  of  Christians  concerning  the 
nature  and  manner  of  this  presence  were  vari- 
ous and  contradictory,  nor  had  any  council 
determined  with  precision  that  important 
point,  or  prescribed  tlie  manner  in  which  this 
pretended  presence  was  to  be  understood.  Both 
reason  and  folly  were  hitherto  left  free  in  this 
matter ;  nor  had  any  imperious  mode  of  faith 
suspended  the  exercise  of  the  one,  or  restrained 
the  extravagance  of  the  other.  But,  in  this 
century,  Paschasius  Radbert,  a  monk,  and  af- 
terwards abbot  of  Corbey,  pretended  to  ex- 
plain with  precision,  and  to  determine  with 
certainty,  the  doctrine  of  the  church  on  this 
head ;  for  which  purpose  he  composed,  in  831, 
a  treatise  concerning  the  sacrament  of  the 
body  and  blood  of  Clirist.§  A  second  edition 
of  this  treatise,  revised  with  care,  and  consi- 
derably augmented,  was  presented  in  845  to 
Charles  the  Bald  ;  and  it  principally  gave  oc- 
casion to  the  warm  and  important  controversy 
that    ensued.     The    doctrine    of    Paschasius 


*  See  Steph.  Baluzii  Miscellanea,  tom.  vii.  p.  14. 

il5*  t  This  addition  of  filioque  to  the  symbol  of 
Nice  and  Constantinople,  was  made  in  the  fifth  and 
sixth  centuries  by  the  churches  of  Spain  ;  and  their 
c.\ample  was  followed  by  most  of  the  Gallican 
churches,  where  the  symbol  was  read  and  sung  with 
this  addition. 

J  See  Le  Cointe,  Annal.  Eccles.  Francor.  tom.  iv. 
ad  a.  809.— Longueval,  Histoire  de  IKgli.^c  GallicaBe, 
tom.  V.  p.  151. 

§  See  Mabillon,  Annales  Benedict,  ii.  p.  539.  An 
accurate  edition  of  Kadbert's  book  was  published  by 
Martenne,  in  the  si.xth  volume  of  his  Aiiipli^s.  Col- 
lect, veter.  Scriptor.  p.  3';8.  The  life  and  .ictions  of 
this  wrong-headed  divine  are  treated  of  at  large  by 
Mabillon,  in  his  Acta  Sanctor  Ord.  Benedict.  S«bc. 
iv.  part  II.  126,  and  by  the  Jesuits,  in  the  Acta  SS. 
Antwerp,  ad  d.  xxvi   Aprilis. 


226 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


amounted,  in  general,  to  the  two  following 
propositions :  first,  that,  after  the  consecration 
of  the  bread  and  wine  in  the  Lord's  Supper, 
nothing  remained  of  these  symbols  but  the 
outward  figure,  under  wliich  the  body  and 
blood  of  Christ  were  really  and  locally  present ; 
and,  secondly,  that  t!ie  body  of  Christ  thus 
present  in  the  eucharist  was  the  same  body 
that  was  born  of  the  Virgin,  that  suftered  upon 
the  cross,  and  was  raised  from  the  dead.  This 
new  doctrine,  and  more  especially  the  second 
proposition  now  mentioned,  excited,  as  might 
well  be  expected,  the  astonislmient  of  many. 
Accordingly  it  was  opposed  by  Rabanns  Mau- 
rus,  Heribald,  and  others,  though  they  did  not 
all  refute  it  in  tlie  same  method,  or  on  the 
same  principles.  Charles  the  Bald,  on  this 
occasion,  ordered  the  famous  Ratram  and 
Johannes  Scotus  to  draw  up  a  clear  and  ra- 
tional explication  of  that  important  doctrine 
which  Radbert  seemed  to  have  so  egregiously 
corrupted.*  These  learned  divines  executed 
with  zeal  and  diligence  tlie  orders  of  the  em- 
peror. The  treatise  of  Scotus  perished  in  the 
ruins  of  time ;  but  that  of  Ratram  is  still  ex- 
tant,! which  furnished  ample  matter  of  dis- 
pute, bo  til  in  the  last  and  present  century.]: 

XX.  It  is  remarkable  that  in  this  controver- 
sy each  of  the  contending  parties  were  almost 
as  much  divided  among  themselves  as  they 
were  at  variance  with  their  adversaries.  Rad- 
bert, who  began  the  dispute,  contradicts  him- 
self in  many  places,  departs  from  his  own 
principles,  and  maintains,  in  one  part  of  his 
book,  conclusions  that  he  had  disavowed  in 
another.  His  principal  adversary  Bertram, 
or  Ratram,  seems  in  some  respects  liable  to 
the  same  charge ;  he  appears  to  follow  in  gen- 
eral the  doctrine  of  tliose,  who  deny  that  the 
body  and  blood  of  Christ  are  really  present  in 
the  "holy  sacrament,  and  to  affirm  on  the  con- 
trary that  they  are  only  represented  by  the 
bread  and  wine  as  their  signs  or  symbols. 
There  are,  however,  several  passages  in  his 
book  which  seem  inconsistent  with  this  just 
and  rational  notion  of  the  eucharist,  or  at  least 
are  susceptible  of  different  interpretations,  and 
have  therefore  given  rise  to  various  disputes. 
Johannes  Scotiis,  whose  philosophical  genius 
rendered  him  more  accurate,  and  shed  through 
his  writings  that  logical  precision  so  much 
wanted,  and  so  highly  desirable  in  polemical 
productions,  was  the  only  disputant  in  this 
contest  who  expressed  his  sentiments  with 
perspicuity,  metliod,  and  consistency,  and  de- 
clared plainly  that  the  bread  and  wine  were 

*  For  an  account  of  llatiam,  or  Rertrara,  and  liis 
famous  book  which  made  so  much  noisu  in  the 
world,  see  the  Biblioth.  Lat.  of  Fabricius,  torn.  i.  p. 
1G61. 

jCf"  t  A  new  En<;lish  translation  of  the  book  of 
Bertram,  (who  was  a  priest  and  monk  of  Corbey) 
concerning'  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the 
Sacrament,  was  published  at  Dublin  in  1752:  to 
which  is  prefixed  a  very  learned  and  judicious  his- 
torical dissertation  respecting  this  famous  author  and 
his  works,  in  which  both  are  ably  defended  ajjainst 
the  calumnies  and  fictions  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
writers. 

t  There  is  an  account,  but  a  partial  one,  of  this 
controversy  in  Mabilloii's  Prsef.  ad  Seec.  iv.  part  ii. 
Benedict,  "p.  viii.  which  the  curious  reader  will 
therefore  do  well  to  compare  with  Basnage'a  His- 
toire  de  rEglise,  torn,  i  90!». 


the  signs  and  symbols  of  the  absent  body  and 
blood  of  Christ.  All  the  other  theologians  of 
his  time  fluctuate  and  waver  in  their  opinions, 
express  themselves  with  ambiguity,  and  em- 
brace and  reject  the  same  tenets  at  different 
times,  as  if  they  had  no  fixed  or  permanent 
principles  on  this  subject.  Hence  it  evidently 
appears,  that  there  was  not  yet  in  the  Latin 
church  any  fixed  or  universally  received  opin- 
ion concerning  tlie  niamier  in  which  the  body 
and  blood  of  Clirist  are  present  in  the  eucha- 
rist. 

XXI.  The  disputants  in  this  controversy 
charged  each  other  reciprocally  with  the  most 
odious  doctrines,  which  each  party  drew  by 
way  of  consequences  from  the  tenets  they  op- 
posed,— a  method  of  proceeding  as  unjust,  as 
it  is  common  in  all  kinds  of  debate.  Hence 
arose  the  imaginary  heres}',  that,  on  the  trium- 
phant progress  of  the  doctrine  of  transubstan- 
tiation  in  the  eleventh  century,  was  branded 
with  the  title  of  Stercm-anism,  and  of  which  the 
true  origin  was  as  follows :  They  who,  em- 
bracing the  opinion  of  Paschasius  Radbert,  be- 
lieved that  tiie  bread  and  wine  in  the  sacra- 
ment were  substantially  changed  after  the  con- 
secration, and  preserved  only  their  external 
figure,  drew  a  most  mijust  conclusion  from 
the  opinion  of  their  adversaries,  who  main- 
tained on  the  contrary,  that  the  bread  and 
wine  preserved  their  substance,  and  that 
Christ's  body  and  blood  were  only  figuratively, 
and  not  really,  present  in  the  eucharist.  They 
alleged  that  the  doctrine  of  the  latter  implied, 
tliat  tlie  body  of  Christ  was  digested  in  the 
stomach,  and  was  thrown  out  with  the  other 
excrements.  But  this  consequence  was  quick- 
ly retorted  upon  those  that  imagined  it ;  for 
tliey  who  denied  the  conversion  of  the  bread 
and  wine  into  the  real  body  and  blood  of 
Christ,  charged  the  same  enormous  conse- 
quence upon  their  antagonists  who  believed 
tliis  transmutation  ;  and  the  charge  certainly 
was  much  more  applicable  to  the  latter  than 
to  the  former.  The  truth  is,  that  it  was  nei- 
ther truly  applicable  to  one  nor  to  the  other  ; 
and  their  mutual  reproaches,  most  wretchedly 
founded,  show  rather  a  spirit  of  invective,  than 
a  zeal  for  the  truth.  The  charge  of  Stercora- 
nism  is  but  a  malignant  invention;  it  can 
never,  without  the  most  absurd  impudence,  be 
brought  against  those  who  deny  the  transmu- 
tation of  the  bread  into  the  body  of  Christ ;  it 
may  indeed  be  charged  upon  such  as  allow 
this  transmutation,  though  it  be  a  consequence 
that  none  of  them,  except  those  whose  intel- 
lects were  unsound,  perhaps  ever  avowed.* 

XXII.  While  this  controversy  was  at  its 
greatest  height,  another  of  a  quite  different 
kind,  and  of  much  greater  importance,  arose, 
whose  unhappy  consequences  are  yet  felt  in 
the  reformed  churches.  The  subject  of  this 
new  contest  was  the  doctrine  of  predestination 
and  divine  grace,  and  its  rise  is  universally  at- 
tributed to  Godeschalcus,  an  illustrious  Saxon, 
who  had  entered  involuntarily  into  the  mo- 


*  For  an  account  of  the  Stercoranists,  see  Mabillon, 
Pr.Tf.  ad  Ssec.  iv.  Benedict,  part  ii.  p.  21.— J.  Bas. 
nage,  Ilistoire  de  I'Eglise,  torn.  i.  p.  92ti.  an<I  a  Trea- 
tise of  the  learned  Dr.  PfatT,  published  at  Tubingen 
in  1750. 


I 


Chap.  III. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


227 


nastic  order  in  the  convent  of  Fulda,  whence 
he  removed  to  the  monastery  of  Orbais,  in  tlic 
diocese  of  Soissons,  wliere  he  prosecuted  his 
tlieolbgical  studies,  not  only  with  great  assi- 
duity, bnt  also  with  an  insatiable  desire  of 
sounding  the  deepest  mysteries,  and  of  being 
"  wise  above  what  is  written."  This  eminent 
ecclesiastic,  upon  his  return  from  Rome  in 
847,  took  up  his  lodging  for  some  time  with 
count  Eberald,  one  of  tlie  principal  noblemen 
at  the  court  of  the  emperor  Lothaire,  where 
he  discoiu-sed  largely  of  the  intricate  doctrine 
of  predestination  in  the  presence  of  Nothiiigiis, 
bishop  of  Verona,  and  maintained  that  God, 
from  all  eternity,  had  pre-ordained  some  to 
everlasting  life,  and  others  to  everlasting 
punishment  and  misery.  Rabanus  Maurus, 
wlio  was  by  no  means  his  friend,  being  in- 
formed of  the  propagation  of  this  doctrine,  op- 
posed him  witli  great  vigor.  To  render  his 
opposition  more  successful,  he  began  by  repre- 
senting Godeschalcus  as  a  .corrupter  of  the 
true  religion,  and  a  forger  of  monstrous  here- 
sies, in  some  letters  addressed  to  count  Eberald 
and  to  the  bishop  of  ^'erona■,  and  when  the 
accused  monk  came  from  Italy  into  Germany 
to  justify  himself  against  these  clamours,  and 
for  that  purpose  appeared  at  Mentz,  of  which 
Rabanus  his  accuser  was  archbishop,  he  was 
condemned  in  a  council  assembled  by  the  latter 
in  that  city,  in  848,  and  sent  thence  to  Hinc- 
mar,  archbishop  of  Rheims,  in  whose  diocese 
he  had  received  the  order  of  priesthood.  Ilinc- 
mar,  who  was  devoted  to  tlie  interests  of  Ra- 
banus, assembled  a  council  at  Quiercy  in  849, 
in  which  Godeschalcus  was  condemned  a  se- 
cond time,  and  was  also  treated  in  a  manner 
equally  repugnant  to  the  principles  of  religion 
and  the  dictates  of  humanity.  Because  he  was 
firm  in  maintaining  his  doctrine,  which  he 
affirmed,  and  indeed  with  truth,  to  be  the  doc-  ! 
trine  of  St.  Augustine,  the  imperious  Hincmar  | 
degraded  him  from  the  priesthood,  and  was  so  \ 
barbarous  as  to  order  him  to  be  scourged  with  j 
the  utmost  severity,  until  the  force  of  liis  pain  j 
overpowering  his  constancy  obliged  him,  ac- 
cording to  the  commands  of  his  reverend  execu- 
tioners, to  burn  with  his  own  hands  that  justi- 
fication of  his  opinions  which  he  had  presented 
to  the  council  of  Mentz.  After  these  barbarous 
proceedings,  the  unfortunate  monk  was  cast 
into  prison  in  the  monastery  of  Hautvilliers, 
where  he  ended  his  misery  and  his  days  in 
868,  or  the  following  year,  maintaining  with 
his  last  breath  the  doctrine  for  which  he  had 
suffered. 

XXIII.  Wliile  Godeschalcus  lay  in  prison, 
his  doctrine  gained  him  followers;  his  suffer- 
ings excited  com])assion;  and  both  together 
produced  a  considerable  schism  in  the  Latin 
church.  Ratram,  monk  of  Corbey,  Pruden- 
tius,  bishop  of  Troyes,  Loup,  or  Lupus,  abbot 
of  Ferrieres,  Florus,  deacon  of  Lyons,  llemi, 
archbishop  of  tlie  same  city,  with  his  wliole 
church,  and  many  other  ecclesiastics,  whom  it 
would  be  tedious  to  mention,  pleaded  with  the 
utmost  zeal  and  vehemence,  both  in  their  writ- 
ings and  in  their  discourse,  the  cause  of  this 
unhappy  monk,  and  of  his  condemned  opini- 
ons. Some,  indeed,  confined  themselves  prin- 
cipally to  the  defence  of  his  person  and  con- 


duct, while  others  went  farther,  and  employed 
all  their  zeal,  and  all  their  labour,  in  the  vin- 
dication of  his  doctrine.  On  the  opposite  side 
of  the  question  were  Hincmar,  his  unrighteous 
judge,  Amalarius,  the  celebrated  Johannes 
Seotus,  and  others,  who  all  maintained,  tliat 
Godeschalcus  and  his  opinions  had  received 
the  treatment  they  deserved.  As  the  spirit  of 
controversy  ran  hitrh  between  tliese  contending 
parties,  and  grew  more  vehement  from  day  to 
day,  Charles  t!ie  Bald  summoned  a  new  coun- 
cil, or  synod,  which  met  at  Quiercy  in  853,  in 
which,  by  the  credit  and  inlluence  of  Hinc- 
mar, tlie  decrees  of  the  former  council  were 
confirmed,  and  in  consequence  Godeschalcus 
was  again  condemned.  But  the  decrees  of  this 
council  were  declared  null;  and  decisions  of  a 
diiferent  kind,  by  which  he  and  his  doctrine 
were  vindicated  and  defended,  were  enacted 
in  a  comicil  assembled  at  Valence  in  Dau- 
pliine,  in  855.  This  council  was  composed  of 
the  clergy  of  Lyons,  Vienne,  and  Aries,  with 
Remi,  archbishop  of  Lyons  at  their  head;  and 
its  decrees  were  confirmed,  in  859,  by  the 
council  of  Langres,  in  which  the  same  clergy 
were  assembled,  and  in  860,  by  the  council  of 
Tousi,  in  which  the  bishops  of  fourteen  pro- 
vinces supported  tlie  cause  of  the  persecuted 
monk,  whoso  death  allayed  the  heat  of  this  in- 
tricate controversy.* 

XXIV.  If  we  attend  to  the  merits  of  this 
caase,  we  sliall  find  tliat  tlie  debate  still  sub- 
sists in  all  its  force,  and  tliat  the  doctrine  of 
Godeschalcus  has  in  our  days  both  able  de- 
fenders and  powerful  adversaries.  He  un- 
doubtedly maintained  a  two-fold  predestina- 
tion, one  to  everlasting  life,  and  the  other  to 
eternal  death.  He  held  also,  "  that  God  did 
"  not  desire  or  will  the  salvation  of  all  man- 
"  kind,  but  that  of  the  elect  only;  and  that 
"  Christ  did  not  suffer  death  for  the  whole  hu- 
"  man  race,  but  for  those  persons  only  whom 
"  God  has  predestinated  to  eternal  salvation." 
These  decisions,  which  carry  a  severe  and 
rjoorous  aspect,  are  softly  and  favouredly  in- 
terpreted by  the  followers  of  Godeschalcus. 
They  deny,  for  example,  that  their  leader  re- 
presents God  as  predestinating,  to  a  necessary 
course  of  iniquity,  those  whom  he  has  previ- 
ously predestinated  to  eternal  miserj';  and,  ac- 
cording to  them,  the  doctrine  of  Godeschalcus 
amounts  to  no  more  than  this:  "  That  God 
"has,  from  all  eternity,  doomed  to  everlasting 
"  misery  such  as  he  foresaw  would  go  on  im- 
"  penitent  in  a  sinful  course,  and  has  decreed 
"their  ruin  in  consequence  of  their  sins  freely 
"  committed  and  eternally  foreseen:  that  the 
"  salutary  effects  of  the  mercy  of  God,  and  the 
"  sufferings  of  Christ,  extend  indeed  only  to 
"  the  elect,  and  are  made  good  to  them  alone; 
"  though  tliis  mercy  and  these  sufferings,  con- 
"  sidcred  in  themselves,  belong  equally  to  all 
"  mankind."     But   this   contradictory  jargon 

*  Bositle  the  common  writ(^rs,  who  spvak  of  this 
controversy,  the  curious  reniler  will  do  well  to  con- 
sult the  more  learned  .ind  impartial  accounts  he  will 
find  of  it  in  Boiilay's  Hist.  Acad.  Paris,  torn.  i.  p. 
178.— Mabillon's  Prsef  ad  Sa>c.  iv.  Benedict,  part  ii. 
p.  xlvii.— Tfist.  Literaire  de  la  France,  torn.  v.  p. 
;!.52. — Usserii  Ilistoria  Oodeschaici— ficrard,  Job. 
Vossii  Historia  Pelajiiana,  lib.  vii.  cap.  iv. — Fabricii 
Biblioth.  Latin,  medii  JEvi,  torn.  iii.  p.  210. 


228 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


did  not  satisfy  the  adversaries  of  the  predesti- 
nariaa  monk;  they  maintained,  on  the  con- 
trary, that,  under  ambiguous  terms  and  per- 
plexed sentences,  Godesclialcus  had  concealed 
the  most  enormous  errors,  propagating  it  assi- 
duously as  an  article  of  faith,  "  That  God  had 
"  not  only  by  an  original  decree  predestinated 
*'  one  part  of  mankind  to  eternal  damnation, 
"  but  had  also  pushed  them  on  by  an  irresisti- 
"  ble  necessity,  by  a  propellent  force,  to  those 
"  crimes  and  transgressions  which  were  proper 
"to  render  that  damnation  just."*  Without 
determining  any  thing  upon  such  an  intricate 
and  incomprehensible  subject,  with  respect  to 
which  silence  is  the  truest  wisdom,  we  shall 
only  observe,  that  the  private  quarrels,  and 
mutual  hatred,  that  prevailed  between  Raba- 
nus  Maurus  and  Godeschalcus,  were  the  real 
source  of  the  predestinarian  controversy,  and 
of  all  the  calamities  in  which  it  involved  the 
unfortunate  monk.f 

XXV.  Another,  though  less  important,  con- 
troversy arose  about  this  time,  concerning  the 
concluding  words  of  a  very  ancient  hjrmn, 
which  runs  thus:  te,  trina  Ddtas  unaque,  posci- 
mus,  which  may  be  thus  translated,  "  O  God, 
who  art  three,  and  at  the  same  time  but  one, 
we  beseech  thee,"  &c.  Hincmar  wisely  prohi- 
bited the  singing  of  these  words  in  the  churches 
that  were  under  his  jurisdiction,  from  a  per- 
suasion that  they  tended  to  introduce  into  the 
minds  of  the  multitude  notions  inconsistent 
with  the  unity  and  simplicity  of  the  Supreme 
Being,  and  might  lead  them  to  imagine  that 
there  were  three  Gods.  But  the  Benedictine 
monks  refused  to  obey  this  mandate,  and  Ber- 
tram, who  was  one  of  the  most  eminent  of  that 
order,  wrote  a  copious  work  to  prove  the  ex- 
pression trina  Deltas,  or  threefold  Deity,  ortho- 


*  The  cause  of  Godeschalcus  has  been  very  learn- 
edly defended  by  the  celebrated  Maguin,  who  pub- 
lished also  a  valuable  edition  of  all  the  treatises  that 
were  composed  on  both  sides  of  this  intricate  con- 
troversy. This  interesting  collection,  which  was 
printed  at  Paris  in  1G50,  bears  the  following  title: 
'  veteruni  Auctorum  qui  Nono  Sfeculo  de  Prcedesti- 
'  natione  et  Gratia  scripserunt,  Opera  et  Fragmenta, 
'cum  Historia  et  gemina  PriEfatione.'  Cardinal 
Norris  maintained  also  the  cause  of  the  predestina- 
rian monk  with  more  brevity,  but  less  moderation 
than  Maguin.  This  brief  vindication  may  be  seen 
in  the  Synopsis  Historic  Godeschalcanae,  which  is 
inserted  in  the  4th  volume  of  the  works  of  that  car- 
dinal, p.  677.  All  the  Benedictines,  Jansenists^,  and 
Augustin  monks  maintain,  almost  without  e.xccp- 
tion,  that  Godeschalcus  was  most  unjustly  perse- 
cuted and  oppressed  by  Rabanus  Maurus.  The  Jesu- 
its are  of  a  different  opinion;  they  assert  in  general, 
and  Louis  Cellot,  one  of  their  order,  has  in  a  more 
particular  manner  laboured  to  demonstrate,  in  his 
Historia  Godeschalci  Prsedestinationis,  published  at 
Paris  in  1655,  that  the  monk  in  question  was  justly 
condemned,  and  deservedly  punished. 

t  The  parents  of  Godeschalcus  consecrated  him  to 
God,  by  devoting  him  from  his  infancy,  as  was  the 
custom  of  the  times,  to  the  monastic  life  in  the  mo- 
nastery of  Fulda.  The  young  monk,  however,  hav- 
ing arrived  at  a  certain  age,  seemed  much  disposed 
to  abandon  his  retreat,  to  shake  off  his  religious  fet- 
ters, and  to  return  into  society;  but  he  was  pre- 
vented from  the  execution  of  this  purpose  by  Raba- 
nus Maurus,  who  kept  him  against  his  will  in  his 
monastic  bonds.  Hence  a  violent  contest  arose  be- 
tween these  ecclesiastics,  in  which  Louis  the  De- 
bonaire  was  obliged  to  interpose;  and  hence  pro- 
ceeded the  furious  disputes  concerning  predestina- 
tion and  grace.  See  CenturiiB  Magdeb.  Cent.  ix.  c. 
10.— Mabiilon,  Annal.  Bened.  torn.  ii.  ad  annum  829. 
p  523. 


dox,  from  the  authority  of  fathers,  esteemed 
the  only  criterion  of  truth  in  those  miserable 
times.  Godeschalcus,  who  now  lay  in  prison, 
heard  of  this  dispute,  entered  warmly  into  it, 
and  in  a  laboured  di.ssartation  supported  tho 
cause  of  his  Benedictine  brethren;  on  which, 
account  Hincmar  accused  him  of  tritheism,  and 
drew  up  a  treatise  to  prove  the  charge,  and  to 
refute  that  impious  and  enonnous  heresy. 
This  controversy,  however,  was  but  of  a  short 
duration;  and  the  exceptionable  passage  of  the 
hymn  in  question  maintained  its  credit,  not- 
withstanding' all  the  efforts  of  Hincmar,  and 
continued,  as  before,  to  be  sung  in  the 
churches.* 

XXVI.  A  vain  curiosity,  and  not  any  design 
of  promoting  useful  knowledge  and  true  piety, 
was  the  main  source  of  the  greatest  part  of 
the  controversies  that  were  carried  on  in  this 
century;  and  it  was  more  especially  this  idle 
curiosity,  carried  to  an  indecent  and  most  ex- 
travagant length,  that  gave  rise  to  the  contro- 
versy concerning  the  manner  in  which  Christ 
was  bom  of  the  Virgin,  which  began  in  Ger- 
many, and  made  its  way  from  that  country 
into  France.  Certain  Germans  maintained, 
that  Jesus  proceeded  from  his  mother's  womb 
in  a  manner  quite  different  from  those  general 
and  uniform  laws  of  nature  that  regulate  the 
birth  of  the  human  species;  which  opinion  was 
no  sooner  known  in  France,  than  it  was  warmly 
opposed  by  the  famous  Ratram,  who  wrote  a 
book  expressly  to  prove  that  Christ  entered 
into  the  world  in  the  very  same  way  with 
other  mortals,  that  his  Virgin  mother  bore 
him,  as  other  women  bring  forth  their  ofi'spring. 
Paschasius  Radbert,  who  was  constantly  em- 
ployed, either  in  inventing  or  patronising  the 
most  extravagant  fancies  adopted  the  opinion 
of  the  German  doctors,  and  composed  an  ela- 
borate treatise  to  prove  that  Christ  was  bom, 
without  his  mother's  womb  being  opened,  in 
the  same  manner  as  he  came  into  the  chamber 
where  his  disciples  were  assembled  after  his 
resurrection,  though  the  door  was  shut.  He 
also  charged  those  who  held  the  opinion  of  Ra- 
tram with  denying  the  virginity  of  Mary. 
This  fruitless  dispute  was  soon  hushed  and 
gave  place  to  controversies  of  superior  mo- 
ment.f 

XXVII.  Of  all  the  controversies  that  divid- 
ed Christians  in  this  century,  the  most  inter- 
esting, though  at  the  same  time  the  most  la- 
mentable, was  that  which  occasioned  the  fatal 
schism  between  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches. 
A  vindictive  and  jealous  spirit  of  animosity 
and  contention  had  loiig  prevailed  between  the 
bishops  of  Rome  and  Constantinople,  and  had 
sometimes  broken  out  into  acts  of  violence  and 
rage.  The  ambition  and  fury  of  these  con- 
tending prelates  became  still  more  keen  and 
vehement  about  the  time  of  Leo  the  Isaurian, 
when  the  bishops  of  Constantinople,  seconded 
by  the  power  and  authority  of  the  emperors, 
withdrew  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Roman 
pontiffs  many  provinces,  over  which  they  had 


*  An  account  of  this  controversy  is  given  by  the 
writers  of  the  life,  actions,  and  doctrines  of  Godei- 
chalcus. 

t  See  the  Spicilegiura  veterum  Scriptorum,  pub- 
lished by  M.  d'Acheri,  torn.  i.  p.  396.— Mabiilon, 
Proef.  ad  SiEC.  iv.  Benedict,  part  ii.  p.  51. 


Chap.  HI. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


229 


hitherto  exercised  a  spiritual  dominion.*  In 
this  century  the  contest  rose  to  an  enormous 
height,  and  hroke  forth  into  a  most  dreadful 
flame,  in  858, f  vvlicn  the  learned  Photius  was 
chosen  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  by  the  em- 
peror Michael,  in  the  place  of  Ignatius,  wliom 
that  prince  had  driven  from  his  see  and  sent 
into  exile.  This  violent  proceeding,  though  it 
was  vindicated  and  even  applauded  by  a  coun- 
cil assembled  at  Constantinople  in  861,  was 
far  from  being  attended  with  a  general  appro- 
bation. Igiiatius  appealed  from  this  council  to 
pope  Nicolas  I.,  w!io  espoused  his  interests, 
and,  in  a  council  assembled  at  Rome  in  862,  ex- 
communicated Photius  as  unlawfully  elected, 
and  his  abettors  for  having  been  concerned  in 
such  an  unrighteous  cause.  The  new  patri- 
arch, however,  was  so  far  from  being  terrified 
or  dejected  by  this  excommunication,  that  he 
returned  the  compliment  to  the  pope,  and,  in 
a  council  assembled  at  Constantinople,  in  866, 
he  declared  Nicolas  unworthy  of  the  place  he 
held  in  the  church,  and  also  of  being  admitted 
to  the  communion  of  Christians. 

XXVIII.  The  Roman  pontiff  alleged  a  spe- 
cious pretext  for  his  acting  with  such  violence, 
aiid  exciting  such  unhappy  commotions  in  the 
church.  This  pretence  was  the  innocence  of 
Ignatius,  whom,  upon  an  accusation  of  trea- 
son, whether  true  or  false,  the  emperor  had  de- 
graded from  his  patriarchal  dignity.  This, 
however,  was  not  the  true  reason;  ambition 
and  interest  were  the  real  though  secret  springs 
that  directed  the  motions  of  Nicolas,  who 
woidd  have  borne  with  patience,  and  viewed 
with  inditierence,  tlie  unjust  sufferings  of  Ig- 
natius, if  he  could  have  recovered  from  the 
Greeks,  the  provinces  of  Illyricum,  Macedo- 
nia, Epirus,  Achaia,  Thessaly,  and  Sicily, 
which  the  emperor  and  Photius  had  removed 
from  the  jurisdiction  of  tlie  Roman  pontiff". 
Before  he  engaged  in  the  cause  of  Ignatius,  he 
sent  a  solemn  embassy  to  Constantinople,  to 
demand  the  restitution  of  the  provinces;  but 
his  demand  was  rejected  with  contempt. — 
Hence,  under  pretence  of  avenging  the  inju- 
ries committed  against  Ignatius,  he  indulged 
without  restraint  his  own  private  resentment, 
and  thus  covered  with  the  mask  of  justice  the 
fury  of  disappointed  ambition  and  avarice. 

XXIX.  While  affairs  were  in  this  troubled 
state  and  tlie  flame  of  controversy  was  grow- 
ing more  violent  from  day  to  day,  Basilius  the 
Macedonian,  who,  by  tiie  murder  of  his  prede- 
cessor, had  paved  his  way  to  the  imperial  throne, 
calmed  at  once  these  tumults,  and  restored 
peace  to  the  church,  by  recalling  Ignatius  from 
exile  to  tlie  high  station  from  which  he  had 
been  degraded,  and  by  confining  Photius  in  a 
monastery.  This  act  of  authority  was  so- 
lemnly approved  and  confirmed  by  a  council 
assembled  at  Constantinoi)le,  in  869,  in  which 
the  legates  of  pope  Adrian  II.  had  great  influ- 
ence, and  were  treated  with  the  highest  marks 


*  See  Giannone,  Ilistnria  di  Napoli,  torn.  i. — Petr. 
de  Marca,  de  Concordia  Sacerdotii  et  Imperii,  lib.  i. 
cap.  i.  p.  6. — Lequien,  Oriens  Christianas,  torn.  i. 
p.  96. 

n3"  t  In  tlip  orifrinal,  we  find  the  date  of  R-iS;  but, 
as  this  is  probably  an  error  of  the  press,  the  transla- 
tor has  taken  the  liberty  to  correct  it  in  the  text. 


of  distinction."  The  Latins  acknowledge  this 
assembly  as  the  eighth  oecumenical  council; 
and  in  it  the  religious  contests  between  them 
and  tlie  Greeks  were  concluded,  or  at  least 
hushed  and  suspended.  But  the  controversy 
concerning  the  authority  of  the  pontitTs,  the  li- 
mits of  their  just  power,  and  particularly  their 
jurisdiction  in  Bulgaria,  still  subsisted;  nor  could 
all  the  efforts  of  papal  ambition  engage  either 
Ignatius  or  the  emperor  to  give  up  Bulgaria,  or 
any  other  province,  to  tlie  sec  of  Rome. 

XXX.  The  contest  that  had  arisen  between 
the  Greeks  and  Latins  concerning  the  eleva- 
tion of  Photius,  was  of  such  a  nature  as  to  ad- 
mit an  easy  and  effectual  remedy.  But  the 
haughty  and  ambitious  spirit  of  this  learned 
and  ingenious  patriarch  led  the  flame  of  dis- 
cord instead  of  extinguishing  it,  and  unhappily 
prolonged  the  troubles  and  divisions  of  the 
Christian  church.  In  the  year  866,  he  added 
to  the  see  of  Constantinople  the  province  of 
Bulgaria,  with  which  Nicolas  had  formed  the 
design  of  augmenting  his  spiritual  dominion. 
While  the  pope  was  most  bitterly  provoked  at 
missing  his  aim,  Photius  went  yet  farther,  and 
entered  into  measures  every  way  unworthy  of 
his  character  and  station:  for  he  not  only  sent 
a  circular  letter  to  the  oriental  patriarchs  to 
engage  them  to  espouse  his  private  cause,  as 
the  public  and  momentous  cause  of  the  church, 
but  drew  up  a  most  violent  charge  of  heresy 
against  the  Roman  bishops,  who  had  been  sent 
among  the  newly  converted  Bulgarians,  and 
against  the  church  of  Rome  in  general.  The 
articles  of  corrupt  doctrine,  or  lieresy,  which 
this  imperious  and  exasperated  prelate  brought 
against  the  votaries  of  the  Romish  system, 
were  as  follow:  first,  that  they  fasted  on  the 
Sabbath,  or  seventh  day  of  the  week:  secondly, 
that  in  the  first  week  of  Lent  they  permitted 
the  use  of  milk  and  cheese:  thirdly,  that  they 
prohibited  their  priests  from  marrying,  and  se- 
parated from  their  wives  such  as  had  been  mar- 
ried when  they  entered  into  orders:f  fourthly, 
that  they  represented  the  bishops  alone  as  au- 
thorised to  anoint  with  the  holy  chrism  baptiz- 
ed persons,  and,  in  consequence,  obliged  those 
who  had  been  anointed  by  presbyters,  to  re- 
ceive that  unction  a  second  time  from  the  hand 
of  a  bishop:  lastly,  that  they  had  adulterated  the 
symbol  or  creed  of  Constantinople,  by  adding 
to  it  the  words  filic^qiie,  i.  e.  and  from  the  son, 
and  were  therefore  of  opinion  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  did  not  proceed  from  tlie  Father  only, 
but  also  from  the  Son.J    Nicolas  I.  finding  the 

*  The  writers  on  both  sides  of  this  controversy 
are  enumerated  by  Fabricius,  in  hisUiblioth.  Urxca, 
vol.  iv.  c.  xxxviii.  p.  372. 

t  I'liolius  attributes  to  this  forced  and  unnatural 
celibacy  of  the  clergy,  that  multitude  of  children 
whose  fathers  were  unknown.  Kemarkable  to  this 
purpose  is  the  followine  passage  from  a  b.jok  of  Al- 
varo  lVlagio,'bishop  of  Sylva  in  Portugal,  de  Planctu 
Kcclcsitr:  "  It  is  to  be  wished,"  says  lie,  "  that  the 
clergy  had  never  vowed  chastity,  especially  the  cler- 
gy of  Spnin,  where  the  tons  of  the  laity  are  not 
much  more  numerous  than  the  sons  of  the  clergy." 

I  See  the  letter  of  Photius  in  the  collection  pub- 
lished by  bishop  Montague,  N.  ii.  p.  47.  (Itlier  wri- 
ters mention  ten  heads  of  accusation  brought  against 
Photius;  but  such  do  not  distinguish  between  the 
first  and  second  controversy  that  arose  between  the 
Greeks  and  Latins,  and  they  add  to  the  articles, 
with  which  this  patriarch  was  charged,  those  that 


230 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


Roman  church  thus  attacked,  sent  the  articles 
of  this  accusation  to  Hincmar  and  the  other 
Galhcan  bisliops  in  867,  desiring  them  to  as- 
semble their  respective  sutfragans  in  order  to 
examine  and  answer  the  reproach  of  Photius. 
In  pursuance  of  this  exhortation  of  the  pon- 
tiff, Odo,  iEiieas,  and  Ado,  bishops  of  Beau- 
vais,  Paris,  and  Vienne,  as  also  the  celebrated 
Ratram,  stepped  fortli  gallantly  into  the  field 
of  controversy  against  the  Greeks,  answered 
one  by  one  the  accusations  of  Photius,  and  em- 
ployed the  whole  force  of  their  erudition  and 
zeal  in  maintaining  the  cause  of  the  Latin 
chm-ch.* 

XXXI.  On  the  death  of  Ignatius,  which  hap- 
pened in  STS,  the  emperor  took  Photius  into  fa- 
vour, and  placed  him  again  at  the  head  of  the 
Greek  church.  This  restoration  of  the  de- 
graded patriarch  was  agreed  to  by  the  Roman 
pontiff  John  VIII.  on  condition,  however,  that 
Photius  would  permit  the  Bulgarians  to  come 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  see  of  Rome. 
The  latter  promised  to  satisfy  in  this  the  de- 
mands of  the  pontiff,  to  which  the  emperor 
also  seemed  to  consent;!  and  hence  it  was  that 
John  VIII.  sent  legates  to  the  council  holden 
in  889  at  Constantinople,  by  whom  he  declar- 
ed his  approbation  of  the  acts  of  that  assem- 
bly', and  acknowledged  Photius  as  his  brother 
in  Christ.  Tiie  promises,  however,  of  the  em- 
peror and  the  patriarch,  were  far  from  being 
accomplished;  for  after  this  council  the  former, 
most  probably  by  the  advice,  or  at  least  with 
the  consent  of  the  latter,  refused  to  transfer 
the  province  of  Bulgaria  to  the  Roman  pontitf; 
and  it  must  be  confessed  that  this  refusal  was 
founded  upon  most  weighty  and  important 
reasons.  The  pope  was  highly  irritated  at  this 
disappointment,  and  sent  Alarinus  to  Constan- 
tinople in  the  character  of  legate,  to  declare 
that  he  had  changed  his  mind  with  reference 
to  Photius,  and  tliat  he  entirely  approved  the 
sentence  of  excommunication  that  had  been 
formerly  given  against  him.  The  legate,  upon 
delivering  this  disagreeable  message,  was  cast 
into  prison  by  the  emperor,  Init  was  afterwards 
liberated;  and,  being  raised  to  the  pontificate 
upon  the  death  of  John  VIIL,  recalled  the  re- 
membrance of  tliis  injurious  treatment,  and  le- 
velled a  new  sentence  of  condemnation  against 
Photius. 

XXXII.  This  sentence  was  treated  with  con- 
tempt by  the  haught}'  patriarch;  but,  about 
six  years  after  tiiis  period,  he  experienced  anew 
the  fragility  of  sublunary  grandeur  and  eleva- 
tion, by  a  fall  which  concluded  his  prosperous 
days;  for,  in  886,  Leo,  surnamed  tlie  philo- 
sopher, the  son  and  successor  of  Basilius,  de- 
posed him  from  the  patriarclial  see,  and  con- 
fuied  him  in  an  Armenian  monastery,  where 
he  died  in  891.  The  death  of  Photius,  who 
was  the  only  author  of  the  schisms  that  divided 
the  Greeks  and  Latins,  might  have  been  an 
occasion  of  removing  these  unhappy  contests, 


were  drawn  up  in  the  time  of  Michael  Ccrnhiriiis. 
Certain  it  is,  that  in  the  epistle  of  Photius,  which 
relates  only  to  the  first  controversy,  ami  is  the  only 
criterion  by  which  we  ought  to  judge  of  it,  there  are 
no  more  heads  of  accusation  than  the  five  which  we 
have  enumerated  in  the  text. 

*  Mabillon,  Praef.  ad  Saec.  iv.  Bened.  part  ii.  p.  .55. 

t  Mich.  leQuien,  Orieiis Christianas,  tom.  i.  p.  103 


and  of  restoring  peace  and  concord  in  the 
churcli,  if  the  Roman  pontiffs  had  not  been 
regardless  of  the  demands  of  equity  as  well  aa 
of  the  duty  of  Christian  moderation.  But 
these  imperious  lords  of  the  church  indulged 
their  vindictive  zeal  beyond  all  measure,  and 
would  be  satisfied  with  notliing  of  less  moment 
than  the  degradation  of  all  the  priests  and  bi- 
sliops, who  had  been  ordained  by  Photius. 
The  Greeks,  on  the  other  hand,  were  shocked 
at  the  arrogance  of  these  unjust  pretensions, 
and  would  not  submit  to  them  on  any  condi- 
tions. Hence  a  spirit  of  resentment  and  irri- 
tation renewed  the  rage  of  dispute,  which  had 
been  happily  declining;  religious  as  well  as  ci- 
vil contests  were  again  set  on  foot;  new  con- 
troversies were  added  to  the  old,  until  the  fa- 
tal schism  took  place,  which  produced  a  lasting 
and  total  separation  between  the  Greek  and 
Latin  chm'ches. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Concerning  the  Rites  and  Ceremonies  used  in  the 
Church  during  this  Century. 

I.  That  religious  rites  and  ceremonies  were 
progressively  multiplied,  evidently  appears 
from  the  labours  of  those  writers,  who  began 
in  this  centilry  to  explain  to  the  ignorant  mul- 
titude their  origin,  their  nature,  and  the  pur- 
poses they  served;  for  the  multiplicity  alone 
of  these  religious  rites  could  render  the  expli- 
cation of  them  necessary.  Johannes  Scotus, 
Angelome,  Remi  or  Remigius,  bishop  of  Aux- 
erre,  and  Walafrid  Strabo,  were  the  principal 
autliors  who  distinguished  themselves  in  this 
species  of  sacred  literature,  to  whom  we  may 
add  Amalarius,  many  of  whose  explanations 
were,  however,  refuted  by  Agobard  and  Flo- 
rus.  Their  works  are  generally  entitled  De 
Officiis  Divinis;  for  in  the  style  of  this  age  re- 
ligious ceremonies  were  called  by  that  name. 
The  labours  of  these  pious  and  learned  men 
in  illustrating  the  ritual  were  imdoubtedly  un- 
dertaken witli  good  intentions;  but  their  uti- 
lity may  be  well  called  into  question;  and  it 
would  be  bold  to  affirm  that  they  were  not  as 
prejudicial  to  the  chiu-eh  in  some  respects,  as 
they  might  be  advantageous  to  it  in  others. 
Their  l)ooks  afforded,  indeed,  a  certain  sort  of 
spiritual  nourishment  to  the  minds  of  Chris- 
tians in  their  attendance  upon  public  worship; 
but  this  nourishment  was  both  coarse  and  un- 
wholesome. The  reasons  alleged  for  the  cere- 
monies in  vogue  at  this  time  in  the  church, 
and  the  purposes  they  were  supposed  to  an- 
swer, were,  for  the  most  part,  not  only  far- 
fetched, childish,  and  ridiculous,  but  also  bore 
the  strongest  marks  of  forgery  and  fiction.  It 
is  also  farther  observable,  that  these  illustra- 
tions not  only  encouraged,  but  augmented  pro- 
digiously, to  the  detriment  of  real  piety,  the 
veneration  and  zeal  of  the  multitude  for  exter- 
nal rites  and  ceremonies;  for  who  would  dare 
to  refuse  their  admiration  and  reverence  to  in- 
stitutions, which  they  were  taught  to  consider 
as  full  of  the  most  mysterious  wisdom,  and 
foimded  upon  the  most  pious  and  affecting 
reasons.' 

II.  It  would  be  endless  to  enter  into  an  ex- 
act enumeration  of  the  various  rites  and  cere- 


\ 


Chap.  IV. 


RITES  AND  CEREMONIES. 


231 


monies,  which  were  now  introduced,  for  the 
first  time,  and  of  which  some  were  adopted  by 
the  whole  body  of  Christians,  and  others  only 
by  certain  churches.  We  shall  therefore  dis- 
miss this  matter  with  the  general  account 
which  follows,  and  point  out  in  the  notes  the 
sources  from  which  the  carious  reader  may  de- 
rive a  more  particular  knowledge  of  the  absur- 
dities of  this  superstitious  age.  The  carcases 
of  the  saints  transported  from  foreign  coun- 
tries, or  discovered  at  home  by  tiie  industry 
and  diligence  of  pious  or  designing  priests,  not 
only  obliged  the  rulers  of  the  church  to  aug- 
ment the  mmiber  of  festivals  or  holidays  al- 
ready established,  but  also  to  diversity  the 
ceremonies  in  such  a  manner,  that  each  saint 
might  have  his  peculiar  worsliip  ;  and,  as  the 
authority  and  credit  of  tlie  clergy  depended 
much  upon  the  higli  notion  whicli  was  gene- 
rally entertained  of  the  virtue  and  merit  of  the 
saints  whom  they  had  canonised,  and  presented 
to  the  multitude  as  objects  of  religious  venera- 
tion, it  was  necessary  to  amuse  and  surprise 
the  people  by  a  variety  of  pompous  and  strik- 
ing ceremonies,  by  images  and  the  like  inven- 
tions, in  order  to  keep  up  and  nourish  their 
stupid  admiration  for  the  saintly  tribe.  Hence 
arose  tlie  splendor  and  magnificence  that  were 
lavished  upon  the  churches  in  this  century,  and 
the  prodigious  number  of  costly  pictures  and 
images  with  which  they  were  adorned  ;  hence 
the  stately  altars,  which  were  enriched  with 
the  noblest  inventions  of  painting  and  sculp- 
ture, and  illuminated  with  innumerable  tapers 
at  noon-day  ;  hence  the  multitude  of  proces- 
sions, tlie  gorgeous  and  splendid  garments  of 
the  priests,  and  the  masses  that  were  cele- 
brated in  honor  of  the  saints.*  Among  other 
novelties,  the  feast  of  All-Saints  was  added,  in 
this  century,  by  Gregory  IV.  to  the  Latin 
calendar;!  and  the  festival  of  St.  Michael, 
which  had  been  long  kept  with  the  greatest 
marks  of  devotion  and  respect  by  the  Orien- 
tals and  Italians,  began  now  to  be  observed 
more  zealously  and  universally  among  the 
Latin  Christians.]. 

III.  Nor  was  it  only  in  the  solemn  acts  of 
religious  worship  that  superstition  reigned 
with  an  unlimited  sway  ;  its  influence  extended 
even  to  the  affairs  of  private  life,  and  was  ob- 
servable in  the  civil  transactions  of  men,  par- 
ticularly among  the  Latin  Christians,  who  re- 
tained witii  more  obstinacy  than  the  Greeks  a 
multitude  of  customs,  which  derived  their  ori- 
gin from  the  sacred  rites  of  paganism.  The 
barbarous  nations,  which  were  converted  to 
Cliristianity,  could  not  support  the  thoughts  of 
abandoning  altogether  the  laws  and  manners 
of  their  ancestors,  however  inconsistent  they 
might  be  with  the  indispensable  demands  of 
the  Gospel :  on  the  contrary,  they  persuaded 
the  Christians  among  whom  they  lived  to  imi- 
tate their  extravagant  superstition  in  this  re- 
spect; and  this  was  the  true  and  original 


*  ^ec  the  work  of  J.  Fecht,  de  Missis  in  Honorem 
Smirtornin. 

t  See  Mahillnn,  deRe  Diplomatica.  p.  537. 

I  The  hnliilny-Kir  festivals  of  t  ho  saints  were  yet  but 
few  in  nuinber  nninne  the  liatins,  as  appears  from  a 
poem  of  Flonip,  published  by  Martenne  in  the  fifth 
volume  of  his  Thesaurus  Anecdotornm. 


source  of  the  barbarous  institutions  that  pre- 
vailed among  the  Latins,  during  this  and  the 
following  century  ;  such  as  the  various  methods 
by  which  it  was  usual  for  persons  accused  to 
prove  their  innocence  in  doubtful  cases,  either 
by  the  trial  of  cold  water,*  by  single  combat,! 
by  the  fire  ordeal,],  and  by  the  cross.§    It  is  no 


QiJ^  *  All  these  were  presumptuous  attempts  to 
force  the  divine  providence  to  declare  itself  miracu- 
lously in  favor  of  the  truth.  lu  the  trial  of  cold 
water,  the  person  accused  had  the  rif^lit  foot  and  left 
hand  hound  together,  and  was,  in  this  posture, 
thrown  uaked  into  the  water.  If  he  sunk,  he  was 
acquitted ;  but,  if  he  floated  upon  the  surface,  this 
was  considered  as  an  evidence  of  guilt.  The  most 
respectable  authors,  ancient  and  modern,  attribute 
the  invention  of  this  superstitious  trial  to  pope  Eu- 
genius  II.,  and  it  is  somewhat  surprising  that  Mr. 
Bower  has  taken  no  notice  of  it  in  his  history  of  that 
pontiff.  Baluze  has  inserted,  in  the  second  volume 
of  liis  Capitnlaria,  the  solemn  forms  of  prayer  and 
protestation,  which  Eugenius  bad  caused  to  be  drawn 
up  as  an  introduction  to  this  superstitious  practice  ; 
and  both  Fleury  and  Spanheim  look  upon  that  pon- 
till'  as  its  inventor.  Un  the  other  liand,  father  Le 
Brun,  a  priest  of  the  oratory,  maintains  in  his  His- 
toire  Critique  des  Pratiques  Superstitieuses,  tom.  ii., 
that  this  custom  was  much  more  ancient  than  Eu- 
genius, and  his  reasons  are  not  unworthy  of  atten- 
tion. Be  that  as  it  may,  this  custom  was  condemn- 
ed and  abrogated  at  the  request,  or  rather  by  the  au- 
thority of  Louis  the  Debonnaire.  about  the  year  829. 
It  was,  however,  revived  afterwards,  and  was  prac- 
tised in  the  tenth,  eleventh,  and  twelfth  centuries, 
as  we  shall  see  in  the  progress  of  this  history.  For 
an  account  of  this  mode  of  trial.  Dr.  Mosheim  refers 
us,  in  a  note,  to  Mabillon's  Analecta  veteris  .^vi, 
torn.  i.  p.  47,  and  Roye's  work  de  Missis  Dominicis, 
p.  ]5a. 

t  The  trial  by  duel,  or  single  combat,  was  intro- 
duced toward  the  conclusion  of  the  fifth  century  by 
Gondebald,  king  of  the  Burgundians,  when  the  abuse 
of  oaths  had  occasioned  the  most  horrible  perjuries, 
and  opened  a  door  to  all  sorts  of  injustice.  The  duel 
was  then  added  to  the  oath  by  Gondebald;  the  suc- 
cessful combatant  was  supposed  to  be  in  the  right, 
and  this  barbarous  test  of  truth  and  justice  was,  in 
spite  of  humanity  and  conunon  sense,  adopted  by 
the  Lombards,  French,  and  Germans,  and  borrowed 
from  them  by  other  nations.  It  was  first  prohibited 
in  b'55,  in  the  third  council  of  Valence. 

J:  The  fire  ordeal  was  practised  in  various  ways. 
The  accused  either  held  a  burning  ball  of  iron  in  his 
hand,  or  was  obliged  to  walk  barefooted  upon  heated 
[ilouwhshares,  whose  number  was  increased  in  pro- 
portion to  the  number  or  enormity  of  the  crimes  im- 
puted to  him  :  and  sometimes  a  glove  of  red-hot  iron 
was  used  on  this  occasion,  as  we  see  in  the  tenth 
book  of  the  history  of  Denmark,  by  Sa.\o  the  Gram- 
marian. If  in  these  trials  the  person  impeached  re- 
mained tuihurt,  and  discovered  no  signs  of  pain,  he 
was  discharged  as  innocent ;  otherwise  he  was  pun- 
ished as  guilty.  The  first  account  we  have  of  Chris- 
tians appealing  to  this  kirrd  of  trial  as  a  proof  of 
their  innocence,  is  that  of  Simplicius,  bishop  of 
Autun,  who  lived  in  the  fourth  century.  This  pre- 
late, as  the  story  goes,  before  his  promotion  to  the 
episcopal  order,  had  entered  into  the  matrimonial 
slate;  and  his  fond  wife,  unwilling  to  quit  him  after 
his  advancement,  continued  to  sleep  in  the  same 
chamber  with  her  spouse.  The  sanctity  of  Simplicius 
suli'ired,  at  least  in  the  voice  of  fame,  by  the  con- 
stancy of  his  wife's  affection  ;  ami  it  was  rumored 
tliat  the  holy  man,  though  a  bishop,  persisted  in  op- 
position to  the  ecclesiastical  canons  to  taste  the 
sweets  of  matrimony ;  up<m  which  the  dame,  in  the 
presence  of  a  great  conc<iurse  of  people,  took  up  a 
considerable  quantity  of  burning  coals,  which  she 
hold  in  her  clothes,  aiid  applied  to  her  breasts,  with- 
out the  least  hurt  to  her  person  or  damage  to  her 
garments,  as  the  legend  says,  and  her  example  being 
followed  by  her  husband  with  like  success,  the  silly 
multitude  admired  the  miracle,  and  proclaimed  the 
innocence  of  the  loving  pair.  Bricius,  or  St.  Brice. 
(whom  Mr.  Collier,  in  his  Ecclesiastical  History  of 
England,  represent  a  by  mistake  as  the  first  Christian 
who   endeavoured   to  clear   himself   in    this   way) 


232 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part   II. 


longer  a  question  in  our  days,  from  what 
source  these  methods  of  deciding  dubious  cases 
and  accusations  derived  tlieir  origin  ;  all  agree 
that  they  were  mere  delusions,  drawn  irom 
the  barbarous  rites  of  paganism,*  and  not  only 
opposite  to  the  precepts  of  the  Gospel,  but  ab- 
solutely destructive  of  the  spirit  of  true  reli- 
gion. The  pontitis,  however,  and  the  inferior 
clergy,  encouraged  these  odious  superstitions, 
and  went  so  far  as  to  accompany  tlie  practice 
of  tlicm  vidth  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  and  other  rites,  in  order  to  give  them 
a  Christian  aspect,  and  to  recommend  them  to 
the  veneration  and  confidence  of  tlie  multitude. 

CHAPTER  V. 

Co7icerning  the  Divisioiis  and  Heresies  that  trou- 
bled the  Church  during  this  Century. 

I  The  sects,  that  had  sprung  up  in  the 
earlier  ages  of  the  church,  subsisted  still,  with 
little  change  in  their  situations  or  circum- 
stances. Such  of  them  as  were  considerably 
numerous,  fixed  their  settlements  beyond  the 
limits  both  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  empires, 
and  thus  out  of  the  reach  of  their  enemies. 
The  Nestorians  more  especially,  and  the 
Monophysitcs,  secure  under  the  protection  of 
the  Arabians,  were  extremely  industrious  in 
maintaining  their  credit,  and  also  discovered  a 
warm  and  active  zeal  in  the  propagation  of 
Christianity  among  those  who  were  yet  unac- 
quainted with  that  divine  religion.  Some 
learned  men  are  of  opinion,  that  it  was  only 
in  this  century  that  the  Abyssinians  or  Ethio- 
pians embraced  the  sentiments  of  the  Mono- 
physitcs, in  consequence  of  the  exhortations 
addressed  to  tiiem  by  the  doctors  of  that  sect 
who  resided  in  Egypt.  But  this  is  undoubted- 
ly an  erroneous  account  of  the  matter ;  for  it 
is  certain,  that  the  Abyssinians,  who  were  ac- 
customed to  receive  their  spiritual  guides 
from  the  bishop  of  Alexandria,  commenced 
Monophysitcs  in  the  seventh  century,  if  not 
sooner ;  for  in  tliat  period  the  Arabians  made 


playud  a  trick  of  much  the  same  nature  in  the  fifth 
century. 

The  trial  by  the  cross  was  made  by  obliging  the 
contending  parties  to  stretch  out  their  arms,  and  he 
that  coiiti}iued  the  longest  in  this  posture  gained  his 
cause. 

Jo.  Loccenii  Antiquit.  Sueo-Gothicae,  lib.  ii.  cap. 
vii.  viii.  p.  144.  This  barbarous  method  of  deciding 
controversies  by  duel  was  practised  even  by  the 
clergy.  See  Just.  Hen.  Bohmeri  Jus  Eccles.  Protes- 
tantium,  tom.  v.  p.  88. 

Petr.  Lambecius,  Res  Hamburg,  lib.  ii.  p.  39. — 
Ueserii  Sylloge  Epistol.  Hibernic.  p.  81. — Johnson. 
Leges  Eccles.  Britannis. — Michael  de  la  Roche,  Me- 
moires  loiter,  de  la  Grande  Bretagne,  tom.  viii.  p. 
391. 

§  See  Agobardus,  contra  Judicium  Dei,  tom.  i.  op. 
et  contra  Legem  Gundobaldi,  cap.  ix.  p.  114. — Hier. 
Bignonius,  ad  Formulas  Marculphi,  cap.  .\ii. — Balu- 
zius,  ad  Agobarduni,  p.  104. 

*  Strabo"  tells  us,  in  the  fifth  book  of  his  Geogra- 
phy, that,  while  the  sacred  rites  of  the  goddess  Fero- 
na  were  celebrated  in  a  grove  not  far  from  mount 
Soracte,  several  persons,  transported  with  the  ima- 
ginary presence  of  this  pretended  divinity,  fell  into 
fits  of  enthusiasm,  and  walked  hare-footed  over 
heaps  of  burning  coals  without  receiving  the  least 
damage.  The  historian  adds,  that  a  spectacle  so  ex- 
traordinary drew  a  prodigious  concourse  of  people  to 
tbis  annual  solemnity.  Pliny  relates  something  of 
the  same  nature  concerning  the  Hirpii.  See  his  Nat. 
Hie!   book  vii.  chap.  ii. 


themselves  masters  of  Egypt,  oppressed  the 
Greeks,  and  granted  to  the  Monophysitcs  such 
a  powerful  protection,  as  enabled  them  to  re- 
duce under  their  jurisdiction  almost  all  the 
churches  that  had  been  established  in  Egypt.* 

II.  The  Greeks,  during  the  greatest  part 
of  this  century,  were  engaged  in  a  most  bitter 
controversy,  or,  to  speak  more  properly,  in  a 
bloody  and  barbarous  war  with  the  Paulicians, 
a  sect  tliat  may  be  considered  as  a  branch  of 
the  Manichaeans,  and  which  resided  principally 
in  Armenia.  This  pernicious  sect  is  said  to 
have  been  formed  by  two  brothers,  Paul  and 
John,  sons  of  Callinices,  and  uihabitants  of 
Samosata,  fi-orn  the  former  of  whom  it  derived 
its  name  ;  though  others  are  of  opinion  that 
the  Paulicians  were  so  called  from  another 
Paul,  an  Armenian  by  birth,  who  lived  under 
the  reign  of  Justinian  II. f  Be  that  as  it  may, 
a  certain  zealot  called  Constantine  revived,  in 
the  seventh  century,  tmder  the  government  of 
Constans,  this  drooping  faction,  which  had  suf- 
fered deeply  from  the  violence  of  its  adversa- 
ries, and  was  ready  to  expire  tmder  the  severity 
of  the  imperial  edicts,  and  of  those  penal  laws 
which  were  executed  against  its  adherents 
with  the  utmost  rigor.  Constans,  Justinian 
II.,  and  Leo  the  Isaurian,  exerted  their  zeal 
against  the  Paulicians  with  a  peculiar  degree 
of  bitterness  and  fury,  left  no  method  of  op- 
pression imemployed,  and  neglected  no  means 
of  accomplishing  their  ruin ;  but  their  efforts 
were  ineffectual,  nor  could  all  their  power,  or 
all  their  barbarity,  exhaust  the  patience  or 
conquer  the  obstinacy  of  that  inflexible  people, 
who,  with  a  fortitude  worthy  of  a  better  cause, 
seemed  to  despise  the  calamities  to  which  their 
erroiteous  doctrine  exposed  them.  The  face 
of  things  changed,  however,  to  their  advantage 
toward  the  commencement  of  this  century ; 
and  their  affairs  wore  a  more  prosperous  aspect 
tmder  the  protection  of  the  emperor  Nicepho- 
rus,  who  favoured  them  in  a  particular  man- 
ner, and  restored  to  them  their  civil  privileges, 
as  well  as  their  religious  liberty.| 

III.  Their  tranquillity,  however,  was  but 
of  short  duration  ;  it  was  a  transient  scene  that 
was  soon  to  be  succeeded  by  yet  more  dreadful 
suff'erings  than  they  had  hitherto  experienced. 
The  cruel  rage  of  persecution,  which  had  for 
some  years  been  suspended,  broke  fortli  with 
redoubled  violence  under  the  reigns  of  Michael 
Curopalates,  and  Leo  the  Armenian,  who 
caused  the  strictest  search  to  be  made  after 
the  Paulicians  in  all  the  provinces  of  the  Gre- 
cian empire,  and  inflicted  capital  punishment 
upon  such  of  them  as  refitsed  to  return  to  the 
bosom  of  the  church.  This  rigorous  decree 
turned  the  afflictions  of  the  Paulicians,  who 
dwelt  in  Annenia,  into  vengeance,  and  drove 
them  into  the  most  desperate  measm-es.  They 
massacred  Thomas,  bishop  of  New  Ceesarea, 
and  also  the  magistrates  and  judges  whom  the 
emperors  had  established   in  Armenia :   and, 


*  Nouveaux  Memoiros  de  la  Compagnie  de  Jesus 
dans  le  Levant,  tom.  iv.  p.  283,  284.— Le  Grand, 
Dissert,  iv.— Lobo,  Voyage  Historiquede  I'Abyssinie, 
tom.  ii.  p|.  18. 

t  Pholius,  lib.  i.  contra  Manichaeos,  p.  74,  in  B. 
Wolfiii  Anecdotis  Gracis,  tom.  i. 

I  See  Georg.  Cedrenus,  Compend.  Historiar.  tom.  ii. 


Chap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


233 


after  avenging  tliemselvcs  thus  cruelly,  they 
took  refuge  in  the  countries  that  were  governed 
by  the  Saracens,  and  thence  infested  the 
neighbouring  states  of  Greece  with  perpetual 
incursions.*  After  these  reciprocal  acts  of 
cruelty  and  vengeance,  the  Paulicians,  as  it 
would  seem,  enjoyed  an  interval  of  tranquillity, 
and  returned  to  their  habitations  in  the  Gre- 
cian provinces. 

IV.  But  the  most  dreadful  scene  of  persecu- 
tion that  was  exhibited  against  these  wretched 
heretics,  arose  from  the  furious  and  inconsi- 
derate zeal  of  the  empress  Theoilora.  This 
impetuous  woman,  who  was  regent  of  the  em- 
pire during  the  minority  of  her  son,  issued  out 
a  decree,  which  placed  the  Paulicians  in  the 
perplexing  alternative  either  of  abandoning 
their  principles,  or  of  perishing  by  fire  and 
sword.  The  decree  was  severe;  but  the  cru- 
elty with  which  it  was  put  in  execution  by 
those  who  were  sent  into  Armenia  for  that 
purpose,  was  horrible  beyond  expression;  for 
these  ministers  of  wrath,  after  confiscating  the 
goods  of  above  a  hundred  thousand  of  that 
miserable  people,  put  their  possessors  to  death 
in  the  most  barbarous  mamier,  and  made 
them  expire  slowly  in  a  variety  of  the  most 
exquisite  tortures.  Such  as  escaped  destruc- 
tion fled  for  protection  and  refuge  to  the  Sa- 
racens, who  received  them  with  compassion 
and  humanity,  and  permitted  them  to  build 
a  city  for  their  residence,  whicli  was  called 
Tibrica.  Upon  this  they  entered  into  a  league 
with  the  Saracens;  and,  clioosing  for  their 
chief  an  ofiicer  of  the  greatest  resolution  and 
valour,  whose  name  was  Carbeas,  they  declared 
against  the  Greeks  a  war  which  was  carried 
on  with  the  utmost  vehemence  and  fury. 
This  war  continued  during  the  whole  century; 
the  victory  seemed  ot'ten  doubtful,  but  the 
slaughter  was  terrible,  and  the  numbers  that 
perished  on  both  sides  prodigious.  Many  of 
the  Grecian  provinces  felt,  in  a  more  particu- 
lar mamier,  the  dire  effects  of  tliis  cruel  con- 
test, and  exhibited  the  most  aflecting  scenes 
of  desolation  and  misery,  j  During  these  com- 
motions, some  Paulicians,  toward  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  century,  spread  abroad  among  the 


*  Phntius,  lib.  i.  contra  Manichoeos,  p.  1'25. — Petri 
Siculi  Historia  Manichujoruiii,  p.  71. 

t  Georg.  Cedronus,  Compend.  Hist.  p.  511,  edit. 
Paris.— Zonoras,  Annal.  lib.  xvi.  The  principal  au- 
thors who  have  given  accoinUs  of  the  Paulician.'!  are 
Photiiis,  lib.  i.  contra  Manich.'cos,  and  Petrns  8icu- 
lu.'i,  whose  history  of  the  Manichieaiis  Matth.  Kade- 
rus  published  in  Greek  and  Latin  in  1G04.  By  the 
account  of  Petrus  Siculus  that  is  Riven  by  himself, 
we  learn  that,  in  870,  under  the  reign  of  Basilius  the 
Mace<lonian,  he  was  sent  ambassador  to  the  Pauli- 
cians at  Tibrica,  to  treat  with  them  for  the  exchange 
of  prisoners,  and  lived  among  them  during  the  sp.iee 
of  nine  months;  this  is  sufficient  to  give  us  a  high 
idea  of  the  power  and  prosperity  of  the  Paulicians 
at  that  time.  It  is  from  this  eminent  writer  that 
f 'i  (Iriiins  seems  to  have  taken  what  he  has  advanced 

111   Ins  Coiiii d.     Histor.  p.  431.     What  we  learn 

concerning  the  Paulicians  from  the  more  modern 
writers,  (such  as  Bayle,  in  his  Dictiimary,  and  B. 
Jo.  Christ.  Wolfius,  in  his  ManichaMsmus  ante  Ma- 
nichaeos,  p.  247.)  seems  to  be  derived  from  Bossiiet's 
Hfstoire  des  Variations  des  Eglises  Protestantes, 
lorn.  ii.  p.  12Vt.  But  this  authority  is  highly  excep- 
tionable; for  Bossuetdid  not  consult  the  true  sources 
nf  knowledge  upon  this  point;  and,  what  is  still 
worse,  the  spirit  of  party  seems  to  have  led  him  into 
foluntari/  errors. 

Vol.  I.— 30 


Bulgarians  their  pestilential  doctrines,  which 
were  received  with  docility,  and  took  root 
speedily,  as  ntight  naturally  be  expected, 
among  a  barbarous  people,  recently  converted 
to  tlie  Christian  faith.* 

V.  The  Greeks  treated  the  Paulicians,  of 
whom  we  have  now  been  speaking,  as  Mani- 
chaeans;  though,  if  we  may  credit  the  testi- 
mony of  Photius,  the  Paulicians  expressed  the 
utmost  abhon-ence  of  Manes  and  his  doctrine. f 
Most  evident  it  is,  that  they  were  not  altoge- 
ther Manichaeans,  thougli  they  embraced  some 
opinions  that  resembled  certain  tenets  of  that 
abominable  sect.  Tliey  had  not,  like  the  Ma- 
nichaeans, an  ecclesiastical  government  admi- 
nistered by  bishops,  priests,  and  deacons:  they 
had  no  sacred  order  of  men  distinguished  by 
tlieir  manner  of  life,  their  habit,  or  any  other 
circumstance  from  the  rest  of  the  assembly; 
nor  had  coimcils,  synods,  or  tlie  like  institu- 
tions, any  place  in  their  religious  polity.  They 
had  certain  doctors  whom  they  called  Si/nec- 
demi,  i.  e.  companions  in  the  journey  of  life, 
and  also  Mtarli.  Among  these,  there  reigned 
a  perfect  equality;  and  they  had  no  peculiar 
rites  or  privileges,  nor  any  external  mark  of 
dignity  to  distinguish  tliem  from  the  people. { 
The  only  singularity  that  attended  their  pro- 
motion to  t)ie  doctorial  rank  was,  that  they 
changed  their  lay-names  for  Scripture  ones, 
as  if  there  had  been  something  peculiarly  ve- 
nerable in  the  names  of  the  holy  men,  whose 
lives  and  actions  are  recorded  in  the  sacred 
writings.  They  received  all  the  books  of  the 
New  Testament,  except  tlie  two  Epistles  of 
St.  Peter,  which  they  rejected  for  reasons  un- 
known to  us;  and  their  copies  of  the  Gospel 
were  exactly  the  same  with  those  used  by  all 
other  Christians,  without  the  least  interf)ola- 
tion  of  the  sacred  text;  in  which  respect  also 
they  differed  considerably  from  the  Mani- 
chEeans.§  They  moreover  recommended  to 
tlie  people  without  exception,  with  the  most 
affecting  and  ardent  zeal,  the  constant  and  as- 
siduous perusal  of  the  Scriptures,  and  ex- 
pressed the  utmost  indignation  against  the 
Greeks,  who  allowed  to  priests  alone  an  access 
to  these  sacred  fountains  of  divine  knowledge.  |( 
In  explaining,  however,  the  doctrines  of  the 
Gospel,  they  often  departed  from  the  literal 
sense  and  the  natural  signification  of  the 
words,  and  interpreted  them  in  a  forced  and 
allegorical  manner,  when  they  opposed  their 
favourite  opinions  and  tenets;1I  and  such  more 
especially  were  the  delusive  and  erroneous  ex- 
plications which  they  gave  of  what  is  said  con- 


*  It  is  not  improbable  that  there  are  yet,  in 
Thrace  and  Bulgaria,  Paulicians,  or  Paiilians  as 
they  are  called  by  some.  It  appears  at  least  certain, 
that  in  the  seventeenth  century  some  of  that  sect 
still  subsisted,  and  dwelt  at  Nicopolis,  as  we  learn 
from  the  testimony  of  IJrb.  Cerri,  who  tells  us,  in 
his  Etat  present  de  I'Eglise  Roinaine,  that  Peter 
Deodati,  archbishop  of  Sophia,  caused  them  to  aban- 
don their  errors,  and  return  to  the  Catholic  faitb; 
but  whether  the  latter  part  of  the  account  be  true  or 
false,  is  more  than  we  shall  pretend  to  determine. 

t  Photius,  lih.  i.  contra  Manichaeos,  p.  17,  51),  C5. 
Petr.  Siculus,  Hist.  Manich.  p.  43. 

I  Photius,  I.  c.  p.  31,  32.— Petr.  Sicul.  p.  44.— Ce- 
drenus,  I.  c.  p.  431. 

§  Photius,  p.  11.— Petr.  SiCUl.  p.  19. 

5  Photius,  p.  ini.— Petr.  Siciil.  p.  57. 

IT  Photius,  p.  12. 


234 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


cerning  the  institutions  of  baptism  and  the 
Lord's  Supper,  and  the  divine  authority  of  the 
Old  Testament,  all  which  tliey  obstinately  re- 
jected. Beside  the  books  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, tJiey  treated  witli  a  particular  veneration 
certain  epistles  of  Sergius,  the  most  eminent 
and  illustrious  doctor  of  their  sect. 

VI.  Tho  Greek  writers,  instead  of  giving  a 
complete  view  of  the  Paulician  system,  which 
was  midoulitcdly  composed  of  a  great  variety 
of  tenets,  content  themselves  with  mentioning 
six  monstrous  errors,  which,  in  their  estima- 
tion, rendered  the  Paulicians  miworthy  of  en- 
joying either  the  comforts  of  this  world,  or  the 
happiness  of  the  next.  These  errors  are  as 
follow:  1.  "Tliey  denied  that  this  inferior 
"  and  visible  world  was  the  production  of  the 
"  Supreme  Being,  and  they  distinguislied  the 
"  Creator  of  this  world,  and  of  limnan  bodies, 
"  from  the  most  high  God,  who  dwells  in  the 
"heavens."  It  was  principally  on  account 
of  this  odious  doctrine,  which  was,  however, 
adopted  by  all  the  Gnostic  sects,  that  the 
Paulicians  were  deemed  Manicheeans  by  the 
Greeks.  But  what  their  sentiments  were  con- 
cerning tlie  creator  of  this  world,  and  whether 
they  considered  him  as  a  being  distinct  from 
the  evil  principle,  are  matters  that  no  writer 
has  hitherto  explained  in  a  satisfactory  man- 
ner. We  learn  only  from  Photius,  that,  ac- 
cording to  the  Paulician  doctrine,  the  evil 
principle  was  engendered  by  darkness  and 
fire;  whence  it  plainly  follows  that  he  was 
neither  self-originated,  nor  eternal.*  2.  "They 
"treated  contemptuously  the  Virgin  Mary;" 
that  is  to  say,  according  to  the  manner  of 
speaking  usual  among  tiie  Greeks,  they  re- 
fused to  adore  and  worship  her.  They  main- 
tained, indeed,  that  Ciirist  was  the  son  of 
Mary,  and  was  born  of  her  (although  they 
maintained,  as  appears  from  the  express  testi- 
mony of  their  adversaries,  that  the  divine  Sa- 
viour brought  with  him  from  heaven  liis  hu- 
man nature,  and  that  INIary,  after  the  birth  of 
Christ,  had  other  children  by  Joseph;)   they 


*  Photius,  lib.  ii.  contra  Manichsos,  p.  147.  It  is 
evident,  iM'vond  all  contradiction,  tliat  the  Pauli- 
cians, in  imitation  of  the  oriental  philosophers  from 
whom  the  CJnostic  and  Manichsana  derived  their 
origin,  coiisider(?d  eternal  matter  as  the  seat  and 
source  of  all  evil;  but  they  believed,  at  the  same 
time,  like  many  of  the  Gnostics,  that  this  matter, 
endued  from  all  eternity  with  life  and  motion,  had 
produced  an  active  principle,  which  was  the  foun- 
tain of  vice,  misery,  and  dis,arder.  This  principle, 
according  to  them,  is  the  author  of  all  material  sub- 
stances, while  God  is  the  Creator  and  Father  of  spi- 
rits. These  tenets  re.semble,  no  doubt,  tho  Mani- 
chseau  doctrine;  yet  they  differ  from  it  in  .several 
points.  Till!  Paulicians  seem  to  have  emanated 
from  one  of  the  old  Gnostic  sects,  and  to  have  been 
very  numerous  and  diversified;  and,  thougli  perse- 
cuted and  (ippressed  from  age  to  age  in  the  most 
rigorous  manner  by  many  emperors,  they  could  never 
be  entirely  suppressed,  or  extirpated. 


only  fell  into  the  sentiments  of  the  Valenti- 
nians,  and  held,  that  Christ  passed  through 
the  womb  of  the  Virgin,  as  the  pure  stream 
of  hmpid  water  passes  through  a  conduit,  and 
that  Mary  did  not  preserve  her  virginity  to 
the  end  of  her  days;  all  which  assertions  the 
Greeks  rejected  with  the  utmost  antipathy 
aiid  abhorrence.  3.  "  They  refused  to  cele- 
"  brate  the  holy  institution  of  the  Lord's  Sup- 
"  per;"  for,  as  they  imagined  many  precepts 
and  injunctions  of  the  Gospel  to  be  of  a  merely 
figurative  and  parabolical  nature,  so  they  im- 
derstood,  by  the  bread  and  wine  which  Christ 
is  said  to  have  administered  to  his  disciples  at 
his  last  supper,  the  divine  discourses  and  ex- 
hortations of  the  Saviour,  which  are  a  spiritual 
food  and  nourishment  to  the  soul,  and  fill  it 
with  repose,  satisfaction,  and  delight.*  4. 
"  They  loaded  the  cross  of  Christ  with  con- 
"  tempt  and  reproach;"  by  which  we  are  only 
to  understand,  that  they  refused  to  follow  the 
absurd  and  superstitious  practice  of  the 
Greeks,  who  paid  to  tiie  pretended  wood  of 
the  cross  a  certain  sort  of  religious  homage. 
As  the  Paulicians  believed  that  Christ  was 
clothed  with  an  ethereal,  impassable,  and  ce- 
lestial body,  tliey  could  by  no  means  grant 
that  he  was  really  nailed  to  the  cross,  or  that 
he  expired,  in  effect,  upon  that  ignominious 
tree:  and  hence  naturally  arose  that  treatment 
of  the  cross,  of  which  the  Greeks  accused 
them.  5.  "They  rejected,  after  the  example 
"of  the  greatest  part  of  the  Gnostics,  the 
"  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  looked 
"  upon  the  writers  of  that  sacred  history  as  in- 
"  spired  by  the  Creator  of  this  world,  and  not 
"by  the  Supreme  God."  6.  "  They  entirely 
"  excluded  presbyters  and  lay-elders  from  the 
"administration  of  the  church."  By  this, 
however,  no  more  can  be  meant,  than  that 
they  refused  to  call  their  doctors  by  the  name 
of  presbyters,  a  name  which  had  its  origin 
among  the  Jews,  and  was  peculiar  to  that  odi- 
ous people,  who  persecuted  Jesus  Christ,  and 
attempted,  as  the  Paulicians  speak,  to  put 
him  to  death.j 


*  Tho  Greeks  do  not  charge  the  Paulicians  with 
any  error  concerning  baptism;  it  is,  however,  cer- 
tain, that  the  accounts  of  that  sacred  institution, 
which  are  given  in  Scripture,  were  allegorically  ex- 
plained by  this  extravagant  sect;  and  Photius,  in  his 
first  book  against  the  Manichaeans,  expressly  asserts 
that  the  Paulicians  treated  baptism  as  a  mere  alle- 
pori<al  ceremony,  and  by  the  baptismal  water  un- 
der.'itood  the  Gospel. 

t  Tlioi^e  .-^i.x  famous  errors  of  the  Paulicians  I  have 
taken  from  the  Manichaean  history  of  Petrus  Sicu- 
lus,  with  whom  Photius  and  Cedrenus  agree,  al- 
though their  accounts  of  these  opinions  be  less  per- 
spicuous and  distinct.  The  explanatory  remarks 
that  I  have  added,  are  the  result  of  my  own  reflec- 
tions upon  the  Paulician  system,  and  the  doetrrne 
of  t lie  Greeks. 


THE  TENTH  CENTURY. 


PART  I. 


THE  EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THK  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Concernitig  the  Prosperous  Events  which  hap- 
pened to  the  Church  during  thii  Century. 

I.  The  deplorable  state  of  Christianity  in 
this  century,  arising  partly  from  tjiat  astonisli- 
ing  ignorance  tliat  gave  a  loose  rein  both  to 
superstition  and  immorality,  and  partly  from 
an  unhappy  concurrence  of  causes  of  another 
kind,  is  unanimously  lamented  by  the  various 
writers,  who  have  transmitted  to  us  the  his- 
tory of  these  miserable  times.  Yet,  amidst 
all  this  darkness,  some  gleams  of  light  were 
perceived  from  time  to  time,  and  several  oc- 
currences happened,  which  deserve  a  place  in 
the  prosperous  annals  of  the  church.  The 
Nestorians  in  Chaldcea  extended  their  spiritual 
conquests  beyond  mount  Imaus,  and  intro- 
duced the  Christian  religion  into  Tartary, 
(properly  so  called,)  whose  inhabitants  had 
hitherto  lived  in  their  natural  state  of  igno- 
rance and  ferocity,  uncivilized  and  savage. 
The  same  successful  missionaries  spread,  by 
degrees,  the  knowledge  of  tlie  Gospel  among 
tiiat  most  powerful  nation  of  the  Turks,  or 
Tartars,  which  went  by  the  name  of  Karit, 
and  bordered  on  Kathay,  or  the  northern  part 
of  China.*  The  laborious  industry  of  tliis 
Beet,  and  their  zeal  for  the  propagation  of  the 
Christian  faith,  deserve,  no  doubt,  the  highest 
encomiums;  it  must,  however,  be  acknow- 
ledged, that  the  doctrine  and  worship,  which 
they  introduced  among  these  barbarians,  were 
far  from  being,  in  all  respects,  conformable  to 
the  true  spirit  and  genius  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion. 

II.  The  prince  of  that  country,  wliom  the 
Nestorians  converted  to  the  Clirislian  faith,  as- 
sumed, if  we  may  give  credit  to  tlie  vulgar  tra- 
dition, the  name  of  John  after  his  baptism,  to 
which  ho  added  the  surname  of  Presbyter, 
froin  a  principle  of  modesty.  Hence  it  was, 
as  Pome  learned  men  imagine,  that  the  succes- 
sors of  this  monarch  retained  these  names  un- 
til the  time  of  Genghiz-Khan,  who  flourished 
in  the  fourteenth  century,!  and  wore  eacii  of 
them  called  Prester  JoJm.J;  But  all  this  has  a 
very  fabulous  air;  at  least  it  is  .advanced  with- 
out any  solid  proof;  it  even  appears  evident, 
on  the  contrary,  that  the  famous  Prester  John, 
who  made  so  mucli  noise  in  the  world,  did  not 
begin  to  reign  in  that  part  of  Asia  bcfcjro  the 
conclusion  of  the  eleventii  century.  It  is, 
however,  certain  beyond  all  contradiction,  tiiat 


*  Asscmaiii  Biblinllicca  Orirnl.-il.  Vatic,  toiii.  iii 
part  ii.  p.  482. — Herbelot,  Bil)liothe(!ue  Orientalo,  p. 
25(5. 

t  Dr.  Moslinim,  and  his  translator,  ought  to  have 
Baid,  the  thirtRcnth  century.    Enrr. 

I  Sue  Asseniunl  Uibliuth.  torn.  iii.  part  ii.  p.  282 


the  monarclis  of  the  nation  called  Karit  (which 
makes  a  largo  part  of  the  empire  of  the  Mo- 
gul, and  is  by  some  denominated  a  tribe  of  the 
Turks,  and,  by  others,  of  the  Tartars,)  em- 
braced Cliristianity  in  this  century;  and  that 
a  considerable  part  of  Tartary,  or  Asiatic  Scy- 
thia,  lived  under  the  spiritual  jurisdiction  of 
bishops  who  w-ere  sent  among  them  by  the 
Nestorian  pontiff.* 

III.  If  we  turn  our  ej'cs  to  the  western 
world,  we  sliall  find  the  Gospel  making  its 
way  with-  more  or  less  rapidity  among  the 
most  rude  and  imcivilized  nations.  Tlie  fa- 
mous arch-pirate  Rollo,  son  of  a  Norwegian 
count,  being  banished  from  his  native  land,j 
had,  in  the  preceding  century,  put  himself  at 
the  head  of  a  resolute  band  of  Normans,  and 
seized  one  of  tlie  maratime  provinces  of  France, 
whence  he  i)ifested  the  neigidiouring  country 
with  perpetual  incursions  and  depredations. 
In  9  Ii,',  this  valiant  chief,  with  his  whole  anny, 
embraced  the  Christian  faitli,  on  the  following 
occasion.  Charles  the  Simple,  who  wanted 
both  resolution  and  power  to  drive  this  warlike 
and  intrepid  invader  out  of  his  dominions,  was 
obliged  to  have  recourse  to  negotiation.  Pie 
accordingly  offered  to  make  over  to  Rollo  a 
considerable  part  of  his  territories,  on  condi- 
tion that  the  latter  would  consent  to  a  peace, 
espouse  his  daughter  Gisela,J  and  embrace 
Christianity.  These  terms  were  accepted  by 
Rollo  witliout  the  least  hesitation;  and  his 
army,  following  the  example  of  their  leader, 
professed  a  religion  of  which  they  were  totally 
ignorant. §  Tliese  Norman  pirates,  as  appears 
from  many  authentic  records,  were  absolutely 
without  religion  of  any  kind,  and  therefore 
were  not  restrained,  by  the  power  of  jirejndice, 
from  embracing  a  religion  which  presented  to 
them  the  most  advantageous  prospects.  They 
knew  no  distinction  between  interest  and  duty, 
and  they  estimated  truth  and  virtue  only  Ijy 
the  profits  with  which  tliey  were  attended.    It 


♦The  late  learned  Si^refred  [iaycr,  in  liis  Preface 
to  the  Museum  Sinicuni,  p.  145,  inrnrnie.l  iis  of  his 
desitju  to  give  the  world  an  accurate  account  of 
IhR  Nestorian  churches  estahlished  in  Tartary  and 
China,  drawn  from  some  curious  anci'Mit  records 
and  monuments,  that  have  not  been  as  yet  made 
public.  His  work  was  to  have  been  entitled  Historia 
liicclesiarum  Sinicarum,  et  Septentrionalis  Asiae;  but 
death  prevented  the  execution  of  this  interest inij 
plan,  and  also  of  several  others,  which  this  great 
niiiu  had  formed,  and  which  would  uiufoubtedly  have 
thrown  a  new  light  upon  the  history  of  the  A.siatic 
Christians. 

t  Holbergi  Historia  Danorum  Navalis  in  Scriptis 
t?ocietat.  Scient.  Hafniens.  part  iii.  p.  :i.57. 

0(^1  Other  writers  more  politely  ri'present  the  of- 
fer of  <![)sela  as  one  of  the  methods  thattjharles  em- 
ployed to  obtain  a  peace  with  Ifollo. 

^  Boulay,  Hist.  Acad.  Paris,  (om.  i.  p.  296  -  Oaniel, 
Hist,  de  France,  torn.  ii.  p.  587. 


238 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  I. 


was  from  this  Rollo,  who  received  at  his  bap- 
tism the  name  of  Robert,  that  the  famous  hne 
of  Norman  dukes  derived  its  origin;  for  the 
province  of  Bretagne,  and  a  part  of  Neustria, 
which  Charles  the  Simple  conveyed  to  his  son- 
in-law  by  a  solemn  grant,  were  from  this  time 
known  by  the  name  of  Normandy,*  which 
they  derived  from  their  new  possessors. 

IV.  The  Christian  religion  was  introduced 
into  Poland  by  the  zealous  efforts  of  female  pi- 
ety. Dambrowska,  daughter  of  Boleslaus, 
diike  of  Bohemia,  persuaded,  by  the  force  of 
repeated  exhortations,  her  husband  Micislaus, 
duke  of  Poland,  to  abandon  paganism;  and, 
in  965,  he  embraced  tlie  Gospel.  The  account 
of  this  agreeable  event  was  no  sooner  brought 
to  Rome,  than  the  pontiff,  John  XIII.,  sent  into 
Poland  ^gidius,  bishop  of  Tusculum,  attend- 
ed with  a  numerous  train  of  ecclesiastics,  in 
order  to  second  the  pious  efforts  of  the  duke 
and  duchess,  who  desired,  with  impatience,  the 
conversion  of  their  subjects.  The  exhorta- 
tions and  endeavours  of  these  devout  mission- 
aries, who  were  miacquainted  with  the  lan- 
guage of  the  people  they  came  to  instruct, 
would  have  been  entirely  without  effect,  had 
they  not  been  accompanied  with  the  edicts  and 
penal  laws,  the  promises  and  threats  of  Mi- 
cislaus, which  dejected  the  courage,  and  con- 
quered the  obstinacy  of  the  reluctant  Poles. 
When  therefore  the  fear  of  pmiishment,  and 
the  hope  of  reward,  had  laid  the  foundations 
of  Christianity  in  Poland,  two  national  arch- 
bishops and  seven  bishops  were  consecrated  to 
the  ministry,  whose  zeal  and  labours  were  fol- 
lowed with  such  success,  that  the  whole  body 
of  the  people  abandoned,  by  degrees,  their  an- 
cient superstitions,  and  made  public  profession 
of  the  religion  of  Jes^is.f  It  was,  indeed,  no 
more  than  an  external  profession;  for  that  in- 
ward change  of  affections  and  principles,  which 
the  Gospel  requires,  was  far  from  being  an  ob- 
ject of  attention  in  this  barbarous  age. 

V.  The  Cliristian  religion  was  established  in 
Russia  by  means  similar  to  those  that  had  oc- 
casioned its  propagation  in  Poland;  for  we  must 
not  lay  any  stress  upon  the  proselytes  tliat 
were  made  to  Christianity  among  the  Russians 
in  the  preceding  century,  since  tliose  conver- 
sions were  neither  permanent  nor  solid,  and 
since  it  appears  evidently,  that  such  of  that  na- 
tion, as,  mider  the  reign  of  Basilius  the  Mace- 
donian, had  embraced  the  doctrine  of  the 
Greek  church,  relapsed  soon  after  into  the  su- 
perstition of  their  ancestors.  Wlodomir,  duke 
of  Russia  and  Moscovy,  married,  in  96 1,  Anne, 
sister  of  Basilius,  the  second  Grecian  emperor 
of  that  name;  and  this  zealous  princess,  by  her 
repeated  entreaties  and  her  pious  importunity, 
at  length  persuaded  her  reluctant  spouse  to  re- 
ceive the  Christian  faith,  and  he  was  accord- 
ingly baptized,  in  987,  assuming  on  that  occa- 
sion the  name  of  Basilius.  Tlie  Russians  spon- 
taneously followed  the  example  of  their  prince; 


(^  *  It  was  Neui-tria,  and  not  Bretagne,  that  re- 
ceived the  name  of  Normandy,  from  the  Noriuans 
who  chose  Rollo  for  their  chief. 

t  Duglossi  Historia  Polonica,  lib.  ii.  p.  91,  lib.  iii. 
p.  95,  21)9. — Regenvolscii  Historia  Eccles.  Slavon.  lib. 
ii.cap.  i.  p.  8.— Ilenr.  Canisii  Lectiones  Antique,  torn. 
iii.  part  i.  p.  41. — Solignac,  Hist,  de  Pologne,  torn.  i. 
p.  71. 


we  have,  at  least,  no  account  of  any  compul- 
sion or  violence  being  employed  in  their  con- 
version;* and  this  is  the  true  date  of  the  entire 
establishment  of  Christianity  among  that  peo- 
ple. Wlodomir  and  his  duchess  were  placed 
in  the  highest  order  of  the  Russian  saints,  and 
are  still  worshipped  at  Kiow  (where  they  were 
interred)  with  the  greatest  devotion.  The  La- 
tins, however,  paid  no  such  respect  to  the  me- 
mory of  Wlodomir,  whom  they  represented  as 
absolutely  unworthy  of  saintly  honours.j 

VI.  The  Hungarians  and  Avari  had  receiv- 
ed some  faint  notions  of  Christianity  imder  tlie 
reign  of  Charlemagne,  in  consequence  of  the 
measures  that  had  been  taken  by  that  zealous 
prince  for  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel. — 
Tliese  notions,  however,  were  soon  and  easily 
extinguished  by  various  circumstances,  which 
took  their  rise  from  the  death  of  Charlemagne: 
and  it  was  not  before  the  century  of  which  we 
now  write  that  the  Cliristian  religion  obtained 
a  fixed  settlement  among  these  warlike  na- 
tions.]: Toward  the  middle  of  this  century, 
Bulosudes  and  Gyula  or  Gylas,  two  Turkish 
cliiefs,  whose  govermnents  lay  upon  the  banks 
of  the  Danube, §  made  public  profession  of 
Christianity,  and  were  baptized  at  Constanti- 
nople. The  former  apostatized  soon  after  to 
the  religion  of  his  ancestors,  while  the  latter 
not  only  persevered  steadfastly  in  his  new  pro- 
fession, but  also  showed  the  most  zealous  con- 
cern for  the  conversion  of  his  subjects,  who, 
in  consequence  of  his  express  order,  were  in- 
structed in  tlie  doctrines  and  precepts  of  the 
Gospel  by  Hierotheus,  a  learned  prelate,  by 
wliom  he  had  been  accompanied  in  his  journey 
to  Constantinople.  Sarolta,  the  daughter  of 
Gylas,  was  afterwards  given  in  marriage  to 
Geysa,  the  chief  of  the  Hungarian  nation, 
whom  she  persuaded  to  embrace  the  divine  re- 
ligion in  which  she  had  been  educated.  The 
faith,  however,  of  this  new  convert  was  feeble 
and  unsteady,  and  he  retained  a  strong  propensi- 
ty to  the  superstition  which  he  had  been  engag- 
ed to  forsake;  but  his  apostasy  was  prevented 
by  the  pious  remonstrances  of  Adalbert,  arch- 
bishop of  Prague,  who  went  into  Hungary  to- 
ward the  conclusion  of  this  century,  and  by 
whom  also  Stephen,  the  son  of  Geysa,  was 
baptized  with  great  pomp  and  solemnity.  It 
was  to  tliis  young  prince  that  the  Gospel  was 
principally  indebted  for  its  propagation  and  es- 
tablishment among  the  Hungarians,  whose  ge- 
neral conversion  was  the  fruit  of  his  zeal  for 
the  cause  of  C'hrist;  for  he  perfected  what  his 
father  and  grandfather  had  only  begun;  fixed 
bishops,  with  large  revenues,  in  various  places; 
erected  magnificent  temples  for  divine  worship; 
and,  by  the  influence  of  instructions,  threaten- 
iiigs,  rewards,  and  punishments,  brought  his 
subjects,  almost  witliout  exception,  to  aban- 
don the  wretched  superstition  of  their  idola- 


*  See  Anton.  Pajri  Critica  in  Baron,  torn.  iv.  ad 
annum  Wi,  p.  ,i.i,  et.  ad  an.  1015,  p.  110. — Car.  du 
Fresne,  Famil.  Byzant.  p.  143. 

t  Ditmari.  Merseb.  Episcopi.  Chronic,  lib.  vii.  Ca- 
ronic.  p.  417,  torn.  i.  Scriptor.  Briinsvic.  Leibnitii. 

X  Pauli  Debrezeni  Historia  Eccles.  Reformator.  in 
Unfiaria,  part  i.  cap.  iii.  p.  19. 

§  The  Hungarians  and  Transylvanians  were,  at 
thi.i  time,  known  to  the  Grecians  by  the  name  of 
Turks. 


Chap.  I. 


PROSPEROUS  EVENTS. 


237 


trous  ancestors.  These  viijorous  proceedings, 
by  which  Stephen  introduced  the  reliifion  of 
Jesus  among  the  Hungarians,  procured  liini 
the  most  distinguished  honours  of  saintship  in 
succeeding  ages.* 

VII.  The  Christian  religion  was  in  a  very 
unsettled  state  among  the  Danes  under  the 
reign  of  Gormon;  and,  notwithstanding  the 
protection  it  received  from  his  queen,  who  pro- 
fessed it  publicly,  it  was  obliged  to  struggle 
with  many  difficulties,  and  to  encounter  much 
opposition.  The  face  of  tilings  changed,  in- 
deed, after  the  death  of  Gormon.  His  son 
Harald,  surnamed  Blaatand,  being  defeated  by 
Otho  the  Great,  in  949,  embraced  the  Gospel, 
and  was  baptized,  together  with  his  consort  and 
his  son  Sueno  or  Swein,  by  Adaldagus,  arch- 
bishop of  Hamburg,  or,  as  others  allege,  by 
Pop])on  a  pious  ecclesiastic,  who  attended  the 
emperor  in  this  expedition.  It  is  probable  that 
Harald,  educated  by  his  mother  Tyra,  who 
was  a  Cliristian,  was  not  extremely  averse  to 
the  religion  of  Jesus;  it  appears,  however,  cer- 
tain, that  his  conversion  was  less  the  effect  of 
his  own  choice,  than  of  the  irresistible  com- 
mands of  his  victorious  enemy;  for  Otho,  per- 
suaded that  the  Danes  would  never  desist 
from  their  hostile  incursions  and  rapines,  while 
they  persevered  in  the  religion  of  their  ances- 
tors, which  was  calculated  to  nourish  a  ferocity 
of  temper,  and  to  animate  to  military  exploits, 
made  it  the  principal  condition  of  the  treaty 
of  peace,  which  he  concluded  with  Harald, 
that  he  and  his  subjects  should  receive  the 
Christian  faith. |  On  the  conversion  of  this 
prince,  Adaldagus  and  Poppon  employed  their 
ministerial  labours  among  the  Cimbrians  and 
Danes,  in  order  to  engage  them  to  imitate 
such  an  illustrious  example;  and  tlieir  exhor- 
tations were  crowned  with  remarkable  success, 
to  which  the  stupendous  miracles  performed 
by  Poppon  are  said  to  have  contributed  in  a 
particular  manner.  These  miracles,  indeed, 
were  of  such  a  kind,  as  manifestly  shows  that 


*  The  Greeks,  Germans,  Bnliemians,  and  Poles,  se- 
verally claim  the  honour  of  having  heen  the  foiin- 
clers  of  the  Christian  religion  in  Hungary;  and  their 
respective  pretensions  have  introduced  not  a  little 
cib.scurity  into  this  matter.  The  Germans  allege, 
that  the  Christian  religion  was  brought  into  Hun- 
gary by  Gisela,  sister  to  their  emperor  Henry  II., 
who,  being  given  in  marriage  to  Stephen,  tin:  king 
of  that  nation,  persuaded  that  prince  to  embrace  the 
(Jospel.  The  Bohemians  tell  us,  on  the  other  h.iriil, 
that  it  was  by  the  ministry  of  Adalbert,  archbishop 
of  I'rague,  that  Stephen  was  C(uivertod.  'J"he  I'olis 
affirm,  that  Geysa,  having  married  a  Christian  prin- 
cess of  their  nation,  viz.  Adelheid,  sister  to  Micis- 
laus,  duke  of  Poland,  was  induciMJ  by  herremon-stran- 
ces  and  exhortations  to  make  profession  of  Christi- 
anity. In  consequence  of  a  careful  examination  of 
all  these  pritensions  we  have  followed  the  senti- 
ments and  decisions  of  the  Greek  writers,  after  hav- 
ing diligently  compared  them  with  the  Hungarian 
historians;  and  we  are  encouraged  in  this  by  the  au- 
thority of  the  learned  Gabriel  de  Ju.vl.i  Hornail.  who, 
in  his  Initia  Ueligionis  Christian.e  inter  Hungaros 
Ecclesim  oriental!  adserta,  published  in  1741),  de- 
cides this  (piesticm  in  favour  of  the  Greeks.  All 
other  accounts  of  the  matter  are  extremely  imper- 
fect, and  subject  to  many  doubts  and  difficulties. 

t  Adami  lirem.  Hist.  lib.  ii.  cap.  ii.  iii.  p.  l(i,  cap. 
XV.  p.  20,  in  Lindenbrogii  Scriptoribus  rerum  Septen- 
trional.— Alb.  Kranzii  VVandalia,  lib.  iv.  cap.  xx. — 
Ludwigii  Reli(iuii«  Manuscriptor.  torn.  ix.  p.  10. — 
Pontoppidani  Annales  Kcclcsia;  Diplomatici,  torn.  i. 
p.  59. 


they  derived  their  origin  from  human  art,  and 
not  from  a  divine  interposition.*  As  long 
as  Harald  lived,  he  used  every  wise  and  pro- 
i)able  method  of  conlinning  hissul)jects  in  the 
religion  they  had  embraced.  For  this  purpose 
he  established  bishops  in  several  parts  of  his  do- 
minions, enacted  excellent  laws,  abrogated  su- 
perstitious customs,  and  imposed  severe  re- 
straints upon  all  vicious  and  itnmoral  practices. 
But,  after  all  these  pious  efforts,  and  salutary 
measures,  which  promised  such  fair  prospects 
to  the  rising  church,  his  son  Sueno,  or  Swein, 
apostatized  from  the  truth,  and,  during  a  cer- 
tain time,  involved  the  Christians  in  the  deep- 
est calamity  and  distress,  and  treated  them 
with  the  greatest  cruelty  and  injustice.  This 
persecuting  tyrant  felt,  however,  in  his  turn, 
the  heavy  strokes  of  adversity,  which  produc- 
ed a  salutary  change  in  his  conduct,  and  hap- 
pily brought  him  to  a  better  mind;  for,  being 
driven  from  his  kingdom,  and  obliged  to  seek 
his  safety  in  a  state  of  exile  among  the  Scots, 
he  embraced  anew  the  religion  he  had  aban- 
doned, and,  on  his  restoration  to  his  dominions, 
exerted  the  most  ardent  and  exemplary  zeal  in 
the  cause  of  Christianity,  which  he  endeavour- 
ed to  promote  to  the  utmost  of  his  power. j 

VIII.  It  was  in  this  century,  that  the  first 
dawn  of  the  Gospel  arose  upon  the  Norwegi- 
ans, as  we  learn  from  the  most  authentic  re- 
cords. The  conversion  of  that  people  was  at- 
tempted, in  933,  by  their  monarch,  Hagan 
Adalsteen,  who  had  been  educated  among  the 
English,  and  who  employed  certain  ecclesias- 
tics of  that  nation  to  instruct  his  subjects  in 
the  doctrines  of  Christianity.  But  his  pious 
efforts  were  rendered  fruitless  by  the  brutal  ol)- 
stinacy,  with  which  the  Norwegians  persever- 
ed in  their  ancient  prejudices;  and  the  assidu- 
ity and  zeal  with  whicii  his  successor  Harald 
Graufeldt  pursued  the  same  plan  of  refonna- 
tion,  were  also  without  effect. J  The  succeed- 
ing princes,  far  from  being  discouraged  by  these 
obstacles,  persisted  firmly  in  their  worthy  pur- 
pose; and  Haco,  among  others,  yielding  to  the 
intreaties  of  Harald,  king  of  Denmark,  to 
whom  he  was  indebted  for  the  Norwegiah 
crown,  embraced,  himself,  the  Christian  reli- 
gion, and  recommended  it  with  the  greatest 
fervour  to  his  subjects,  in  an  assembly  of  the 
people,  hoklcn  in  945. §  This  rocomnwnda- 
lion,  notwithstanding  the  solemnity  and  zeal 
with  which  it  was  accompanied,  made  little 
impression  upon  the  minds  of  this  fierce  and 
barbarous  people;  nor  were  they  entirely  gain- 
ed over  by  the  zealous  endeavours  of  Olaus  to 
convert  them  to  Christianity,  though  the  pious 
diligence  of  that  prince,  wiiich  procured  him 
the  honour  of  saintship,  was  not  alloorcther 
without  effect.||  But  that  which  gave  tiie  fin- 
ishing stroke  to  the  conversion  of  the  Norwe- 


*  Jo.  .\dolph.  Cypra>i  Annales  Episcopor.  Slesvic. 
cap.  xiii.  p.  'f'. — Adam  Hreniens.  lib.  ii.  cap.  xxvi.  p. 
•2i.  cap.  xliv.  p.  28. — .lo.  Stephan.  ad  Saxonem  Gram- 
mat,  p.  207.— Molleri  Introduct.  nd  Hisloriam  Cher- 
sones.     Cimbric.  part  ii.  cap.  iii.  sect.  14. 

t  Saxon.  Gramm.  Ilistor.  Dan.  lib.  x.  |).  130.— Pon- 
toppidan.  de  Gestis  et  Vestigiis  Danorum  extra  Da- 
niam,  torn.  ii.  cap.  i.  sect.  1,  2. 

t  Kric.  Pontoppidan.  Annales  Eccles.  Danica)  di- 
plomat, torn.  i.  p.  OG. 

J  Torfiei  Historia  Norvegica,  torn.  ii.  p.  18.3,  214. 

\i  Torfstls   p.  457. 


238 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  i. 


gians  was  tlieir  subjection  to  Sueno,  or  Swein, 
king  of  Sweden,  who,  liaving  defeated  their 
monarch  Olans  Tryg-gueson,  became  master 
of  Norway,  and  obhged  its  inhabitants  to  aban- 
don the  gods  of  their  ancestors,  and  to  embrace 
universally  tiie  religion  of  Jesus.*  Among  the 
various  doctors  who  were  sent  to  instruct  this 
barbarous  people,  the  most  eminent,  both  in 
merit  and  authority,  was  Guthebald,  an  En- 
glish priest. t  From  Norway,  Christianity 
spread  its  salutary  light  through  tlie  adjacent 
countries,  and  was  preached,  with  success,  in 
the  Orkney  islands,  which  were,  at  that  time, 
subject  to  the  Norwegian  kings,  and  also  in 
Iceland  and  Old  Groenland  ;  for  it  is  evident, 
from  many  circumstances  and  records  of  im- 
doubted  authority,  that  the  greatest  part  of  the 
inhabitants  of  these  countries  received  the  Gos- 
pel in  this  century. J 

IX.  In  Germany  the  pious  exploits  of  Otho 
the  Great  contributed,  in  a  signal  manner,  to 
promote  the  interest  of  Christianity,  and  to  fix 
it  upon  solid  foundations  throughout  the  em- 
pire. This  truly  great  prince,  whose  pious 
magnanimity  clothed  him  with  a  lustre  infinite- 
ly superior  to  that  which  he  derived  from  his 
imperial  dignity,  was  constantly  emploj'ed  in 
extirpating  the  remains  of  the  ancient  super- 
stitions, and  in  supporting  and  confirming  the 
infant  church,  which  in  several  provinces  had 
not  yet  attained  any  considerable  degree  of 
consistence  and  vigor.  That  there  might  be 
rulers  and  pastors  to  govern  the  church,  and  to 
contribute  both  by  their  doctrine  and  example 
to  the  reformation  and  improvement  of  an  un- 
polished and  illiterate  people,  he  established 


(tij='  *  Dr.  Mosheim  attributes  here  to  Swein  the 
honor  which  is  due  to  his  predecessor  Olaus  Tryg- 
gueson;  if  it  can  be  deemed  an  lionour  to  have  pro- 
moted a  rational  and  divine  religion  by  compulsion 
and  violence,  by  tire  and  sword.  Olaus,  who  had  ab- 
jured Paganism  in  England  during  his  youth,  in  con- 
sequence of  a  warm  and  pathetic  discourse  which  he 
had  heard  from  a  British  priest,  returned  to  Norway 
with  a  firm  resolution  to  propagate  t'hristianity 
throughout  his  dominions.  For  this  piii  puse  he  tra- 
veled from  one  province  to  anotlier,  .Ttteiidcd  by  a 
chosen  band  of  soldiers,  and,  sword  in  iiand,  per- 
formed the  functions  of  missionary  and  apostle. — 
His  ministry,  thus  enforced,  was  followed  with  the 
desired  success  throughout  all  the  provinces,  except 
that  of  Drontheiin,  which  rose  in  rebellion  agiiiiisi 
him,  and  attacked  Christianity  with  the  same  kind 
of  arguments  that  Olaus  employed  in  establishing 
it.  This  opposition  occasioned  several  bloody  bat- 
tles, which  en<ied,  however,  in  the  defeat  of  The  re- 
bels, and  of  the  god  Thor,  their  tutelar  deity,  whose 
statue  Olaus  dragged  from  its  place,  and  burned  pub- 
licly in  the  sight  of  his  worshippers.  This  event  de- 
jected the  courage  of  the  inhabitants  of  Drontbeim 
who  submitted  to  the  religion  and  laws  of  their  con- 
queror. And  thus,  before  the  reign  of  Sueno,  at 
least  before  the  defeat  of  Olaus  by  that  prince,  Nor- 
way was  Christian.  See  the  History  of  Denmark, 
published  in  French  by  M.  Mallet,  vol.  i.  p.  52,  53. 

t  Chron.  Danicum  a  Ludewigio  editum  in  Keli- 
quiis  Manuscriptorum,  torn.  i.\.  p.  11,  l(i,  17. 

I  On  the  subject  of  the  conversion  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  Orkneys,  see  Torfaji  Historia  Rerum 
Orcadens,  lib.  i.  p.  22,  and,  for  an  account  of  the  Ice- 
landers, the  reader  may  consult  Arngrim  Jonas'  Cry- 
raogaja,  lib.  i.  and  Arius'  Multis.  in  Schedis  Islandice; 
as  also  Torfa;ns,  Histor.  Norveg.  tom.  ii.  p.  378,  379, 
417;  and  Gabriel  Lirou's  Singularites  Historiques  et 
Literaires,  tom.  i.  p.  138. — The  same  Torf^us  gives 
a  full  account  of  the  introduction  of  Christianity 
into  Groenland,  in  his  Histor.  Norveg.  torn.  ii.  p. 
374,  and  also  in  his  Groenlandia  Antiqua,  c.  xvii. 
p.  127. 


bishops  in  several  places,  and  generously 
erected  and  endowed  the  bishoprics  of  Bran- 
dcnljurg,  Havelberg,  Meissen,  Magdeburg,  and 
Naumburg  ;  by  which  excellent  establishments 
the  church  was  furnislied  with  eminent  doctors 
from  various  parts,  whose  instructions  were  the 
occasion  of  raising  up  new  laborers  in  the 
spiritual  harvest,  and  of  thus  multiplying  the 
ministers  of  Christ  from  time  to  time.  It  was 
also  through  the  mimificcnce  of  the  same 
prince,  that  many  convents  were  erected  fpr 
those  who,  in  conformity  with  the  false  piety 
of  the  times,  chose  to  finish  their  Christian 
course  in  the  indolent  sanctity  of  a  solitary 
life  ;  and  it  was  by  his  express  order  that 
schools  were  established  in  almost  every  city 
for  the  education  of  the  youth.  All  this  may 
serve  to  show  us  the  generosity  and  zeal  of  this 
illustrious  emperor,  whose  merit  would  have 
surpassed  the  highest  encomiinns,  had  his  pru- 
dence and  moderation  been  equal  to  the  fer- 
vor of  his  piety  and  the  uprightness  of  his  in- 
tentions. But  the  superstition  of  his  empress,* 
and  the  deplorable  ignorance  of  the  times,  de- 
luded this  good  prince  into  the  notion,  that  he 
obliged  the  Deity  in  proportion  as  he  loaded 
the  clergy  with  riches  and  honors,  and  that 
nothing  was  more  proper  to  draw  down  upon 
him  the  divine  protection,  than  the  exercise  of 
a  boundless  liberality  to  his  ministers.  In  con- 
sequence of  this  idle  and  extravagant  fancy, 
Otho  opened  the  sources  of  his  opulence, 
which  flowed  into  the  church  like  an  over- 
grown torrent,  so  that  the  bishops,  monks,  and 
the  religious  fraternities  in  general,  wallowed 
in  wealth  and  abimdance.  But  succeeding  ages 
perceived  the  unliappy  efliects  of  this  excessive 
and  ill-judged  mmiificence,  when  the  sacred 
orders  employed  this  opulence,  which  they  had 
acquired  without  either  merit  or  labor,  in  grati- 
fying their  passions,  in  waging  war  against  all 
who  opposed  their  ambitious  pretensions,  and 
in  purchasing  the  various  pleasures  of  a  luxu- 
rioiLS  and  effeminate  life. 

X.  It  was  no  doubtful  mark  of  the  progress 
and  strength  of  the  Christian  cause,  that  the 
European  kings  and  princes  began  so  early  as 
this  century  to  form  the  project  of  a  holy  war 
against  the  Mohammedans,  who  were  masters 
of  Palestine.  They  considered  it  as  an  intol- 
erable reproach  upon  Christians,  that  the  very 
land  in  which  the  divine  author  of  their  reli- 
gion had  received  his  birth,  had  exercised  his 
ministry,  and  made  expiation  for  the  sins  of 
mortals,  should  be  abandoned  to  the  enemies  of 
the  Christian  name.  They  also  looked  upon  it 
as  highly  just,  and  suitable  to  the  majesty  of 
the  Christian  religion,  to  avenge  the  calamities 
and  injuries,  the  persecution  and  reproach, 
which  its  professors  had  suflered  tmder  the 
Mohammedan  yoke.  The  bloody  signal  was 
accordingly  given  toward  the  conclusion  of  this 
centiirj',  by  Sylvester  II.  in  the  first  year  of 
his  pontificate ;  and  this  signal  was  an  epistle, 
written  in  the  name  of  the  church  of  .Jerusa- 
lem, to  the  church  universal  throughout  the 
world, t  in  which  the  European  powers  were 


•*  See  the  life  of  the  empress,  whose  name  was 
.\delaide,  in  the  Lectiones  .\ntiquie  of  Henry  Cani- 
sius,  tom.  iii. 

t  This  is  the  twenty-eighth  Epistle  in  the  first  part 


Chap.  II. 


CALAMITOUS  EVENTS. 


239 


solemnly  exhorted  and  entreated  to  succour 
and  deliver  the  Christians  in  Palestine.  The 
pope's  exhortations,  liowcvnr,  wore  without 
effect,  cxce))t  upon  tlic  inhabitants  of'Pisa,  wlio 
are  said  to  have  obeyed  tiie  suinniotis  with  the 
utmost  alacrity,  and  to  have  prepared  them- 
selves immediately  for  a  holy  campaign.* 

CHAPTER  II. 

Concerning  the  Calamitous  Events  that  happened 

to  the  Church  during  this  Ccnlury. 

I.  The  Christian  reliifion  suft'cred  less  in 
this  century  from  the  cruelty  of  its  enemies, 
than  from  the  defection  of  its  friends.  Of  all 
the  pagan  monarchs,  imdcr  whose  govermnent 
the  Christians  lived,  none  behaved  to  them  in 
a  hostile  manner,  or  tormented  them  with  tlie 
execution  of  compulsive  edicts  or  penal  laws, 
except  Gormon  and  Swein,  kinos  of  Denmark. 
Notwithstanding  this,  their  atl'airs  were  far 
from  being  either  in  a  fixed  or  flourishing  state ; 
and  their  situation  was  full  of  micertainty  and 
peril,  both  in  the  eastern  and  western  provinces. 
The  Saracens  in  Asia  and  Africa,  amidst  the 
intestine  divisions  mider  which  they  groaned, 
and  tiie  calamities  that  overwhelmed  them 
from  different  quartei's,  were  extremely  assidu- 
ous in  propagating  the  doctrines  of  Moham- 
med ;  nor  were  their  efforts  unsuccessful. 
Multitudes  of  Christians  fell  into  their  snares  ; 
and  the  Turks,  a  valiant  and  fierce  nation, 
who  iniiabited  the  nortliern  coast  of  the  Cas- 
pian sea,  received  their  doctrine.  Tlie  uni- 
formity of  religion  did  not,  however,  produce 
a  solid  union  of  interest  between  the  Turks  and 
Saracens;  on  the  contrary,  their  dissensions 
and  quarrels  were  never  more  violent  than 
from  the  time  that  Mohammed  became  their 
common  chief  in  religious  matters.  The  Per- 
sians, whose  country  was  a  prey  to  the  ambi- 
tious usurpations  of  the  latter,  implored  the 
aid  of  the  former,  by  whom  succours  were 
granted  with  the  utmost  alacrity  and  readi- 
ness. The  Turks  accordingly  fell  upon  the 
Saracens  in  a  furious  manner,  drove  them  out 
of  the  whole  extent  of  the  Persian  territories, 
and  afterwards,  witli  incredible  rapidity  and 
success,  invaded,  seized,  and  plundered  the 
otiier  provinces  that  belonged  to  that  pooi)le, 
whose  desolation,  in  reality,  came  on  like  a 
whirlwind.  Thus  tiie  powerful  empire  of  the 
Saracens,  which  its  enemies  had  iijr  so  many 
years  attempted  in  vain  to  overturn,  fell  at 
last  by  the  hands  of  its  allies  and  friends.  The 
Turks  accomplisiied  wliat  the  Greeks  and  Ro- 
mans ineiVc('tu;illy  aimed  at;  they  struck  sud- 
denly that  dri'adt'ul  blow,  which  ruined  at  once 
the  affairs  of  the  Saracens  in  Persia,  and  then 
deprived  them  by  degrees  of  their  other  do- 
minions ;  and  thus  the  Ottoman  empire,  which 
is  still  an  ol)ject  of  terror  to  the  Christians, 
was  esttablished  upon  the  ruins  of  the  Saracen 
dominion.! 

II.  In  the  western  provinces,  the  Christians 


of  the  coll(>ction  of  the;  loiters  of  Sylvester  II.  pub- 
lished by  Du-Chesne,  in  the  third  volume  of  his 
Scriptor.  Tlistor.  Franc. 

'''Sec  Muratori, Scriplores  Kerura  Italicarum,  toiii. 
iii.  p.  400. 

t  For  a  more  ample  account  of  these  revolutions, 


had  much  to  suffer  from  the  hatred  and  cruelty 
of  those  who  remained  under  the  darkness  of 
paganism.  The  Normans,  during  a  great  part 
of  this  century,  cotnmitled,  in  several  parts  of 
France,  the  most  barbarous  hostilities,  and  in- 
volved the  ("hristians,  wherever  they  carried 
their  victorious  arms,  in  numberless  calamities. 
The  Sarmatians,  Sclavonians,  Bohemians,  and 
others,  who  had  either  conceived  an  aversion 
for  the  Gospel,  or  were  sunk  in  a  stupid  igno- 
rance of  its  intrinsic  excellence  and  its  immor- 
tal blessings,  not  only  endeavoured  to  extir- 
pate Christianity  out  of  their  own  territories 
by  tlie  most  barbarous  efforts  of  cruelty  and 
violence,  but  infested  the  adjacent  countries, 
wliere  it  was  professed,  with  fire  and  sword, 
and  left,  wherever  they  went,  the  most  dread- 
ful marks  of  their  unrelenting  fury.  The 
Danes,  moreover,  did  not  cease  to  molest  the 
Christians,  until  they  were  subdued  by  Otho 
the  Great,  and  thus,  from  being  the  enemies, 
became  the  friends  of  the  Christian  cause.  The 
Hmigarians  also  contributed  their  part  to  the 
sufferings  of  the  church,  by  their  incursions 
into  several  parts  of  Germany,  which  tliey 
turned  into  scenes  of  desolation  and  misery  ; 
while  the  fierce  Arabs,  by  their  tyranny  in 
Spain,  and  their  depredations  in  Italy  and  the 
neighbouring  islands,  spread  calamity  and  op- 
pression all  around  them,  of  which,  no  doubt, 
the  Clu-istians  established  in  those  parts  had 
the  heaviest  portion. 

III.  Whoever  considers  the  endless  vexa- 
tions, persecutions,  and  calamities,  which  the 
Christians  suffered  from  the  nations  that  con- 
tinued in  their  ancient  superstitions^  will  easily 
perceive  the  reason  of  tliat  fervent  and  inextin- 
guishable zeal,  which  Christian  princes  disco- 
vered for  the  conversion  of  those  nations, 
wliose  impetuous  and  savage  fury  they  expe- 
rienced from  time  to  time.  A  principle  of  self^ 
preservation,  and  a  prudent  regtird  to  their 
own  safety,  as  well  as  a  pious  zeal  for  the 
propagation  of  the  Gospel,  engaged  them  to 
put  in  practice  every  method  that  miglit  open 
the  eyes  of  their  barbarous  adversaries,  from  a 
rational  and  well-grounded  hope  that  the  pre- 
cepts of  Clu'istianity  would  mitigate,  by  de- 
gTees,  the  ferocity  of  these  nations,  and  soften 
tlieir  rugged  and  intractable  tempers.  Hence 
it  was,  that  Ciiristian  kings  and  emperors  left 
no  means  unemployed  to  draw  these  infidels 
within  the  pale  of  the  church.  For  this  pur- 
pose, they  proposed  to  their  chiefs  alliances  of 
marriage,  and  offered  them  certain  distncts 
and  territories,  with  auxiliary  troops  to  main- 
tain them  against  their  enemies,  upon  condi- 
tion that  they  would  abandon  the  superstition 
of  their  ancestors,  which  tended  to  nourish 
their  ferocity,  and  to  increase  their  passion  for 
blood  and  carnage.  These  offers  were  attend- 
ed with  the  desired  sticcess,  as  they  induced 
the  infidel  chiefs  not  only  to  lend  an  ear  them- 
selves to  the  instructions  and  exhortations  of 
tlie  Christian  missionaries;  but  also  to  oblige 
their  subjects  and  armies  to  follow  their  exam- 
ples in  this  important  respect. 


see  the  Annales  Turcici  of  Lennrlavius.  and  Elma- 
cini  Historia  Saracenica. 


PART  II. 


THE  INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 
Concerning  the  State  of  Letters  and  Philosophy 
during  this  Century. 
I.  The  deplorable  ignorance  of  this  barba- 
rous age,  in  wliicia  the  drooping  arts  were  to- 
tally neglected,  and  the  sciences  seemed  to  be 
on  the  pointof  expiring  for  want  of  encourage- 
ment, is  unanimously  confessed  and  lamented 
by  all  the  writers  who  have  transmitted  to  us 
any  accomits  of  this  period.  Nor,  indeed,  will 
this  fatal  revolution,  in  the  republic  of  letters, 
appear  astonishing  to  such  as  consider,  on  one 
hand,  the  terrible  vicissitudes,  tumults,  and 
wars,  that  threw  all  things  into  confusion  both 
in  the  eastern  and  western  world,  and,  on  the 
other,  the  ignominious  stupidity  and  dissolute- 
ness of  those  sacred  orders  which  had  been  ap- 
pointed as  the  guardians  of  truth  and  learning. 
Leo,  surnamed  the  Philosopher,  who  ascended 
the  imperial  throne  of  the  Greeks  toward  the 
commencement  of  this  century,  was  himself  an 
eminent  lover  of  learning,  and  an  auspicious 
and  zealous  protector  of  such  as  distinguished 
themselves  in  the  culture  of  the  sciences.* 
This  noble  and  generous  disposition  appeared 
with  still  greater  lustre  in  his  son  Constantino 
Porpliyrogeneta,  who  evinced  the  greatest  ar- 
dor for  the  revival  of  the  arts  and  sciences  in 
Greece, t  and  employed  what  he  deemed  the 
most  effectual  measures  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  this  excellent  purpose.  It  was  with 
this  view  that  he  spared  no  expense  in  draw- 
ing to  his  court,  and  supporting  in  his  domin- 
ions, a  variety  of  learned  men,  each  of  whom 
excelled  in  some  of  the  ditlerent  branches  of 
literature,  and  in  causing  the  most  diligent 
search  to  be  made  for  the  writings  of  the  an- 
cients. With  this  view,  also,  he  liecame  him- 
self an  author,J  and  thus  animated  by  his  ex- 
am]>le,  as  well  as  by  his  protection,  men  of 
genius  and  abilities  to  enrich  the  sciences  with 
their  learned  productions.  He  employed, 
moreover,  a  considerable  number  of  able  pens, 
in  making  valuable  extracts  from  the  commen- 
taries and  other  compositions  of  the  ancients ; 
which  extracts  were  preserved  in  certam  places 
for  the  benefit  and  satisfaction  of  the  ciuious ; 
and  thus,  by  various  exertions  of  liberality  and 
zeal,  this  learned  prince  restored  the  arts  and 
sciences  to  a  certain  degree  of  life  and  vigor.  § 
But  there  were  few  of  the  Greeks  who  followed 


*  See  Jo.  Alb.  Fabricii  Biblioth.  GrEC.  lib.  v.  part 
ii.  cap.  V.  p.  363. 

t  Fabriciiis,  lib.  v.  part  ii.  cap.  v.  p.  486. 

OU-  I  We  have  yet  remaining  the  following  pro- 
ductions of  this  prince :  The  Life  of  the  Emperor 
Basilius; — a  Treatise  upon  the  Art  of  Governing,  in 
which  he  investigates  the  origin  of  several  nations, 
treats  of  their  power,  their  progress,  their  revolu- 
tions, and  their  decline,  and  gives  a  series  of  their 
princes  and  rulers;— a  Discourse  concerning  the 
Manner  of  forming  a  Land  Army  and  Naval  Force 
in  Order  of  Battle; — Two  Books  concerning  the  eas- 
tern and  western  Provinces,  which  may  be  consider- 
ed as  an  account  of  the  state  of  the  empire  in  the 
time  of  this  prince. 

§  All  this  appears  evident  from  the  accounts  left 
upon  record  by  Zonaras,  in  his  Annalcs,  tom.  iii. 


this  great  and  illustrious  example  ;  nor  did  any 
of  the  succeeding  emperors  equal  these  two 
excellent  princes  in  zeal  for  the  advancement 
of  learning,  or  in  lending,  by  protection  and 
encouragement,  an  auspicious  hand  to  raise, 
out  of  obscurity  and  dejection,  neglected  and 
depressed  genius.  But  (what  is  still  more  re- 
markable) Constantino  Porphyrogeneta,  whom 
we  have  now  been  representing  as  the  restorer 
of  letters,  and  whom  the  Greeks  unanimously 
admire  in  this  character,  is  supposed  by  some 
to  have  done  considerable  prejudice  to  the  cause 
of  learning  by  the  very  means  he  employed  to 
promote  its  advancement ;  for,  by  employing 
learned  men  to  extract  from  the  writers  of  an- 
tiquity what  they  thought  might  contribute  to 
the  improvement  of  the  various  arts  and 
sciences,  he  gave  too  much  occasion  to  neglect 
the  sources,  and  flattered  the  indolence  of  the 
effeminate  Greeks,  who  confined  their  studies 
to  these  extracts,  and  neglected,  in  effect,  the 
perusal  of  the  writers  from  whom  they  were 
drawn.  Hence  it  unfortunately  happened, 
that  many  of  the  most  celebrated  authors  of 
antiquity  were  lost,  at  this  time,  through  the 
sloth  and  negligence  of  the  Greeks. 

II.  This  method,  as  the  event  manifestly 
showed,  was  really  detrimental  to  the  pro- 
gress of  true  learning  and  genius.  And  ac- 
cordingly we  find  among  the  Greek  writers 
of  this  century  only  a  small  number,  who  ac- 
quired a  distinguished  and  shining  reputation 
in  the  republic  of  letters;  so  that  the  fair  and' 
engaging  prospects  which  seemed  to  arise  in 
the  cause  of  learning  from  the  munificence 
and  zeal  of  its  imperial  patrons,  vanished  in  a 
short  time;  and  though  the  seeds  of  science 
were  richly  sown,  the  natural  expectations  of 
an  abundant  harvest  were  ursliappily  disap- 
pointed. Nor  did  the  cause  of  philosophy 
succeed  better  than  that  of  literature.  Philo- 
sophers indeed  there  were',  and  some  of  them 
were  not  destitute  of  genius  and  abilities;  but 
not  one  of  them  rendered  his  name  immortal 
by  productions  that  were  worthy  of  being 
transmitted  to  posterity.  A  certain  number  of 
rhetoricians  and  grammarians,  a  few  poets 
who  were  above  contempt,  and  several  histo- 
rians who,  without  deserving  the  highest  en- 
comiums, were  not  totally  destitute  of  merit, 
were  the  members  tliat  composed,  at  this 
time,  the  republic  of  letters  in  Greece,  whose 
inhabitants  seemed  to  take  pleasure  in  those 
kinds  of  literature  alone,  in  which  industry, 
imagination,  and  memory  are  concerned. 

III.  Egypt,  though  at  this  time  it  groaned 
imder  a  heavy  and  exasperating  yoke  of  op- 
pression and  bondage,  produced  writers,  who, 
in  genius  and  learning,  were  no-wise  inferior 
to  the  most  eminent  of  the  Grecian  literati. 
Among  the  many  examples  we  might  mention 
to  prove  the  truth  of  this  assertion,  we  shall 
confine  ourselves  to  that  of  Eutychius,  bishop 
of  Alexandria,  who  cultivated  the  sciences  of 
physic  and  theology  with  the  greatest  success, 
and  cast  a  new  light  upon  them  both  by  his 


Chap.  I. 


LEARNING  AND  PHILOSOPHY. 


241 


excellent  writings.  The  Arabians,  during  this 
whole  century,  preserved  that  noble  passion 
for  the  arts  and  sciences,  which  had  been 
kindled  among  them  in  the  preceding  age;  and 
hence  their  country  abounded  with  physicians, 
mathematicians,  and  philosophers,  whose 
names  and  characters,  togctlier  with  an  ac- 
count of  their  respective  abilities  and  talents, 
are  given  by  Leo  Africanus  and  otlier  literary 
liistorians. 

IV.  The  Latins  present  to  us  a  spectacle  of 
a  very  diftcrent  kind.  Tiiey  were  almost  with 
out  exception  sunk  in  the  most  brutish  and 
barbarous  ignorance;  so  that,  according  to  the 
unanimous  accounts  of  the  most  credible  writ- 
ers, nothing  could  be  more  melancholy  and 
deplorable  than  the  darkness  that  reigned  in 
the  western  world  during  this  century,  which, 
with  respect  to  learning  and  philosophy  at 
least,  may  be  called  the  Iron  Jlge  of  the  Lat- 
ins.* Some  learned  men  of  modern  times 
have,  we  confess,  ventured  to  call  this  in 
question:  but  their  doubts  are  certainly  with- 
out foundation,  and  the  matter  of  fact  is  too 
firmly  established  by  unquestionable  authori- 
ties to  lose  any  part  of  its  credit  in  conse- 
quence of  the  objections  they  allege  against 
it.f  It  is  true,  there  were  public  schools 
fomided  in  most  of  the  European  provinces, 
some  of  which  were  erected  in  tlie  monaste- 
ries, and  tiie  rest  in  those  cities  where  the 
bishops  resided.  It  is  also  true,  that  through 
this  dismal  night  of  ignorance  there  shone 
forth  from  time  to  time,  and  more  especially 
toward  the  conclusion  of  this  century,  some 
geniuses  of  a  superior  order,  who  eyed  with 
ardour  the  paths  of  science,  and  cast  some 
rays  of  light  upon  the  darkness  of  a  barbarous 
age.  But  they  were  very  few  in  number,  and 
their  extreme  rarity  is  a  sufficient  proof  of  the 
infelicity  of  the  times  in  which  they  appeared. 
In  the  seminaries  of  learning,  such  as  they 
were,  the  seven  liberal  arts  were  taught  in  the 
most  unskilful  and  miserable  manner  by  the 
monks,  who  esteemed  the  arts  and  sciences  no 
farther  than  as  they  were  subservient  to  the  in- 


*  The  testimonies  llial  prove  the  ignorance 
which  prevailed  in  the  tenth  century,  are  collected 
by  Du  lionlay,  in  his  Historia  Acad.  Paris,  torn.  i.  p. 
idP;  and  also  hy  Liid.  Ant.  Muratori,  in  his  Ami- 
quitat.  Ital.  meilii  ^Evi,  torn.  iii.  p.  831,  et  toui.  ii.  p. 
141,  &c. 

t  The  famous  Leibnitz,  in  his  preface  to  the  Cod. 
Juris  Nat.  et  (Pentium  Diplomat,  atfirms  that  more 
knowledge  and  lianiinir  existed  in  the  tenth  Cen- 
tury, than  in  the  siiccerdin;,'  aj;es,  particularly  in  the 
twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries.  But  this  is  wash 
ing  the  Kthiopian;  it  is  an  extravagant  assertion, 
and  borders  upon  paradox.  We  shall  be  luitir  di 
reeled  in  our  notions  of  this  matter  by  Mabillon,  in 
his  Pra-fat.  aA  Act.  Bened.  Quint.  Sa^c.  p.  2,  by  the 
authors  of  the  Flistoire  Literaire  de  la  Franrc,  and 
by  Le  Bceufs  Disscirtat.  de  Statu  Literarum  in  Fran- 
cia,  a  Carolo  M.  ad  Regem  Robertum;  who  all  agree 
in  acknowledging  thi'  gross  ignorance  of  this  cen- 
tury, though  they  woulil  engage  us  to  believe  tli;it 
its  barbarism  and  darkness  were  not  so  hideous  as 
they  are  connuonly  represented.  There  are,  indeed, 
several  considerations  that  render  the  reasons  and' 
testimonies  even  of  these  writers  not  a  little  di  tec 
live;  but  we  agree  with  them  so  far,  as  to  grant  lli.it 
all  learning  and  knowleri<;e  were  not  absolutely  ex- 
tinguished in  Europe  at  this  time,  and  that,  iii  the 
records  of  this  century,  we  shall  find  a  few  chosen 
spirits,  who  pierced  through  the  cloud  of  ignorance 
that  covered  the  multitude. 
Vol.  I.— 31 


terests  of  religion,  or,  to  speak  more  properly, 
to  the  views  of  superstition. 

V.  They  who  were  the  most  learned  and 
judicious  among  the  monastic  orders,  and  who 
were  desirous  of  employing  usefully  a  part  of 
their  leisure,  applied  tliemselves  to  the  com- 
position of  annals  and  histories,  which  savoured 
of  tlie  ignorance  and  barbarism  of  the  times. 
Such  were  Abo,  Luitprand,  Wittekind,  Ful- 
cuin,  Jolianncs  Capuanus,  Ratherius,  Flo- 
doard,  Notkcr,  Ethelbert,  and  others,  who, 
though  very  difl'erent  from  each  other  in  their 
respective  degrees  of  merit,  were  all  ignorant 
of  the  true  nature  and  rules  of  historical  com- 
position. Several  of  the  poets  of  this  age 
gave  evident  marks  of  true  genius;  but  they 
were  strangers  to  the  poetic  art,  which  was 
not  indeed  necessary  to  satisfy  a  people  utterly 
destitute  of  elegance  and  taste.  The  gram- 
marians and  rhetoricians  of  these  unhappy 
times  are  scarcely  worthy  of  mention;  their 
method  of  instructing  was  full  of  absurdities; 
and  tlieir  rules  were  trivial,  and,  for  the  most 
part,  injudicious.  The  same  judgment  may 
be  fonned  in  gx'ueral  of  the  geometry,  arith- 
metic, astronomy,  and  music,  which  were 
more  or  less  taught  in  the  public  schools,  and 
of  which  a  more  particular  account  would  be 
iminstructive  and  insipid. 

VI.  The  philosophy  of  the  Latins  extended 
no  farther  tlian  the  single  science  of  logic  or 
dialectics,  which  they  looked  upon  as  the  sum 
and  substance  of  all  human  wisdom.  But  this 
logic,  which  was  so  highly  admired,  was 
drawn  without  the  least  perspicuity  or  method 
from  a  book  of  Categories,  which  some  have 
unjustly  attributed  to  Augustin,  and  others  to 
Porphyry.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  the  Timajus 
of  Plato,  the  Topica  of  Cicero  and  Aristotle, 
and  the  book  of  the  latter  concerning  inter- 
pretation, with  other  compositions  of  the 
Greeks  and  Romans,  were  in  the  hands  of  se- 
veral of  the  doctors  of  this  century,  as  we 
learn  from  credible  accomits;  but  the  same  ac- 
counts inform  us,  that  the  true  sense  of  these 
excellent  authors  was  scarcely  understood  by 
any  of  those  who  daily  perused  them.*  It  will 
appear,  no  doubt,  surprising,  that  in  such  an 
ignorant  age  such  a  subtile  question  as  that 
concerning  miiversal  ideas  should  ever  have 
been  thought  of;  true  however  it  is,  that  the 
famous  controversy,  whether  universal  ideas 
belonged  to  the  class  of  objects  or  of  mere 
names  (a  controversy  which  perplexed  and 
bewildered  the  Latin  doctors  in  succeeding 
times,  and  gave  rise  to  the  opposite  sects  of  the 
Nominalists  and  Realists,)  was  started  for  the 
first  time  in  this  century.  Accordingly  we 
find,  in  several  passages  of  the  writers  of  this 
period,  tlie  seeds  and  beginnhigs  of  this  tedious 
and  intricate  dispute. f 


*  Gunzo.  Epistol.  ad  Monaehos  Augienses  in  Mar- 
fenne's  Collect.  Ampliss.  Monumentor.  Veter.  torn, 
iii.  p.  :i04. 

t  This  appears  evident  from  the  following  remark- 
able passage,  which  the  reader  will  find  in  the  SO-lth 
page  of  the  work  cited  in  the  preceding  note,  and  in 
wliuii  the  learned  Gunzo  e.xpnsses  himself  in  the 
following  manner:  "  Aristoteles,  •;enus,  speciem, 
"differentiam,  propriuni  et  accidens,  subsistere  de- 
"negavit,  qus  Platont  snbsistenlia  persuasit.  Aris- 
"  toteli  an  Platoni  magis  credendum  putatis?  Magna 
"  est  utriusque  auctoritas,  quatenus  \\\  audeat  quis 


242 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


VII.  The  drooping  sciences  found  an  emi- 
nent and  illustrious  patron,  toward  the  conclu- 
sion of  this  century,  in  the  learned  Gerbert,  a 
native  of  France,  who,  upon  his  elevation  to 
the  pontificate,  assiuiied  the  title  of  Sylvester 
II.  The  genius  of  this  famous  pontiff  was  ex- 
tensive and  sublime,  embracing  all  the  branches 
of  literature;  but  its  more  peculiar  bent  was 
turned  toward  mathematical  studies.  Mecha- 
nics, geometry,  astronomy,  arithmetic,  and 
every  other  kind  of  knowledge  that  had  the 
least  affinity  to  these  important  sciences,  were 
cultivated  by  this  restorer  of  learning  with  the 
most  ardent  zeal,  and  not  without  success,  as 
his  writings  abundantly  testify;  nor  did  he  stop 
here,  but  employed  every  method  that  was 
proper  to  encourage  and  aiumate  others  to  the 
culture  of  the  liberal  arts  and  sciences.  The 
eifects  of  this  noble  zeal  were  visible  in  Ger- 
many, France,  and  Italy,  both  in  this  and  in 
the  following  century;  as  by  the  writings,  ex- 
ample, and  exhortations  of  Gerbert,  many 
were  incited  to  the  study  of  physic,  mathema- 
tics, and  philosophy,  and  in  general  to  the 
pursuit  of  science  in  all  its  branches.  If,  in- 
deed, we  compare  this  learned  pontiff  with  the 
mathematicians  of  modern  times,  his  merit,  in 
that  pouit  of  view,  will  almost  totally  disap- 
pear under  such  a  disadvantageous  compari- 
son; for  his  geometry,  though  it  be  eas}'  and 
perspicuous,  is  merely  elementary  and  superfi- 
cial.* Yet,  such  as  it  was,  it  was  marvellous 
in  an  age  of  barbarism  and  darkness,  and  sur- 
passed the  apprehension  of  tliose  pygmy  philo- 
sophers, whose  eyes,  under  the  auspicious  di- 
rection of  Gerbert,  were  just  beginning  to 
open  upon  the  light.  Hence  it  was,  that  the 
geometrical  figures,  described  by  tliis  matlie- 
matical  pontiff",  were  regarded  by  the  monks 
as  magical  operations,  and  the  pontilF  himself 
was  treated  as  a  magician  and  a  disciple  of 
Satan. t 

VIII.  It  was  not  however  to  tlie  fecundity 
of  his  genius  alone,  that  Gerbert  was  indebted 
for  the  knowledge  with  which  he  now  began 
to  enlighten  the  European  provinces;  he  had 
derived  a  part  of  his  erudition,  particularly  i)i 
physic,  mathematics,  and  pliilosophy,  from  the 
writings  and  instructions  of  the  Arabians,  who 
were  settled  in  Spain.  Thither  he  had  re- 
paired in  pursuit  of  knowledge,  and  had  spent 
some  time  in  the  seminaries  of  learning  at 
Cordova  and  Seville,  with  a  view  of  hearing 
the  Arabian  doctors;!  and  it  was,  perhaps,  by 
his  example,  that  the  Europeans  were  directed 
and  engaged  to  have  recourse  to  this  source 
of  instruction  in  after  times;  for  it  is  undenia- 
bly certain,  tliat  from  the  time  of  Gerbert, 


"  alteram  alteri  digrnitate  prsferro."  Here  vvc  see 
plainly  the  .'seeds  of  disrord  sown,  and  the  fminda- 
tion  laid  tor  that  knotty  dispute  which  puzzled  the 
metaphysical  brains  of  the  Latin  doctors  in  after- 
times.  Gnnzo  was  not  adventurous  enough  to  at- 
tempt a  solution  of  this  intricate  question,  v\liichhe 
leaves  undecided;  others  were  less  modest,  without 
beino;  more  successful. 

*  This  work  was  published  by  Peziiis,  in  his  The- 
saurus Anecdotorum,  tom.  iii.  part  ii.  p.  7. 

t  See  the  Hist.  Liter,  de  la  France,  tom.  vi.  p. 
558.— Du  Houlay,  Hist.  Acad.  Paris,  tom.  i.  p.  314, 
319. — Naude,  Apolo^ie  pour  les  Grands  Honimes 
faussement  acxuses  de  la  Magie,  chap.  xix..  sect.  1. 

t  Du  Boulay,  tom.  i.  p.  311. 


such  of  the  Europeans  as  were  ambitious  of 
making  any  considerable  progress  in  physic, 
arithmetic,  geometry,  or  philosophy,  enter- 
tained the  most  eager  and  impatient  desire  of 
receiving  instruction  either  from  the  academi- 
cal lessons,  or  from  the  writings  of  the  Arabian 
philosophers,  who  had  founded  schools  in  se- 
veral parts  of  Spain  and  Italy.  Hence  it  was, 
that  the  most  celebrated  productions  of  these 
doctors  were  translated  into  Latin;  their  tenets 
and  systems  were  adopted  with  zeal  in  the 
European  schools;  and  numbers  went  over  to 
Spain  and  Italy  to  receive  instruction  from  the 
mouths  of  these  famous  teachers,  which  were 
supposed  to  utter  nothing  but  tire  deepest  mys- 
teries of  wisdom  and  knowledge.  However 
excessive  this  veneration  for  the  learned  Ara- 
bians may  have  been,  it  must  be  owned,  that 
all  the  knowledge,  whether  of  physic,  astro- 
nomy, philosophy,  or  mathematics,  which 
flourished  in  Europe  from  the  tenth  century, 
was  originally  derived  from  them:  and  that  the 
Spanisli  Saracens,  in  a  more  particular  man- 
ner, may  be  looked  upon  as  the  fathers  of  Eu- 
ropean philosophy. 

CHAPTER  II. 

Concerning  the  Doctors  and  Ministers  of  the 
Church,  and  its  Form  of  Government  during 
this  Century. 

I.  To  those  who  consider  the  primitive  di^ 
nity  and  the  soleirm  nature  of  the  ministerial 
character,  the  corruptions  of  the  clergy  must 
appear  deplorable  beyond  all  expression. 
These  corruptions  had  risen  to  the  most  enor- 
mous height  in  that  dismal  period  of  the 
church  which  we  have  now  before  us.  Both 
in  the  eastern  and  western  provinces,  the 
clergy  were,  for  the  most  part,  a  most  worth- 
less set  of  men,  shamefully  illiterate  and  stu- 
pid, ignorant  more  especially  in  religious  mat- 
ters, equally  enslaved  to  sensuality  and  super- 
stition, and  capable  of  the  most  abominable 
and  flagitioits  deeds.  This  dismal  degeneracy 
of  the  sacred  order,  according  to  the  most  cre- 
dible accounts,  principally  arose  from  the 
scandalous  examples  of  those  who  ought  to 
have  presented  models  of  good  conduct, — 
namely,  the  pretended  chiefs  and  rulers  of  the 
miiversal  church,  who  indulged  themselves  in 
tlie  commission  of  odious  crimes,  and  aban- 
doned themselves  to  the  lawless  impulse  of  the 
most  licentious  passions  without  reluctance  or 
remorse;  who  confomided,  in  short,  all  differ- 
ence between  just  and  imjust  acts,  to  satisfy 
their  impious  ambition;  and  whose  spiritual 
empire  was  such  a  diversified  scene  of  iniquity 
and  violence,  as  never  was  exhibited  under 
any  of  those  temporal  tyrants,  who  have  been 
the  scourges  of  mankind.  We  may  form  some 
notion  of  the  Grecian  patriarchs  from  the  sin- 
gle example  of  Theophylact,  who,  according 
to  the  testimonies  of  the  most  respectable 
writers,  made  the  most  iinpious  traffic  of  ec- 
clesiastical promotions,  and  expressed  no  sort 
of  care  about  any  thing  but  his  dogs  and 
horses.*    Degenerate,  however,  and  licentious 


fl^"  *This  exemplary  prelate,  who  sold  every  ec- 
clesiastical benefice  as  soon  as  jt  became  vacant 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


243 


as  these  patriarchs  might  be,  they  were,  in 
ffeneral,  less  profligate  and  indecent  than  the 
Roman  pontiffs. 

II.  The  history  of  the  popes,  who  lived  in 
this  century,  is  a  history  of  so  many  monsters, 
and  not  of  men,  and  exhibits  a  horrible  series 
of  the  most  flagitious,  tremendous,  and  com- 
plicated crimes,  as  all  writers,  even  those  of 
the  Romish  communion,  unanimously  con- 
fess. The  source  of  these  disorders  must  be 
sought  principally  in  the  calamities  that  foil 
upon  the  greatest  part  of  Europe,  and  which 
afflicted  Italy  in  a  particular  manner,  after 
the  extinction  of  the  race  of  Charlemagne.  On 
the  death  of  Benedict  IV.,  in  903,  Leo  V.  was 
raised  to  the  pontificate,  which  he  enjoyed  no 
longer  than  forty  days,  being  dethroned  by 
Christopher,  and  cast  into  prison.  Christo- 
pher, in  his  turn,  was  deprived  of  the  pontifi- 
cal dignity  m  the  following  year  by  Sergias 
III.,  a  Roman  presbyter,  seconded  by  the  pro- 
tection and  influence  of  Adalbert,  a  most  pow- 
erful Tuscan  prince,  who  had  a  supreme  and 
unlimited  direction  in  all  the  affairs  that  were 
transacted  at  Rome.  Anastasius  III.,  and 
Lando,  who,  on  the  death  of  Sergius,  in  911, 
were  raised  successively  to  the  papal  dignity, 
enjoyed  it  but  for  a  short  time,  and  did  nothino- 
that  could  contribute  to  render  their  names 
illustrious. 

III.  After  the  death  of  Lando,  which  hap- 
pened 914,  Alberic,*  marquis  or  count  of  Tus- 
cany, whose  opulence  was  prodigious,  and 
whose  authority  in  Rome  was  despotic  and 
unlimited,  obtained  the  pontificate  for  John 
X.,  archbishop  of  Ravenna,  in  compliance  with 
the  solicitation  of  Theodora,  his  mother-in-law, 
whose  lewdness  was  the  principle  that  inter- 
ested her  in  this  promotion.!  This  infamous 
election  will  not  surprise  such  as  know  that  the 
laws  of  Rome  were  at  this  time  absolutely  si 
lent ;  that  the  dictates  of  justice  and  equity 
were  overpowered  and  suspended  ;  and  that  all 
things  were  carried  on  in  that  great  city  by  in- 
terest or  corruption,  by  violence  or  fraud. 
John  X.,  though  in  other  respects  a  scandalous 
example  of  iniquity  and  lewdness  in  the  papal 
chair,  acquired  a  ccrtnin  degree  of  reputation 
by  his  glorious  campaign  against  the  Saracens, 
whom  he  drove  from  the  settlement  which  they 
had   made   upon   the  banks   of  the   Garigli- 


had  in  liis  stablo  Jilxivf  2000  limiting;  horses,  \\  liich 
he  fed  Willi  piii-imt.'J.  pislacliios,  dates,  dried  grains, 
and  figs  steeped  in  the  most  exquisite  wines,  to  all 
which  he  added  thi;  richest  perfumes.  On  Holy 
Thursday,  as  he  was  celebrating  high-mass,  his 
groom  brought  him  the  joyful  news  that  one  of  his 
favourite  mares  had  foaled;  upon  which  ho  tlirew 
down  the  liturgy,  left  the  church,  and  ran  in  rap- 
tures to  the  stable,  where  having  expressed  his  joy 
at  'hat  grand  event,  he  returned  to  the  altar  lb 
tinyih  i\\v  divine  service,  which  he  had  left  inter- 
rupted during  his  absence.  See  Fleury,  Hist.  Eccles. 
livre  Iv. 

It^  *  It  was  Albert  oryAdalbert,  of  whom  Dr. 
Mosheim  here  speaks.  Alberic  was  grandson  to  the 
older  Theodora,  by  her  dauihtcr  Marozia,  who  was 
married  to  Albert.  See  Spanheim,  Eccles.  Hist. 
Seoul.  X.  p.  l-l'Ji.— Fleury,  Hist,  eccles.  livre  .'54.  The 
latter  historian  is  of  opinion,  that  it  was  the  younger 
Theodora,  the  sister  of  Marozia,  who,  from  an  amo- 
rous principle,  rai.sed  John  to  the  pontificate. 

9l^  t  Theodora,  mistress  of  Rome,  procured  the 
elevation  of  John,  that  she  might  continue  the  li- 
centious commerce  in  which  she  had  lived  with  that 
cainal  ecclesiastic  for  many  years  before. 


ano.*  Hedid  not,  however,  long  enjoy  his  glory; 
for  the  enmity  of  Marozia,  daughter  of  Theodora 
and  wife  of  Alberic,  proved  fatal  to  him;  for 
this  inhuman  female,  having  espoused  Wido, 
or  Guy,  marquis  of  Tuscany,  after  the  death 
of  her  first  consort,  engaged  him  to  seize  the 
wanton  pontifl',  who  was  her  mother's  lover, 
and  to  put  him  to  death  in  the  prison  where  he 
lay  confined.  This  licentious  pontiff" was  suc- 
ceeded by  Leo  VI.,  who  sat  l)ut  seven  months 
in  the  apostolic  chair,  which  was  filled  after 
him  by  Stephen  VII.  The  death  of  the  latter, 
which  happened  in  931,  presented  to  the  am- 
bition of  NIarozia  an  object  worthy  of  its  grasp; 
and  accordingly  she  raised  to  the  papal  dignity 
John  XI.,  who  was  the  fruit  of  her  lawless 
amours  with  one  of  the  pretended  successors 
of  St.  Peter,  Sergius  III.,  whose  adulterous 
commerce  with  that  infamous  woman  gave  an 
infaUible  guide  to  the  Romish  church,  j 

IV.  John  XI.,  who  was  placed  at  the  head 
of  the  church  by  the  credit  and  influence  of 
his  mother,  was  pulled  down  from  this  summit 
of  spiritual  grandeur,  in  933,  by  Alberic  his 
half  brother,  who  had  conceived  the  utmost 
aversion  against  him.  His  mother  Marozia 
had,  after  the  death  of  Wido,  entered  anew 
into  the  bonds  of  matrimony  with  Hugo,  kino- 
of  Italy,  who,  having  offended  his  step-son 
Alberic,  felt  severely  the  weight  of  his  resent- 
ment, which  vented  its  fury  upon  the  whole 
family;  for  Alberic  drove  out  of  Rome  not 
only  Hugo,  but  also  Marozia  and  her  son  the 
pontiff",  and  confined  them  in  prison,  where  the 
latter  ended  his  days  in  936.  The  four  pon- 
tiffs, who,  in  their  turns,  succeeded  John  XL, 
and  filled  the  papal  chair  until  the  3'ear  956, 
were  Leo  VII.,  Stephen  VIII.,  Marinus  II., 
and  Agapet,  whose  characters  were  much 
better  than  that  of  their  predecessor,  and 
whose  government,  at  least,  was  not  attended 
with  those  tumults  and  revolutions  that  had 
so  often  shaken  the  pontifical  throne,  and  ban- 
ished from  Rome  the  inestimable  blessings  of 
peace  and  concord.  On  the  death  of  Agapet, 
which  happened  in  906;  Alberic  II.,  who  to 
the  dignity  of  Roman  consul  joined  a  degree 
of  authority  and  opulence  which  nothing  could 
resist,  raised  to  the  pontificate  his  son  Octo- 
vian,  who  was  yet  in  the  early  bloom  of  youth, 
and  destitute,  besides,  of  every  quality  that 
was  requisite  for  discharging  the  duties  of  that 
liigh  and  important  othce.  This  unworthy 
pontiff'  assumed  the  name  of  John  XII.,  and 
thus  introduced  the  custom  that  has  since  been 
adopted  by  all  his  successors  in  the  see  of 

{JlJ-  *  In  the  original  we  have  Mmtcin  Gnrilianum, 
wliicli  is,  undoubtedly,  a  mistake,  as  the  Carigliano 
is  a  river  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  and  not  a  moun- 
tain. 

t  The  character  and  conduct  of  Marozia  are  ac- 
knowledged to  have  been  most  infamous  by  the  gen- 
eral testimony  both  of  ancient  and  modern  histori- 
ans, who  allirin,  with  one  voice,  that  Jolm  XI.  was 
tlie  fruit  of  her  carnal  commerce  with  ^rrgius  III. 
Eccard  alone  (in  his  Origines  Giielphir.T.  tom.  i.  lib. 
iii.)has  ventured  to  clear  her  from  this  reproach, 
and  to  assert,  that  Sergius,  before  his  elevation  to 
the  pontificate,  was  her  lawful  and  first  husband. 
The  attempt,  however,  is  highly  extravagant,  if  not 
imprudent,  to  pretend  to  acquit,  without  the  least 
testimony  or  proof  of  her  innocence,  a  woman  who 
is  known  to  have  been  entirely  destitute  of  every 
principle  of  virtue. 


244 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


Rome,  of  assuming  another  name  upon  the  ac- 
quisition of  the  pontificate. 

V.  The  fate  of  John  XII,  was  as  unhappy 
as  his  promotion  had  been  scandalous.  Una- 
ble to  bear  the  oppressive  yoke  of  Berenger 
II.,  king  of  Italy,  he  sent  ambassadors,  in  960, 
to  Otlio  the  Great,  urging  him  to  march  into 
Italy  at  the  head  of  a  powerful  army,  to  deli- 
ver the  church  and  the  people  from  the  tyran- 
ny mider  which  they  groaned.  To  these  en- 
treaties the  perplexed  pontiff  added  a  solemn 
promise,  that,  if  the  German  monarch  would 
come  to  his  assistance,  he  would  array  him 
with  the  purple  and  the  other  ensigns  of  sove- 
reignty, and  proclaim  him  emperor  of  the  Ro- 
mans. Otho  received  this  ambassy  with  plea- 
sure, marched  into  Italy  at  the  head  of  a  large 
body  of  troops,  and  was  accordingly  saluted 
by  John  with  the  promised  title.  The  pontiff, 
however,  soon  perceiving  that  he  had  acted 
with  too  much  precipitation,  repented  of  the 
step  he  had  taken ;  and,  though  he  had  sworn 
allegiance  to  the  emperor,  as  his  lawful  sove- 
reign, in  the  most  solemn  manner,  he  broke 
his  oath,  and  joined  with  Adalbert,  the  son  of 
Berenger,  against  Otho.  This  revolt  was  not 
left  unpunished.  The  emperor  returned  to 
Rome  in  963  ;  called  a  council,  before  which 
he  accused  and  convicted  the  pope  of  many 
crimes ;  and,  after  having  degraded  him  in  the 
most  ignominious  manner  from  his  high  office, 
he  appointed  Leo  VIII.  to  fill  his  place.  On 
Otho's  departure  from  Rome,  John  returned 
to  that  city,  and  in  a  council,  which  he  assem- 
bled in  964,  condemned  the  pontiff  whom  the 
emperor  had  elected,  and  soon  after  died  in  a 
miserable  and  violent  manner.  After  his  death 
the  Romans  chose  Benedict  V.,  bishop  of 
Rome,  in  opposition  to  Leo ;  but  the  emperor 
annulled  this  election,  restored  Leo  to  the  pa- 
pal chair,  and  carried  Benedict  to  Hamburg, 
where  he  died  in  exile.* 

VI.  The  prelates  who  governed  the  see  of 
Rome  from  Leo  VIII.,  who  died  in  956,  to 
Gerbert,  or  Sylvester  II.,  who  was  raised  to 
the  pontificate  toward  the  conclusion  of  this 
century,  were  more  happy  in  their  administra- 
tion, as  well  as  more  decent  in  their  conduct, 
than  their  infamous  predecessors ;  yet  none  of 
them  acted  in  so  exemplary  a  manner  as  to 
deserve  the  applause  that  is  due  to  eminent 
virtue.  John  XIII.,  who  was  raised  to  the 
pontificate  in  965,  by  the  authority  of  Otho 
the  Great,  was  driven  out  of  Rome  in  the  be- 
gimiing  of  his  administration  ;  but  in  the  fol- 
lowing year,  on  the  emperor's  return  to  Italy, 
he  was  restored  to  his  high  dignity,  in  the 


*  In  the  account  I  have  here  given  of  tlie  pontifts 
of  tliis  century,  I  have  consulted  Muiatori's  Scrip- 
tores  Rerum  Italicarum,  as  also  Baronius,  Peter  ile 
Marca,  Si<;onius  de  Regno  Italiae  (wiili  the  learned 
annotations  of  Ant.  Saxius,)  the  same  Muratori  in 
his  Annales  Italite,  Pagi,  and  other  writers,  all  of 
whom  had  access  to  the  fountain-head,  and  to  seve- 
ral ancient  manuscripts,  not  yet  published.  The 
narrations  I  have  here  given,  are  certainly  true  upon 
the  whole.  It  must,  however,  be  confessed,  that 
many  parts  of  the  papal  history  lie  yet  in  great  ob- 
scurity, and,  therefore,  require  farther  illustration  ; 
nor  will  I  deny  that  a  spirit  of  partiality  has  been 
extremely  detrimental  to  the  history  of  the  pontifls, 
by  corrupting  it,  and  rendering  it  uncertain  in  a 
multitude  of  places. 


calm  possession  of  which  he  ended  his  days  in 
972.  His  successor  Benedict  VI.  was  not  so 
happy.  Thrown  into  prison  by  Crescentius, 
son  of  the  famous  Theodora,  in  consequence 
of  the  hatred  which  the  Romans  had  conceived 
both  against  his  person  and  government,  he 
was  loaded  with  all  sorts  of  ignominy,  and 
was  strangled  in  974,  in  the  apartment  where 
he  lay  confined.  Unfortunately  for  him,  Otho 
the  Great,  whose  power  and  severity  had  kept 
the  Romans  in  awe,  died  in  973  ;  and  with  him 
expired  that  order  and  discipline  which  he  had 
restored  in  Rome  by  salutary  laws  executed 
with  impartiality  and  vigor.  That  event 
changed  the  aspect  of  aflfairs.  Licentiousness 
and  disorder,  seditions  and  assassinations,  re- 
sumed their  former  sway,  and  diffused  their 
horrors  through  that  miserable  city.  After  the 
death  of  Benedict,  the  papal  chair  was  filled 
by  Franco,  who  assumed  the  name  of  Boniface 
VII.,  but  enjoyed  his  dignity  only  for  a  short 
time ;  for  scarcely  a  month  had  passed  after 
his  promotion,  when  he  was  deposed  from  his 
office,  expelled  from  the  city,  and  succeeded 
by  Donus  II.,*  who  is  known  by  no  other  cir- 
cumstance than  his  name.  Upon  his  death, 
which  happened  in  975,  Benedict  VII.  was 
created  pontiff;  and,  during  the  space  of  nine 
years,  ruled  the  church  without  much  opposi- 
tion, and  ended  his  days  in  peace.  This  pecu- 
liar happiness,  without  doubt,  principally  re- 
sulted from  the  opulence  and  credit  of  the  fa- 
mily to  which  he  belonged  ;  for  he  was  nearly 
related  to  the  famous  Alberic,  whose  power, 
or  rather  despotism,  had  been  unlimited  in 
Rome. 

VII.  His  successor  John  XIV.,  who  from 
the  bishopric  of  Pavia  was  raised  to  the  ponti- 
ficate, derived  no  support  from  his  birth,  which 
was  obscure  ;  nor  did  he  continue  to  enjoy  the 
protection  of  Otho  III.,  to  whom  he  owed  his 
promotion.  Unsupported  as  he  thus  was,  ca- 
lamities fell  upon  him  with  fury,  and  misery 
concluded  his  transitory  grandeur ;  for  Boni- 
face VII.,  who  had  usurped  the  papal  throne 
in  974,  and  in  a  little  time  after  had  been  ban- 
ished from  Rome,  returned  from  Constantino- 
ple (whither  he  had  fled  for  refuge,)  seized  the 
unhappy  pontiff,  threw  him  into  prison,  and 
afterwards  put  him  to  death.  Thus  Boniface 
resumed  the  government  of  the  chm-ch ;  but 
his  reign  was  also  transitory  ;  for  he  died  about 
si.x  months  after  his  restoration.!  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  John  XV.,  whom  some  writers  call 
John  XVI.,  because,  as  they  allege,  there  was 
another  John,  who  ruled  the  chm-ch  during  a 
period  of  four  months,  and  whom  they  conse- 
quently call  John  X.V.\  Leaving  it  to  the 
reader's  choice  to  call  that  John  of  whom  we 
speak,  the  XV th  or  the  XVIth  of  that  name, 


gj"  *  Some  writers  place  Donus  II.  before  Bene- 
dict VI.  See  the  Tabulfe  Synopticae  Hist.  Eccles. 
by  the  learned  Pfaff. 

d?"  t  Fleury  says,  eleven  months. 

9[J=|  Among  these  authors,  is  the  learned  Pfaff: 
but  the  Roman  Catholic  writers,  whom  Dr.  Mosheim 
follows  «  ith  good  reason,  do  not  reckon,  among  the 
niimbRr  of  the  pontilTs,  that  John  who  governed  the 
church  of  Rome,  during  the  space  of  four  months 
after  the  death  of  Boniface  VII.,  because  he  was 
never  duly  invested,  by  consecration,  with  the  papal 
dignity. 


Chap.  H. 


we  shall  only  observe  that  he  possessed  the 
papal  dignity  from  the  year  985  to  996  ;  that 
his  administration  was  as  Imppy  as  the  trou- 
bled state  of  the  Roman  aflairs  would  permit ; 
and  that  tlie  tranquillity  he  enjoyed  was  not 
80  much  the  effect  of  his  wisdom  and  prudence, 
as  of  his  being  a  Roman  l)y  bijth,  and  a  de- 
scendant from  noble  and  illustrious  ancestors. 
It  is  certain,  at  least,  that  his  successor  Greg- 
ory v.,  who  was  a  German,  and  who  was 
elected  pontiff'  by  the  order  of  Otho  111.  in 
996,  met  with  a  quite  different  treatment;  for 
Crescens,  the  Roman  consul,  drove  him  out  of 
the  city,  and  conferred  his  dignity  upon  John 
XV'I.,  formerly  known  by  the  name  of  Phila- 
gathus.  This  revolution  was  not,  however, 
permanent  in  its  effects  ;  for  Otho  III.,  alarmed 
by  these  disturbances  at  Rome,  marched  into 
Italy  in  998,  at  the  head  of  a  powerful  army ; 
and,  imprisoning  the  new  pontiff',  whom  the 
soldiers,  in  the  first  moment  of  their  fury,  had 
maimed  and  abused  in  a  most  barbarous  man- 
ner, he  re-instated  Gregory  in  his  former 
honors.  It  was  on  the  death  of  the  latter  pon- 
tiff', which  happened  soon  after  his  restoration, 
that  the  same  emperor  raised  to  the  papal  dig- 
nitj'  his  preceptor  and  friend,  the  famous  and 
learned  Gerbert  or  Sj'lvester  II.,  whose  pro- 
motion was  attended  with  the  universal  appro- 
bation of  the  Roman  people.* 

VIII.  Amidst  these  frequent  commotions, 
and  even  amidst  the  repeated  enormities  and 
flagitious  crimes  of  those  who  gave  themselves 
out  for  Christ's  vicegerents  upon  earth,  the 
power  and  authority  of  the  Roman  pontiff's 
gradually  and  imperceptibly  increased ;  such 
were  the  eff'ects  of  t!iat  ignorance  and  super- 
stition which  reigned  witliout  control  in  these 
miserable  times.  Otho  the  Great  iiad  indeed 
published  a  solemn  edict,  prohibiting  the  elec- 
tion of  any  pontiff"  without  the  previous  know- 
ledge and  consent  of  the  emperor ;  which  de- 
cree, as  all  writers  unanimously  agree,  remain- 
ed in  force  from  the  time  of  its  publication  to 
the  conclusion  of  this  century.  It  is  also  to  be 
observed,  that  the  same  emperor  (and  likewise 
his  son  and  grandson,  who  succeeded  him  in 
the  empire)  maintained,  without  interruption, 
tlie  right  of  supnnnacy  over  the  city  of  Rome, 
its  territory,  and  its  pontiff',  as  may  be  clearly 
proved  by  a  multitude  of  examples.  It  is, 
moreover,  equally  certain  that  the  German, 
French,  and  Italian  bishops,  who  were  not  ig- 
norant of  the  nature  of  their  privileges  and  the 
extent  of  tlieir  jurisdiction,  were,  during  this 
whole  century,  perpetually  upon  their  guard 
against  every  eventual  attempt  of  the  pope  for 
the  exclusive  assumption  of  a  legislative  au- 
thority in  tiie  church.  But,  notwithstanding 
all  this,  the  bishops  of  Rome  found  the  means 
of  augmenting  their  influence,  and  i)artly  by 
open  violence,  partly  by  secret  and  fraudulent 
stratagems,  encroached,  not  only  upon  tiie 
privileges  of  the  bishops,  but  also  upon  the  ju- 


)OCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


245 


*  The  history  of  the  poiUitfd  uf  this  period  is  not 
only  extremely  barren  of  interesting  events,  biU  also 
obscnre,  anil  uncertain  in  many  respects.  In  the  ac- 
counts I  have  here  s;iven  of  them,  I  have  fi)lloweil 
principally  Lud.  Ant.  Muratori's  Annales  Italia?,  and 
the  (.'onatus  Chronologico-llistoricus  de  Komanis 
Pontificihiis,  which  the  learned  Papi>brochius prefixed 
to  his  Acta  Sanctorum  Mensis  Maii. 


risdiction  and  rights  of  kings  and  emperors.* 
Their  ambitious  attempts  were  seconded  and 
vindicated  by  the  scandalous  adulation  of  cer- 
tain mercenary  prelates,  who  exalted  the  dig- 
nity and  prerogatives  of,  what  they  called,  the 
apostolic  see,  in  the  most  pompous  and  ex- 
travagant terms.  Several  learned  writers  have 
observed,  that  in  this  century  certain  bishops 
maintained  publicly  that  the  popes  were  not 
only  bishops  of  Rome,  but  of  the  whole  world, 
an  assertion  which  hitherto  none  had  ventured 
to  make  ;t  and  that  even  among  the  French 
clergy  it  had  been  affirmed  by  some,  that  the 
authority  of  the  bishops,  thouglj  divine  in  its 
origin,  was  conveyed  to  them  by  St.  Peter,  tiie 
prince  of  the  apostles. + 

IX.  The  adventurous  ambition  of  the  bish- 
ops of  Rome,  who  left  no  means  unemployed 
to  extend  their  jurisdiction,  exhibited  an  ex- 
ample which  the  inferior  prelates  followed 
with  the  most  zealous  and  indefatigable  emu- 
lation. Several  bishops  and  abbots  had  begun, 
even  from  the  time  that  the  descendants  of 
Cliarlemagne  sat  on  the  imperial  throne,  to 
enlarge  tlieir  prerogatives,  and  had  actually 
obtained,  for  their  tenants  and  their  posses- 
sions, an  immunity  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
counts  and  other  magistrates,  as  also  from 
taxes  and  imposts  of  all  kinds.  But  in  this 
century  they  carried  their  pretensions  still 
flirtlier  ;  aimed  at  the  civil  jurisdiction  over  the 
cities  and  territories  in  which  they  exercised  a 
spiritual  dominion,  and  even  aspired  to  the 
honors  and  authority  of  dukes,  marquises,  and 
counts  of  the  empire.  Among  the  principal 
circumstances  that  animated  tlieir  zeal  in  the 
pursuit  of  these  dignities,  we  may  reckon  tlie 
perpetual  and  bitter  contests  concerning  juris- 
diction and  other  matters,  tliat  reigned  between 
the  dukes  and  counts,  who  were  governors  of 
cities,  and  the  bishops  and  abbots,  who  were 
their  spiritual  rulers.  Tlie  latter,  therefore, 
seizing  the  opportunity  that  was  off'ered  to 
them  by  the  superstition  of  the  times,  used 
every  method  that  might  be  eff'ectual  to  obtain 
tliat  high  rank,  which  had  hitherto  stood  in 
the  way  of  tlieir  ambition  ;  and  the  emperors 
and  khigs  to  whom  they  addressed  their  pre- 
sumptuous requests,  generally  granted  them, 
either  from  a  dcsin;  of  pacifying  the  conten- 
tions and  quarrels  that  arose  between  civil  and 
military  magistrates,  or  from  a  devout  reve- 
rence for  the  sacred  order,  or  with  a  view  to 
augment  their  own  authority,  and  to  confirm 
their  dominion  by  the  good  services  of  the 
bishops,  whose  influence  was  very  great  over 
the  minds  of  the  people.  Such  were  the  diff'er- 
ent  motives  that  engaged  princes  to  enlarge 
the  authority  and  jurisdiction  of  the  clergy  ; 
and  hence  we  see  from  this  century  down- 
wards so  many  bishops  and  abbots  invested 
with  characters,  employments,  and  titles  so 
foreign  to  their  spiritual  offices  and  functions, 
and  clothed  with  the  honors  of  dukes,  mar- 
quises, counts,  and  viscounts.§ 


*  Several  examples  of  these  usurpations  may  be 
found  in  the  Histoire  du  Droit  Eccles.  Francois,  torn, 
i.  p.  217,  edit,  in  8  vo. 

t  Histoire  Literaire  de  la  France,  torn.  vi.  p.  98. 

i  The  same  work,  p.  ]8ii. 

§  The  learned  Loui.s  Thoniassin,  in  his  book,  de 
Disciplina  Ecclesix  veteri  et  nova,  torn.  iii.  lib.  i. 


246 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


X.  Beside  the  reproach  of  the  grossest  igno- 
rance, which  the  Latin  clergy  in  this  century 
so  justly  deserved,*  they  were  also  chargeable, 
in  a  heinous  degree,  with  two  other  odious 
vices,  even  concubinage  and  simony,  which  the 
greatest  part  of  the  writers  of  these  unhappy 
times  acknowledge  and  deplore.  As  to  the 
former  of  these  vices,  it  was  practised  too 
openly  to  admit  any  doubt.  The  priests,  and 
what  is  still  more  surprising,  even  the  sancti- 
monious monks,  fell  victims  to  the  triumphant 
charms  of  the  sex,  and  to  the  imperious  domi- 
nion of  their  carnal  lusts;  and,  entering  into 
the  bonds  of  wedlock  or  concubinage,  squan- 
dered away  in  a  most  luxurious  manner,  with 
their  wives  and  mistresses,  the  revenues  of  the 
churcJi.j  The  other  vice  reigned  with  an  equal 
degree  of  impudence  and  licentiousness.  Elec- 
tions of  bishops  and  abbots  were  no  longer  ad- 
justed by  the  laws  of  the  church;  but  kings 
and  princes,  or  their  ministers  and  favoui'ites, 
either  conferred  these  ecclesiastical  dignities 
upon  their  friends  and  creatures,  or  sold  them, 
without  shame,  to  the  highest  bidder.J  Hence 
it  happened,  that  the  most  stupid  and  flagitious 
wretches  were  frequently  advanced  to  the  most 
important  stations  in  the  church;  and  that, 
upon  several  occasions,  even  soldiers,  civil  ma- 
gistrates, and  counts,  were  by  a  strange  meta- 
morphosis converted  into  bishops  and  abbots. 
Gregory  VII.  endeavoured,  in  the  following 
century,  to  put  a  stop  to  these  two  growing 
evils. 

XI.  While  the  monastic  orders,  among  th'e 
Greeks  and  Orientals,  still  maintained  an  ex- 
ternal appearance  of  religion  and  decency,  the 
Latin  monks,  toward  the  commencement  of 
this  century,  had  so  entirely  lost  sight  of  all 
subordination  and  discipline,  that  the  greatest 
part  of  them  knew  not  even  by  name  tlie  rule 
of  St.  Benedict,  which  they  were  obliged  to 
observe.  A  noble  Frank,  whose  name  was 
Odo,  a  man  as  learned  and  pious  as  the  igno- 
rance and  superstition  of  the  times  would  per- 


cap.  xxviii.,  has  CDllected  a  uuiliitiide  ol' (.■xauiples  lo 
prove  that  the  titles  and  prerofratives  of  dukes  and 
counts  were  conferred  upon  certain  prelates  so  early 
as  the  ninth  century  ;  and  some  bishops  trace  even 
as  far  back  as  the  eighth  century  the  beginning  of 
that  princely  dominion  which  they  now  enjoy.  But 
notwithstanding  all  this,  if  I  do  not  grossly  err, 
there  cannot  be  produced  any  evident  and  indisputa- 
ble example  of  this  princely  dominion,  previous  to 
the  tenth  century. 

*  Ratherius,  speaking  of  the  clergy  of  Verona  in 
his  Itinerarium,  which  is  published  in  the  Spicile- 
gium  of  M.  d'Acheri,  torn.  i.  p.  3S1,  says,  that  he 
found  many  among  them  who  could  not  even  repeat 
the  Apostles'  Creed.  His  words  are,  "  Sciscitatus  de 
'■  fide  illorum,  inveni  plurimos  neque  ipsum  sapere 
"  Symbolum.  qui  fuisse  creditur  Apostnlorum." 

t  That  this  custom  was  introduced  toward  the 
commencement  of  this  century  is  manifest,  from  the 
testimony  of  Ordericus  Vitalis  and  other  writers, 
I  and  also  from  a  letter  of  Mantio,  bishop  of  Chalons 
in  Champagne,  published  by  Mabillon,  in  his  Ana- 
lecta  veterura.  As  to  the  charge  brought  against  the 
Italian  monks,  of  their  spending  the  treasures  of 
the  church  upon  their  wives  or  mistresses,  see  Hugo's 
narrative  de  Monasterii  Farfensis  destructione,  in 
Muratori's  Antiq.  Ital.  medii  sevi,  torn.  vi.  p.  278. 

I  Many  infiimous  and  striking  examples  and 
proofs  of  simoniacal  practice  may  be  found  in  the 
work  entitled  Gallia  Christiana,  torn.  i.  p.  23,  37: 
tom.  ii.  p.  173,  17!).  Add  to  this  Abbonis  Apologeti- 
cum,  published  at  the  end  of  the  Codex  Canon. 
Pithsi,  p  398,  as  also  Mabillon's  Annal.  Benedict, 
tom.  v. 


mit,  endeavoured  to  remedy  this  disorder;  nor 
were  his  attempts  totally  unsuccessful.  This 
zealous  ecclesiastic  being  created,  in  927,  ab- 
bot of  Cllugni,  in  the  province  of  Burgundy, 
on  the  death  of  Berno,  not  only  obliged  the 
monks  to  live  in  a  rigorous  observance  of 
their  rules,  but  also  added  to  their  disciphne  a 
new  set  of  ceremonies,  which,  notwithstanding 
the  air  of  sanctity  that  attended  them,  were, 
in  reality,  insignificant  and  trifling,  and  yet,  at 
the  same  time,  severe  and  burthensome.*  This 
new  rule  of  discipline  covered  its  author  with 
glory,  and,  in  a  short  time,  was  adopted  in  all 
tiie  European  convents:  for  the  greatest  part 
of  the  ancient  monasteries,  which  had  been 
founded  in  France,  Germany,  Italy,  Britain, 
and  Spain,  received  the  rule  of  the  monks  of 
Clugni,  to  which  also  the  convents,  newly  es- 
tablished, were  subjected  by  their  founders; 
and  thus  it  was,  that  the  Order  of  Clugni,  at- 
tained that  high  degree  of  eminence  and  au- 
thority, opulence  and  dignity,  which  it  exhi- 
bited to  the  Christian  world  in  the  following 
century. t 

XII.  The  more  eminent  Greek  writers  of 
this  century  are  easily  numbered;  among  them 
we  find  Simeon,  high  treasurer  of  Constanti- 
nople, who,  from  his  giving  a  new  and  more 
elegant  style  to  the  Lives  of  the  Saints,  which 
had  been  originally  composed  in  a  gross  and 
barbarous  language,  was  distinguished  by  the 
title  of  IVfetaphrast,  or  Translator.^  He  did 
not,  however,  content  himself  with  digesting, 
polishing,  and  embellishing  the  saintly  chroni- 
cle, but  went  so  far  as  to  augment  it  with  a 


*  See  Mabillon,  Annal.  Benedict,  tom.  iii.  p.  386, 
and  Pr<ef.  ad  Acta  Sanct.  Ord.  Benedict.  Ssec.  v.  p.. 
2(3.  See  also  the  Acta  Sanctor.  Bened.  Sac.  v.  p.  titj, 
in  which  he  speaks  largely  of  Berno,  the  first  abbot 
of  Clugni,  who  laid  the  foundations  of  that  order, 
and  of  Odo  (p.  122,)  who  gave  it  a  new  degree  of 
perfection.  The  learned  Helyot,  in  his  Histoire  des 
Ordres  Religienses,  tom.  v.  p.  iS4,  has  given  a  com- 
plete and  elegant  history  of  the  order  of  Clugni;  and 
the  subsequent  state  of  that  famous  monastery  is 
described  by  Martenne,  in  his  Voyage  Liter,  de  deux 
Benedict,  part  i.  p.  227. 

t  The  inajority  of  ecclesiastical  historians  do  not 
appear  to  have  perceived  the  true  meaning  and  force 
(if  the  word  order  in  its  application  to  the  Cistertian 
monks,  those  of  Clugni,  and  other  convents.  They 
imagine  that  this  term  signifies  a  new  monastic  in- 
stitution, as  if  the  Order  of  Clugni  imported  a  new 
sect  of  monks  never  before  heard  of.  But  this  is  ap- 
parently a  great  error,  into  which  they  fall  by  con- 
founding the  ancient  meaning  of  that  term  with  the 
sense  in  which  it  is  used  in  modern  times.  The 
word  order,  when  employed  by  the  writers  of  the 
tenth  century,  signified  no  more  at  first  than  a  cer- 
tain form  or  rule  of  monastic  discipline;  but,  from 
this  primitive  signification,  another  (a  secondary 
one)  was  gradually  derived:  so  that  by  the  same 
word  is  also  understood,  an  association  or  confede- 
racy of  several  monasteries,  subjected  to  the  same 
rule  of  discipline  under  the  jurisdiction  and  inspec- 
tion of  one  common  chief  Hence  we  conclude,  that 
the  Order  of  Clugni  was  not  a  new  sect  of  monks, 
such  as  were  the  Carthusian,  Dominican,  and  Fran- 
ciscan Orders;  but  signified,  only,  first,  that  new  in- 
stitution, or  rule  of  discipline,  which  Odo  had  pre- 
scribed to  the  Benedictine  monks,  who  were  settled 
at  Clugni,  and,  afterviards,  that  prodigious  multi- 
tude of  monasteries  throughout  Europe,  which  re- 
ceived the  rule  established  at  Clugni,  and  were 
formed  by  association  into  a  sort  of  community,  of 
which  the  abbot  of  Clugni  was  the  chief. 

X  See  Leo  Allatius,  de  Simeonum  Scriptis,  p.  i24.— 
Jo.  RoUandus,  Prief.  ad  Acta  Sanctorum  Antwerp. 
sect.  iii.  p.  6. 


Chap.  III. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


247 


multitude  of  trifling  fables  drawn  from  the  te- 
cundity  of  his  own  imagination. 

Nicon,  an  Armenian  monk,  composed  a 
treatise  concerning  the  Religion  of  tlie  Arme- 
nians, whicli  is  not  altogether  contemptible. 

Some  place  in  this  century  Olynipiodorus 
and  CEcmnenius,*  vvlio  distinguished  them- 
selves by  those  compilations  which  were 
known  by  the  name  of  Calencc,  or  Chains,  and 
of  wliicli  we  have  had  occasion  to  speak  more 
than  once  in  the  course  of  this  history.  But  it 
is  by  no  means  certain,  that  tliese  two  writers 
belong  to  the  tenth  century,  and  they  are 
placed  there  only  by  conjecture. 

It  is  much  more  probable,  that  the  learned 
Suidas,  author  of  tlie  celebrated  Greek  Lexi- 
con, lived  in  the  period  now  before  us. 

Among  the  Arabians,  no  author  acquired  a 
higher  reputation  than  Eutycliius,  bishop  of 
Alexandria,  whose  Annals,  with  several  other 
productions  of  his  learned  pen,  are  still  extant. t 

XIII.  The  most  eminent  of  the  Latin  writers 
of  this  century  was  Gerbert,  or  Sylvester  II., 
who  has  already  been  mentioned  with  tlie  ap- 
plause due  to  his  singular  merit-  The  other 
writers  of  this  age  were  not  very  eminent  in 
any  respect. 

Odo,  who  laid  the  foundations  of  the  cele- 
brated Order  of  Clugui,  left  several  productions 
m  which  the  grossest  superstition  reigns,  and 
in  whicli  it  is  difficult  to  perceive  the  smallest 
marks  of  true  genius  or  solid  judgment.]: 

The  learned  reader  will  form  a  different 
opinion  of  Ratlieir,  bishoj)  of  Verona,  whose 
works,  yet  extant,  afford  evident  proofs  of  sa- 
gacity and  judgment,  and  breathe  throughout 
an  ardent  love  of  virtue.  § 

Atto,  bishop  of  Vercelli,  composed  a  treatise, 
depressuris  Ecclesiasticis,  i.  e.  concerning  tlie 
Sufferings  and  Grievances  of  the  Church, 
which  shows  in  their  true  colours  the  spirit 
and  complexion  of  the  times. || 

Dunstan,  the  famous  abbot  of  Glastonbury, 
and  afterwards  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  com- 
posed in  favour  of  the  monks  a  book  de  Con- 
cordia Regularwn,  i.  e.  concerning  the  Harmo- 
ny of  the  Monastic  Rules.H 

Elfric,  archbisliop  of  Canterbury,  acquired  a 
considerable  reputation,  among  the  Anglo- 
Saxons  established  in  Britain,  by  various  pro- 
ductions.** 

Burchard,  bishop  of  Worms,  is  highly  es- 
teemed among  the  canonists  on  account  of  his 
celebrated  Decreta,  divided  into  twenty  books, 
though  a  part  of  the  merit  of  this  collection  of 
canons  may  be  considered  as  due  to  Olbert, 
with  whose  assistance  it  was  composed. ff 


*  For  an  account  of  Q^Icuuicnius,  see  Montfau 
con's  Biblioth.  Coisliniuna,  p.  '274. 

t  See  Jo.  Allxjrt.  Fabricii  IJihliofrrapliia  Antiqiia 
ria,  p.  179, — as  also  Euscbii  Rcnamloti  llistoria  Pa 
triarch.  Alexandr.  p.  347. 

t  Histoirc  Literaire  de  la  France,  torn.  vi.  p.  22'J. 

I  Id.  ibid.  p.  33i». 

i  Id.  ibid.  p.  281. 

HI?'  IT  See  the  ample  account  that  is  given  of  this 
eminent  prelate  in  Collier's  Ecclesiastical  History 
of  England,  vol.  i.  cent.  x.  p.  181,  183,  &.c. 

jg=.  *«  We  have  a  Grammar  and  a  Dictionary  com 
posed  by  this  learned  prelate;  as  also  an  Aiiylo 
Saxon  translation  of  the  lirst  books  of  the  Holy 
Scripture,  a  History  of  the  Church,  and  180  sermons, 
See  Fleury,  Hist.  F,ccl.  livre  Iviii. 

tt  See  the  Chronicon  Wormaliense  in  Ludvvig's 


Odilo,  archbishop  of  Lyons,"  was  the  author 
of  some  insipid  discourses,  and  other  produc- 
tions, whose  mediocrity  has  almost  sunk  them 
in  a  total  oblivion. 

As  to  the  historical  writers  and  annalists 
who  lived  in  this  century,  their  works  and  abi- 
lities have  been  already  considered  in  their 
proper  place. 

CHAPTER  ni. 

Concerning  the  Doctrine  of  the  Christian  Church 
during  this  Centwy. 

I.  The  state  of  religion  in  this  century  was 
such  as  might  be  expected  in  times  of  prevail- 
ing ignorance  and  corruption.  The  most  im- 
portant doctrines  of  Cliristianity  were  disfi- 
gured and  perverted  in  the  most  wretched 
manner;  and  such  as  had  preserved,  in  luiskil- 
ful  hands,  their  primitive  purity,  were  never- 
theless obscured  with  a  multitude  of  vain  opi- 
nions and  idle  fancies,  so  that  their  intrinsic 
excellence  and  lustre  were  little  attended  to. 
This  will  appear  evident  to  those  who  look 
with  the  smallest  degree  of  attention  into  the 
writers  of  this  age.  Both  Greeks  and  Latins 
placed  the  essence  and  life  of  religion  in  the 
worship  of  images  and  departed  saints;  in 
seeking  with  zeal,  and  preserving  with  a  de- 
vout care  and  veneration,  the  sacred  relics  of 
holy  men  and  women,  and  in  accumulating 
riches  upon  the  priests  and  monks,  whose  opu- 
lence increased  with  the  progress  of  supersti^ 
tion.  Scarcely  did  any  Christian  dare  to  ap- 
proach the  throne  of  God,  without  rendering 
first  the  saints  and  images  propitious  by  a  so- 
lemn round  of  expiatory  rites  and  lustrations. 
The  ardour  with  whicli  relics  were  sought 
almost  surpasses  credibility;  it  had  seized  all 
ranks  and  orders  among  the  people,  and  had 
become  a  sort  of  fanaticism  and  phrensy;  and, 
if  the  monks  are  to  be  believed,  the  Supreme 
Being  interposed,  in  a  special  and  extraordi- 
nary manner,  to  discover,  to  doting  old  wo- 
men and  bareheaded  friars,  the  places  where 
the  bones  or  carcases  of  the  saints  lay  dis- 
persed or  interred.  The  fears  of  purgatory, 
of  that  fire  which  was  to  destroy  the  remaining 
iinpm'ities  of  departed  souls,  were  now  carried 
to  the  greatest  height,  and  far  exceeded  the 
terrifying  apprehension  of  infernal  torments; 
for  they  hoped  to  avoid  the  latter  easily,  by 
dying  enriched  with  the  prayers  of  the  clergy, 
or  covered  with  the  merits  and  mediation  of 
the  saints,  while  from  the  pains  of  purgatory 
they  thought  there  was  no  exemption.  The 
clergy,  therefore,  finding  these  superstitious 
terrors  admirably  adapted  to  increase  their 
authority  and  to  promote  their  interest,  used 
every  method  to  augment  them;  and  by  the 
most  pathetic  discourses,  accompanied  with 
monstrous  fables  and  fictitious  miracles,  they 
laboured  to  establish  the  doctrine  of  purgatory, 
and  also  to  make  it  appear  that  they  had  a 
mighty  influence  in  that  formidable  region. 


Keliquiie  Manuscriptoruni,  toni.  ii.  p.  43. — Histoire 
Liter,  de  la  France,  toin.  vii.  p.  295. 

LCI"*  Odilo  was  abbot  of  C'lugni,  and  not  archbi- 
shop of  Lyons;  for  he  obstinately  refused  the  latter 
.station,  notwithstanding  the  urgent  entreaties  em- 
ployed both  by  pontiffs  and  emperors  lo  engage  him 
to  accept  It.    See  Fleiuy   Hist.  Ecel.  livre  lix. 


248 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  H. 


II.  The  contests  concerning  predestination 
and  grace,  as  also  concerning  the  eucharist, 
that  had  agitated  the  churcli  in  the  preceding 
century,  were  in  tliis  happily  reduced  to  si- 
lence. This  was  tlie  result  of  the  mutual  tole- 
ration that  was  practised  by  the  contending 
parties,  who,  as  we  learn  from  writers  of  un- 
doubted credit,  left  it  to  each  other's  free 
choice  to  retain,  or  to  change  their  former 
opinions.  Besides,  the  ignorance  and  stupidity 
of  this  degenerate  age  were  ill  suited  to  such 
deep  inquiries  as  these  contests  demanded;  nor 
was  there  any  great  degree  of  curiosity  among 
an  illiterate  multitude  to  know  tlie  opinions 
of  the  ancient  doctors  concerning  these  and 
other  knotty  points  of  theology.  Thus  it  hap- 
pened, that  the  followers  of  Angustin  and  Pe- 
lagius  flourished  equally  in  this  century;  and 
that,  if  there  were  many  who  maintained  the 
corporal  presence  of  the  body  and  blood  of 
Christ  in  the  holy  sacrament,  there  were  still 
more  who  either  came  to  no  fixed  determina- 
tion upon  this  point,  or  declared  it  publicly  as 
their  opinion,  that  the  divine  Saviour  was 
really  absent  from  the  eucharistical  sacrament, 
and  was  received  only  by  a  certain  inward  im- 
pulse of  faith,  in  a  manner  wholly  spiritual.* 
This  mutual  toleration,  as  it  is  easy  to  con- 
clude from  what  has  been  already  observed, 
must  not  be  attributed  either  to  the  wisdom  or 
virtue  of  an  age,  which  was  almost  totally 
destitute  of  both.  The  truth  of  the  matter  is, 
that  the  divines  of  this  century  wanted  both 
the  capacity  and  the  inclination  to  attack  or 
defend  any  doctrine,  whose  refutation  or  de- 
fence required  the  smallest  portion  of  learning 
or  logic. 

III.  That  the  whole  Christian  world  was 
covered,  at  this  time,  witli  a  thick  and  gloomy 
veil  of  superstition,  is  evident  from  a  prodi- 
gious number  of  testimonies  and  examples, 
which  it  is  needless  to  mention.  This  horrible 
cloud,  which  hid  ahnost  every  ray  of  truth 
from  the  eyes  of  tlie  multitude,  fm-nished  the 
priests  and  monks  with  many  opportunities  of 
propagating  absurd  and  ridiculous  opinions, 
which  contributed  not  a  little  to  confirm  their 
credit.  Among  these  opinions,  which  so  fre- 
quently dishonoured  the  Latin  church,  and 
produced  from  time  to  time  such  violent  agita- 
tions, none  occasioned  such  a  general  panic, 
or  such  dreadful  impressions  of  terror  or  dis- 
may, as  a  notion  tliat  now  prevailed  of  the  im- 
mediate approach  of  the  day  of  judgment. 
This  notion,  which  took  its  rise  from  a  re- 
markable passage  in  the  Revelations  of  St. 


*  It  is  certain,  that  the  Latin  theologians  of  this 
century  differed  much  in  their  sentiments  about  the 
manner  in  which  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  were 
present  in  the  eucharist;  this  is  granted  by  such  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  writers  as  have  been  ingenuous 
enough  to  sacrifice  the  spirit  of  party  to  the  love  of 
truth.  That  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  as 
it  is  commonly  called,  was  unknown  to  the  English 
in  this  century,  has  been  abundantly  proved  from 
the  public  homilies,  by  Rapin  de  Thoyras,  in  his 
History  of  England,  vol.  i.  It  is,  however,  to  be 
confessed,  on  the  other  hand,  that  this  absurd  doc- 
trine was  already  adopted  by  several  French  and 
German  divines.  Hi"  For  a  more  judicious  account 
of  the  opinions  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  church  roncern- 
ins  the  eucharist.  see  Collier's  Ecclesiastical  History 
of  Great  Britain,  vol.  i.  cent.  x. 


John,*  and  had  been  entertained  by  some  doc- 
tors in  the  preceding  century,  was  advanced 
publicly  by  many  at  this  time;  and,  spreading 
itself  with  an  amazing  rapidity  through  the 
European  provinces,  it  threw  them  into  the 
deepest  consternation  and  anguish:  for  they 
imagined  that  St.  John  had  clearly  foretold 
that,  after  a  thousand  years  from  the  birth  of 
Christ,  Satan  was  t£>  be  let  loose  from  his  pri- 
son; that  Antichrist  was  to  come,  and  the  con- 
flagration and  destruction  of  the  world  were 
to  follow  these  great  and  terrible  events. 
Hence  prodigious  numbers  of  people  abandon- 
ed all  their  civil  connexions  and  their  parental 
relations,  and,  giving  over  to  the  churches  or 
monasteries  all  their  lands,  treasures,  and 
worldly  effects,  repaired  vyith  the  utmost  pre- 
cipitation to*  Palestine,  where  they  imagined 
that  Christ  would  descend  from  heaven  to 
judge  the  world.  Others  devoted  themselves 
by  a  solemn  and  voluntary  oath  to  the  service 
of  the  churches,  convents,  and  priesthood, 
whose  slaves  they  became,  in  the  most  rigor- 
ous sense  of  that  word,  perfomiing  daily  their 
heavy  tasks;  and  all  this  from  a  notion  that  the 
Supreme  Judge  would  diminish  the  severity 
of  their  sentence,  and  look  upon  them  with  a 
more  favourable  and  propitious  eye,  on  ac- 
count of  their  having  made  themselves  the 
slaves  of  his  ministers.  When  an  eclipse  of 
the  sun  or  moon  happened  to  be  visible,  the 
cities  were  deserted,  and  their  miserable  inha- 
bitants fled  for  refuge  to  deep  caverns,  and  hid 
themselves  among  the  craggy  rocks,  and  im- 
der  the  benduig  summits  of  steep  mountains. 
The  opulent  attempted  to  bribe  the  Deity,  and 
the  saintly  tribe,  by  rich  donations  conferred 
upon  the  sacerdotal  and  monastic  orders,  who 
were  regarded  as  the  immediate  vicegerents 
of  heaven.  Li  many  places,  temples,  palaces, 
and  noble  edifices,  both  public  and  private, 
were  sufi'ered  to  decay,  and  were  even  delibe- 
rately pulled  down,  from  a  notion  that  they 
were  no  longer  of  any  use,  since  the  final  dis- 
solution of  all  things  approached.  In  a  word, 
no  language  is  sufficient  to  express  the  confu- 
sion and  despair  that  tormented  the  minds  of 
miserable  mortals  upon  this  occasion.  This 
general  delusion  was,  indeed,  opposed  and 
combated  by  the  discerning  few,  who  endea- 
voured to  dispel  these  groimdless  terrors,  and 
to  efface  the  notion  from  which  they  arose,  in 
the  minds  of  the  people.  But  their  attempts 
were  ineffectual;  nor  could  the  dreadful  ap- 
prehensions of  the  superstitious  multitude  be 
entirely  removed  before  the  conclusion  of  this 
century.      Then,   when  they   saw   that    the 


dts^*  The  passage  here  referred  to,  is  in  the  twen- 
tieth chapter  of  the  Book  of  Revelations,  at  the  2d, 
3<i,  and  4th  verses:  "And  he  took  hold  of  the  dragon, 
"  that  old  serpent,  which  is  the  devil  and  Satan,  and 
"  bound  him  a  thousand  years; — and  cast  him  into 
"the  bottomless  pit,  and  shut  him  up,  and  set  a  seal 
"  upon  him,  that  he  should  deceive  the  nations  no 
"  more  till  the  thousand  years  should  be  fulfilled; 
"  and  after  that  he  must  be  loosed  a  little  season. — 
"  And  I  saw  thrones,  and  they  sat  upon  them,  and 
"judgment  was  given  unto  them;  and  I  saw  the 
"  souls  of  them  that  were  beheaded  for  the  witness 
"of  Jesus,  and  for  the  word  of  God,  and  which  had 
"not  worshipped  the  beast,  neither  his  image,  nei- 
"  ther  had  received  his  mark  upon  their  foreheads,  or 
"  in  their  hands;  and  they  lived  and  reigned  with 
"Christ  a  thousand  years." 


Chap.  III. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


249 


dreaded  period  had  passed  witliout  the  arrival 
of  any  great  calamity,  tliey  began  to  under- 
stand tliat  St.  John  had  not  really  foretold 
what  they  so  much  feared.* 

IV.  The  number  of  the  saints,  who  were 
looked  upon  as  ministers  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  and  wliose  j)alronage  was  esteemed 
such  an  unspeakable  blessing,  had  now  an  ex- 
traordinary increase  ;  and  the  celestial  courts 
were  tilled  with  new  legions  of  this  species  of 
beings,  some  of  which,  as  we  have  had  former- 
ly occasion  to  observe,  had  no  existence  but  in 
the  imagination  of  their  deluded  clients  and 
worshippers.  This  multiplication  of  saints 
may  be  easily  accounted  for,  when  we  consider 
that  superstition,  the  source  of  fear,  had  risen 
to  such  an  enormous  height  in  this  age,  as  ren- 
dered the  creation  of  new  patrons  necessary  to 
cahn  the  anxiety  of  trembling  mortals.  Be- 
sides, the  corruption  and  impiety  that  now 
reigned  with  a  horrid  sway,  and  the  licentious- 
ness and  dissolution  that  had  so  generally  in- 
fected all  ranks  and  orders  of  men,  rendered 
the  reputation  of  sanctity  very  easy  to  be  ac- 
quired ;  for,  amidst  such  a  perverse  generation, 
it  demanded  no  great  efforts  of  virtue  to  be 
esteemed  holy,  and  this,  no  doubt,  contributed 
to  increase  considerably  the  number  of  the  ce- 
lestial advocates.  All  those,  to  whom  nature 
had  given  an  austere  complexion,  a  gloomy 
temper,  or  enthusiastic  imagination,  were,  in 
consequence  of  an  advantageous  comparison 
with  the  profligate  multitude,  revered  as  the 
favorites  of  heaven  and  the  friends  of  God. 

The  Roman  pontiff,  who  before  this  period 
had  pretended  to  the  right  of  creating  saints 
by  his  sole  authority,  gave,  in  this  century,  the 
fu'st  specimen  of  this  spiritual  power ;  for  in 
the  preceding  ages  there  is  no  example  of  his 
having  exercised  this  privilege  alone.  This 
specimen  was  given  in  993,  by  John  XV., 
who,  with  all  the  formalities  of  a  solemn  ca- 
nonization, enrolled  Udalric,  bishop  of  Augs- 
burg, in  the  number  of  the  saints,  and  thus 
conferred  upon  iiiin  a  title  to  the  worship  and 
veneration  of  Christians.!   We  must  not,  how- 

*  Almosl  all  the  donations  that  were  made  to  tlic 
church  (luring  this  century,  bear  evident  marks  of 
this  groundless  panic  that  had  seized  all  the  Euro- 
pean nations,  as  the  reasons  of  these  donations  are 
cenorally  expressed  in  the  folfowiiig  words:  "  Appro- 
"pinquante  mundi  tcrmino,"  &c.  i.  e.  "The  end  of 
"the  world  being  now  at  hand,"  &c.  Among  the 
many  undeniable  testimonies  that  we  have  from 
ancient  records  of  this  universal  delusion,  that  was 
80  profitable  to  the  sacerdotal  order,  we  shall  confine 
ours(!lves  to  the  quotation  of  one  very  remarkable 
passage  in  the  Apologeticum  of  Ahl)o,  abbot  of 
Fleury,  adversns  Arnulphum,  i.  e.  Arnoul  bishop  (jf 
Orleans:  which  apology  is  published  by  the  learrnd 
Francis  Pithou,  in  the  Codex  Oanonum  Ecclesix 
Komanae,  p.  -lOl.  The  words  of  Ahbo  are  as  follow: 
'■  I)e  fine  quotpie  mundi  coram  populo  sermonem  in 
ecclcsia  I'arisiorura  adolescentulus  audivi.  quod  sta- 
tiin  finito  mille  annorum  numoro  Antichristus  ad- 
venirct,  et  non  longo  post  tempore  \iniversale  judi- 
cium suroederet;  cui  pra;dicationi  ex  evangidiis,  ac 
apfM-alypsi,  et  lihro  Danielis,  qua  potui  virtute  res- 
titi.  Deniqne  et  errorem,  qui  liv  fine  nnindi  inolevit, 
abbas  mens  beata;  memoriae  Richardns  sagaci  aninio 
propulit,  postquain  literas  a  Loihariensibus  acccpit, 
quihiis  me  respondere  .jnssit.  Nam  fama  |)ri'uc  tdtuin 
mnndum  impleverat,  quod,  quando  Anunnciatio  Do- 
minica in  Pnrasceve  contigisset,  absque  ullo  scru- 
pulo  finis  sa-culi  esset. 

f  Franc.  Pagi  Breviar  Pontif  Roman,  torn.  ii.  p 
259. 

Vol.  I.— 32 


ever,  hence  conclude,  that  after  this  period  the 
privilege  of  canonizing  new  saints  was  vested 
solely  in  the  pontiff's  ;*  for  there  are  several 
examples  upon  record,  which  prove,  that  not 
only  provincial  councils,  but  also  several  of  the 
first  order  among  the  bishops,  advanced  to  the 
rank  of  saints  such  as  they  thought  worthy  of 
that  high  dignity,  and  continued  thiLs  to  aug- 
ment the  celestial  patrons  of  the  church,  with- 
out consulting  the  pope,  until  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury.|  Then  Alexander  III.  abrogated  this 
privilege  of  the  bisho])s  and  councils,  and 
j)laced  canonizatinn  in  tlie  number  of  the  more 
important  acts  of  authority,!  which  the  sove- 
reign pontiff  alone,  by  a  peculiar  prerogative, 
was  entitled  to  exercise. 

V.  The  expositors  and  commentators,  who 
attempted  in  this  century  to  illustrate  and  ex- 
plain the  sacred  writings,  were  too  mean  in 
their  abilities,  and  too  unsuccessful  in  their 
midertakings,  to  deserve  more  than  a  slight 
and  transient  notice  ;  for  it  is  extremely  uncer- 
tain, whether  or  no  the  works  of  Olympiodorus 
and  fficumenius  are  to  be  considered  as  the  pro- 
ductions of  this  age.  Among  the  Latins,  Remi, 
or  Remigius,  bishop  of  Auxerre,  continued 
the  exposition  of  the  Scriptures,  which  he  had 
begun  in  the  preceding  century  ;  but  his  work 
is  highly  defective  in  various  respects;  for  he 
took  very  little  pains  in  explaining  the  literal 
sense  of  the  words,  and  employed  the  whole 
force  of  his  fantastic  genius  in  unfolding  their 
pretended  mystical  signification,  which  he 
looked  upon  as  infinitely  more  interesting  than 
their  plain  and  literal  meaning.  Besides,  his 
explications  are  rarely  the  fruit  of  his  own  ge- 
nius and  invention,  but  are,  generally  speak- 
ing, mere  compilations  from  ancient  commen- 
tators. As  to  the  Moral  Observations  of  Odo 
upon  the  book  of  Job,§  they  are  transcribed 
from  a  work  of  Gregory  the  G  reat,  which  bears 
the  same  title.  We  mention  no  more ;  if, 
however,  any  are  desirous  of  an  ample  account 
of  those  who  were  esteemed  the  principal  com- 
mentators in  this  century,  they  will  find  it  in  a 
book  written  professedly  upon  tliis  subject  by 
Notkcrus  Balbulus. 

VI.  The  science  of  theology  was  absolutely 
abandoned  in  this  century  ;  nor  did  either  the 
Greek  or  Latin  church  furnish  any  writer  who 
attempted  to  explain  in  a  regular  method  the 
doctrines  of  Christianity.  The  Greeks  were 
contented  with  the  works  of  Damascenus,  and 
the  Latins  with  those  of  Augiistin  and  Grego- 
ry, v/ho  were  now  considered  as  the  greatest 
doctors  that  had  adorned  the  church.  Some 
added  to  these  the  writings  of  the  venerable 
Hede  arid  Rabanus  Maurus.  The  moral  science 
was  still  more  neglected  than  that  of  theology 
in  this  wretched  age,  and  was  reduced  to  a 
certain  number  of  dry  and  insi[)id  homilies, 
and  to  the  lives  of  the  saints,  which  Simeon 
among   the   Greeks   and   Hubald,    Odo,  and 


•*  This  absurd  opinion  has  been  maintained  with 
warmth  by  Phil,  lionanni,  in  his  Niunismata  Pon- 
tif. liomanorum,  torn.  i.  p.  41. 

t  i^ie  I'rane.  Pagi  Breviar.  torn.  ii.  p.  260 ;  tom.  iii. 
p.  ;tO. — Arm.de  la  Cha|x;lle,  Biblioth.  .\ngloise.  tom. 
X.  p.  105. — Mabillon,  Prii;fat.  ad  i^wc.  v.  Benedict  p. 
53. 

t  These  were  called  the  Cause  Majores. 

§  Moxalia  in  Joburn. 


250 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  U. 


Stephen,*  among-  tlie  Latins,  liad  drawn  up 
with  a  seducing  eloqucnco  that  covered  tlie 
most  impertinent  fictions.  Such  was  the  mi- 
serable slate  of  morals  and  theology  in  this 
century;  in  which,  we  may  add,  there  did  not 
appear  any  defence  of  tlie  Christian  religion 
against  its  professed  enciuies. 

Vn.  The  controversies  between  t'lie  Greek 
and  Latin  churches,  were  now  carried  on  with 
less  noise  and  impetuosity  than  in  the  prece- 
ding century,  on  account  of  the  troubles  and 
calamities  of  the  times;  yet  they  wore  not  en- 
tirely reduced  to  silence. f  The  writers  there- 
fore who  affirm,  that  this  unhappy  schism  was 
healed,  and  that  the  contending  parties  were 
really  reconciled  to  eacli  other  for  a  certain 
space  of  time,  have  grossly  mistaken  the  mat- 
ter il  tiiough  it  be,  indeed,  true,  that  tlie  tu- 
mults of  tlie  times  produced  now  and  then  a 
cessation  of  these  contests,  and  occasioned  sev- 
eral truces,  which  insidiously  concealed  the 
bitterest  enmity,  and  served  often  as  a  cover  to 
the  most  treacherous  designs.  The  Greeks 
were,  moreover,  divided  among  themselves, 
and  disputed  with  great  warmth  concerning 
the  lawfulness  of  repeated^  marriages,  to 
which  violent  contest  the  cause  of  Leo,  sur- 
nanied  the  Philosopher,  gave  rise.  I'liis  em- 
peror, having  buried  successively  three  wives 
without  having  had  by  them  any  male  issue, 
espoused  a  fourth,  whose  name  was  Zoe  C"ar- 
binopsina,  and  who  was  born  in  the  obscurity 
of  a  mean  condition.  As  marriages  contracted 
for  the  fourth  time  were  pronounced  impure 
and  milawful  by  the  Greek  canons,  Nicolas, 
the  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  suspended  the 
emperor,  on  this  occasion,  from  the  commu- 
nion of  the  church.  Leo,  incensed  at  this 
rigorous  proceeding,  deprived  Nicolas  of  tlie 
patriarchal  dignity,  and  raised  Euthymius  to 
that  high  office,  who,  though  he  re-admitted 
the  emperor  to  the  basom  of  the  church,  op- 
posed the  law  which  he  had  resolved  to  enact 
in  order  to  render  fourth  marriages  lawtul. 
Upon  this  a  schism,  attended  with  the  bitter- 
est animosities,  divided  the  clergy ;  one  part 
of  which  declared  for  Nicolas,  the  other  for 
Euthymius.  Some  time  after  this,  Leo  died, 
and  was  succeeded  in  the  empire  by  Alexan- 
der, who  deposed  Euthymius,  and  restored 
Nicolas  to  his  eminent  rank  in  the  churcji.  No 
sooner  was  this  zealous  patjiarch  re-instated 
in  his  office,  than  he  began  to  load  the  memory 
of  the  late  emperor  with  the  bitterest  execra- 
tions and  the  most  opprobrious  invectives,  and 
to  maintain  the  unlawfulness  of  fourth  mar- 
riages with  the  utmost  obstinacy.  Li  order  to 
appease  these  tumults,  which  portended  num- 
berless calamities  to  the  state,  ConsUintine 
Porphyrogeneta,  convoked  an  assembly  of  the 
clergy  of  Constantinople,  in  920,   in  which 


*  Bishop  of  Liege. 

t  Mich.  Lequieii,  Dissert,  i.  Damascenica  de  I'rn- 
cessione  Spiritus  Saiicti,  sect.  .xiii. — p.  1-i. — Fred. 
Spaiiheim,  de  perpetua  Disseiisioiie  Ecclesiie  Orien- 
tal, ct  Occidental,  part  iv.  sect,  vii  p.  5-2'J,  toni.  ii. 
op. 

t  Leo  Allatius,  de  perpetua  Consensione  Ecclesia; 
Orient,  et  Occident,  lib.  ii.  cap.  vii.,  viii.  p.  liOO. 

0(7- §  Fourth  marri.iges  our  author  nudoulrtedly 
means, -since second  and  third  nuptials  wcic  allowed 
on  certain  conditions. 


fourth  marriages  were  absolutely  prohibited, 
and  marriages  for  the  third  time  were  permit- 
ted on  certain  conditions  ;  and  thus  the  public 
tranquillity  was  restored.* 

Several  other  contests  of  like  moment  arose 
among  the  Greeks  during  this  century ;  and 
they  serve  to  convince  us  of  the  ignorance  that 
prevailed  among  that  people,  and  of  their  blind 
veneration  and  zeal  for  the  opinions  of  their 
ancestors. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Conceraiitg  the  Rites  and  Ceremonies  used  in 
the  Church  daring  this  Century. 

I.  In  order  to  liave  some  notion  of  the  load 
of  ceremonies  under  which  the  Christian  reli- 
gion groaned  during  this  superstitious  age,  we 
have  only  to  cast  an  eye  upon  the  acts  of  the 
various  councils  which  were  assembled  in  Eng- 
land, Germany,  France,  and  Italy.  The  num- 
ber of  ceremonies  increased  in  jiroportion  to 
that  of  the  saints,  which  multiplied  from  day 
to  day ;  for  each  new  saintly  jjatron  had  ap- 
propriated to  his  service  a  new  festival,  a  new 
form  of  Worship,  a  new  round  of  religious  rites-, 
and  the  clergy,  notwithstanding  their  gross 
stupidity  in  other  matters,  discovered,  in  the 
creation  of  new  ceremonies,  a  marvellous  fer- 
tility of  invention,  attended  with  the  utmost 
dexterity  and  artifice.  It  is  also  to  be  observed, 
that  a  great  part  of  these  new  rites  derived 
their  origin  from  the  various  errors  which  the 
barbarous  nations  had  received  from  their  an- 
cestors, and  still  retained,  even  after  their  con- 
version to  Christianity.  The  clergy,  instead 
of  extirpating  these  errors,  either  gave  them  a 
Christian  aspect  by  inventing  certain  religious 
rites  to  cover  their  deformity,  or  by  e.xplaining 
them  ill  a  forced  allegorical  manner ;  and  thus 
they  were  perpetuated  in  the  church,  and  de- 
voutly transmitted  from  age  to  age.  We  may 
also  attribute  a  considerable  number  of  the 
rites  and  institutions,  that  dishonored  religion 
in  this  century,  to  absurd  notions  both  con- 
cerning the  Supreme  Being  and  departed 
saints ;  for  it  was  imagined  that  God  was  like 
the  princes  and  great  ones  of  the  earth,  who 
are  rendered  propitious  by  costly  presents,  and 
are  delighted  with  those  cringing  salutations, 
and  other  marks  of  veneration  and  homage, 
which  they  receive  from  their  subjects ;  and 
it  was  believed  likewise,  that  departed  spirits 
were  agreeably  affected  with  the  same  kind  of 
services. 

II.  Tlie  famous  yearly  festival  that  was 
celebrated  in  remembrance  of  all  departed 
souls,  was  instituted  by  the  authority  of  Odilo, 
abbot  of  Clugni,  and  added  to  the  Latin  calen- 
dar toward  the  conclusion  of  this  century,  f 
Before  this  time,  a  custom  had  been  introduced 
in  many  places  of  offering  up  prayers  on  cer- 
tain days,  for  the  souls  that  were  confined  in 
purg-atory;  but  these  prayers  were  made  by 
each  religious  society,  only  for  its  own  mem- 
bers, friends,  and  patrons.     The  pious  zeal  of 


*  These  facts  are  faithfully  collected  from  Cedre- 
nus,  Leunclavius  de  Jure  GrscoRom.  tom.  i.  p.  104, 
from  Leo  the  Grammarian.  Simeon  the  Treasurer, 
and  other  writers  of  the  Bvzantine  history. 

t  In  the  year  998. 


Chap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


Odilo  could  not  be  confined  within  such  nar- 
row limits ;  and  lie  therefore  extended  the  bene- 
fit of  tiicse  prayers  to  all  tlie  souls  that  labored 
under  the  pains  and  trials  of  purgatorj'.*  To 
this  proceeding  Odilo  was  prompted  by  the  ex- 
hortations of  a  Sicilian  hermit,  who  pretended 
to  have  learned,  by  an  immediate  revelation 
from  heaven,  that  the  prayers  of  the  monks  of 
Cluirni  would  be  etlectual  for  the  deliverance 
of  departed  s]iirits  from  tlic  e.vpiatory  Hames 
of  a  juiddlc  state. 1  Accordingly  this  festival 
was,  at  first,  celebrated  only  by  the  congrega- 
tion of  C'lugni ;  but,  having  afterwards  received 
the  approbation  of  one  of  the  popes,  it  was,  by 
iiis  order,  kept  with  particular  devotion  in  all 
the  Latin  churches. 

III.  The  worship  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  which, 
before  this  century,  had  been  carried  to  a  very 
high  degree  of  idolatry,  now  received  new  ac- 
cessions of  solenmity  and  superetition.  Near 
the  close  of  this  century,  a  custom  was  intro- 
duced among  the  Latins  of  celebrating  masses, 
and  abstaining  from  flesh,  in  honor  of  the  bless- 
ed Virgin,  every  Sabbath  day.  After  this,  what 
the  Latins  called  the  minor  office  was  instituted 
in  honor  of  St.  Mary,  which  was,  in  the  fol- 
lowing century,  confirmed  by  Urban  II.  in  the 
council  of  Clermont.  There  are  also  to  be 
found  in  this  ago  manifest  indications  of  the 
institution  of  the  rosary  and  crown  of  the  Vir- 
gin, by  which  her  worshippers  were  to  reckon 
the  number  of  prayers  that  they  were  to  offer 
to  this  new  divinity  ;  for,  though  some  place 
the  invention  of  the  rosary  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  and  attribute  it  to  St.  Dominic,  yet  this 
supposition  is  made  without  any  foundation.]; 
The  rosary  consists  in  fifteen  repetitions  of  the 
Lord's  prayer,  and  a  hundred  and  fifty  saluta- 
tions of  the  blessed  Virgin ;  while  the  crown, 
according  to  the  different  opinions  of  the 
learned  concerning  the  age  of  the  blessed  Vir- 
gin, consists  in  six  or. seven  recitations  of  the 
Lord's  prayer,  and  six  or  seven  times  ten  salu- 
tations. § 

c:hapteii  v. 

Concerning  the  Divisions  and  ficresies  that  trou- 
bled the  Church  during  this  Centanj. 
I.  The  profound  ignorance  and  stupidity, 
that  were  productive  of  so  many  evils  in  tliis 
century,  had  at  lea.st  tins  advantage  attending 
them,  that  they  contributed  nnich  to  the  tran- 
quillity of  the  church,  and  prevented  the  rise 
of  new  sects  and  new  commotions  of  a  religious 
kind.  But,  though  no  new  inventions  were 
broached,   the  ancient  errors   still   remained. 


*  See  Mabillnn.  Arta.  SS.  Onl.  Hcned.  S.it,  vi. 
part  i.  p.  .'584.  wliort-  the  rcailfT  will  find  llic  l/ifi-  of 
Odilo,  with  his  ducree  for  the  iiislitution  of  this  fi'S- 
lival. 

t  IJenedict  XIV.  was  artful  ciioiich  to  obsnrvc  a 
profound  silence  with  respncl  to  the  siiporstilioiis 
and  dishonorable  origin  of  this  anniversary  festival, 
in  his  treatise  de  Festis  J  Christi,  Marisp,  el  Sane 
tornm,  lib  iii  rap  xxii.  p  671,  toni  x.  oper  and  In 
his  silenec  he  has  plainly  sliouii  to  the  world  wlial 
he  tlic.nsilil  of  this  absurd  fe.«tival.  This  is  not  tin- 
only  mark  of  prudenre  that  is  to  be  found  in  the 
works  of  that  famous  pontiff. 

t  This  is  demonstrated  hv  Mabillon,  Prtpf  ad  Arta 
Sf?  Ord.  Uened.  Sn-r.  v.  p.  .V. 

§  In  these  words  -Ave,  M.irin  ' 


251 

The  Nestorians  and  Monophysites  still  lived 
under  the  Arabian  government:  they  were, 
however,  mu(;h  more  rigorously  treated  than 
in  former  times,  and  were  ofleti  persecuted 
with  the  utmost  injustice  and  violence.  But, 
ns  some  of  them  excelled  in  medical  know- 
ledge, which  was  highly  esteemed  among  the 
Arabians,  while  others  rendered  themselves  ac- 
ceptable to  tlie  great,  by  the  dexterous  man- 
agement of  their  domestic  affairs,  as  overseers 
and  stewards,  all  this  contributed  to  diminish 
the  violenre  of  the  storms  which  arose  against 
tliem  from  time  to  time. 

il.  The  Manicliajans  or  Paulicians,  whose 
errors  have  been  already  pointed  out,  gathered 
considerable  strength  in  Thrace  under  the 
reign  of  John  Tzimisces.  A  great  part  of  this 
restless  and  turbulent  sect  had  been  transported 
into  that  province,  by  the  order  of  Constantine 
Copronymus,  so  early  as  the  eighth  century, 
to  put  an  end  to  the  commotions  which  they 
had  excited  in  the  east;  but  a  still  greater  num- 
ber of  them  were  left  behind,  especially  in 
S^'ria  and  the  adjacent  countries.  Hence  it 
was,  that  Theodore,  bishop  of  Antioch,  from  a 
pious  apprehension  of  the  danger  to  wh.ich  his 
flock  lay  exposed  from  the  neighborhood  of 
such  pernicious  heretics,  engaged  the  emperor, 
by  his  ardent  and  importunate  solicitations,  to 
send  a  new  colony  of  these  Manichieans  from 
Syria  to  Philippi.*  From  Thrace  they  passed 
into  Bulgaria  and  Sclavonia,  where  they  long 
resided  under  the  jurisdiction  of  their  own  pon- 
tile, or  patriarch.  After  the  council  of  Basil 
had  commenced  its  deliberations,  these  secta- 
ries removed  into  Italy,  and  thence  spreading 
themselves  through  the  other  provinces  of  Eu- 
rope, they  became  extremely  troublesome  to 
the  popes  on  many  occasions. f 

111.  In  the  last  year  of  this  century  arose  a 
certain  teacher,  whose  name  was  Leutard,  who 
lived  at  Vcrtus,  in  the  diocese  of  Chalons,  and, 
in  a  sliort  time,  drew  after  him  a  considerable 
number  of  disciples.  Tiiis  new  doctor  could 
not  bear  the  superstitious  worship  of  images, 
which  he  is  said  to  have  opposed  with  the  ut- 
most vehemence,  and  even  to  have  broken  in 
pieces  an  imnge  of  Ciirist,  which  he  fbun<l  in 
a  diurch  where  he  went  to  perform  his  devo- 
tions. He,  moreover,  exclaimed  with  the 
greatest  warmth  against  the  ])ayment  of  tithes 
to  the  priests,  and  in  several  other  respects 
showed  that  he  was  no  cordial  frienfl  to  the 
sacerdotal  order.  But  that  which  showed  evi- 
dently that  he  was  a  dangerous  fanatic,  was 
his  afiirming  that  in  the  prophecies  of  the  Old 
Testament  there  was  a  manifest  mixture  of 
truth  and  falsehood.  Gebouin,  bishop  of 
Chalons,  examined  the  pretensions  whicii  this 
man  made  to  divine  inspiration,  and  exposed 
his  extravagance  to  the  view  of  the  imblic, 
whom  lie  had  so  artfully  seduced  ;  upon  wiiich 
ho  threw  himself  into  a  well,  and  ended  his 
tlays  like  many  other  fanatics.|  It  is  highly 
probable,  that  this  upstart  doctor  taught  many 


~    ♦  Jo.  Zonaras,  Annal.  lib.  xvii. 

(  It  is  extremely  probable,  as  we  have  already  hild 
orrasion  to  observe,  that  the  remains  of  this  sect  are 
still  to  he  found  in  Bulgaria 

t  All  this  is  related  by  Glaber  Radulphua,  Hist. 
lib  ii  rap.  xi. 


252 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  I. 


other  absurd  notions  beside  those  which  we 
have  now  mentioned,  and  that,  after  his  death, 
his  disciples  formed  a  part  of  the  sect  that  was 
afterwards  known  in  France  under  the  name 
of  the  Albigenses,  and  which  is  said  to  have 
adopted  the  Manichsean  errors. 

IV.  There  were  yet  subsisting  some  remains 
of  the  sect  of  the  Arians  in  several  parts  of 
Italy,  and  particularly  in  the  territory  of  Pa- 
dua; but  Ratherius,  bisliop  of  Verona,  had  a 
still  more  enormous  heresy  to  combat  in  the 
system  of  the  Anthropomorphites,  which  was 
revived  in  939.  In  the  district  of  Vicenza,  a 
considerable  number,  not  only  of  the  illiterate 
multitude,  but  also  of  the  sacerdotal  order, 
adopted  that  most  absurd  and  extravagant  no- 
tion, that  the  Deity  was  clothed  with  a  human 
form,  and  seated,  like  an  earthly  monarch, 
upon  a  throne  of  gold,  and  that  his  angelic 
ministers  were  men  arrayed  in  white  garments, 
and  furnished  with  wings,  to  render  them  more 
expeditious  in  executing  their  sovereign's  or- 
ders. This  monstrous  error  will  appear  less 
astonishing,  when  we  consider  that  tlie  stupid 
and  illiterate  multitude  had  constantly  before 


tlieir  eyes,  in  all  the  churches,  the  Supreme 
Being  and  his  angels  represented  in  pictures 
and  images  with  the  liuman  figure. 

The  superstition  of  another  set  of  blinded 
wretches,  mentioned  also  by  Ratherius,  was 
yet  more  unaccountable  and  absurd  than  that 
of  the  Antliropomorphites;  for  tliey  imagined 
that,  every  Monday,  mass  was  performed  in 
heaven  by  St.  Michael  in  the  presence  of 
God;  and  hence,  on  that  day,  they  resorted  in 
crowds  to  all  the  clmrchcs  which  were  dedi- 
cated to  that  highly  honoured  saint.*  It  is 
more  than  probable  that  the  avarice  of  the 
priests,  who  officiated  in  the  chm'ch  of  St. 
Michael,  was  the  real  source  of  this  extrava- 
gant fancy;  and  that  in  this,  as  in  many  other 
cases,  the  rapacity  of  the  clergy  took  advant- 
age of  the  credulity  of  the  people,  and  made 
them  believe  whatever  tliey  thought  would 
contribute  to  augment  the  opulence  of  the 
church. 


*  Ratherii  Epist.  Synodira  in  Daclierii  Spicilegio 
Script.  Voter,  torn.  ii.  p.  294. — Sigeberti  Gemblacens. 
Cliron.  aii  annum  939. 


THE  ELEVENTH  CENTURY. 


PART  I. 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Concerhing  tlie  Prosperous  Events  which  hap- 
pened to  the  Church  during  this  Century. 

I.  In  the  preceding  century  some  faint  no- 
tions of  the  Christian  religion,  some  scattered 
rays  of  that  divine  liglit  which  it  administers 
to  mortals,  had  been  received  among  the  Hun- 
garians, Danes,  Poles,  and  Russiatis;  but  the 
rude  and  savage  spirit  of  those  nations,  toge- 
tiier  with  tlieir  deplorable  ignorance  and  tlieir 
violent  attachment  to  tlie  superstitions  of  their 
ancestors,  rendered  their  total  conversion  to 
Christianity  a  work  of  great  difficulty,  which 
could  not  be  very  rapidly  accomplished.  The 
zeal,  however,  witli  wliich  this  important  work 
was  carried  on,  did  great  honour  to  the  piety 
of  the  princes  and  goverrtors  of  these  unpo- 
lished countries,  wlio  united  their  influence 
with  the  labours  of  tlie  learned  men  whom 
ttiey  had  invited  into  their  dominions,  to  open 
the  eyes  of  their  subjects  upon  the  truth.*  In 
Tartary,t  and  tlie  adjacent  countries,  the  zeal 
and  diligence  of  the  Nestorians  gained  over 
considerable  numbers,  almost  daily,  to  the  pro- 
fession of  Christianity.  It  appears  also  evident 

*  For  an  account  of  the  Poles,  Russians,  and  Hun- 
garians, see  Romualdi  Vita  in  Actis  Sauctor.  torn. 
ii.  Februar. 

t  Tartary  is  taken  here  in  its  most  comprehensive 
sense:  for  between  the  inhabitants  of  Tartary,  pro- 
perly so  called,  and  the  Calmucs,  Mogols,  and  the 
inhabitants  of  Tan''ut,  there  is  a  manifest  difference. 


from  a  multitude  of  unexceptionable  testimo- 
nies, tliat  Metropolitan  prelates,  with  a  greater 
number  of  inferior  bishops  under  their  jurisdic- 
tion, were  establislied  at  this  time  in  tlie  pro- 
vinces of  Casgar,  Nuacheta,  Turkestan,  Gen- 
da,  and  Tangut;*  from  which  we  may  con- 
clude, tliat,  in  this  and  the  following  century, 
a  prodigious  number  of  Christians  lived  in 
those  very  countries  which  are  at  present  over- 
run with  idolatry,  or  with  the  Mohammedan 
errors.  All  these  Christians  were  undoubtedly 
Nestorians,  and  lived  luider  the  jurisdiction  of 


*  Marcus  Paul.  Vcnetus  do  Regionibus  Orientali- 
bns,  lib.  i.  cap.  S8,  40,  4.5,  47,  48,  49,  02,  ti3,  04,  lib.  ii, 
rap.  3!l. — Euseb.  Reuaiidot,  Anciennes  Relations  des 
Indes  ct  de  la  Chine,  p.  420.— Assemani  Biblioth. 
Orient.  Vatican,  torn.  iii.  part  ii.  p.  502,  &c.  The 
suee.ssful  propagation  of  the  Gospel,  by  the  ministry 
of  tlie  Nestorians,  in  Tartary,  China,  and  the  neigh- 
bouring provinces,  is  a  most  important  event,  and 
every  way  worthy  to  employ  the  researches  and  the 
pen  of  some  able  writer,  well  acquainted  with  ori- 
ental history.  It  must,  indeed,  be  acknowledged, 
that,  if  this  subject  be  important,  it  is  also  diliicult 
on  many  accounts.  It  was  attempted,  however,  not- 
wilh^taiidiiis:  Its  ditiiculty,  by  the  most  learned  The- 
opli.  Siiiefreil  Haver,  who  had  collected  a  great  quan- 
tity of  materials  relative  to  this  interesting  branch 
of  the  history  of  Christianity,  both  from  the  works 
that  have  been  published  up(Ui  this  subject,  and  from 
manuscripts  that  lie  yet  conrealed  in  the  cabinets  of 
the  curious.  But.  unhappily  for  the  republic  of  let- 
ters, the  death  of  that  excellent  man  interrupted  his 
labours,  and  prevented  him  from  e.\ecuting  a  design, 
which  was  worthy  of  his  superior  abilities,  and  his 
well  known  zeal  for  the  interests  of  religion. 


Chap.  I. 


PROSPEROUS  EVENTS. 


253 


the  patriarch  of  that  sect,  who  resided   in 
Chaldoea. 

II.  Among  the  European  nations  that  lay 
yet  grovening  in  their  native  darkness  and 
superstition,  were  the  Sclavonians,  the  Obo- 
triti,*  the  Venedi,t  and  the  Prussians,  whoso 
conversion  had  been  attempted,  but  with  little 
or  no  success,  by  certain  missionaries,  from 
wliose  piety  and  zeal  better  fruits  might  liave 
been  expected.  Toward  the  conclusion  of  the 
preceding  century,  Adalbert,  bishop  of  Prague, 
had  endeavoured  to  instil,  into  the  minds  of 
the  fierce  and  savage  Prussians,  the  salutary 
doctrines  of  the  Gospel;  but  he  perished  in  the 
fruitless  attempt,  and  received,  in  996,  from 
the  murdering  lance  of  Siggo,  a  pagan  priest, 
tiie  crown  of  martyrdom. j;  Boleslaus,  king  of 
Poland,  revenged  the  death  of  this  pious  apos- 
tle by  entering  into  a  bloody  war  with  the 
Prussians;  and  he  obtained,  by  the  force  of 
penal  laws  and  of  a  victorious  army,  what  Adal- 
bert coidd  not  effect  by  exhortation  and  argu- 
ment.§  He  dragooned  this  savage  people  into 
the  Christian  church;  yet,  beside  this  violent 
method  of  conversion,  others  of  a  more  gentle 
kind  were  certainly  practised  by  the  attendants 
of  Boleslaus,  who  seconded  the  military  argu- 
ments of  their  prince  by  the  more  persuasive 
influence  of  admonition  and  instruction.  A 
certain  ecclesiastic  of  illustrious  birth,  whose 
name  was  Boniface,  and  wlio  was  one  of  the 
disciples  of  St.  Romuald,  undertook  the  con- 
version of  the  Prussians,  and  was  succeeded  in 
this  pious  enterprize  by  Brimo,||  who  set  out 
from  Germany  with  a  company  of  eighteen 
persons,  who  had  entered  with  zeal  into  the 
same  laudable  design.  These  were,  however, 
all  barbarously  massacred  by  the  fierce  and 
cruel  Prussians;  and  neither  the  vigorous  ef- 
forts of  Boleslaus,  nor  of  the  succeeding  kings 
of  Poland,  could  engage  this  rude  and  inflexi- 
ble nation  to  abandon  totally  the  idolatry  of 
their  ancestors.T 

III.  Sicily  had  been  groaning  under  the  do- 
minion of  the  Saracens  from  the  ninth  centmy; 
nor  had  the  repeated  attempts  of  the  Greeks 
and  Latins  to  dispossess  them  of  that  rich  and 
fertile  counti-y,  been  hitherto  crowned  with  the 
desired  success.  But  in  tiiis  century  the  face 
of  affairs  changed  entirely  in  that  island;  for, 
in  1059,  Robert  Guiscard,  who  had  formed  a 
settlement  in  Italy,  at  the  head  of  a  Norman 

(t(J=  *  Till'  Ohotriti  were  a  groat  and  pov\nrfnl 
liraiidi  of  till'  Vandals,  whoso  kings  rosidcd  in  tlic 
country  of  Mickli'iilmrg,  extending  their  dominion 
along  the  coasts  of  the  IJallio  from  the  river  i'oiie  in 
roinerania  to  the  diirliy  of  llolstein. 

(t(^  t '-The  Veiieili  dwelt  upon  tllc  banks  of  the 
VVeissel,  or  Vistula,  in.  what  is  at  present  called, 
tlie  Palatinate  of  .Marienburg. 

t  See  the  Acta  ftiiictor.  ad  d.  xxii.  Aprilis,  p.  174. 

§  Solignac's  Mist,  do  Pologno,  torn.  i.  p.  KtS. 

{)j7=-  il  Fleiiry  Uilfers  from  Dr.  Moshi-iin  in  his  ac- 
count of  Hrnno,  in  two  points.  First,  ho  maintains, 
that  Honiface  and  Hrnno  were  one  and  the  same  per- 
son, and  here  he  is  manifestly  in  the  riL'tit;  hnt  ho 
maiiitaiiis  farther,  that  he  sntlereil  martyrdom  in 
Russia,  which  is  an  evident  mistake.  It  is  proper 
farther  to  admonish  the  reader  to  distinguish  care- 
fully the  Bruno  here  mentioned,  from  a  monk  of  the 
same  name,  who  founded  the  order  of  the  Carthusi- 
ans. 

IT  Ant.  Pagi  Critica  in  Baroniiim,  torn.  iv.  ad  an- 
num 1008,  p.  07. — Christ.  Hartknoch's  Ecclesiastical 
History  of  Prussia,  book  i.  chap.  i. 


colony,  and  was  afterwards  created  duke  of 
Apulia,  encouraged  by  the  exhortations  of  pope 
Nicolas  II.,  and  seconded  by  the  assistance  of 
his  brother  Roger,  attacked  with  the  greatest 
vigour  and  intrepidity  the  Saracens  in.  Sicily; 
nor  did  the  latter  chieftain  sheath  the  victori- 
ous sword  before  he  had  rendered  himself  mas- 
ter of  that  island,  and  cleared  it  absolutely  of 
its  former  tyrants.  As  soon  as  this  great  work 
was  accomplished,  which  was  not  before  the 
year  1090,  count  Roger  not  only  restored  to 
its  former  glory  and  lustre  the  Christian  reli- 
gion, which  had  been  almost  totally  extin- 
guished under  the  Saracen  yoke,  but  also  es- 
tablished bishoprics,  founded  monasteries, 
erected  magnificent  churches  throughout  that 
province,  and  bestowed  upon  the  clergy  tho.se 
distinguished  honours  which  they  still  enjo\^  * 
It  is  in  the  privileges  conferred  upon  this  vali- 
ant cliief,  that  we  find  the  origin  of  that  su- 
preme authority  in  matters  of  religion,  which 
is  still  vested  in  the  kings  of  Sicily,  within  the 
limits  of  their  own  territories,  and  which  is 
known  by  the  name  of  the  Sicilian  monarchy; 
for  pope  Urban  11.  is  said  to  have  granted,  in 
1097,  lay  a  special  diploma,  to  Roger  and  his 
successors,  the  title,  authority,  and  preroga- 
tives, of  hereditary  legates  of  the  apostolic  see. 
The  court  of  Roine  aflirms,  that  this  diploma 
is  not  authentic;  and  hence  warm  contentions, 
about  the  spiritual  sajiremacy,  have  arisen 
even  in  our  times  between  the  popes  and  the 
kings  of  Sicily.  The  successors  of  Roger  go- 
verned that  island,  under  the  title  of  dukes, 
imtil  the  twelfth  century,  when  it  was  erected 
into  a  kingdom.! 

IV.  The  pontiffs,  from  the  time  of  Sylvester 
II.,  had  been  forming  plans  for  extending  the 
limits  of  the  church  in  Asia,  and  especially  for 
driving  the  Moslems  out  of  Palestine;  but  the 
troubles  in  which  Europe  was  so  long  involved, 
prevented  the  execution  of  these  artluous  de- 
signs. Gregory  VII.,  the  most  enterprizing 
and  audacious  priest  that  ever  sat  in  the  a])os- 
tolic  chair,  animated  and  inflamed  by  the  re- 
peated complaints  which  the  Asiatic  Chris- 
tians inade  of  the  cruelty  of  the  Saracens,  re- 
solved to  undertake  in  person  a  holy  war  for 
the  deliverance  of  tlie  churcli;  and  above  fifty 
thousand  men  were  speedily  mustered  to  fiiUow 
him  in  this  bold  expedition. J  But  his  quarrel 
with  tlie  emperor  Henry  IV.,  of  which  we 
shall  have  occasion  to  speak  hereafter,  and 
other  unforeseen  occurrences,  obliged  iiim  to 
relinquish  a  personal  invasion  of  the  lioiy  land. 
The  project,  however,  was  renewed  toward 
the  conclusion  of  this  century,  by  the  enthusi- 
astic zeal  of  an  inhabitant  of  Amiens,  who  was 
known  by  the  name  of  Peter  the  Hermit,  and 
who  suggested  to  Urban  11.  the  means  of  ac- 
complishing what  had  been  unfortunately  sus- 
pen(lod.  This  famous  hermit,  in  a  journey, 
which  he  had  made  through  Palestine  in  1093, 
had  observed,  with  inexpressible  anguish,  the 
vexations  and  persecutions  which  the  C'hris- 


*  See  Burigni's  Hisloire  Gcnerale  de  la  Sicile,  tom. 

).  p.  HHt). 

t  See  Baronii  Liber  de  Monarchia  SicilifB.  tom.  xi. 
Aiinal.;  a.s  also  the  Traitc  de  la  Monarchic  Sicili- 
enne,  by  M.  Dii-Pin. 

I  Gregorii  VH.  Kpist.  lib.  ii.  3,  in  Hardnini  Con- 
cil.  tom.  vi. 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


254 


tians,  who  visited  tlie  holy  places,  suffered 
from  the  barharotis  and  tyrannic  Saracens.  In- 
flamed therefore  with  a  lioly  indignation  and 
a  furious  zeal,  which  he  looked  upon  as  the 
effects  of  a  divine  impulse,  he  implored  the 
assistance  of  Simeon,  patriarcli  of  Constanti- 
nople, and  also  of  the  pope,  but  without  ef- 
fect. Far  fro}n  being  discouraged  by  this,  he 
renewed  liis  efforts  with  the  utmost  vigour, 
went  tlu'ougli  all  the  countries  of  Europe 
sounding  the  alarm  of  tlie  holy  war  against  the 
infidel  nations,  and  exhorting  all  Christian 
princes  to  draw  tlie  sword  against  the  tyrants 
of  Palestine;  nor  did  he  stop  iiere;  but,  with  a 
view  to  engage  the  superstitious  and  ignorant 
multitude  in  his  cause,  he  carried  about  with 
him  a  letter,  which  he  said  was  written  in 
heaven,  and  addressed  to  all  true  Christians, 
to  animate  their  zeal  for  the  deliverance  of 
their  brethren,  who  groaned  under  the  oppres- 
sive burthen  of  a  Mohammedan  yoke.* 

V.  Wlien  Urban  .saw  the  way  prepared  by 
the  exhortations  of  the  hermit,  who  had  put 
the  spirits  of  the  people  every  where  in  a  fer- 
ment, and  had  kindled  in  their  breasts  a  vehe- 
ment zeal  for  that  holy  carnage  which  the 
church  had  been  so  long  meditating,  he  as- 
sembled a  grand  and  numerous  council  at  Pla- 
centia,  in  f096,  and  recommended  warmly,  for 
the  first  time,  tiie  sacred  expedition  against 
the  Saraccns.j  This  arduous  enterprize  was 
far  from  being  approved  by  the  greatest  part 
of  this  numerous  assembly,  notwithstanding 
the  presence  of  the  emperor's  legates,  who,  in 
their  master's  name,  represented  most  patheti- 
cally how  necessary  it  was  to  set  limits  to  the 
power  of  the  victorious  infidels,  whose  autho- 
rity and  dominion  increased  from  day  to  day. 
The  pontiff's  proposal  was,  however,  renewed 
with  the  same  zeal,  and  witli  the  desired  suc- 
cess, some  time  after  this,  in  the  council  as- 
sembled at  Clermont,  where  Urban  was  pre- 
sent. The  pompous  and  pathetic  speech 
which  he  delivered  on  this  occasion,  made  a 
deep  and  powerful  impression  upon  the  minds 
of  the  French,  whose  natural  character  renders 
them  much  superior  to  the  Italians  in  encoun- 
terincr  difficulties,  facing  danger,  and  attempt- 
ing the  execution  of  tlie  most  perilous  designs: 
so  that  an  innumerable  multitude,  composed 
of  all  ranks  and  orders  in  the  nation,  offered 
themselves  as  volunteers  in  tliis  sacred  expedi- 
tion.]; Tliis  numerous  host  was  looked  upon 
as  formidable  in  the  highest  degree,  and  equal 
to  the  most  glorious  enterprizes  and  exploits, 
while,  in  reality,  it  was  no  more  than  an  im- 
wieldy  body  without  life  and  vigour,  and  was 
weak  and  contemptible  in  every  respect.  This 
will  appear  sufficiently  evident  when  we  con- 


Part  1. 


*  This  ciiciiiiistaiict!  is  iiu'iitioiieil  by  the  abbot 
Dodechinus,  in  his  ContiTiiiat.  Chronici  Mariani 
Scoti,  apiid  Scriptores  Germanicos  Jo.  Pistorii,  torn, 
i.  p.  40iJ.  For  an  account  of  Peter,  see  Du-Fresne's 
notes  upon  the  Alexias  of  Anna  Comneua. 

(flj'  t  '''bis  council  was  the  most  numerous  of  any 
that  hart  been  hitherto  assembled,  and  was,  on  that 
account,  holdeu  in  the  opiiii  liidds.  There  were  pre- 
sent at  it  two  liiuidred  bislmps,  four  thousand  eccle- 
siastics, and  three  hundred  thousand  laj-men. 

i  Theod.  Ruinart.  in  Vit.  Urbani  II.  sect,  ccxxv. 
p.  2'24,  2-2i),  iJlO,  272,  &c.  torn.  iii.  op.  posthum.  Ma- 
billoni  et  Rninarti.— Jo.  Hardnini  Concilia,  torn.  xi. 
part  ii.  p.  1720.— Baron.  Annal.  Eccles.  torn.  xi.  ad 
annum  1095,  a.  .\xxii.  p.  048. 


sider  that  this  army  was  a  motley  assemblage 
of  monks,  prostitutes,  artists,  labourers,  lazy 
tradesmen,  merchants,  boys,  girls,  slaves,  male- 
factors, and  profligate  debauchees,  and  that  it 
was  principally  composed  of  the  lowest  dregs  of 
the  multitude,  who  were  animated  solely  by 
the  prospect  of  spoil  and  plunder,  and  hoped  to 
make  their  fortunes  by  this  holy  campaign. 
Every  one  will  perceive  how  little  discipline, 
counsel,  or  fortitude,  were  to  be  expected  from 
such  a  miserable  rabble.  This  expedition  was 
distinguished,  in  the  French  language,  by  the 
name  of  croisade,  and  all  who  embarked  in  it 
were  called  croises,  croisards,  or  cross-bearers, 
not  only  because  the  end  of  this  holy  war  was 
to  wrest  the  cross  of  Clirist  out  of  the  hands 
of  the  infidels, -i)ut  also  on  account  of  the  con- 
secrated crossof  various  colours,  which  every 
soldier  wore  upon  his  right  shoulder.* 

VI.  In  consequence  of  these  grand  prepara- 
tions, eight  hundred  thousand  men,  in  separate 
bodies,  and  imder  different  commanders,  set 
out  for  Constantinople,  in  1096,  that,  after  re- 
ceiving both  assistance  and  direction  from 
Alexis  Comnenius  the  Grecian  emperor,  they 
might  pursue  their  march  into  Asia.  One  of 
the  principal  divisions  of  this  great  body  march- 
ed mider  the  guidance  of  Peter  the  Hermit, 
tlie  author  and  fomenter  of  the  war,  who  was 
girded  with  a  rope,  and  continued  to  appear 
with  all  the  marks  of  an  austere  solitary.  The 
adventurers  who  composed  this  first  division 
committed  the  most  flagitious  crimes,  which 
so  incensed  the  inhabitants  of  the  comitries 
tiirough  which  they  passed,  particularly  those 
of  Himgary  and  Bulgaria,  that  they  rose  up  in 
arms  and  massacred  the  greatest  part  of  them. 
A  like  fate  attended  several  other  divisions  of 
the  same  army,  who,  imder  the  conduct  of 
weak  and  unskilful  chiefs,  wandered  about  like 
an  undisciplined  band  of  robbers,  plundering 
tlie  cities  that  lay  in  their  way,  and  spreading 
misery  and  desolation  wherever  they  came. 
The  armies  that  were  headed  by  illustrious 
commanders,  distinguished  by  their  birth  and 
their  military  endowments,  arrived  more  hap- 
pily at  the  capital  of  the  Grecian  empire. 
Tliat  which  was  commanded  by  Godfrey  of 
Uouillon,  duke  of  Lorraine,  who  deserves  a 
place  among  the  greatest  heroes,  whether  of 
ancient  or  modern  times,t  and  by  his  brother 
Baldwin,  was  composed  of  eighty  thousand 
well  chosen  troops,  horse  and  foot,J;  and  di- 


*  See  Abrah.  Bzovius,  Continual.  Annal.  Baronii. 
torn.  XV.  ad  annum  1410,  n.  ix.  p.  322,  edit.  Colon. — 
1/Enfant,  Histoire  du  Concile  de  Pise,  torn.  ii.  lib.  v. 
p.  (io. — The  writers  who  have  treated  of  this  holy 
war  are  mentioned  by  Jo.  Alb.  Fabricius,  in  his  Lux 
Evaneelii  toto  Orbe  exorieus,  cap.  xxx.  p.  518. 

t  The  l{ene<lictine  monks  have  given  an  ample 
account  of  this  maiinanimous  chief,  whose  character 
was  a  bright  assemblage  of  all  Christian,  civil,  and 
heroic  virtues,  in  their  Histoire  Literaire  de  la 
France,  torn.  viii.  p.  598. 

(}I^  I  The  engaging  and  illustrious  virtues  of  God- 
frey had  drawn  from  all  parts  a  prodigious  number 
of  volunteers,  who  were  ambitious  to  fight  under  his 
standard.  The  magnitude  of  this  host,  however, 
perplexed  the  valiant  chief,  who,  on  that  account, 
divided  it  into  several  bodies,  and,  finding  in  Peter 
the  Hermit  the  same  ambitious  and  military  spirit 
that  had  prevailed  in  him  before  his  retre.-it  from  the 
world,  declared  him  the  general  of  the  first  division, 
which  was  detached  from  the  rest,  and  ordered  to 
march  immediately  to  Constantinople.  By  this  inea- 


Chap.  I. 


PROSPEROUS  EVENTS. 


255 


reeled  its  march  through  Germany  and  Hun- 
gary. Another  liost,  which  was  headed  by 
Raymond,  earl  of  Toulouse,  passed  throiiffh 
the  Sclavonian  territories.  Jlohcrt,  earl  of" 
Flanders,  Robert,  duke  of  Normandy,*  Hug-li, 
brothsr  to  Philip  1.  king  of  France,  embarked 
their  respective  forces  in  a  fleet  which  was  as- 
sembled at  Brundisi  and  Tarento,  whence  they 
were  transported  to  Durazzo,  or  Dyrrhachimn, 
as  it  was  anciently  called.  These  armies  were 
followed  by  Roemond,  duke  of  Apulia  and 
Calabria,  at  the  head  of  a  chosen  and  numer- 
ous body  of  valiant  Normans. 

VII.  This  army  was  the  greatest,  and,  in 
outward  appearance,  tlie  most  formidable,  that 
had  been  known  in  the  memory  of  man;  and 
though,  before  its  arrival  at  Constantinople,  it 
was  diminished  considerably  by  the  dithcultics 
and  oppositions  it  had  met  with  on  the  way, 
yet,  such  as  it  was,  it  made  the  Grecian  em- 
peror tremble,  and  filled  his  mind  with  the 
most  anxious  and  terrible  apprehensions  of 
some  secret  design  against  his  dominions.  His 
fears,  however,  were  dispelled,  when  he  saw 
these  legions  pass  the  straits  of  Gallipolis,  and 
direct  their  march  toward  Rithjrnia.f 

The  first  successful  enterprize,};  that  was 
formed  against  the  infidels,  was  the  siege  of 
Nice,  the  capital  of  Rithynia,  which  was  taken 
in  1097;  thence  the  victorious  army  proceeded 
into  Syria,  and  in  the  following-  year  subdued 
Antioch,  which,  with  its  fertile  territory,  was 
granted,  by  the  assembled  chiefs,  to  Roemond, 
duke  of  Apulia.  Edessa  fell  next  into  the 
hands  of  the  victors,  and  became  the  property 
of  Baldwin,  brother  to  Godfrey  of  Rouillon. 
The  conquest  of  Jerusalem,  which,  after  a 
siege  of  five  weeks,  submitted  to  their  arms  in 

sure  Godfrey  freed  liiiiiself  fniin  tlie  dregs  of  that  as- 
tonishing niiiltitiide  wliich  liocked  to  his  camp. 
Father  Mainiboiirg,  notwillistandinghis  iiiiiundcrale 
zeal  for  the  holy  war,  and  that  fabulous  turn  v\hiili 
enabled  him  to  represeat  it  in  the  most  tavoinahle 
points  of  view,  acknovvli'dges  frankly,  that  the  tirs! 
divisions  of  this  prodiiiious  army  comniittiMl  tlie 
most  abominable  eiinrmities  in  the  countries  tliroupb 
wliiili  tliry  passed,  ami  lliat  there  was  no  kind  of 
insoleiici',  iii|ii>ti(e,  impurity,  barbarity,  and  vio- 
lence, of  which  they  were  not  guilty.  Nothing  per- 
haps in  the  annalsof  history  can  eijual  the  flagitious 
deeds  of  this  infernal  rabble.  See  particularly  Maim- 
bonrg,  Histoire  des  Croisades,  toin.  i.  liv.  i.  p.  o7,  58, 
59,  00,  61.  li'J,  second  edit,  in  12nio. 

(tt^  *  Kldest  son  of  William  the  Conqueror. 

iXr"  t  Our  author,  for  the  sake  of  brevity,  passes 
over  the  contests  and  jealousies,  that  subsisted  be- 
tween the  chief  of  the  crusade  and  the  Grecian  cm 
peror.  The  character  of  the  latter  is  dillerently 
painted  by  ditferent  historians.  Tlie  warm  defend 
ers  of  the  crusadi'  represent  him  as  a  most  per/idioiis 
prince,  who,  under  the  show  of  friendship  and  zeal, 
aimed  at  the  destruction  of  (JiKlfrey's  army.  Others 
consider  him  as  a  wise,  prud<iit  polilii  ian,  who,  by 
artifice  and  stratagem,  warded  olf  ilic  danger  he  liail 
reason  to  apprehend  from  the  formidable  legions  tliat 
passed  thron^'h  bis  domiiiions;  and  jjart  of  which, 
particularly  the  army  commanded  by  I'eter  the  Her- 
mit, ravaged  his  most  fruitful  territories  in  the  most 
barbarous  manner,  and  pillnt'ed  (iveii  the  suburbs  of 
the  capital  of  the  empire,  'nie  truth  of  the  matter 
is,  that,  if  Ale.\is  cannot  Ixj  vindicated  from  tlie 
charge  of  p«;rfidy,  th«!  holy  warriors  are,  on  the  <jther 
hand,  chargeable  with  many  !«;ts  of  brutality  and 
injustice.  See  Maimbourg,  Histoire  des  Croisades, 
livre  i.  et  ii. 

{((^  t  Before  the  arrival  of  Godfrey  in  Asia, -the 
cTrmy,  or  rather  rabble,  commanded  by  Peter  the 
Hermit  in  such  a  ridiculous  manner  as  might  be  ex- 
(wcled  from  a  wronc  headed  monk,  received  a  ruin 
ous  defeat  from  the  young  Solniian. 


1099,  seemed  to  crown  their  e.xpedition  with 
the  desired  success.  In  this  city  were  laid  the 
foundations  of  a  new  kingdom,  at  the  head  of 
which  was  placed  the  famous  Godfrey,  whom 
the  army  saluted  king  of  Jerusalem  with  an 
unanimous  voice. 

Rut  this  illustrious  hero,  whose  other  emi- 
nent qualities  were  adorned  with  the  greatest 
modesty,  refused  that  liigli  title,*  though  he 
governed  Jerusalem  vvitli  that  valour,  equity, 
and  prudence,  which  have  rendered  Jiis  name 
immortal.  Having  chosen  a  small  army  to 
support  him  in  his  new  dignity,  he  permitted 
the  rest  of  the  troops  to  return  into  Europe. 
He  did  not,  however,  long  enjoy  the  fruits  of  a 
victory,  in  which  his  heroic  valour  had  been 
so  gloriously  displayed,  but  died  about  a  year 
after  the  conquest  of  Jerusalem,  leaving  his 
dominions  to  his  brother  Baldwin,  prince  of 
Edessa,  who  assiuned  the  title  of  king  without 
the  least  hesitation. 

VIII.  If  we  examine  the  motives  that  en- 
gaged tlic  popes,  more  particularly  Urban  II., 
to  kindle  this  holy  war,  which  in  its  progress 
and  issue  was  so  detrimental  to  almost  all  the 
countries  of  Europe,  we  shall  probably  be  per- 
suaded that  its  origin  is  to  be  derived  from  the 
corrupt  notions  of  religion,  which  prevailed  in 
those  barbarous  times.  It  was  thought  incon- 
sistent with  the  dut}'  and  character  of  Chris- 
tians, to  suffer  that  land  which  was  blessed 
with  the  ministr}',  distinguished  by  the  mira- 
cles, and  consecrated  by  tlie  blood  of  the  Sa- 
viour of  men,  to  remain  under  the  dominion 
of  his  most  inveterate  enemies.  It  was  also 
deemed  a  very  important  branch  of  true  piety 
to  visit  the  holy  places  in  Palestine;  but  such  pe- 
regrinations W'ere  extremely  dangerous,  while 
the  despotic  Saracens  were  in  possession  of 
that  country.  Nor  is  it  to  be  denied,  that 
these  motives  of  a  religious  kind  were  accom- 
panied and  rendered  more  eflectual  by  an 
anxious  apprehension  of  the  growing  power 
of  the  Turks,  who  had  already  subdued  the 
greatest  part  of  the  Grecian  empire,  and  might 
soon  carry  into  Europe,  and  more  particularly 
into  Italy,  their  victorious  arms. 

There  are,  it  must  be  confessed,  several 
learned  men  who  have  accounted  otherwise 
for  this  pious,  or  rather  fanatical,  expedition. 
They  imagine  that  the  Roman  pontifis  recom- 
mended this  sacred  campaign  with  a  view  of 
augmenting  their  own  authority,  and  weaken- 
ing the  power  of  the  Latin  emperors  and 
jirinces;  and  that  these  jirinces  countenanced 
and  encouraged  it  in  hopes  of  getting  rid,  by 
that  measure,  of  their  powerful  and  warlike 
vassals,  and  of  becoming  masters  of  their 
lands   and   possessions.!     These   conjectures, 

(SiJ'  *  All  the  historians,  who  have  written  of  this 
holy  war,  applaud  the  answer  wliich  Godfrey  re- 
Inrned  to  the  oiler  that  was  made  linn  of  a  crown 
of  t-'old,  as  a  mark  of  Ui.s  accession  to  the  throne  of 
.lerusalem;  the  answer  was,  that  "he  could  not  beai 
'the  thought  of  wearing  a  crown  of  g(dd  in  that 
"city,  where  the  King  of  kings  had  beiii  crowned 
"  with  thorns."  This  answer  was  sublime  in  the 
eleventh  century. 

t  The  part  of  this  hypothesis,  that  relates  to  the 
views  of  the  Roman  pontifis,  has  been  .idopted  as  an 
(iiiduiibtcd  truth,  not  only  by  many  protestanl  histo- 
rians, but  also  by  several  writers  of  tlic  Romish 
communion.    See  Bened.  Accoltus  dc  belle  Sacro  in 


256 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  I. 


however  plausible  in  appearance,  are  still  no 
more  than  conjectures.  The  truth  seems  to 
be  this;  that  the  pope  and  the  European 
princes  were  engaged  at  first  in  these  crusades 
by  a  principle  of  supei-stition  only;  but  when, 


Infideles,  lib  i.  p.  li>- — Basuage,  Histoire  des  Ejrli- 
ses  Relbrmees,  toin.  i.  period,  v.  p.  235.— Vertot,  His- 
toire des  Chevaliers  de  Malthe,  torn.  i.  liv.  iii.  p. 
;tO-2,  :iOei;  liv.  iv.  p.  l-iri. — Baillet,  Histoire  des  Derne- 
le/.  lie  Boniface  VIU.  avec  Philippe  le  Bel,  p.  7tj. — 
Histoire  du  Droit  Ecclesiastiipie  Francois,  torn.  i.  p. 
'2i)li,  i!  HI.  To  such,  however,  as  consider  matters  at- 
tentively, this  hypothesiswill  appear  destitute  of  ar\y 
solid  t'onndation.  Certain  it  is,  that  the  pontifis  could 
never  have  either  foreseen,  or  imagined,  that  so 
many  European  princes,  and  such  prodigious  multi- 
tudes of  people,  would  take  arms  against  the  infi- 
dels, and  inarch  into  Palestine;  nor  could  they  he 
assured  befure-hand,  that  this  e.xpedition  would  tend 
to  the  advancement  of  their  opulence  and  authority; 
for  all  the  accessions  of  influence  and  wealth,  which 
the  popes,  and  the  clergy  in  general,  derived  from 
these  holy  wars,  were  of  a  much  later  date  than 
their  origin,  and  were  acquired  by  degrees,  rather 
by  lucky  hits,  than  by  deep-laid  schemes;  and  this 
alone  is  sufficient  to  show,  that  the  pontifl's,  in  form- 
ing the  plan,  and  exhorting  to  the  prosecution  of 
these  wars,  had  no  thoughts  of  extending  thereby 
the  limits  of  their  authority.  We  may  add,  to  this 
consideration,  another  of  no  less  weight  in  the  mat- 
ter before  us;  aiul  that  is  the  general  opinion  which 
prevailed  at  this  time,  both  among  the  clergy  and 
the  people,  that  the  conquest  of  Palestine  would  be 
finished  in  a  short  time,  in  a  single  campaign;  that 
the  Divine  Providence  would  interpose,  in  a  mira- 
culous manner,  to  accomplish  the  ruin  of  the  infi- 
dels; and  that,  after  the  taking  of  Jerusalem,  the 
greatest  part  of  the  European  princes  would  return 
homo  with  their  troops,  which  last  circumstance 
was  by  no  means  favourable  to  the  views  wliicli  tlie 
popes  are  supposed  to  have  formcdof  increasin;,'  thrjr 
opulence  and  extending  their  dominion.  Of  all  the 
conjectures  that  have  been  entertained  upon  this 
subject,  the  most  improbable  and  groundless  is  that 
which  supposes  that  Urban  II,  recommended,  with 
such  ardour,  this  expedition  into  Palestine,  with  a 
view  of  weakening  the  power  of  the  emperor  Henry 
IV.  with  whom  he  had  a  violent  dispute  concerning 
the  investiture  of  bishops.  They  who  adopt  this 
conjecture,  must  be  little  acquainted  with  the  his- 
tory of  the.<e  timi's;  or  at  least  they  forget,  that  the 
first  armies  that  iniivrhed  into  Palestine  against  the 
infidels,  were  chiclly  cuiMposed  of  Franks  and  Nor- 
mans, and  that  the  Germans,  who  were  the  enemies 
of  Urban  IL,  were,  in  the  beginning,  extremely 
averse  to  this  sacred  expedition.  Many  other  con- 
siderations might  be  added  to  illustrate  this  matter, 
which,  for  the  sake  of  brevity,  I  pass  in  silence. 

That  part  of  the  hypothesis,  which  relates  to  the 
kings  and  princes  of  Europe,  and  supposes  that  they 
countenanced  the  holy  war  to  get  rid  of  their  pow- 
erful vassals,  is  as  groundless  as  the  other,  which  we 
have  been  now  refuting.  It  is,  indeed,  adopted  by 
several  eminent  writers,  such  as  Vertot  (Hist,  de 
Malthe,  liv.  iii.  p.  309,)  Boulainvilliers,  and  others, 
who  pretend  to  a  superior  and  uncommon  insight 
into  the  policy  of  these  remote  ages.  Tlie  reasons, 
however,  which  these  great  men  employed  to  sup- 
port their  opinion,  may  be  all  comprehended  in  this 
single  argument,  viz.  "Many  kings,  especially 
"among  the  Franks,  becarne  more  opulent  and  pow- 
"  erful  by  the  number  of  their  vassals,  who  lost  their 
"  lives  and  fortunes  in  this  holy  war;  therefore, 
"these  princes  not  only  permitted,  but  warmly 
,  "countenanced  the  prosecution  of  this  war  from 
""selfish  and  ambitious  principles."  The  weakness 
of  this  conclusion  must  strike  every  one  at  first 
sight.  We  are  wonderfully  prone  to  attribute  both 
to  the  Roman  pontiffs,  and  to  the  princes  of  this  bar- 
barous age,  much  more  sagacity  and  cunning  than 
they  really  possessed;  and  we  deduce  from  the 
events  the  principles  and  views  of  the  actors,  which 
IS  a  defective  and  uncertain  manner  of  reasoning. 
With  respect  to  the  pontiffs,  it  appears  most  proba- 
Die  that  their  immense  opulence  and  authority  were 
acquired,  rather  by  their  improving  dexterously  the 
opportunities  that  were  ottered  to  them,  than  by  the 
schemes  they  had  formed  for  extending  their  domi 
nion,  or  filling  their  colTers. 


in  process  of  time,  they  learned  by  experience, 
that  these  holy  wars  contributed  much  to  in- 
crease their  opulence  and  to  exteird  their  au- 
thority, by  sacrificing  their  wealthy  and  pow- 
erful rivals,  new  motives  were  presented  to 
encourage  these  expeditions  into  Palestine, 
and  ambition  and  avarice  seconded  and  en- 
forced the  dictates  of  fanaticism  and  supersti- 
tion. 

IX.  Without   determining  any  thing  con- 
cerning the  justice  or  injustice*  of  these  wars, 


*  I  do  not  pretend  to  decide  the  question  concerning 
the  lawfulness  of  the  crusades;  a  question  which, 
when  it  is  considered  with  attention  and  impartia- 
lity,  will  appear  not  only  extremely  difficult,  but  also 
hiC'hly  doubtful.  It  is,  however,  proper  to  inform  the 
reader,  that  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries 
tli(^  justice  of  this  holy  war  was  called  in  question, 
and  warmly  disputed  among  Christians.  The  Wal- 
denses  and  Albigenses,  who  were  distinguished  by 
the  name  of  C'athari,  or  Puritans,  considered  these 
expeditions  into  Palestine  as  absolutely  unlawful. 
The  reasons  they  alleged  were  collected  and  com- 
bated by  Francis  Moneta,  a  Dominican  friar  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  in  a  book  entitled  Sunnna  contra 
Catharos  et  Waldenses,  lib.  v.  cap.  xiii.  p.  531., 
which  was. published  at  Rome  by  Riccini.  But  nei- 
ther the  objections  of  the  Waldenses,  nor  the  an- 
swers of  Moneta,  were  at  all  remarkable  for  their 
weight  and  solidity,  as  will  appear  evidently  from 
the  following  examples.  Tlie  former  alleged,  against 
the  holy  war,  the  words  of  St.  Paul,  1  Cor.  x.  32. 
"  Give  none  offence;  neither  to  the  Jews  nor  to  the 
"Gentiles."  By  the  Gentiles,  said  they,  are  to  be 
understood  the  Saracens.  And  theretbre  the  Euro- 
pean Christians  are  to  abstain  from  making  war 
upon  the  Saracens,  lest  they  give  otiiince  to  the  Gen- 
tiles. We  shall  give  Moneta's  answer  to  this  argu- 
ment in  his  own  words:  "  We  read,"  says  he.  Gen. 
xii.  7,  "  that  God  said  unto  Abraham,  Unto  thy  seed 
"  will  I  give  this  land:"  Now  we  (Christians  who 
dwell  in  Europe)  are  the  seed  of  Abraham,  as  the 
apostle  affirms,  Galat.  iii.  29.  Therefore  we  are 
heirs  of  the  promise,  and»the  holy  land  is  given  to  us 
by  the  covenant  as  our  lawful  possession.  Hence  it 
appears,  that  it  is  the  duty  of  civil  and  temporal  rul- 
ers to  use  their  nwst  zealous  etlbrts  to  put  us  in  pos- 
session of  the  promised  land,  while  it  is,  at  the  same 
time,  incumbent  upon  the  church  and  its  ministers 
to  exhort  these  rulers  in  the  most  urgent  manner  to 
the  performance  of  their  duty.  A  rare  argument  this 
truly!  but  let  us  hear  him  out.  "  The  church  has  no 
design  to  injure  or  slaughter  the  Saracens,  nor  is 
such  the  intention  of  the  Christian  princes  engaged 
in  this  war.  Yet  the  blood  of  the  infidels  mu.st  of 
necessity  be  shed,  if  they  make  resistance  and  op- 
pose the  victorious  arms  of  the  princes.  The  church 
of  God  therefore  is  entirely  innocent  and  without 
reproach  in  this  matter,  and  gives  no  offence  to  the 
Gentiles,  because  it  does  no  more,  in  reality,  than 
maintain  its  undoubted  right."  Such  is  the  subtile 
reasoning  of  Jloneta,  on  which  it  is  not  necessary 
to  make  any  reflections. 

(t(7=-  Dr.  Mosheim  seems  too  modest,  and  even 
timorous  in  his  manner  of  arraigning  the  justice  of 
this  holy  war,  which  was  so  absurd  in  its  principle, 
and  so  abominable  in  the  odious  circumstances  that 
attended  it.  His  respect,  perhaps,  for  the  Teutonic 
crosses  which  abound  in  Germany,  and  are  the 
marks  of  an  order  that  derives  its  origin  from  these 
fanatical  expeditions  into  Palestine,  may  have  occa- 
sioned that  ambiguity  and  circumspection  in  his  ex- 
pressions, through  which,  however,  it  is  easy  to 
perceive  his  disapprobation  of  the  crusades.  The 
holy  place  jirofaned  bv  the  dominion  of  infidels,  was 
tin:' apparent  pretext  for  this  fanatical  war.  What 
holy  place?  Jerusalem,  say  the  knights  errant  of  Pa- 
lestine. But  they  forget  that  Jerusalem  was  a  city 
which,  by  the  conduct  of  its  inhabitants  and  the 
crucifixion  of  Christ,  had  become  most  odious  in  the 
eye  of  God;  that  it  was  visibly  loaded  with  a  divine 
malediction,  and  was  the  miserable  theatre  of  the 
most  tremendous  judgments  and  calamities  that  ever 
were  inflicted  upon  any  nation.  Had  the  case  been 
otherwise,  we  know  of  no  right  which  Christianity 
gives  its  professors  to  seize  the  territories,  and  in- 
vade the  possessions  of  unbelievers.    Had  tlie  Jews 


Chap.  I. 


PROSPEROUS  EVENTS. 


257 


we  may  boldly  affirm,  that  they  were  highly 
prejudicial,  both  to  the  cause  of  religion,  and 
to  the  jivil  interests  of  mankind;  and  that,  in 
Europe  more  especially,  they  occasioned  innu- 
merable evils  and  calamities,  the  elfects  of 
which  are  yet  perceptible  in  our  times.  The 
European  nations  were  deprived  of  the  great- 
est part  of  their  inhabitants  by  these  ill-judged 
expeditions;  immense  sums  of  money  were  ex- 
ported into  Asia  for  the  support  of  the  war; 
and  numbers  of  the  most  powerful  and  opulent 
families  either  became  extinct,  or  were  in- 
volved in  the  deepest  miseries  of  poverty  and 
want.  It  could  not  easily  be  otherwise,  since 
the  heads  of  the  most  illustrious  houses  either 
mortgaged  or  sold  their  lands  and  possessions 
in  order  to  pay  the  expenses  of  their  voyage,* 
wiiile  others  imposed  such  intolerable  burthens 
upon  their  vassals  and  tenants,  as  obliged  them 
to  abandon  their  houses  and  all  their  domestic 
concerns,  and  to  enlist  then)selves,  rather 
through  wild  despair  than  religious  zeal,  under 
the  sacred  banner  of  the  cross.  Hence  the 
face  of  Europe  was  totally  changed,  and  all 
things  were  thrown  into  the  utmost  confusion. 
We  pass  in  silence  the  various  enormities  tliat 
were  occasioned  by  these  crusades,  the  mur- 
ders, rapes,  and  robberies  of  the  most  infernal 
nature,  that  were  every  where  committed  with 
impunity  by  these  holy  soldiers  of  God  and  of 
Christ,  as  they  were  impiously  called;  nor 
shall  we  enter  into  a  detail  of  the  new  privi- 
leges and  rights,  to  which  these  wars  gave  rise, 
and  which  were  often  attended  with  the  great- 
est inconveniences.! 

X.  These  holy  wars  were  not  less  prejudicial 
to  the  cause  of  religion,  and  the  true  interests 
of  the  Christian  chm-ch,  than  they  were  to  the 
temporal  concerns  of  men.     One  of  their  first 

attempted  the  conquest  of  Palestine,  they  would 
have  acted  conformably  with  their  ajiparent  rights, 
because  it  was  formerly  their  country;  and  consist- 
ently also  with  their  rclisious  principles,  because 
they  expected  a  Messiah  who  was  to  bind  the  kings 
of  the  Gentiles  in  chains,  and  to  reduce  the  whole 
world  under  the  Jewish  yoke. 

*  VV^e  find  many  memorable  examples  of  this  in  the 
ancient  records.  Kolicrl.  duke  of  Normandy,  mort- 
gagid  his  diirliy  to  his  lircitln'r  William  kingof  Ens- 
land  to  (lirr:i\  llie  e\pi-nses  of  his  voyage  to  Pales- 
tine See  the  llislnr.  Major  of  iMalthew  Paris,  lib.  i. 
p.  '24.— Odo,  viscount  of  Hourges,  sold  his  territory- 
to  the  king  of  France.  tJallia  Christiana  Beneilicti- 
norum,  toni.  ii.  p.  4.5.  See,  for  many  examples  of  this 
kind.  Car.  du  Fresne,  Adnot.  ail  Joinvillii  Vitam 
Ludovici  S.  p.  52.— Houlainvilliers  sur  I'Origiue  et 
les  Droits  de  la  Noblesse,  in  Molefs  Memoires  dc 
Literature  et  de  I'llistoire,  tom.  ix.  part  i.  p.  OH.— .To. 
George  Cramer, d<!  Jurihus  et  Pricrogalivis  Nobilita- 
lis,  torn.  i.  p.  81, 409.  From  the  commencement  there- 
fore of  these  holy  wars,  a  vnst  number  of  esliili^s, 
belonging  to  the  Kuropean  nobility,  were  either 
mortgaged,  or  totally  transferred,  some  to  kings  and 
princes,  others  to  priests  and  monks,  and  not  a  few 
to  persons  of  a  private  condition,  who,  by  possessing 
considerable  sums  of  ready  money,  wore  enabled  to 
make  advantagecnis  purchases. 

t  Such  persiins  as  entered  into  these  expeditions, 
and  were  distinguished  by  the  badge  of  the  military 
cross,  acquired  ther<'by  certain  remarkable  rights, 
which  were  extremely  prejudicial  to  Ihi'  rest  nf  their 
fellow-citizens.  Hence  it  happenc'd,  that  when  any 
pf  these  liolij  soldiers  contracted  any  civil  obliga- 
tions, or  entered  into  conventions  of  sale,  purrluife, 
or  any  such  transactions,  they  were  previously  re- 
quired to  renounce  all  privileges  and  immunities, 
which  they  had  obtained,  or  might  obtain  in  time  to 
comf,  by  assuming  the  cross.  See  Le  BcBuf,  Memoires 
sur  PHistoire  d'Auxerre  Append,  tom.  ii.  p.  292. 
Vol.  I.— 33 


and  most  i)emicious  effects  was  the  enormous 
augmentation  of  the  influence  and  authority 
of  the  Roman  pontiffs :  they  also  contributed, 
in  various  ways,  to  enrich  the  churches  and 
monasteries  with  daily  accessions  of  wealth, 
and  to  open  new  sources  of  opulence  to  all  the 
sacerdotal  orders.  For  they,  who  assumed  the 
cross,  disposed  of  their  possessions  as  if  they 
were  at  the  point  of  deatli,  on  account  of  the 
great,  and  imnimenible  dangers  to  which  they 
were  to  be  exposed  in  their  passage  to  the  holy 
land,  and  the  opposition  they  were  to  cncoion- 
ter  there  upon  their  arrival.*  They  therefore, 
for  the  most  part,  made  their  wills  before  their 
departure,  and  left  a  considerable  part  of  their 
possessions  to  the  priests  and  monks,  in  order 
to  obtain,  by  these  jilous  legticies,  the  favor  and 
protection  of  the  Deity. |  Many  examples  of 
these  donations  are  to  be  found  in  ancient  re- 
cords. Such  of  the  holy  soldiers,  as  had  been 
engaged  in  suits  of  law  with  the  priests  or 
monks,  renounced  their  pretensions,  and  sub- 
missively gave  up  whatever  it  was  that  had 
been  the  subject  of  debate ;  and  others,  who 
had  seized  any  of  the  possessions  of  the  church- 
es or  convents,  or  had  heard  of  any  injury  that 
had  been  committed  against  the  clergy  by  the 
remotest  of  their  ancestors,  made  the  most  li- 
beral restitution,  both  for  their  own  usurpa- 
tions and  those  of  their  forefathers,  and  made 
ample  satisfaction,  for  the  real  or  pretended  in- 
juries committed  against  the  church,  by  rich 
and  costly  donations. j: 

Nor  were  these  the  only  unhappy  effects  of 
these  holy  expeditions,  considered  with  respect 
to  their  influence  upon  the  state  of  religion, 
and  the  affairs  of  the  Christian  cluirch ;  for, 
while  whole  legions  of  bishops  and  abbots 
girded  the  sword  to  the  thigh,  and  went  as  ge- 
nerals, volunteers,  or  chaplains  into  Palestine, 
the  priests  and  monks,  who  had  lived  under 
their  jurisdiction,  and  were  more  or  less  awed 
by  their  authority,  threw  off  all  restraint,  led 
the  most  lawless  and  profligate  lives,  and  aban- 
doned themselves  to  all  sorts  of  licentiousness, 
committing  the  most  flagitious  and  extrava- 
gant excesses  without  reluctance  or  remorse. 
The  monster  superstition,  which  was  already 
grown  to  an  enormous  size,  received  new  ac- 
cessions of  strengti)  and  influence  from  this  holy 
war,  and  exercised  with  greater  vehemence 
than  ever  its  despotic  dominion  over  the  minds 
of  the  Latins.  To  the  crowd  of  saints  and " 
tutelar  patrons,  whose  number  was  prodigious 
before  this  period,  were  now  added  many  fic- 
titious saints  of  Greek  and    Syrian   origin,^ 


Qiy=-  *  The  translator  has  here  inserted,  in  the  text, 
the  note  (r)  of  the  original,  as  it  is  purely  historical, 
and  makes  an  interesting  part  of  the  narration. 

t  See  Plessis,  Hist,  de  ftleaux,  tont.  ii.  p.  70,  79, 
141.— Gallia  Christiana,  torn.  ii.  p.  1'.^,  139.— Le 
lioBuf,  Append,  p.  :n.— Du  Fresne,  Nota;  ad  Vitam 
Ludovici  Sancti,  p.  5i. 

X  Du-Fresne,  p.  .W. 

§  The  Roman  Catholic  historians  acknowledge, 
that,  during  the  time  of  the  crusades,  many  saints, 
unknown  to  the  Latins  before  that  period,  were  im- 
ported into  Europe  from  Greece  and  the  eastern  pro- 
vinces, and  were  treated  with  the  utmost  respect 
and  the  most  devout  veneration.  Among  these  new 
patrons,  there  were  some,  whose  exploits  and  even 
existence  are  called  in  question.  Such,  among  others, 
wns  St.  Catherine,  whom  Haroiiiiis  and  Cassander 
represent  as  having  removed  from  Syria  into  Eu- 


258 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  I. 


hitherto  unknown  in  Europe;  and  an  incredi- 
ble quantity  of  relics,  the  greatest  part  of  which 
were  ridiculous  in  the  higiiest  degree,  were 
imported  into  the  European  chujches.  The 
armies,  that  returned  from  Asia  after  flic 
taking  of  Jerusalem,  brought  with  tliem  a  vast 
number  of  these  saintly  relics,  which  they  had 
bought  at  a  high  price  from  the  crafty  Greeks 
and  Syrians,  and  which  they  considered  us  the 
noblest  spoils  that  could  crown  their  return 
from  the  holy  land.  These  they  committed  to 
the  custody  of  the  clergy  in  the  churches  and 
monasteries,  or  ordered  them  to  be  most  care- 
fully preserved  in  their  families  from  one  ge- 
neration to  another.* 

CHAPTER  n. 

Concerning  the  Calamitous  Events  that  happened 
to  the  Church  during  this  Centunj. 

I.  The  greatest  opposition  tliat  Christians 
met  with,  in  this  century,  was  from  the  Sara- 
cens and  Turks.  To  the  latter  the  Christians 
and  Saracens  were  equally  odious,  and  felt 
equally  the  fatal  consequences  of  their  increas- 
ing dominion.  The  Saracens,  notwithstanding 
their  bloody  contests  with  the  Turks,  which 
gave  them  constant  occupation,  and  the  vigor- 
ous, though  ineflectual  efforts  they  were  con- 
tinually making  to  set  limits  to  the  power  of 


rope.  S::e  B.ironius,  ad  Maityrol.  lioiuan.  p.  728. — 
George  Cassander,  Sohol.  ad  Hyninos  Ecclcsiie.  It  is 
extremely  doubtful,  whether  this  Catherine,  who  is 
honoured  as  the  patrouess  of  learned  men,  ever  e.\- 
isted. 

*  The  sacred  treasures  of  musty  relics  which  the 
French,  Germans,  Britons,  and  other  European  na- 
tions, preserved  formerly  with  so  much  care,  and 
show  even  in  our  times  with  such  pious  ostentation, 
are  certainly  not  more  ancient  than  these  holy 
wars,  but  were  then  purchased  at  a  high  rate  from 
the  Greeks  and  Syrians.  These  cunning  traders  in 
superstition,  whose  avarice  and  fraud  were  exces- 
sive, frequently  imposed  upon  tlie  credulity  of  the 
simple  and  ignorant  Latins,  by  the  sale  of  tictitious 
relics.  Richard,  king  of  Kngiand,  bought  in  1191. 
from  the  famous  Saladin,  all  the  relics  that  were  to 
be  found  in  Jerusalem,  as  appears  from  the  testimony 
of  Matthew  Paris,  who  tells  us  also,  that  the  Domi- 
nicans brought  from  Palestine  a  white  stone,  in 
vv'hich  Jet^us  Christ  had  left  the  print  of  his  feet.  The 
Genoese  pretended  to  have  received  from  Baldwin, 
second  king  of  Jerusalem,  the  very  dish  in  which  the 
paschal  Inmb  was  served  up  to  Christ  and  his  disci- 
ples at  the  last  supper;  though  this  famous  dish  ex- 
cites the  laughter  of  even  father  Labal,  in  his  Voy- 
ages en  ]iSpagne  et  en  Italie,  tom.  ii.  P'or  an  ac- 
count of  the  prodigous  (juantity  of  relics,  which  St. 
Louis  brought  from  Palestine  into  France,  wc  refer 
tile  reader  to  the  life  of  that  prince  composed  by 
Joinville,  and  published  by  Du-Fresne;  as  also  to 
Plessis,  Histoire  de  I'Eglise  de  Meanx,  tom.  i.  p.  1-20; 
and  Lancelot,  Memoires  pour  la  Vie  de  I'Abbe  de 
St.  Cyran,  tom.  i.  p.  175.  Christ's  handkerchief, 
which  is  worsliipped  at  Besancon,  was  brought 
thither  from  the  holy  land.  See  J.  Jaques  ('hiflet, 
Visontii),  part  ii.  p.  108;  and  de  Lintcis  Chrisli  Se- 
pulchralibus,  c.  ix.  p.  .'50.  Many  other  examples  of 
this  miserable  superstition  may  be  seen  in  Anton. 
Matthsei  Analecta  veteria  JEvi,  torn.  ii.  p.'  (i77.— Jo. 
Mabillon,  Annal.  Bened.  tom.  vi.  p.  52;  and  princi- 
pally Chiflet's  Crisis  Historica  de  Linteis  Christi  Se- 
pulchralibus,  c.  ix.  x.  p.  SO,  and  also  ,50,  where  we 
find  the  following  passage:  "Sciendum  est,  vigeiite 
•'immani  et  barbara  Turcarum  persecutione,  et  im- 
"minente  Christiana  religionis  in  oriente  naufra- 
"  gio,  educta  a  sacrariis  et  per  Christianos  quovis 
"  modo  recondita  ecclesiarum  pignora.— Hisce  plane 
'divinis  opibus  illecti  prte  aliis,  sacra  AjuJ-itix  qua 
"  vi,  qua  prctio,  a  dctinentibus  hac  iliac  extorse- 
"runt." 


that  fierce  nation,  which  was  daily  extending 
the  bounds  of  its  empire,  persisted  in  their 
cruelty  toward  their  Christian  subjects,  whom 
they  robbed,  plundered,  maimed,  or  murdered 
in  the  most  barbarous  manner,  and  loaded 
with  all  sorts  of  injuries  and  calamities.  The 
Turks,  on  the  other  hand,  not  only  reduced 
the  Saracen  dominion  to  very  narrow  bounds, 
but  also  seized  the  richest  provinces  of  the 
Grecian  empire,  the  fertile  countries  situated 
upon  the  coasts  of  the  Euxine  sea,  and  subject- 
ed them  to  their  yoke,  while  they  impoverished 
and  exhausted  the  rest  by  perpetual  incursions, 
and  by  the  most  severe  and  unmerciful  exac- 

i  tions.  The  Greeks  were  not  able  to  oppose 
this  impetuous  torrent  of  prosperous  ambition. 
Their  force  was  weakened  by  intestine  dis- 
cords, and  their  treasures  were  e.xhausted  to 
such  a  degree  as  rendered  them  incapable  of 
raising  new  troops,  or  of  paying  the  armies 
they  had  already  in  their  service. 

IJ.  The  Saracens  in  Spain  opposed  the  pro- 
gress of  the  Gospel  in  a  different,  yet  still 
more  pernicious  way.     They  used  all  sorts  of 

I  methods  to  alitire  the  Christians  into  the  pro- 
fession of  the  Mohammedan  faith.  Alliances 
of  marriage,  advantageous  contracts,  flatter- 
ing rewards,  were  employed  to  seduce  them 
with  too  much  success;  for  great  numbers  fell 
into  these  fatal  snares,  and  apostatized  from 
the  truth;*  and  these  alhn-enients  would  have, 
undoubtedly,  still  continued  to  seduce  mul- 
titudes of  Christians  from  the  bosom  of  the 
chiu-ch,  had  not  the  face  of  affairs  been 
changed  in  Spain  by  the  victorious  arms  of 
the  kings  of  Arragon  and  Castile,  and  more 
especially  Ferdinand  I.;  for  these  princes, 
whose  zeal  for  Christianity  was  equal  to  their 
military  courage,  defeated  the  Saracens  in  se- 
veral battles,  and  deprived  them  of  a  great 
part  of  their  territories  and  possessions.! 

Tite  number  of  those  among  the  Danes, 
Hungarians,  and  other  European  nations,  who 
retained  their  prejudices  in  favour  of  the  idola- 
trous religion  of  their  ancestors,  was  yet  very 
considerable;  and  they  persecuted,  with  the 
utmost  cruelty,  the  neighbouring  nations,  and 
also  such  of  their  fellow-citizens  as  had  em- 
braced the  Gospel.  To  put  a  stop  to  this 
barbarous  persecution.  Christian  princes  ex- 
erted their  zeal  in  a  terrible  manner,  proclaim- 
ing capital  pmiishment  against  all  wJio  per- 
sisted in  the  worsliip  of  the  Pagan  deities. 
This  dreadful  severity  contributed  much  more 
toward  the  extirpation  of  paganism,  than  the 
e.\hortations  and  instructions  of  ignorant  mis- 
sionaries, who  were  unacquainted  with  the 
true  nature  of  the  Gospel,  and  dishonoured  its 
pure  and  holy  doctrines  by  their  licentious 
lives  and  siiperstitious  practices. 

The  Prussians,  Lithuanians,  Sclavonians, 
Obotriti,  and  several  other  natioirs,  who  dwelt 
in  the  lower  parts  of  Germany,  and  lay  still 
grovelling  in  the  darkness  of  paganism,  con- 

*  Jo.  Hcnr.  Hottingeri  Histor.  Ecclesiast.  Srec.  .xi. 
§  ii.  p.  452;  and  Michael  Geddes'  History  of  the  Ex- 
pulsion of  the  Morescoes  out  of  Spain,  which  is  to 
be  found  in  the  Miscellaneous  Tracts  of  that  Author, 
tom.  i. 

t  For  an  account  of  these  wars  between  the  first 
Christian  kings  of  Spain  and  the  Moslems  or  Moors, 
see  the  Spanish  histories  of  Mariana  and  Ferrerai 


Chap.  I. 


LEARNING  AND  PHILOSOPHY. 


259 


tinned  to  harass  the  Christians,  who  lived  in 
their  neighbourhood,  by  perpetual  acts  of  hos- 
tility and  violence,  by  frequent  incursions  into 
their  territories,  and  by  putting  numbers  of 


I  them  to  death  in  the  most  inlmnian  manner.* 

I     *  IlflinoUli  Chron.  Slavorum,  lib.  t.  ca)).  xvi.  p. 
I  5.;.— Adaiiii  Breinens.  Histor.  lib.  ii.  cap.  xxvii. 


PART  II. 


THE  INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Concerniug  the  State  of  Letters  and  Pk'dosophtj 
during  this  Century. 

I.  The  declining  condition  of  the  Grecian 
empire  was  fatal  to  the  progress  of  letters  and 
philosophy.  Its  glory  and  power  diminished 
from  day  to  day  under  the  insults  and  usui'])a- 
tions  of  the  Turks  and  Saracens;  and,  while  i 
the  empire  suffered  by  these  attacks  from  with- 
out, it  was  consumed  gradually  by  the  inter- 
nal pestilence  of  civil  discord,  by  frequent  se- 
ditions and  conspiracies,  and  by  those  violent 
revolutions  which  shook  from  time  to  time  the 
imperial  throne,  and  were  attended  with  the 
sudden  fall  and  elevation  of  those  who  held 
the  reins  of  government.  So  many  foreign 
invasions,  so  many  internal  troubles,  so  many 
emperors  dethroned,  deprived  the  political 
body  of  its  strength  and  consistency,  broke  in 
upon  the  public  order,  rendered  all  things  pre- 
carious, and,  dejecting  the  spirits  of  the  nation, 
damped  the  fire  of  genius,  and  discouraged  the 
efforts  of  literary  ambition.*  There  were,  how- 
ever, some  emperors,  such  as  Alexius  Comne- 
nus,  who  seemed  to  cherish  and  encourage  the 
drooping  sciences,  and  whose  zeal  was  second- 
ed by  several  prelates,  who  were  willing  to 
lend  a  supporting  hand  to  the  cause  of  letters. 
The  controversies  also  that  subsisted  between 
the  Greeks  and  Latins,  impelled  the  former, 
amidst  all  their  disadvantages  to  a  certain  de- 
gree of  application  to  study,  and  prevented 
them  from  abandoning  entirely  the  culture  of 
the  sciences.  And  hence  it  is,  that  we  find 
among  the  Greeks  of  this  century  some  wri- 
ters, at  least,  who  have  deserved  well  of  the 
republic  of  letters. 

II.  We  pass  in  silence  the  poets,  rhetori- 
cians, and  philologists  of  this  century,  who 
were  neither  liigldy  eminent  nor  absolutely 
contemptible.  Among  the  writers  of  history, 
Leo  the  jrrammarian,  .lolm  Scylizes,  Cedrenus, 
and  a  few  others,  deserve  to  be  mentioned 
with  some  share  of  praise,  notwithstanding  the 
palpable  partiality  with  which  they  are  charge- 
able, and  the  zeal  they  discover  for  many  of 
the  fabulous  records  of  their  nation.  But  the 
greatest  ornament  of  the  republic  of  letters,  at 
this  time,  was  Michael  Psellus,  a  man  illusti-i- 
ous  in  every  respect,  and  deeply  versed  in  all 
the  various  kinds  of  erudition  that  were  known 
in  his  age.  Tliis  great  man  recommended 
warmly  to  his  countrymen  the  study  of  phi- 


(J(^  *  The  sentence  which  begins  with  the  words 
so  many  foreign,  and  cnd.s  with  the  words  literary 
ambition,  is  added  by  the  translator  to  render  the 
connexion  with  what  follows  more  evidenl. 


losophy,  and  particularly  the  system  of  Aristo- 
tle, which  he  embellished  and  illustrated  in 
several  learned  and  ingenious  productions.* 
If  we  turn  our  eyes  toward  tlie  Aratiians,  we 
shall  find  that  they  still  retained  a  high  degree 
of  zeal  for  the  culture  of  the  sciences;  as  ap- 
pears evidently  from  the  number  of  physicians, 
mathematicians,  and  a.stronomers,  who  flou- 
risiied  among  them  in  this  century. f 

III.  The  arts  and  sciences  seemed,  in  some 
measure,  to  revive  in  the  west,  among  the 
clergy,  at  least,  and  the  monastic  orders;  they 
were  not  indeed  cultivated  by  any  other  set 
of  men;  and  tiic  nobility,  if  we  e.xcept  such  of 
them  as  were  designed  to  fill  certain  ecclesias- 
tical dignities,  or  had  voluntarily  devoted 
themselves  to  a  religious  solitude,  treated  all 
sorts  of  learning  and  erudition  with  indiffer- 
ence and  contempt.  The  schools  of  learning 
flourished  in  several  parts  of  Italy  about  the 
year  1050;  and  of  the  Italian  doctors,  wiio  ac- 
quired a  name  by  their  writings  or  their  aca- 
demical lectures,  several  removed  afterwards 
into  France,  and  particularly  into  Normandy, 
where  they  instructed  the  youth,  who  had  con- 
secrated themselves  to  the  service  of  the 
church. {  The  French  also,  though  they  ac- 
knowledge their  obligations  to  the  learned 
Italians  who  settled  in  their  provinces,  exhibit, 
at  the  same  time,  a  considerable  list  of  their 
countrymen,  who,  without  any  foreign  suc- 
cours, cultivated  the  sciences,  and  contributed 
not  a  little  to  the  advancement  of  letters  in 
this  century;  they  mention  also  several  schools 
erected  in  different  parts  of  that  kingdom, 
which  were  in  the  higiiest  reputation,  both  on 
account  of  the  flime  of  their  masters,  and  the 
nmltitude  of  disciples  that  resorted  to  them.§ 
And,  indeed,  it  is  certain  beyond  all  contra- 
diction, that  the  liberal  arts  and  sciences  were 
cultivated  in  I'rance,  which  abounded  with 
learned  men,  while  the  greatest  part  of  Italy 
lay  as  yet  covered  with  a  thick  cloud  of  igno- 
rance and  darkness.  For  Robert,  king  of 
France,  son  and  successor  of  Hui^h  Capet,  dis- 
ciple of  the  famous  Gerbert  (atterwards  Syl- 
vester II.,)  and  the  great  protector  of  the 
sciences,  and  friend  of  the  learned,    reigned 


*  Leo  AUatius,  Diatribiude  Psellis,  p.  14,  edit. 
Fabricii. 

I  Klmaoini  Historia  Saracen,  p.  231.— Jo.  Henr. 
Ilnltinf.'1'r,  Ilistiir.  J>clcs.  Sa;c.  xi.  p.  4t'J. 

I  Sue  JVIuratori,  Antiijiiitates  Ital.  inedii  aivi,  torn. 
iii.p.  871.— Giannone,  Ili.st<iria  di  Napoli,  vol.  ii. 

§  Histoire  Litcraire  dc  la  France,  toni.  vii.  at  the 
Introduction. — Du  Boulay,  Hist,  .\cadeni.  Paris. 
torn.  i.p.  353. — Lc  Bcenf,  Dies,  sur  I'Etat  des  Sciences 
en  France  dcpuis  la  .Mort  du  Roi  Robert,  which  is 
published  ainonK  his  Dissertations  sur  I'llistoire  Eo- 
clesiastique  et  Civile  de  Paris,  torn.  ii.  part  i. 


260 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


from  the  close  of  the  preceding  century  to  the 
year  1031,*  and  exerted  upon  all  occasions  the 
most  ardent  zeal  for  the  restoration  of  letters; 
nor  were  his  noble  etforts  without  success-j 
The  provinces  of  Sicily,  Apulia,  Calabria,  and 
other  southern  parts  of  Italy,  were  indebted, 
for  the  introduction  of  the  sciences  among 
them,  to  tiie  Normans,  who  became  their  mas- 
ters, and  who  brouglit  with  them  from  France 
the  knowledge  of  letters  to  a  people  benighted 
in  tiie  darkest  ignorance.  To  the  Normans 
also  was  due  the  restoration  of  learning  in 
England.  William  the  Conqueror,  a  prince 
of  uncommon  sagacity  and  genius,  and  the 
great  Msecenas  of  his  time,  upon  his  accession 
to  the  throne  of  England  in  the  year  1066,  en- 
gaged, by  tlie  most  alluring  solicitations,  a 
considerable  number  of  learned  men,  from 
Normandy  and  other  coimtries,  to  settle  in  his 
new  dominions,  and  exerted  his  most  zealous 
endeavours  to  dispel  that  savage  ignorance, 
which  is  always  a  source  of  innumerable  evils. | 
The  reception  of  Christianity  had  polished  and 
civilized,  in  an  extraordinary  manner,  the 
rugged  minds  of  the  valiant  Normans:  for 
those  fierce  wamors,  who,  under  the  darkness 
of  paganism,  had  manifested  tlie  utmost  aver- 
sion to  all  branches  of  knowledge  and  every 
kind  of  instruction,  distinguished  themselves, 
after  their  conversion,  by  their  ardent  applica- 
tion to  the  study  of  religion  and  the  pursuits 
of  learning. 

IV.  This  vehement  desire  of  knowledge, 
that  increased  from  day  to  day,  and  became  at 
length,  the  predominant  passion  of  the  politest 
European  nations,  produced  many  happy  ef- 
fects. To  it,  more  particularly,  we  must  attri- 
bute the  considerable  number  of  public  schools 
that  were  opened  in  various  places,  and  the 
choice  of  more  able  and  eminent  masters  than 
those  who  had  formerly  presided  in  the  semi- 
naries of  learning.  'J'oward  the  conclusion  of 
the  preceding  age,  there  were  no  schools  in 
Europe  but  tliose  which  belonged  to  monaste- 
ries, or  episcopal  residences:  nor  were  there 
any  other  masters,  except  the  Benedictine 
monks,  to  instruct  the  youth  in  the  principles 
of  sacred  and  profane  erudition.  But,  not 
long  after  the  commencement  of  this  century, 
the  face  of  things  was  totally  changed,  in  a 
manner  the  most  advantageous  to  the  cause 
of  letters.  In  many  cities  of  France  and  Ita- 
ly, learned  men,  both  among  the  clergy  and 
laity,  undertook  the  weighty  and  important 
charge  of  instructing  the  youth,  and  succeeded 
much  better  in  tliis  worthy  undertaking  tjian 
the  monks  had  done,  not  only  by  comprehend^ 
ing  in  their  course  of  instruction  more  branches 
of  knowledge  than  the  monastic  doctors  were 
acquainted  with,  but  also  by  teaching  in  a  bet- 
ter method,  and  with  more  perspicuity  and 


|l3'  *  Robert  succeeded  Hugh  Cappt,  and  reigned 
thirty  five  yours. 

t  Daniel,  Hitstoire  de  la  France,  tnm.  iii.  p.  58. — 
Du  Bnulay,  Hist.  Academ.  Paris,  torn.  i.  p.  tilUi  ct 
passim. 

t  See  Hist.  Liter,  de  In  Fiance,  torn.  viii.  p.  171.— 
"The  English,"  says  Matthew  Paris,  "  vvoro  so  il- 
"  literate  and  ignorant  before  the  time  of  Willi.ini 
"the  Conqueror,  that  a  man  who  understood  the 
"  principles  of  grammar,  was  universally  looked  upon 
"  as  a  prodigy  of  learning." 


precision,  many  of  the  same  branches  of  sci- 
ence, which  the  others  had  taught  before  them. 
The  most  eminent  of  these  new  masters  were 
sucli  as  had  either  travelled  into  Spain  with  a 
view  to  study  in  the  schools  of  the  Saracens 
(wiiich  was  extremely  customary  in  this  age 
among  those  who  were  ambitious  of  a  distin- 
guished reputation  for  wisdom  and  knowledge,) 
or  had  improved  their  stock  of  erudition  and 
philosophy  by  a  diligent  and  attentive  perusal 
of  the  writings  of  the  Arabians,  of  which  a 
great  number  were  translated  into  Latin;  for 
with  tliese  foreign  succours  they  were  enabled 
to  teacli  philosoph)',  mathematics,  physic,  as- 
tronomy, and  the  other  sciences  that  are  con- 
nected with  them,  in  a  much  more  learned  and 
solid  manner  tiian  the  monks  or  such  as  had 
received  their  education  from  them  alone. — 
The  scliool  of  Salernmn,  in  the  kingdom  of 
Naples,  was  renowned  above  all  others  for  the 
study  of  physic  in  this  century,  and  vast  num- 
bers crowded  thither  from  all  the  provinces  of 
Europe  to  receive  instruction  in  the  art  of  heal- 
ing: but  the  medical  precepts  which  rendered 
the  doctors  of  Salerrmm  so  famous,  were  all 
derived  from  the  writings  of  the  Arabians,  or 
from  the  schools  of  the  Saracens  in  Spain  and 
Africa.*  It  was  also  from  the  schools  and  writ- 
ings of  the  Arabian  sages,  that  the  absurd  and 
puerile  tricks  of  divination,  and  the  custom  of 
tbrctelling  future  events  from  the  position  of 
the  stars,  the  features  of  the  face,  and  the  lines 
of  the  hand,  derived  their  origin.  These  ridi- 
culous practices,  proceeding  from  so  respecta- 
ble a  source,  and  moreover  adapted  to  satisfy 
the  idle  curiosit}'  of  impatient  mortals,  were 
carried  on  in  all  the  Em'opean  nations  and  in 
process  of  time  tlie  pretended  sciences  of  as- 
trology and  divination  acquired  the  highest  re- 
putation and  autiiority. 

V.  The  seven  liberal  arts,  as  they  were  now 
styled,  were  taught  in  the  greatest  part  of  the 
schools  tliat  were  erected  in  this  century  for 
the  education  of  youth.  The  fii'st  stage  was 
gramjuar,  which  was  followed  by  rhetoric  and 
logic.  Wlien  the  disciple,  having  learned 
these  three  branches,  which  were  generally 
known  by  the  name  of  trivium,  extended  his 
amiiition,  and  was  desirous  of  new  improve- 
ment in  the  sciences,  he  was  conducted  slowly 
through  the  quadrivmm^  to  the  very  summit 
of  literary  fame.  But  this  method  of  teaching, 
which  had  been  received  in  all  the  western 
schools,  was  considerably  changed  toward  the 
latter  end  of  this  century;  for,  as  the  science 
of  logic,  under  which  metaphysics  were  in 
part  comprehended,  received  new  degrees  of 
perfection  from  the  deep  meditations  and  the 
assiduous  industry  of  certain  acute  thinkers, 

*  Mnratori,  Antiq.  Ital.  torn.  ii.  p.  93.'i. — Giannone, 
Hist,  di  Napoli,  torn.  ii.  p.  151.  Freind's  History  of 
Physic. — It  is  well  known,  that  the  famous  precepts 
of  the  school  of  Salernum,  for  the  preservation  of 
health,  were  cuniposed  in  this  century,  at  the  request 
of  the  king  of  F.ngland. 

(pj=  t  The  trivium  was  a  term  invented  in  the 
times  of  barbarism  to  express  the  three  sciences  that 
were  first  learned  in  tlie  schools,  viz.  grammar,  rhe- 
toric, and  logic;  and  the  schools  in  which  these  sci- 
ences alnne  were  taught,  were  called  Uiviales.  The 
iiuadriiuam  comprehended  the  four  mathematical 
si^ieiices,— arithmetic,  music,  geometry,  and  astro- 
nomy. 


Chap.  I 


LEARNING  AND  PHILOSOPHY. 


261 


and  was  taught  with  more  detail  and  subtilty 
than  in  former  times,  the  greatest  part  of  the 
studious  youth  became  so  enamoured  of  this 
branch  of  pliilosophy,  as  to  abandon  grammar, 
rhetoric,  and  all  the  other  lilieral  arts,  that  they 
might  consecrate  their  whole  time  to  the  dis- 
cussion of  logical  questions,  and  the  pursuit 
of  mctapiiysical  speculations.  Nor  was  this 
surprising,  when  we  consider,  that,  according 
to  the  opinion  which  now  prevailed  in  the  re- 
public; of  letters,  a  man  who  was  well  versed 
in  diakclics,  i.  e.  in  logical  an<l  metaphysical 
knowledge,  was  reputed  sutiiciently  learned, 
and  was  supposed  to  stand  in  need  of  no  other 
branches  of  erudition.*  Hence  arose  that  con- 
tempt of  languages  and  eloquence,  of  the  more 
elegant  sciences,  and  the  fine  arts,  which  spread 
its  baneful  intluenco  tlirough  the  Latin  pro- 
vinces; and  hence  that  barbarism  and  pedantic 
sophistry  which  dishonoured,  in  succeeding 
ages,  the  republic  of  letters,  and  deplorably 
corrupted  the  noble  simplicity  of  true  theolo- 
gy, and  the  pui'est  systems  of  philosophical 
wisdom. 

VI.  The  philosophy  of  tlic  Latins,  in  this 
century,  was  absolutely  confined  within  the 
circle  of  dialectics,  while  the  other  philosoplii- 
cal  sciences  were  scarcely  known  by  name.j 
This  dialectic,  indeed,  was  miserably  dry  and 


*  See  Boulay,  toiu.  i.  p.  40t<,  511.— This  is  too  likely 
to  become  the  prevailing  ta.ste  even  in  onr  times: 
hut  it  is  an  ancient  taste,  as  wo  may  easily  perceive, 
by  casting  an  eye  upon  the  literary  hist(jry  of  the 
eleventh  century;  and  to  contirni  .still  larilier  llie 
truth  of  the  vulgar  saying,  that  there  is  nothing  new 
under  the  nun.  we  shall  quote  the  following  passage 
from  the  Metalogiium  of  John  of  Salisbury,  a  wri- 
ter of  no  nierin  abilities,  lib.  i.  cap.  iii.  "  Poeta-, 
hist(iri(it:iiiplii,  habebanter  infanies,  ct  si  qiiis  iiiciini- 
bcl);it  laliiiiiliiis  antiquoruin,  notabatur  'it  noii  iiioilu 
ascllo  Arcadia-  tardior,  sod  obtusjor  plunibo  vel  la- 
pide,  omnibus  erat  in  risuui.  Suis  enim,  aut  magis- 
tri  sui,  quisque  incumbebat  inventis. — Fiebant  ergo 
sunimi  rcpeute  philosophi;  nam  qui  illiteraliis  acces- 
serat,  fere  non  morabatur  in  scholis  ulterius  (piam 
eo  curriculo  temporis,  quo  avium  pulli  plnmescunt. 
Sed  quid  docebant  novi  doctores,  et  qui  plussomnio- 
runi  cpiam  vigiliaruni  in  scrulinio  philosniiliiir  con- 
suniserant?  Ecce  nova  Hidiaiit  omnia:  innovali.itiir 
grammatica,  jmnuitali:itur  dialect ica,  con t cm neliatur 
rhetorica.  et  novas  totius  quadrivii  vias,  evacuali.s 
priorum  regulis,  dc  ipsis  ])hilosophia;  adytis  pmfere- 
bant.  Solaiii  convcnientiam  sive  ruliuiinii  loipielian- 
tur,  argumentnm  sonahat  in  ore  ompiiiiMi— ac  incp- 
tuni  nimis  aut  rude  et  a  pliilosoplio  ali>-Munj,  iuipds 
sibile  credehatur  conrrninilcr  et  ad  rationis  nonnam 
quici|uarn  diccro  aut  faccre,  nisi  coiivenicntiit:  et  ra- 
tioniK  menliii  e.xprcssim  esset  inserta."  Many  more 
passages  of  this  nature  are  to  be  found  in  this  au- 
thor. 

t  We  shall,  indeed,  find  many,  in  the  records  of 
this  century,  honoured  will)  the  title  of  Phi/nsophrr.'i. 
Thus  wo  hi'ar  of  IManegoldiis  the  I'hilosopher,  .Ada- 
lardus  the  Philosopher,  &c.  lint  wr  must  not  attri 
bute  to  that  term,  when  applied  to  llu'se  irraniniari 
nns,  the  si'iise  which  it  liorc  .-imong  the  ancient 
(Ireeks  and  Latins,  and  which  it  still  bears  in  onr 
times.  In  the  styb;  of  what  wec.iU  the  middle  ages, 
every  man  of  learning,  of  wliale\er  kind  his  erudi- 
tion might  be,  was  called  a  philosopher;  and  this  ti- 
tle was  also  given  to  the  interpret<Ts  of  Scriptnn', 
though  that  set  of  men  were,  generally  speaking, 
destitute  of  true  philosophy.  See  the  (^hronicon  Sa- 
leriiit.ininn  in  Muratori's  collection  Scriptor.  Ke- 
rum  llalicar.  torn.  ii.  part  ii.  cap.  c.\.\iv.  p.  20.'>,  wlnTe 
we  are  told,  that  in  the  tenth  century,  in  which  the 
sciences  were  almost  totally  extinguished  in  Italy, 
there  w(tre  thirty-two  philosophers  at  Benev<'nto. 
We  learn,  however,  by  what  follows,  that  these  phi- 
losophers were  partly  grannnarians,  and  partly  per- 
sons who  were  more  or  less  versed  in  certani  liberal 
arts. 


barren,  as  long  as  it  was  drawn  from  no  other 
source  than  the  ten  categories  falsely  attribut- 
ed to  St.  Augustin,  or  from  the  e.vplications  of 
the  Aristotelian  philosophy,  composed  by  Por- 
phj-ry  and  Averroes.  These,  however,  were 
the  only  guides  which  the  schools  had  to  fol- 
low in  the  beginning  of  tliis  century;  nor  had 
the  public  teachers  either  genius  or  courage 
enough  to  enlarge  the  system,  or  to  hnprove 
upon  the  principles  of  these  dictators  in  philo- 
sophy, whose  authority  was  treated  iis  infalli- 
ble, and  whose  productions,  for  a  long  time, 
were  regarded  as  perfect,  to  the  gr(;at  detri- 
ment of  true  science.  But,  about  the  year 
1050,  the  face  of  philosophy  began  to  change, 
and  the  science  of  logic  assumed  a  new  aspect. 
This  revolution  began  in  tVance,  where  several 
of  the  books  of  Aristotle  had  been  brought 
froiu  the  schools  of  the  Saracens  in  Spain;  and 
it  was  effected  by  a  set  of  luen  highly  renown- 
ed for  their  abilities  and  genius,  such  as  Ber- 
enger,  Roscellinus,  Hildebert,  and  after  them 
by  Gilbert  de  la  Porree,  the  famous  Abelard, 
and  others.  These  eminent  logicians,  though 
they  followed  the  Stagirite  as  their  guide,  took 
the  liberty  to  illustrate  and  model  anew  his 
philosophy,  and  to  extend  it  far  beyond  its  an- 
cient limits. 

VII.  The  philosophers  of  this  age,  who 
were  most  famous  for  tlieir  zealous  and  success- 
ful endeavours  to  improve  the  science  of  logic, 
and  accommodate  it  to  general  use,  were  Lan- 
franc,  an  Italian  by  birth,  (who  was  abbot  of 
St.  Steplien's  at  Caen,  and  was  thence  called 
by  Wilham  tiie  Conqueror  to  the  see  of  Can- 
terbury,) Anselm  his  successor,  and  Odo,  whose 
last  promotion  was  the  bishopric  of  Caiubray. 
Lanfranc  was  so  deeply  versed  in  this  science, 
that  lie  M'as  commonly  called  the  Dialectician; 
and  he  employed  with  great  dexterity  the  sub- 
tilties  of  logic  in  the  controvers}'  which  was 
carried  on  between  him  and  the  learned  Berea- 
ger,  against  whom  he  maintained  the  real  pre- 
sence of  Christ's  body  and  l)lood  in  the  holy 
sacrament.  Anselm,  in  a  very  learned  dia- 
logue, throws  nmch  light  upon  the  darkness 
and  perplexity  in  which  the  science  of  logic 
had  been  so  long  involved;  and,  among  other 
things,  he  investigates,  with  no  small  sagacity, 
the  nature  of  substance,  and  mode  or  quality, 
in  order  to  convey  more  ju.st  notions  of  these 
metaphysical  entities  than  had  been  hitherto 
entertained.*  This  great  prelate,  who  shone 
with  a  distinguished  lustre  in  several  branches 
of  literature  both  sacred  and  profane,  was  the 
first  of  the  Latin  doctors  who  dispelled  tiie 
clouds  of  ignorance  and  obscurity  that  hung 
over  the  important  sciences  of  metaphysics  and 
natural  theology,  as  appears  from  two  books 
of  his  composition,  wherein  the  truths  con- 
cerning the  Deity,  which  are  deducible  from 
the  mere  light  of  nature,  are  enumerated  and 
explained  with  a  degree  of  sagacity  whieli 
could  not  well  be  expected  from  a  writer  of 
this  century.  He  was  the  inventor  of  that  fa- 
mous argument,  vulgarly  and  erroneously  at- 
tributed to  Des-Cartes,  which  demonstrates 
the  existence  of  God  from  the  idea  of  an  infi- 


*  This  dialogue,  de  Orainmatiro,  is  to  be  fomul  in 
the  works  of  Anselm,  published  by  father  Gerberon, 
toni.  i.  p   143 


262 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


nitely  perfect  Being  naturally  implanted  in  the 
mind  of  man,  and  which  is  to  be  found,  with- 
out exception  in  the  breast  of  every  mortal. 
The  solidity  of  tliis  argument  was,  indeed, 
called  into  question,  almost  as  soon  as  it  was 
proposed,  bj'  Gaunilo,  a  French  monk,  whose 
objections  were  answered  by  Anselm,  in  a  trea- 
tise professedly  written  for  tliat  purpose.*  Odo 
the  third  restorer  of  logic  whom  we  mention- 
ed above,  taught  that  science  with  the  great- 
est applause,  and  illustrated  it  in  three  learned 
productions,  which  have  not  survived  the  runis 
of  tinie.f 

VIII.  The  restoration  of  logic  was  imme- 
diately followed  by  a  veliement  dispute  be- 
tween its  restorers  and  patrons,  concerning  the 
object  of  that  science;  such  was  the  term  em- 
ployed by  the  contending  parties.  This  con- 
troversy,which  was  long  agitated  in  the  schools, 
was  in  its  nature  extremely  trivial  and  unim- 
portant: but,  considered  in  its  consequences,  it 
became  a  very  serious  and  weiglity  affair, 
since  the  disputants  on  both  sides  made  use  of 
their  respective  opinions  in  explaining  the  doc- 
trines of  religion,  and  reciprocally  loaded  each 
other  with  the  most  odious  invectives  and  the 
most  opprobrious  accusations.  In  one  point 
only  they  were  mianimous,  acknowledging  that 
logic  or  dialectic  had  for  its  essential  object  the 
consideration  of  miiver.sals  in  their  various  re- 
lations and  points  of  comparison,  since  par- 
ticular and  individual  things,  being  liable  to 
change,  could  not  be  the  objects  of  a  sure  and 
immutable  science.  But  the  great  question 
was,  whether  these  universals,  which  came 
within  the  sphere  of  logical  inquiries,  belonged 
to  the  class  of  real  things,  or  that  of  mere  de 
numinations.  One  set  of  these  subtile  disput 
ants  maintained,  that  universals  were  undoubt- 
ed realities,  and  supported  their  hypothesis  by 
the  authority  of  Plato,  Boetius,  and  other  an- 
cient sages;  the  other  affirmed,  that  they  were 
mere  words  and  .outward  denominations,  and 

*  Gaiiiiilo's  Treatise  is  to  be  found  in  th(!  works 
of  Anselm.  with  the  answer  of  that  leanieil  prcI.Tte. 
(ftj-  As  Ansflni  makes  such  a  shining  figure  in  the 
literary  history  of  England,  it  will  not  be  improper 
to  aild  hi-re  a  more  ample  account  of  his  character 
and  writings  than  that  which  is  given  by  Dr.  Mo- 
sheini.  His  lite  and  manners  were  without  reproach, 
thongh  his  spii  itiial  ambition  justly  exposed  him  to 
censure.  His  works  are  divid'd  into  three  parts. 
The  first  contains  his  dogmatiial  tracts,  and  begins 
with  a  discourse  concerning  the  E\istenc(^  of  God. 
the  Divine  Attributes,  and  the  Trinity.  This  dis- 
course is  called  Monologia,  because  it  is  drawn  up 
in  the  form  of  a  soliloquy.  In  this  first  part  of  the 
works  of  Anselm,  there  are  many  cinious  researches 
upon  subjects  of  a  very  difficult  and  mysterious  na- 
ture, such  as  the  Fall  of  Satan,  the  Keason  «  liy  God 
created  Man,  the  doctrine  of  Original  Sin.  and  the 
Manner  of  its  (,'omnuiniration  to  Adam's  Posterity, 
the  Liberty  of  the  ^Vill.  and  the  Consistency  of 
Freedom  with  the  Diviiu'  Prescience.  The  second 
and  third  parts  of  the  writings  of  this  eminent  pre- 
late contain  his  practical  and  devotional  perform- 
ances, such  as  Homilies,  I'oems,  Prayers,  &;c.  and  his 
Letters,  which  are  divided  into  four  books. 

t  The  titles  of  these  three  treatises  are  as  follow: 
de  Sophista,  de  Comple.vionibus,  de  Re  et  Ente.  The 
learned  Heriman,  in  his  Narratio  Restaurationis  Ab- 
batia-  .Sti.  Martini  Tornacensis.  which  is  published 
in  M.  D'Acheri's  Ppicilegium  Scriptor.  Veter.  tmn. 
ii.  p.  88!),  speaks  of  Odo  in  the  following  honourable 
manner:  "  Cum  Odo  septem  liberalium  artium  esset 
peritus.  prsccique  tamen  in  dialertica  eminebat,  et 
pro  ipsa  maxima  clericorum  frequentia  eum  e.\pe- 
tebat." 


pleaded  in  behalf  of  their  cause  the  respecta- 
ble sulfrages  of  Aristotle  and  Porphyry.  The 
I  former  were  called  Realists,  on  account  of 
I  their  doctrine,  and  the  latter  Nominalists,  for 
the  same  reason.  The  contending  parties 
were,  in  process  of  time,  subdivided  into  vari- 
[  ous  sects,  on  accoimt  of  the  different  modes 
I  in  vvliicli  man}'  explained  the  doctrine  that  was 
the  badge  and  characteristic  of  their  sect.* 
I  This  controversy  made  a  prodigious  noise  in 
all  the  schools  throughout  Europe  during  ma- 
ny succeeding  ages,  and  often  produced  unhap- 
py contentions  and  animosities  between  philo- 
sophers and  divines.  Some  are  of  opinion, 
that  it  derived  its  origin  from  the  disputes  be- 
tween Bcrenger  and  his  adversaries,  concern- 
ing the  eucharist;!  a  notion  which,  though  it 
be  advanced  without  authority,  is  by  no  means 
destitute  of  probability,  since  tlie  hypothesis  of 
the  Nominalists  might  be  very  successfully  em- 
ployed in  defending  the  doctrine  of  Bercnger, 
concerning  tlie  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  supper. 
IX.  The  Nominalists  had  for  their  chief  a 
person  named  John,  who,  on  account  of  his 
logical  subtilty,  was  surnatned  the  Sophist, 
wliich  is  the  only  circumstance  we  know  of 
his  history. J  His  principal  disciples  were  Ro- 
bert of  Paris,  Roscelin  of  Compiegne,  and 
Arnoul  of  Laon,  who  propagated  his  doctrine 
with  industry  and  success;  to  whom  we  may 
add,  with  some  probability,  Raimbert,  the  mas- 
ter of  a  famous  school  at  Lisle,  who  is  said,  ac- 
cording to  the  quibbling  humour  of  the  times, 
'  to  have  read  nomimd  k>gic  to  his  disciples 
while  Odo  (whom  we  have  already  had  occa- 
sion to  mention)  instructed  his  scholars  in  real- 
ity.^    The  most  renowned  of  all  the  nominal 


Tiie  le.-irned  Brucker  (in  his  HistoriaCritica  Phi- 
losophic, tom.  iii.  p.  904)  gives  an  ample  account  of 
the  sect  of  the  Nominalists,  and  enlarges  upon  the 
nature  and  circumstances  of  this  logical  coiUest:  he 
also  mentions  the  various  writers,  who  have  made 
this  sect  and  its  doctrine  the  object  of  their  researches. 
Among  these  writers,  the  principal  was  John  Sala- 
bert,  presbyter  in  the  diocese  of  Agen,  who,  in  1(1.51, 
published  a  treatise  entitled  Philosophia  Nominali- 
um  Vindicata.  This  book,  which  is  extremely  rare, 
has  been  seen  by  none  of  the  authors  who  have  writ- 
ten professedly  concerning  the  sect  of  the  Nominal- 
.  A  copy  of  it,  taken  from  the  manuscript  in  the 
French  king's  library,  was  communicated  to  mc, 
from  which  it  appears,  that  Salabert.  who  was  cer- 
tainly a  very  acute  and  ingenious  logician,  employed 
his  labour  rather  in  defending  the  doctrine  of  the 
Nominalists,  than  in  giving  an  accurate  account  of 
their  sect.  There  are,  however,  several  things  to  be 
found  in  his  book,  which  are  far  from  being  general- 
ly known,  even  among  the  learned. 

t  Du  Boulay.  Histor.  Acad.  Parij.  tom.  i.  p.  44!J.— 
Ger.  du  Bois.  Histor.  Ecclesioe  Paris,  torn.  i.  770. 

1  This  account  we  have  from  the  unknown  author 
of  the  Fragnientum  Historiae  Francicse  a  Roberto 
Rege  ad  Mortem  Phillippi  I.  which  is  published  in 
Du  Chesne's  Scriptores  Historia-  Francicip,  tom.  iv. 
His  words  are  as  follow:  "  In  dialectica  hi  potentes 
extiteriint  sophista;,  Johannes,  qui  arteni  sophisti- 
cam  vocalem  esse  dissernit,"  &c.— Du  Boulay  conjec- 
tures that  this  John  the  Sophist  was  the  same  per- 
son with  John  of  Chartres,  surnamed  the  Deaf,  who 
was  first  physician  to  Henry  I.  king  of  France,  and 
had  acquired  a  great  degree  of  renown  by  his  genius 
and  erudition.  "The  same  author  telle  us.  that  John 
had  for  his  master  Giraldns  of  Orleans,  who  was  an 
incomparable  poet,  and  an  e.xcellent  rhetorician;  but 
he  advances  this  without  any  proof  Mabillon,  on 
the  other  hand,  in  his  Annal.  Benedict,  tom.  v.  sup. 
poses,  that  John  the  Nominalist  was  the  same  per- 
son who  made  known  to  Anselm  the  error  of  Roscel- 
linus  concerning  the  Three  Persons  in  the  GodlTead. 

§  Tbepassagfiin  the  original  is:  "aui  dialecticam 


Chap.  11. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


263 


philosophers  of  this  age  was  Roscelin:  hence 
many  considered  him  as  the  chief  and  founder 
of  that  sect,  and  he  is  still  regarded  as  such  by 
several  learned  men. 

CHAPTER  n. 

Concerning  the  Doctors  and  Ministers  of  the 
Church,  and  its  Form  of  Government,  daring 
this  Century. 

I.  All  the  records  of  tliis  century  loudly 
complain  of  the  vices  that  reigned  among  the 
rulers  of  the  church,  and,  in  general,  among 
all  the  sacerdotal  orders;  they  also  deplore  that 
universal  decay  of  piety  and  discipline,  which 
was  the  consequence  of  this  corruption  in  a  set 
of  men,  who  were  bomid  to  support,  by  their 
example,  their  authority,  and  their  instruc- 
tions, the  sacred  interests  of  religion  and  vir- 
tue. The  western  bishops  were  no  sooner  ele- 
vated to  the  rank  of  dukes,  counts,  and  nobles, 
and  enriched  with  ample  territories,  than  they 
gave  themselves  up  entirely  to  the  donnnion 
of  pleasure  and  ambition,  and,  wholly  employ- 
ed in  displaying  the  magnificence  of  their  tem- 
poral stations,  frequented  the  courts  of  princes, 
accompanied  always  with  a  splendid  train  of 
attendants  and  domestics.*  The  inferior  or- 
ders of  the  clergy  were  also  licentious  in  their 
own  way;  few  among  them  preserved  any  re- 
mains of  piety  and  virtue,  we  might  add,  of 
decency  and  discretion.  While  their  rulers 
were  wallowing  in  luxury,  and,  basking  in  the 
beams  of  worldly  pomp  and  splendour,  they 
were  indulging  themselves,  without  the  least 
sense  of  shame,  in  fraudulent  practices,  in  im- 
pure and  lascivious  gratifications,  and  even  in 
the  commission  of  fiagitious  crimes.  The  Gre- 
cian clergy  were  less  chargeable  with  these 
shocking  irregularities,  as  the  calamities  under 
which  their  country  groaned,  imjiosed  a  re- 
straint upon  their  passions,  and  gave  a  check 
to  their  licentiousness.  Yet  notwithstanding 
these  salutary  restraints,  there  were  few  ex- 
amples of  piety  and  virtue  to  be  found  among 
them. 

II.  The  authority  and  lustre  of  the  Latin 
church,  or,  to  speak  more  properly,  the  power 
and  dominion  of  the  Roman  pontilTs,  rose  in 
this  century  to  the  highest  point,  though  they 
rose  by  degrees,  and  luul  nuich  opposition  and 
many  difficulties  to  concpier.  In  the  preceding 
age  the  pontitls  had  acquired  a  great  degree 
of  authority  in  religious  affairs,  and  in  every 
thing  that  related  to  the  government  of  the 
church;  and  their  credit  and  influence  increas- 
ed prodigiously  toward  llic  connncncemcnt  of 
this  century.  For  tiien  tiicy  received  the  pom- 
pous titles  of  '  masters  of  the  world,'  and 
'  popes,  i.  e.  universal  fathers;'  they  presided 
also  every  where  in  the  councils  by  their  le- 


rlcricis  siiis  in  vni-c  li'ffi'hat,  qiuim  Oilo  in  re  ilisiiipti- 
lis  Wf^otit.  See  llfriniaiiiiiis,  Ilislor.  Koslaurationis 
Monasterii  Sti.  i\I,irtiiii  Toriuiccna.  in  D'Aclieri's 
Spiciloc-  Vft.  Scri|)toruiii,  vol.  iii.  p.  88!'. 

*  Soe.  amoiiK  otluT  c.vaiiiplcs  of  this  rpiscnpal 
eraildeur  that  of  Adalbert,  in  Adarn.  Urrmciis.  lih. 
iii.  cap.  x.\iii.  p.  M,  lib.  iv.  cap.  xxxv.  p.  .W.  that  of 
Gunther,  in  the  Lectionca  Antiqiiae  of  Canisins,  toni. 
iii.  part  i.  p.  1H5,  and  that  of  Manasses,  in  Miisonin 
Ualicnm  of  iVtnhillon,  torn.  i.  p.  114.  Add  to  all 
those  Muralori'.=i  Aritiq.  Ilal.  incdii  jKvi,  torn.  vi. 
p.  72. 


gates;  assumed  the  authority  of  supreme  arbi- 
ters in  all  controversies  that  arose  concerning 
religion  or  church  discipline;  and  maintained 
the  pretended  rights  of  the  church  against  the 
encroachments  and  usurpations  of  kings  and 
princes.  Their  authority,  however,  was  con- 
fined within  certain  limits;  for,  on  one  hand,  it 
was  restrained  by  sovereign  princes,  that  it 
niiglit  not  arrogantly  aim  at  civil  dominion; 
and,  on  the  other  it  was  opposed  by  the  bishops 
themselves,  that  it  might  not  rise  to  a  spiritual 
desjjotism,  and  utterly  destroy  tlie  liberty  and 
privileges  of  synods  and  councils.*  From  the 
time  of  Leo  IX.  the  popes  employed  every  me- 
thod which  the  most  artful  ambition  could  sug- 
gest, to  remove  these  limits,  and  to  render  their 
dominion  both  despotic  and  universal.  They 
not  only  aspired  to  the  character  of  supreme 
legislators  in  tlie  church,  to  an  unlimited  juris- 
diction over  all  synods  and  councils,  whether 
general  or  provincial,  to  tlie  sole  distribution 
of  all  ecclesia.stical  honours  and  benefices,  as 
being  divinely  authorized  and  appointed  for 
that  purpose;  but  they  carried  their  insolent 
pretensions  so  far  as  to  give  tliemselves  out  for 
lords  of  the  miiverse,  arbiters  of  the  fate  of 
kingdoms  and  empires,  and  supreme  rulers 
over  the  kings  and  princes  of  the  earth.  Be- 
fore Leo.  IX.  no  pope  was  so  enormously  im- 
pudent as  to  claim  this  unbounded  authority, 
or  to  assume  the  power  of  transferring  territo- 
ries and  provinces  from  their  lawful  possessors 
to  new  masters.  This  pontitl'gave  the  exam- 
ple of  such  an  amazing  pretension  to  his  holy 
successors,  by  granting  to  tiie  Normans,  who 
had  settled  in  Italy,  the  lands  and  territories 
which  they  had  already  usurped,  or  were  em- 
ployed in  forcing  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
Greeks  and  Saracens.f  The  auibitious  views, 
however,  of  the  aspiring  popes  were  opposed 
by  the  emperors,  tiic  kings  of  France,  by  Wil- 
liam the  Conqueror,  wjio  was  now  seated  on 
the  throne  of  Englaiul,  and  was  the  boldest 
asscrtor  of  the  riglits  and  privileges  of  royalty 
against  the  high  claims  of  the  apostolic  see,f 

*  The  very  learned  T.aiuioy  (in  his  Assertio  con- 
tra I'livilegium  Sti.  Medanli,  part  ii.  cap.  xxxi.  op. 
rnni.  ii.  has  piven  as  an  accurate  account  of  the  ec. 
desiaslical  laws,  and  of  the  power  of  the  hierarchy, 
duriuff  this  century,  which  he  collijcted  from  the  let- 
ters of  pope  Greiiory  VII.  from  which  account  it  ap- 
pears, that  Gregory,  ambitious  as  lie  was.  did  not 
pretend  to  a  supreme  and  despotic  authority  in  the 
church. 

t  See  Gaiifr.  Malaterra,  Hist.  Siciila,  lib.  i.  rnp. 
\iv.  p.  .">.").■!,  ton).  V.  Scriptor.  Ital.  Muratori.  {Jij- The 
translator  has  here  incorporated  the  note  (s)  of  the 
oriL'inal  into  the  text. 

I  Sr(>  I'.adnieri  Historia  Novoruin,  which  is  pub- 
lislied  at  the  end  of  the  works  of  Ansehn,  archbishop 
of  Canterbury.  It  is  proper  to  observe  here,  that,  if 
It  is  true  on  one  hand,  that  William  the  Conqueror 
iqip"-i'(l,  on  many  occasions,  with  the  utmost  vehe- 
mince  and  zeal,  the  Krowin;;  power  of  the  Roman 
pnntilis.  and  of  the  aspirinc  bishops,  it  is  no  less 
certain,  on  the  other,  that,  to  acrouiplish  his  anibi- 
lious  views,  he,  like  many  other  European  princes, 
had  recourse  to  the  intluence  of  the  pontiti's  upon 
the  nii?ulsof  the  multitude,  and  thircbv  nourished 
and  encourajred  the  pride  ami  ambition  of  the  court 
of  Rome.  For,  while  he  was  jireparing  all  thinga 
lor  his  e.\p(idition  into  Eiicland,  he  sent  ambassa- 
dors tn  pope  Alexander  £1.  "  in  order  (as  .Matthew 
Paris  says.  Hist.  Major,  lib.  i.)  to  have  liis  uiidcrlak- 
i UK  approved  and  ju.stitied  by  apostolical  authority; 
and  the  pope,  having  considered  the  claims  of  tha 
contending  parties,  sent  a  standard  to  William  a< 


264 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  ll. 


and  also  by  several  other  princes.  Nor  did  the 
bishops,  particularly  those  of  France  and  Ger- 
many, sit  tamely  silent  mider  the  papal  yoke; 
many  of  them  endeavoured  to  maintain  their 
lights  and  the  privileges  of  the  church;  but  oth- 
ers, seduced  by  tlie  allurements  of  interesl  or  the 
dictates  of  superstition,  sacrificed  their  liber- 
ties, and  yielded  to  the  pontiffs.  Hence  it  hap- 
pened, that  these  imperious  lords  of  the  church, 
though  they  did  not  entirely  gain  their  point, 
or  satisfy  to  the  full  their  raging  ambition,  yet 
obtained  vast  augmentations  of  power,  and  ex- 
tended their  authority  from  day  to  day. 

III.  The  see  of  Rome,  after  the  death  of 
Sylvester  II.  which  happened  in  1003,  was 
filled  successively  by  John  XVII.,  .John  XVIII. 
and  Sergius  IV.,  whose  pontificates  were  not 
distinguished  by  any  memorable  events.  It 
is,  however,  proper  to  observe,  that  these  three 
popes  were  confirmed  in  tlie  see  of  Rome  by 
tlie  approbation  and  authority  of  the  emperors 
under  whose  reigns  they  were  elected  to  that 
high  dignity.  Benedict  VIII.  who  was  raised 
to  the  pontificate  in  1012,  being  obliged  by  his 
competitor  Gregory  to  leave  Rome,  fled  into 
Germany  for  succour,  and  threw  himself  at 
tlie  feet  of  Henry  II.,  by  whom  he  was  rein- 
stated in  the  apostolic  chair,  which  he  pos- 
sessed in  peace  uiatil  the  year  1 024.  It  was 
dm-ing  his  pontificate,  tJiat  those  Normans, 
who  make  such  a  shining  figure  in  history, 
came  into  Italy,  and  reduced  several  of  its 
richest  provinces  under  their  dominion.  Bene- 
dict was  succeeded  by  liis  brother  John  XIX. 
who  ruled  the  church  until  the  year  1033. 
The  five  pontiffs  whom  we  have  now  been 
mentioning  were  not  chargeable  with  disho- 
nouring their  high  station  by  that  licentious- 
ness and  immorality  which  rendered  so  many 
of  their  successors  infamous;  their  lives  were 
virtuous;  at  least  their  conduct  was  decent. 
But  their  examples  had  little  effect  upon  Be- 
nedict IX.,  a  most  abandoned  profligate,  and 
a  wretch  capable  of  the  most  horrid  crimes, 
whose  flagitious  conduct  drew  upon  him  the 
just  resentment  of  the  Romans,  who  in  1038 
removed  him  from  his  station.  He  was  after- 
wards indeed  restored,  by  the  emperor  Conrad, 
to  the  papal  chair;  but,  instead  of  learning 
circumspection  and  prudence  from  his  former 
disgrace,  he  became  still  more  scandalous  in 
his  life  and  manners,  and  so  provoked  the  Ro- 
man people  by  his  repeated  crimes,  that  they 
deposed  him  a  second  time,  in  1044,  and  elected 
in  his  place  John,  bishop  of  Sabina,  who  as- 
sumed the  name  of  Sylvester  III.  About 
three  months  after  this  new  revolution,  tlie 
relatives  and  adherents  of  Benedict  rose  up  in 
arms,  drove  Sylvester  out  of  tlie  city,  and  re- 
stored the  degraded  pontiff  to  his  forfeited 
honours,  which,  however,  lie  did  not  long  en- 
joy; for,  perceiving  that  there  was  no  possibi- 


the  omen  of  his  approacliing  royalty."  It  is  highly 
probable,  that  the  Nonnans  in  Italy  had  made  the 
same  humble  request  to  Leo  IX.,  and  demanded  liis 
confirmation  both  of  the  possessions  they  had  ac- 
quired, and  of  those  which  they  intended  to  usurp. 
And  when  we  consider  all  this,  it  will  not  appear  so 
surprising  that  the  popes  aimed  at  universal  empire, 
since  they  were  encouraged  in  their  views?  by  the 
mean  submissions  and  servile  homage  of  the  Euro- 
pean princes. 


lity  of  appeasing  the  resentment  of  the  Ro- 
mans, lie  sold  the  pontificate  to  John  Gratian, 
arch-presbyter  of  Rome,  who  took  the  name 
of  Gregory  VI.  Thus  the  church  had,  at  the 
same  time,  two  chiefs,  Sylvester  and  Gregory, 
whose  rivalry  was  the  occasion  of  much  trou- 
ble and  confusion.  This  contest  was  termi- 
nated in  1046,  in  the  council  holden  at  Sutri 
by  the  emperor  Henry  III.,  who  so  ordered 
matters,  that  Benedict,  Gregory,  and  Sylves- 
ter, were  declared  unworthy  of  the  pontificate, 
and  Suidger,  bishop  of  Bamberg,  was  raised 
to  that  dignity,  which  he  enjoyed  for  a  short 
time  under  the  title  of  Clement  II.* 

IV.  After  the  death  of  Clement  II.,  which 
happened  in  1047,  Benedict  IX.,  though  twice 
degraded,  aimed  anew  at  tlie  papal  dignity, 
and  accordingly  forced  himself  into  St.  Peter's 
chair  for  the  third  time.  But,  in  the  following 
year,  he  was  obliged  to  surrender  the  pontifi- 
cate to  Poppo,  bishop  of  Brixen,  known  by  the 
name  of  Damasus  II.,  whom  Henry  II.  elect- 
ed pope  in  Germany,  and  sent  into  Italy  to 
take  possession  of  that  dignity.  On  the  death 
of  Damasus,  who  ruled  the  see  of  Rome  only 
three  and  twenty  days,  the  same  emperor,  in 
the  diet  liolden  at  Worms  in  1048,  appointed 
Bruno,  bisliop  of  Tool,  to  succeed  him  in  the 
pontificate.  This  prelate  is  known  in  the  list 
of  the  popes  by  the  name  of  Leo  IX.;  and  his 
private  virtues,  as  well  as  his  public  acts  of 
zeal  and  piety  in  the  govermnent  of  the  church, 
were  deemed  meritorious  enough  to  entitle 
him  to  a  place  among  the  saintly  order.  But 
if  we  deduct  from  these  pretended  virtues  his 
zeal  for  augmenting  the  opulence  and  autho- 
rity of  the  church  of  Rome,  and  his  laudable 
severity  in  correcting  and  punishing  certain 
enormous  vices,!  which  were  common  among 
the  clergy  during  his  pontificate,  there  will  re- 
main little  in  the  life  and  administration  of 
this  pontiff,  that  could  give  him  any  preten- 
sion to  such  a  distinction.  It  is  at  least  cer- 
tain, that  many,  who  industriously  conceal  or 
excuse  the  nimierous  infirmities  and  failings 
of  the  pontifi's,  censure,  with  the  utmost  free- 
dom, the  temerity  and  injustice  of  the  mea- 
sures he  took  toward  the  conclusion  of  his 
days.  Such,  among  others,  was"  the  war  into 
which  he  inconsiderately  entered,  in  1053, 
with  the  Normans,  whom  he  was  grieved  to 
see  in  the  possession  of  Apulia.  His  temerity, 
indeed,  was  severely  pimisjied  by  the  issue  of 
this  war,  from  which  he  derived  the  bitterest 
fruits,  being  taken  prisoner  by  the  enemy,  and 
led  captive  to  Benevcnto.  Here  dismal  reflec- 
tions upon  his  unliappy  fate  preyed  upon  his 
spirits,  and  threw  him  into  a  dangerous  ill- 
ness; so  that,  after  a  year's  imprisonment,  he 


*  In  this  compendious  account  of  the  popes,  1  have 
followed  the  relations  of  Francis  and  Anthony  Pagi, 
Papebnick,  and  also  those  of  Muratori,  in  his  An- 
nalcs  Italigp,  persuaded  that  the  learned  and  judi- 
cious reader  will  justify  my  treating,  with  the  ut- 
most contempt,  what  Baronius  and  others  have 
alleged  in  favour  of  Gregory  VI. 

0(^  t  In  several  councils  which  he  assembled  in 
Italy,  France,  and  Germany,  he  proposed  rigorous 
laws  against  simony,  sodomy,  incestuous  and  adul- 
terous marriages,  the  custom  of  carrying  arms 
(which  had  become  general  among  the  clergy,)  the 
apostasy  of  the  monks,  who  abandoned  their  habit 
and  renounced  their  profession,  &c. 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CJIURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


265 

the  sovereignty  over  that  kingdom  which  the 
Roman  pontiffs  constantly  claim,  and  which 
the  Sicilian  monarchs  annually  acknowledge. 

VI.  Before  the  pontificate  of  Nicholas  II., 
the  popes  were  chosen  not  only  by  the  suffrages 
of  the  cardinals,  but  also  by  those  of  the  whole 
Roman  clergy,  the  nobility,  the  burgesses, 
and  the  assembly  of  the  people.  An  election, 
in  which  such  a  confused  and  jarring  multitude 
was  concerned,  could  not  but  produce  con- 
tinual factions,  animosities,  and  tumults.  To 
prevent  these,  as  far  as  was  possible,  this  artful 
and  provident  pontiff  had  a  law  passed,  by 
which  the  cardinals,  as  well  presbyters  as 
bishops,  were  empowered,  on  a  vacancy  in  the 
see  of  Rome,  to  elect  a  new  pope,  without  any 
prejudice  to  the  ancient  privileges  of  the  Ro- 
man emperors  in  this  important  matter.*  Nor 
were  the  rest  of  the  clergy,  with  the  burgesses 
and  people,  excluded  from  all  participation  in 
this  election,  since  their  consent  was  solemnly 
demanded,  and  also  esteemed  of  much  weight.f 
In  consequence,  however,  of  this  new  regula- 


was  sent  to  Rome,  where  he  concluded  his 
days  on  the  19th  of  April,  1054.* 

V.  After  the  death  of  Leo  the  papal  chair 
was  filled,  in  1065,  by  Gebhard,  bishop  of 
Eiclistadt,  who  assumed  the  name  of  Victor  II. 
and,  after  governing  the  church  about  three 
years,  was  succeeded  by  Stephen  IX.  brother 
to  Godfrey,  duke  of  Lorrain,  who  died  a  few 
months  after  his  election.  Nothing  memora- 
ble happened  imder  the  administration  of 
these  two  pontiffs.  Gerard,  bishop  of  Flo- 
rence, who  obtained  the  papacy  in  1058,  and 
took  the  name  of  Nicolas  II.,  makes  a  greater 
figure  in  history  than  several  of  his  prede- 
cessors.! We  pass  in  silence  John,  bishop 
of  Veletri,  who  usurped  the  pontificate,  as 
also  the  title  of  Benedict  X.,  after  the  death 
of  Stephen,  and  who  was  deposed  with  igno- 
miny, after  having  possessed  about  nine 
months  the  dignity  to  which  he  had  no  other 
title,  than  what  he  derived  from  lawless  vio- 
lence. Nicolas,  on  the  removal  of  this  usurper, 
assembled  a  council  at  Rome  in  1059,  in 
which,  among  many  salutary  laws  for  healing 
the  inveterate  disorders  that  had  afflicted  the 
church,  one  remarkable  decree  was  passed  for 
altering  the  ancient  form  of  electing  the  pon- 
tiff. This  alteration  was  intended  to  prevent 
the  tumults  and  commotions  which  arose  in 
Rome,  and  the  factions  which  divided  Italy, 
when  a  new  pope  was  to  be  elected.  The 
same  pontiff'  received  the  homage  of  the  Nor- 
mans, and  solemnly  created  Robert  Guiscard 
duke  of  Apulia,  Calabria,  and  Sicily,  on  con- 
dition that  he  should  observe,  as  a  faithful  vas- 
sal, an  inviolable  allegiance  to  the  Roman 
church,  and  pay  an  annual  tribute  in  acknow- 
ledgment of  liis  subjection  to  the  apostolic  see. 
By  what  authority  Nicolas  confirmed  the  Nor- 
man prince  in  the  possession  of  these  pro- 
vinces, is  more  than  we  know;  certain  it  is, 
that  he  had  no  sort  of  property  in  the  lands 
which  he  granted  so  liberally  to  the  Normans, 
who  held  them  already  by  the  odious  right  of 
conquest.}:  Perhaps  the  lordly  pontiff  founded 
this  right  of  cession  upon  the  fictitious  dona- 
tion of  Constantine,  which  has  been  already 
noticed  in  the  course  of  this  history;  or,  pro- 
bably, seduced  by  the  artful  and  ambitious 
suggestions  of  Hildebrand,  who  had  himself  an 
eye  upon  tlie  pontificate,  and  afterwards  filled 
it  under  the  adopted  name  of  Gregory  VII., 
he  imagined,  that  as  C'hrist's  vicegerent,  the 
Roman  pontiff  was  the  king  of  kings,  and  had 
the  whole  imivcrse  for  his  domain.  It  is  well 
known  that  Hildebrand  had  a  supreme  ascend- 
ancy over  the  mind  of  Nicolas,  and  that  the 
latter  neither  undertook  nor  executed  any 
thing  without  his  direction.  Be  that  as  it  may, 
it  was  the  feudal  grant  made  to  Guiscard  by 
this  pope,  that  laid  the  foundation  of  the  king- 
dom of  Naples,  or  of  the  two  Sicilies,  and  of 


*  Sen  thf!  Acta  S.inctoriim  ail  d.  xix.  Aprilis,  torn. 
iii.  p.  042. — Hist.  Litcrairo  tie  la  France,  torn.  vii.  p. 
450. — (5iannonc,  Historia  di  Napoli,  torn.  ii. 

f-Bcsiile  the  accounts  given  of  Nicolas  II.  by  the 
writers  of  the  papal  history,  there  is  a  particular  and 
accnrate  history  of  this  pontiff  drawn  up  by  the  Be- 
nedictine monks,  in  the  Hist.  Liter,  de  la  France, 
torn.  vii.  p.  515. 

J  See  Muratori's  Annali  d'ltalia,  torn.  vi.  p.  186.— 
Baron.  Annal.  ad  an.  1060. 
Vol.  I.— 34 


ICf"  *  It  does  not  appear,  that  Nicolas  was  at  all 
solicitous  about  the  privileges  of  the  emperor,  and 
his  authority  in  the  election  of  the  bishop  of  Rome; 
for  the  words  of  the  decree  in  all  the  various  copies 
of  it  are  to  this  import:  "The  cardinals  shall  first 
"  deliberate  concerning  the  election  of  a  pontifl'  and 
"  the  consent  of  the  other  clerpy  and  of  the  peoplo 
"  shall  be  required  to  confirm  their  choice.  The  pope 
"  shall  be  chosen  out  of  the  members  that  compose 
"  the  church  of  Rome,  if  a  proper  person  can  be  found 
"  among  them:  if  not,  he  shall  be  elected  elsewhere. 
"  all  this  without  any  prejudice  to  the  honour  of  our 
"dear  son  Henry  (who  is  now  king,  and  shall  be 
"  soon  emperor,  as  we  liave  already  promised  him,) 
"  or  to  the  honor  of  his  successors  on  whom  the 
"  apostolic  see  shall  confer  personally  and  successive- 
"  ly  the  same  high  privilege."  Here  we  see  the  good 
pontifi'raanifestly  taking  advantage  of  the  minority 
of  Henry  IV.  to  depreciate  and  diminish  the  ancient 
prerogatives  of  the  imperial  crown,  and  to  magnify 
the  authority  of  the  papal  mitro;  for  he  declares,  a?  a 
personal  right  granted  by  the  Roman  see  to  each 
emperor  for  himself,  the  privilege  of  confirming  the 
pope's  election;  whereas  it  is  well  known  that  this 
privilege  Ijad  been  vested  in  the  emperors  of  Germa- 
ny during  many  preceding  ages.  See  rieury,  Eccles. 
Hist.  vol.  xiii,  liv.  Ix.  It  is  proper  to  observe  here, 
that  the  cringing  and  ignoble  submission  of  Charles 
the  Bald,  who  would  not  accept  the  title  of  emperor 
before  it  was  conferred  upon  him  by  the  pontiff,  oc- 
casioned, in  process  of  time,  that  absurd  notion, 
that  the  papal  consecration  was  requisite  in  order 
to  qualify  the  kings  of  Germany  to  assume  the  title 
of  Roman  emperors,  though,  without  that  consecra- 
tion, these  kings  had  all  Italy  under  theirdominion, 
and  exercised  in  every  part  of  it  various  rights  and 
prerogatives  of  sovereignty.  Hence  the  kings  of 
Germany  were  first  styled  kings  of  the  Franks  and 
liOmbards,  afterwards  kings  of  the  Romans  until  the 
year  1508,  when  Maximilian  I.  changed  the  title  of 
kivg  into  that  of  rmpcror. 

t  The  decree  of  Nicolas  concerning  the  election  of 
the  pontiff  is  to  be  found  in  many  authors,  and  par- 
ticularly in  the  Concilia.  But,  upon  comparing  se- 
veral copies  of  this  famous  decree,  1  found  them  in 
many  respects  very  difterent  from  each  other.  In 
some  copies  the  decree  appears  abridged;  in  others, 
it  is  long  and  prolix.  In  some  it  seems  favourable 
to  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  emperors;  in 
others  it  appears  to  have  the  contrary  tendency. 
The  most  ample  copy  is  that  which  wr  fiud  in  llie 
(^hionicon  Farfense  in  Muratori's  Srrijit.  Rernm 
Italicarum,  tom.  ii.  part  ii.  p.  (i-t.'i,  which  differs 
however,  in  various  circumstances,  from  that  which 
was  publislied  by  Hugo  Floriacensis,  in  his  book  de 
regia  Protcstate  et  sacerdotali  Dignitale,  in  Balu7.ii 
Miscellaneis,  torn.  iv.  p.  rr2.  Notwithstanding  the 
diversity  that  exists  in  the  copies  of  this  famous  de- 
cree, they  all  agree  in  confirming  the  accounts  wa 
have  given  of  the  plans  and  pontificate  of  Nicolas 


266 


INTERNAL  fflSTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


tion,  the  cardinals  acted  the  principal  part  in 
the  creation  of  the  new  pontiff,  though  they 
suflFered  for  a  long  time  much  opposition  both 
from  the  sacerdotal  orders  and  the  Roman 
citizens,  who  were  constantly  either  reclaiming 
their  ancient  rights,  or  abusing  the  privilege 
they  yet  retained  of  confirming  the  election  of 
every  new  pope  by  their  approbation  and  con- 
sent. In  the  following  century  an  end  was 
put  to  all  these  disputes  by  Alexander  III., 
who  was  so  fortunate  as  to  complete  what 
Nicolas  had  only  begun,  and  who  transferred 
and  confined  to  the  college  of  cardinals  the 
right  of  electing  to  the  apostolic  see,  excluding 
the  nobility,  the  people,  and  the  rest  of  the 
clergy,  from  all  concern  in  this  important 
matter.* 

It  may  not  be  improper  here  to  give  some 
account  of  tlie  origin  of  the  cardinals,!  and 
the  nature  of  their  privileges  and  functions. 
Many  wxitersj;  have  treated  tliis  subject  in  an 
ample  manner,  and  have  shed  upon  it  a  profu- 
sion of  erudition,  which  deserves,  no  doubt, 
the  highest  applause;  but  they  are,  generally 
speaking,  defective  in  perspicuity  and  precis- 
ion; nor  do  I  know  of  any,  who  have  confined 
themselves  to  the  true  state  of  the  question, 
and  investigated,  in  a  satisfactory  manner,  the 
origin  of  the  office  of  cardinal,  and  the  reasons 
that  occasioned  the  institution  of  that  order  of 
ecclesiastics.  Several  learned  men  have  em- 
ployed much  time  and  labour  in  fixing  the 
sense  of  the  word  cardinal,  and  in  illustrating 
its  meaning  from  ancient  monuinents  and  re- 
cords; but,  however  worthy  of  a  curious  phi- 
lologist those  researches  may  be,  they  contri- 
bute little  to  clear  up  the  point  in  question,  or 
to  convey  an  accurate  and  satisfactory  notion 
of  the  true  origin  of  the  college  of  cardinals, 
and  the  nature  of  that  ecclesiastical  dignity.  It 
is  certain,  that  the  word  in  question,  when  ap- 
plied to  persons  or  things,  and  more  especially 
to  the  sacred  order,  was,  in  the  language  of 
the  middle  ages,  a  term  of  dubious  significa- 
tion, and  was  susceptible  of  various  senses.  It 
is  also  well  known,  that,  in  former  times,  this 
title  was  by  no  means  peculiar  to  the  priests 
and  ministers  of  the  church  of  Rome,  but  was 
in  use  in  all  the  Latin  chm-ches,  and  that  not 
only  the  secular  clergy,  but  also  the  regular, 
such  as  abbots,  canons,  and  monks,  were  capa- 
ble of  this  denomination,  though  in  different 
senses.  But,  after  the  pontificate  of  Alexan- 
der III.,  the  common  use   of  the   tenn  was 

*  See  Mabillon,  Comni.  in  Ord.  Roman,  torn,  ii, 
Musei  Italiei,  p.  114.— Constant.  Cenni  Pra;f.  ad  Con- 
cilium Lateran.  Stepliani  iii.  p.  18.— Franc.  Pagi 
Breviarium  Ponlif.  Romanor.  torn.  ii.  p.  374. 

tCpf  t  The  translator  has  here  incorporated  into 
the  te,\t  the  long  and  important  note  (c)  of  the  ori- 
ginal concerning  the  cardinals.  The  citations  and 
references  only  are  thrown  into  the  notes. 

J  The  authors  who  have  written  of  the  name, 
nrjgin,  and  rights  of  the  cardinals,  are  enumerated 
by  Jo.  Alb.  Fabricius,  in  his  Bibliogr.  Antiquar.  p. 
455. — Casp.  Sagittarius,  Introd.  ad  Historian!  Eccle- 
siast.  cap.  xxix.  p.  771,  et  Jo.  And.  Schmidius  in 
Supplement,  p.  C44— Christ.  Gryphius,  Isagoge  ad 
Historiam  Sseculi  xvii.  p.  430.  Add  to  these  Ludov. 
Thoraassini  Disciplina  EcclesicE  vetus  et  nova,  torn. 
1.  lib.  ii.cap.  115,  116,  p.  016,  and  Lud.  Ant.  Murato^ 
ri,  whose  learned  dissertation,  de  Origine  Cardina- 
latus,  is  published  in  his  Antiq.  Ital.  medii  svi, 
torn.  V. 


gradually  diminished,  and  it  was  confined  to 
such  only  as  were  immediately  concerned  in 
the  election  of  the  pope,  and  had  the  right  of 
suffrage  in  this  weighty  matter;  so  that,  when 
we  inquire  into  the  origin  of  the  sacred  college 
at  Rome,  the  question  is  not,  who  they  were, 
that  in  the  remoter  periods  of  the  church  were 
distinguished,  among  the  Latins  in  general,  or 
at  Rome  in  particular,  from  the  rest  of  the 
clergy,  by  the  name  of  cardinals;  nor  do  we 
inquire  into  the  proper  signification  of  that 
term,  or  into  the  various  senses  in  which  it  was 
formerly  employed.  The  true  state  of  the 
question  is  this:  who  the  persons  were  that 
Nicolas  II.  comprehended  under  that  denomi- 
nation, when  he  vested  in  the  Roman  cardi- 
nals alone  the  right  of  electing  the  new  pon- 
titr,  and  excluded  from  that  important  privilege 
the  rest  of  the  clergy,  the  nobility,  the  bur- 
gesses, and  the  people .'  When  this  is  known 
with  certainty,  we  shall  have  a  just  notion  of 
the  college  of  cardinals  in  its  rise,  and  shall 
also  perceive  the  difference  existing  between 
tlie  first  cardinals  and  those  of  our  times.  Now 
this  may  easily  be  learned  from  the  edict  of 
Nicolas  II.  which  sets  the  matter  in  the  clear- 
est light.  "  We  have  thought  proper  to  enact 
(says  the  pontiff,)  tliat,  on  the  decease  of  the 
bishop  of  the  Roman  Catholic,  or  universal 
church,  the  affair  of  the  election  be  treated 
principally,  and  previously  to  all  other  delibe- 
rations, among  the  cardinal  bishops  alone,  who 
shall  afterwards  call  in  to  their  council  the  car- 
dinal clerks,  and  require  finally  the  consent  of 
the  rest  of  the  clergy,  and  the  people,  to  their 
election."*  Here  we  see  that  the  pontiff  di- 
vides into  two  classes  the  persons  who  were  to 
have  the  right  of  suffrage  in  the  election  of  his 
successors.  By  the  former  we  are  manifestly 
to  understand  the  seven  prelates  who  belonged 
to  the  city  and  territory  of  Rome,  whom  Nico- 
las calls,  in  the  same  edict,  comprovinciales 
episcopi  (an  epithet  which  had  been  used  before 
by  Leo  I.,)  and  who  had  been  distinguished  by 
the  title  of  cardinal  bishops  long  before  the 
century  of  which  we  are  treating.  The  words 
of  Nicolas  confirmed  this  accomit  of  the  mat- 
ter, and  place  it  beyond  all  possibility  of  con- 
tradiction; for  he  declares,  that  by  cardinal 
bishops  he  understands  those  to  whom  it  be- 
longed to  consecrate  the  pontiff  elect;  "  Since 
the  apostolic  see,"  observes  the  papil  legisla- 
tor, "  cannot  be  under  the  jurisdiction  of  any 
superior  or  metropolitan,!  the  cardinal  bishops 
must  necessarily  supply  the  place  of  a  metro- 
politan, and  fix  the  elected  pontiff  on  the  sum- 
mit of  apostolic  exaltation  and  empire. "|  Now 


H^"  *  The  passage  of  the  edict  (which  we  have 
here  translated  from  Hugo  Floriacus,  in  Baluzii 
Miscel.  torn.  iv.  p.  6'2.)  runs  thus  in  the  original: 
"  Constituimus  ut,  obeunte  hujus  Romans  univer- 
"  salis  ecclesiie  pontifice,  imprimis,  cardinales  epis- 
"  copi  diligentissima  simul  consideratione  tractan- 
"  tes,  mox  sibi  clericos  cardinales  adhibeant,  sicque 
"  reliquus  clerus  et  populus  ad  consensum  nov«e  elec- 
"  lionis  accedant." 

(ftj"  t  In  the  consecration  of  a  new  bishop  in  any 
province,  the  metropolitan  always  bore  the  princi- 
pal part:  as  therefore  there  was  no  metropolitan  to 
install  the  pope,  cardinal  bishops  performed  that 
ceremony. 

X  Such  are  the  swelling  and  bombastic  terms  of 
the  edict:  "  Quia  sedes  apostolica  super  se  metropo 


1 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


267 


it  is  well  known  that  the  seven  bishops  of 
Rome,  above-mentioned,  liad  the  privilege  of 
consecrating  the  pontiff. 

All  these  things  being  duly  considered,  we 
shall  immediately  perceive  tlie  true  nature  and 
meaning  of  the  famous  edict,  according  to 
which  it  is  manifest,  that,  upon  the  death  of  a 
pontiff,  the  cardinal  bisliops  were  first  to  deli- 
berate alone  with  regard  to  a  proper  successor, 
Jind  to  examine  the  respective  merit  of  the  can- 
didates who  might  pretend  to  this  high  dignity, 
and  afterwards  to  call  in  the  cardinal  clerks, 
not  only  to  demand  their  counsel,  but  also  to 
join  with  them  in  the  election.  The  word  clei'k 
here  bears  the  same  sense  with  that  of  presby- 
ter, and  it  is  undeniably  certain  that  the  name 
of  cardinal  presbyter  was  given  to  the  ministers 
of  the  eight  and  twenty  Roman  parishes,  or  prin- 
cipal churches.  All  the  rest  of  the  clergy,  of 
whatever  order  or  rank  they  might  be,  were,  to- 
gether with  the  people,  expressly  excluded  from 
the  right  of  voting  in  the  election  of  the  pon- 
tiff, though  they  were  allowed  what  is  called  a 
negative  suffrage,  and  their  consent  was  re- 
quired to  what  the  others  had  done;  from  all 
which  it  appears  that  the  college  of  electors, 
who  chose  the  Roman  pontiff,  and  who  after 
this  period  were  called  cardinals  in  a  new  and 
unusual  acceptation  of  that  term,  consisted, 
according  to  their  original  establishment  by 
Nicolas  II.,  of  only  two  orders,  namely,  cardi- 
nal bishops  and  cardinal  clerks  or  presbyters.* 

It  is  necessary  to  observe,  before  we  finish 
this  digression,  that  the  famous  decree  of  Ni- 
colas could  not  obtain  the  force  of  a  law.  "  It 
"  is  evident  (says  Anselm,  bishop  of  Luccaf) 
"that  the  edict  of  Nicolas  is,  and  always  has 
"been,  without  the  smallest  degree  of  weight 
"or  authority.  But,  in  affirming  this,  I  have 
"  not  the  least  design  to  cast  any  reflection 
"  upon  the  blessed  memory  of  that  pontiff,  or 
"  to  derogate  from  the  applause  that  is  due  to 
"  his  virtues.  ...  As  a  man,  however,  he  was 
"fallible,  and,  through  the  weakness  that  is 
"  inseparable  from  humanity,  was  liable  to  be 
"seduced  into  measures  that  were  inconsistent 
"  with   equity  and  justice."     It  is  true,  the 

"  litanuin  habi>re  non  pfitcst,  carrlinalns  opiscopi  me- 
"  tropolitaiii  vice  proculdiihin  funpantur,  qui  elec- 
"  turn  antistitein  ad  apostolici  culminis  apiccni 
"  provehant." 

*  We  must  therefore  take  care  that  we  be  not 
misled  by  the  error  of  Oiiuphr.  Panvinius,  who  af- 
firms, (*j  that  the  cardinal  bishops  were  not  added  to 
the  college  of  cardinals  before  the  pontificate  of 
Alexander  III.  Nor  are  we  to  listen  to  the  supposi- 
tion of  those  writers,  who  imagine  that  certain  dea- 
cons were,  from  the  besinniiifr,  members  of  that 
college  of  cardinals  by  whoni  the  popes  were  elected. 
There  were  indeed,  in  the  Roman  church,  loni;  be- 
fore the  edict  of  Nicolas,  (and  there  still  remain) 
cardinal  deacons,  i.  e.  superintendants  of  those 
churches  which  have  hospitals  anne.ved  to  them,  and 
whose  revenues  are  appropriated  to  the  support  of 
the  poor;  but  they  were  evidently  excluded  from  the 
election  of  the  pope,  which,  by  the  edict  of  Nicolas, 
was  to  be  made  by  the  cardinal  bishops  and  clerks 
alone.  Hence  wo  find  the  cardinals  plainly  distin- 
guished from  the  deacons  in  the  diploma  that  was 
drawn  up  for  the  election  of  Gregory  VII. 

t  Anselm.  Lucconsis,  lib.  ii.  contra  VVibertum 
Antipapain  et  sequaces  ejus,  in  Canisii  Lectionib. 
Antiquis.  torn.  iii.  part  i.  p.  38;). 


f*]  See  Mabillon,  Comment,  in  Ordinem  Rom.  p. 
US,  torn.  ii.  Musei  Italici. 


prelate  has  here  principally  in  view  that  part 
of  the  edict  in  ^hich  Nicolas  acknowledges 
and  confirms  tlie  riglit  of  the  emperors  to  ratify 
the  election  of  the  Roman  pontiff;  yet  what  he 
says  is  undoubtedly  true  of  the  whole  edict  in 
all  its  parts.  For  the  seven  Palatine  judges,* 
who  were  excluded  by  tliis  decree  from  the 
important  privilege  they  had  formerly  enjoyed 
of  voting  in  the  election  to  the  apostolic  see, 
complained  loudly  of  the  injury  that  was  done 
them;  and,  seconded  in  their  complaints  by  the 
various  orders  of  the  clergy,  and  by  the  cla- 
mours of  the  army,  the  citizens,  and  the  mul- 
titude, they  declared  their  opposition  to  the 
execution  of  this  edict,  and  gave  much  trouble 
and  uneasiness  to  the  cardinals,  who  had  been 
constituted  electors  by  Nicolas.  To  appease 
these  tumults,  Alexander  III.  augmented  the 
college  of  the  electing  cardinals,  by  conferring 
that  dignity  upon  the  prior,  or  arch  presbyter, 
of  St.  John  Lateran,  the  arch  presbyter  of  St. 
Peter  and  St.  Mary  the  Greater,  the  abbots  of 
St.  Paul  and  St.  Laurence  witiiout  the  wall, 
and  lastly,  upon  the  seven  Palatine  judges.f 
By  this  dexterous  stratagem,  the  higher  order 
of  the  clergy  was  defeated,  and  ceased  to  op- 
pose the  measures  of  the  cardinal  electors;  nor, 
indeed,  could  its  opposition  be  of  any  signifi- 
cancy,  since  its  chiefs  and  leaders  were  become 
members  of  the  sacred  college  instituted  by 
Nicolas.  The  inferior  clergy  continued  yet 
obstinate;  but  their  opposition  was  vanquished 
in  the  same  manner,  and  they  were  reduced 
to  silence  by  the  promotion  of  their  chiefs,  the 
cardinal  deacons,  to  the  dignity  of  electors. 
Who  it  was  (whether  Alexander  III.  or  some 
other  pontiff)  that  raised  the  principal  Roman 
deacons  to  the  rank  of  cardinals,  is  not  certain; 
but  nothing  is  more  evident  than  that  the  de- 
sign of  this  promotion  was  to  put  an  end  to  the 
murmurs  and  complamts  of  the  inferior  clergy, 
who  highly  resented  the  violation  of  their  pri- 
vileges. 

When  the  various  orders  of  the  clergy  were 
drawn  off  from  the  ojiposition,  it  was  no  diffi- 
cult matter  to  silence  tlie  people,  and  to  ex- 
clude them  from  all  part  in  the  election  of  the 
pontiff.  And  accordingly,  when,  upon  the 
death  of  Alexander  III.,  it  was  proposed  to 
choose  Lucius  III. J  as  his  successor,  the  con- 
sent and  approbation  of  the  clergy  and  people, 
which  had  hitherto  been  always  esteemed  ne- 
cessary to  ratify  the  election,  were  not  even 
demanded,  and  the  affair  was  transacted  by  the 
college  of  cardinals  alone,  who  have  continued 
to  maintain  that  exclusive  and  important  pri- 
vilege even  to  our  times.  Some  writers  affirm, 
that  Innocent  II.  had  been  elected  in  the  same 
manner,  by  the  cardinals  alone,  without  the 
consent  of  the  clergy  or  the  people,  several 
years  before  the  pontificate  of  Lucius;§  this 


*  Those  judges  were  the  Primiccrius,  Sccundice- 
rius,  Jlrcarius,  Sacccllarius,  Protogcriniarius,  Pri- 
miccrius Difensorum,  et  Adminiculator;  for  a  parti- 
cular account  of  whose  respective  offices,  services, 
and  privileges,  see  Grajvius,  Du  Caiig(%  &c. 

t  t'enni  Pra;f.  ad  Concil.  Lateran.  Stephan.  iii.  p. 
19.— Mabillon,  Comment,  ad  Ord.  Roman,  p.  115,  ex 
Panvinio. 

(iCf-  X  In  the  original,  instead  of  Lucius  III.,  we 
read  Victor  III.  which  was  certainly  a  mistake  of 
inadvertency  in  the  learned  author. 

§  See  Pagi  Breviar.  Pontif,  Romanor.  torn.  ii.  p.  615. 


268 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


PabtII. 


may  be  true,  but  it  is  nothing  to  the  purpose; 
for,  as  the  election  of  Innocent  II.  was  irregu- 
lar, it  cannot  properly  be  alleged  in  the  case 
before  us. 

Vn.  From  what  has  been  observed  in  the 
preceding  section,  we  may  conclude,  that  the 
college  of  cardinals,  and  the  extensive  autho- 
rity and  important  privileges  they  enjoy  at  this 
day,  derive  their  origin  from  the  edict  pub- 
lished at  the  request  and  under  the  pontificate 
of  Nicolas  II.;  that,  under  the  title  of  cardi- 
nals, this  pontiff  comprehended  the  seven  Ro- 
man bishops,  who  were  considered  as  his  suffra- 
gans, and  of  whom  the  bishop  of  Ostia  was  the 
chief,  as  also  the  eight  and  twenty  ministers, 
who  had  inspection  over  the  principal  Roman 
churches;  and  that  to  these  were  added,  in 
process  of  time,  under  Alexander  III.  and 
other  pontiffs,  new  members,  in  order  to  ap- 
pease the  resentment  of  those  who  looked  upon 
themselves  as  injured  by  the  edict  of  Nicolas, 
and  also  to  answer  other  purposes  of  ecclesias- 
tical policy.  We  see,  also,  from  an  attentive 
view  of  this  matter,  that  though  the  high  order 
of  purpled  prelates,  commonly  called  cardi- 
nals, had  its  rise  in  the  eleventh  century,  yet 
it  does  not  seem  to  have  acquired  the  firm  and 
undisputed  authority  of  a  legal  council  before 
the  following  age  and  the  pontificate  of  Alex- 
ander III. 

VIII.  Though  Nicolas  II.  had  expressly  ac- 
knowledged and  confirmed  in  his  edict  the 
right  of  the  emperor  to  ratify  by  his  consent 
the  election  of  the  pontiff,  his  eyes  were  no 
sooner  closed,  than  the  Romans,  at  the  insti- 
gation of  Hildebrand,  arch  deacon  and  after- 
wards bishop  of  Rome,  violated  this  imperial 
privilege  in  the  most  presumptuous  manner; 
for  tiiey  not  only  elected  to  the  pontificate 
Anselm,  bishop  of  Lucca,  who  assumed  the 
name  of  Alexander  II.  but  also  solemnly  in- 
stalled him  in  that  high  office  without  consult- 
ing the  emperor  Henry  IV.  or  giving  him  the 
least  information  of  the  matter.  Agnes,  the 
mother  of  the  young  emperor,  no  sooner  re- 
ceived an  account  of  this  irregular  transaction 
from  the  bishops  of  Lombardy,  to  whom  the 
election  of  Anselm  was  extremely  disagreeable, 
than  she  assembled  a  council  at  Basil,  and,  in 
order  to  maintain  the  authority  of  her  son, 
who  was  yet  a  minor,  caused  Cadolaus,  bishop 
of  Parma,  to  be  created  pope,  under  the  title 
of  Honorius  II.  Hence  arose  a  long  and  furi- 
ous contest  between  the  rival  pontiffs,  who 
maintained  their  respective  pretensions  by  the 
force  of  arms,  and  presented  a  scene  of  blood- 
shed and  horror  in  tlie  church  of  Christ,  wliich 
was  designed  to  be  the  centre  of  charity  and 
peace.  In  tliis  violent  contention  Alexander 
triumphed,  tliough  he  could  never  engage  his 
obstinate  adversary  to  desist  from  his  preten- 
sions.* 

IX.  This  contest,  indeed,  was  of  little  con- 
sequence when  viewed  in  comparison  with  the 
dreadful  commotions  which  Hildebrand,  who 
succeeded  Alexander,  and  assumed  the  name 


*  Ferdin.  Ughelli  Italia  Sacra,  torn.  ii.  p.  106  —Jo 
.lac.  Mascoviiis,  de  Robiis  Imperii  sub  Henrico  IV 
fit  V.  lib.  i.  p.  7— Franc.  Pagi  Broviar.  Pontificum 
Romanor.  torn.  ii.  p.  385 — Muratori,  Annali  d'ltalia, 
torn   vi.  p.  214 


of  Gregory  VII.,  excited  both  in  church  and 
state,  and  nourished  and  fomented  until  the 
end  of  his  days.  This  vehement  pontiff,  who 
was  a  Tuscan,  bom  of  mean  parents,  rose,  by 
various  steps,  from  the  obsciue  station  of  a 
monk  of  Clugni,  to  the  rank  of  arch  deacon  in 
the  Roman  church,  and,  from  the  time  of  Leo 
IX.  who  treated  him  with  peculiar  marks  of 
distinction,  was  accustomed  to  govern  the 
Roman  pontiffs  by  his  counsels,  which  had  ac- 
quired the  highest  degree  of  influence  and  au- 
thority. In  the  year  1073,  and  on  the  same 
day  that  Alexander  was  interred,  he  was  raised 
to  the  pontificate  by  the  unanimous  suffrages 
of  the  cardinals,  bishops,  abbots,  monks,  and 
people,  without  regard  to  the  edict  of  Nicolas 
II.;  and  his  election  was  confirmed  by  the  ap- 
probation and  consent  of  Henry  IV.  king  of 
the  Romans,  to  whom  ambassadors  had  been 
sent  for  that  purpose.  This  prince,  indeed,  had 
soon  reason  to  repent  of  the  consent  he  had 
given  to  an  election,  which  became  so  preju- 
dicial to  his  own  authority  and  to  the  interests 
and  liberties  of  the  church,  and  so  detrimental, 
in  general,  to  the  sovereignty  and  independ- 
ence of  kingdoms  and  empires.*  Hildebrand 
was  a  man  of  uncommon  genius,  whose  ambi- 
tion in  forming  the  most  arduous  projects  was 
equalled  by  his  dexterity  in  bringing  them  into 
execution.  Sagacious,  crafty,  and  intrepid,  he 
suffered  nothing  to  escape  his  penetration,  de- 
feat his  stratagems,  or  daunt  his  courage: 
haughty  and  arrogant  beyond  all  measure, 
obstinate,  impetuous,  and  intractable,  he  look- 
ed up  to  the  summit  of  universal  empire  with 
a  wisliful  eye,  and  laboured  up  the  steep  ascent 
with  uninterrupted  ardour  and  invincible  per- 
severance: void  of  all  principle,  and  destitute 
of  every  pious  and  virtuous  feeling,  he  suffered 
little  restraint  in  his  audacious  pursuits,  from 
the  dictates  of  religion  or  the  remonstrances 
of  conscience.  Such  was  the  character  of 
Hildebrand,  and  his  conduct  was  every  way 
suitable  to  it;  for  no  sooner  did  he  find  him- 
self in  the  papal  chair,  than  he  displayed  to  the 
world  the  most  odious  marks  of  his  tyrannic 
ambition.  Not  content  to  enlarge  the  juris- 
diction, and  to  augment  the  opulence  of  the 
see  of  Rome,  he  laboured  indefatigably  to  ren- 
der the  universal  church  subject  to  the  despotic 
government  and  the  arbitrary  power  of  the 
pontiff  alone,  to  dissolve  the  jurisdiction  which 
kings  and  emperors  had  hitherto  exercised  over 
the  various  orders  of  the  clergy,  and  to  exclude 
them  from  the  management  or  distribution  of 
the  revenues  of  the  church.  The  outrageous 
pontiff  even  went  farther,  and  impiously  at- 
tempted to  subject  to  his  jurisdiction  the  empe- 
rors, kings,  and  princes  of  the  earth,  and  to 


*  The  writers  who  have  given  the  most  ample  ac 
counts  of  the  life  and  exploits  of  Gregory  VII.  arc 
enumerated  by  Casp.  Sagittarius,  in  his  Introd.  ad 
Hist.  Ecclesiast.  torn.  i.  p.  687,  and  by  And.  Schmi- 
dius,  in  his  Supplement,  torn.  ii.  p.  ()27.— See  also  the 
Acta  Sanctor.  tnm.  v.  Maii  ad  d.  x.w.  p.  568,  and 
Mabillon,  Acta  Sanctor.  Orriin.  Benedicti,  SjecuI.  vi. 
p.  406.  Add  to  these  the  Life  of  Gregory  VII.  pub 
lished  at  Frankfort  in  1710,  by  Just.  Christopher 
Dithmar,  as  also  the  authors  who  have  written  the 
history  of  the  contests  that  arose  betwesn  the  em- 
pire and  the  hierarchy  of  Rome,  and  of  the  wars  that 
were  occasioned  by  the  disputes  concerning  investi- 
tures. 


Chap.  H. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


269 


render  their  dominions  tributary  to  the  see  of 
Rome.  Such  were  the  piotis  and  apostolic  ex- 
ploits that  employed  the  activity  of  Gregory 
VII.  during  his  whole  life,  and  which  rendered 
his  pontificate  a  continual  scene  of  tumult  and 
bloodshed.  Were  it  necessary  to  bring  farther 
proofs  of  his  tyranny  and  arrogance,  his  fierce 
impetuosity  and  boundless  ambition,  we  might 
appeal  to  those  famous  sentences,  v;hicli  are 
generally  called,  after  him,  the  diet  ales  of  Hil- 
debrand,  and  which  show,  in  a  lively  manner, 
the  spirit  and  cliaracter  of  this  restless  pontiff.* 
X.  Under  the  pontificate  of  Hildcfarand,  the 
face  of  the  Latin  church  was  entirely  changed, 
its  government  subverted,  and  tiie  most  im- 
portant and  valuable  of  those  rights  and  pri- 
vileges that  had  been  formerly  vested  in  its 
councils,  bishops,  and  sacred  colleges,  were 
usurped  by  the  greedy  pontiff.  It  is,  however, 

*  DictatJis  Hildebrandini.  By  these  are  understood 
twenty-seven  apopiithegms,  or  short  sentences,  re- 
lating to  the  supreme  authority  of  the  Roman  pon- 
tifls  over  the  universal  church  and  the  Isingdoms  of 
the  world,  which  are  to  be  found  in  the  second  book 
of  the  Epistles  of  Gregory  VII.  between  the  fifty-fiftli 
and  the  fifty-sixth  Epistle  under  iheiMeoi  Dictatus 
Papa,  i.  e.  i)ictates  of  the  Pope.  See  Harduini  Con- 
cilia, torn.  vi.  part  i.  p.  1304,  and  the  various  writers 
of  Ecclesiastical  History,  Baronius,  Lupus  [*]  and 
other  historians,  who  have  signalized,  upon  all  oc- 
casions, their  vehement  attachment  to  the  Roman 
pontiffs,  maintain,  that  these  Dictates  were  drawn 
up  by  Gregory  VII.  and  proposed  as  laws  in  a  cer- 
tain council;  and  hence  the  protestant  writers  have 
ventured  to  attribute  them  to  Hildebrand.  But  the 
learned  John  Launoy,  Natalis  Alexander,  Antony  [t] 
and  Francis  Pagi,[|J  Elias  Du-Pin,  and  other  au- 
thors of  note,  affirm  in  the  most  positive  manner 
that  these  sentences,  or  dictates,  were  a  downright 
forgery  imposed  upon  the  world  under  the  name  of 
Gregory,  by  some  perfidious  impostor,  who  proposed 
thereby  to  flatter  the  Roman  pontitTs  in  their  ambi- 
tious pretensions.  As  a  proof  of  this  assertion,  they 
observe,  that  while  some  of  these  sentences  express 
indeed  in  a  lively  manner  the  ambitious  spirit  of 
Gregory,  there  are  others  which  appear  entirely  op- 
posite to  the  sentiments  of  that  pontiff,  as  they  are 
delivered  in  several  parts  of  his  Epistles.  The  French 
writers  have  important  reasons  (which  it  is  not  ne- 
cessary to  mention  here)  for  affirming  that  no  Ro- 
man pontiff  ever  presumed  to  speak  of  the  papal 
power  and  jurisdiction  in  such  arrogant  terms  as  arc 
here  put  into  the  mouth  of  Gregory.  It  may  be  easily 
granted,  that  these  sentences,  in  their  present  form, 
are  not  the  composition  of  this  famous  pontift";  for 
many  of  them  are  obscure,  and  they  are  all  thrown 
together  without  the  least  order,  method,  or  con 
nexion,  and  it  is  not  to  be  imagined,  that  a  man  of 
such  genius,  as  Gregory  discovered,  would  have  ne- 
glected cither  perspicuity  or  precision  in  describing 
the  authority,  and  fixing  what  he  looked  upon  to  be 
the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  bishops  of  Rome. 
But,  notwithstanding  all  this,  if  we  consider  the 
matter  of  these  sentences,  we  shall  be  entirely  per- 
suaded that  they  belonged  originally  to  Hildebrand, 
since  we  find  the  greatest  part  of  them  repeated 
word  for  word  in  several  places  in  his  Epistles,  and 
since  such  of  them  as  appear  inconsistent  with  some 
passages  in  these  epistles,  are  not  so  in  reality,  but 
may  be  easily  explained  in  perfect  conformity  with 
what  they  are  said  to  contradict.  The  most  probable 
account  of  the  matter  seems  to  be  this:  that  .some 
mean  author  extracted  these  sentences,  partly  from 
the  extant  epistlesof  Gregory,  partly  from  those  that 
have  perished  in  the  ruins  of  time,  and  published 
them  in  the  form  in  which  they  now  appear,  without 
judgment  or  method. 


[^*}  Lupus,  in  his  Nota;  et  Dissertationes  in  Con- 
cilia, torn.  vi.  op.  p.  lt)4,  has  given  us  an  ample  com- 
mentary on  the  Dictates  of  Hildebrand,  which  he 
looks  upon  as  both  authentic  and  sacred. 

ft]  See  Anton.  Fagi  Critica  in  Baroniiun. 

[ijSee  Franc.  Pagi  Breviar.  Pontif.  Roman,  torn. 
ii-  p.  473. 


to  be  observed,  that  the  weight  of  this  tyrannic 
usurpation  did  not  fall  equally  upon  all  the 
European  provinces,  several  of  these  provinces 
preserved  some  remains  of  their  ancient  liber- 
ty and  independence,  in  the  possession  of 
which  a  variety  of  circumstances  happily  con- 
curred to  maintain  them. 

But,  ar  we  insinuated  above,  the  views  of 
Hildebrand  were  not  confined  to  the  erection 
of  an  absolute  and  universal  monarchy  in  the 
church;  they  aimed  also  at  the  establishment 
of  a  civil  monarchy  equally  extensive  and 
despotic;  and  tiiis  aspiring  pontiff',  after  having 
drawn  up  a  system  of  ecclesiastical  laws  for 
the  govenmient  of  the  church,  would  have  in- 
troduced also  a  new  code  of  political  laws,  had 
he  been  permitted  to  execute  the  plan  he  had 
formed.  His  purpose  was  to  engage,  in  the 
bonds  of  fidelity  and  allegiance  to  St.  Peter,  i. 
e.  to  the  Roman  pontiffs,  all  the  kings  and 
princes  of  the  earth,  and  to  establish  at  Rome 
an  annual  assembly  of  bishops,  by  whom  the 
contests  that  miglit  arise  between  kingdoms  or 
sovereign  states  were  to  be  decided,  the  rights 
and  pretensions  of  princes  to  be  examined,  and 
the  fate  of  nations  and  empires  to  be  deter- 
mined. This  ambitious  project  met,  however, 
with  the  wannest  opposition,  particularly  from 
the  vigilance  and  resolution  of  the  emperors, 
and  also  from  the  British  and  French  mon- 
archs.* 

That  Hildebrand  had  formed  this  audacious 
plan  is  undoubtedly  evident,  both  from  his 
own  epistles,  and  also  from  other  authentic  re- 
cords of  antiquity.  The  nature  of  the  oath 
which  he  drew  up  for  the  king  or  emperor  of 
the  Romajis,  from  whom  he  demanded  a  pro- 
fession of  subjection  and  allegiance,!  shows 
abundantly  the  arrogance  of  his  pretensions. 
But  his  conduct  toward  the  kingdom  of  France 
is  worthy  of  particular  notice.  It  is  well 
known,  that  whatever  dignity  and  dominion 
the  popes  enjoyed  were  originally  derived  from 
the  French  princes;  ahd  yet  Hildebrand,  or  (as 
we  shall  hereafter  entitle  him)  Gregory  Vll. 
pretendefl  that  the  kingdom  was  tributary  to 
the  see  of  Rome,  and  commanded  his  legates 
to  demand  yearly,  in  the  most  solemia  manner, 
the  payment  of  that  tribute;:^  their  demands, 
however,  were  treated  with  contempt,  and  the 
tribute  was  never  either  acknowledged  or  of^ 
fered.    Nothing  can  be  more  insolent  than  the 


33"  *  The  long  note  (g)  in  the  original,  which  con- 
tains the  ambitioiLs  exploits  of  Hildebrand,  is  in- 
serted in  the  following  paragraph,  except  the  cita- 
tions, which  are  thrown  into  notes. 

t  See  the  ninth  book  of  hi.=!  epistles,  Epist.  iii. 
The  form  of  the  oath  runs  thus:  "  Ab  hac  hora  et 
"  deinceps  fidelis  ero  per  rcctani  fidem  B.  Petro  Apos- 
"  tolo,  ejiisque  vicario  Papa;  Gregorio  .  .  .  .  et  quod- 
"  cun(|ue  ipse  Papa  pr<Tceperit  sub  his  videlicet  ver 
"  bis,  per  varam  obedientiam,  fideliter,  sicut  oportet 
"  Christianum,  observnbo.  Et  co  die,  quando  eum 
"  primitus  videro,  fideliter  per  manus  meas  miles 
"  Sancti  Petri  el  illius  elficiar."  What  is  this  but  a 
formal  oath  of  allegiance? 

J  Epist.  lib.  viii.  ep.  xxiii.  in  Harduin's  Concilia, 
torn.  vi.  p.  147C.  "  Diccndum  aiitcm  est  omnibus 
"Gallis  et  per  veram  obedientiam  prsccipiendum,  ut 
"  unaqujeque  domus  saltern  ununi  denarium  anniia- 
"  tim  solvat  Beato  Petro,  si  eum  rccognoscant  pa- 
"  trem  et  pastorem  suum  more  antiquo."  Every  one 
knows  that  the  demand  made  with  the  form,  per 
veram  obedientiam,  was  supposed  to  oblige  indispen- 
sably 


270 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  U. 


language  in  which  he  addressed  himself  to 
Philip  I.  king  of  France,  to  whom  he  recom- 
mended an  hmiible  and  obliging  carriage,  from 
this  consideration,  that  both  his  '  kingdom  and 
'  his  soul  were  under  the  dominion  of  St.  Pe- 
'  ter  (i.  e.  his  vicar  the  Roman  pontiiF,)  who 
'  had  the  power  to  bind  and  to  loose  him,  both 
'  in  heaven  and  upon  earth.'*  Notliing  es- 
caped his  all-grasping  aml)ition;  he  pretended 
that  Saxony  was  a  fief  holden  in  subjection  to 
the  see  of  Rome,  to  which  it  had  been  formerly 
yielded  by  Charlemagne  as  a  pious  offering  to 
St.  Peter.  He  also  extended  his  pretensions 
to  the  kingdom  of  Spain,  maintaining  in  one 
of  his  letters,!  that  it  was  the  property  of  the 
apostolic  see  from  the  earliest  times  of  the 
church,  yet  acknowledging  in  another,^  that 
the  transaction  by  which  the  successors  of  St 
Peter  had  acquired  this  property,  had  been  lost 
among  other  ancient  records.  His  claims, 
however,  were  more  respected  in  Spain  than 
they  had  been  in  France;  for  it  is  proved  most 
evidently  by  authentic  records,  that  tlie  king 
of  Arragon,  and  Bernard,  count  of  Besalu, 
gave  a  favourable  answer  to  the  demands  of 
Gregory,  and  paid  him  regularly  an  annual 
tribute;!  ^^^  their  example  was  followed  by 
other  Spanish  princes,  as  we  could  show,  were 
it  necessary,  by  a  variety  of  arguments.  The 
despotic  views  of  this  lordly  pontiff  were  at- 
tended with  less  success  in  England,  than  in 
any  other  country.  William  the  Conqueror 
was  a  prince  of  great  spirit  and  resolution,  ex- 
tremely jealous  of  his  rights,  and  tenacious  of 
the  prerogatives  he  enjoyed  as  a  sovereign  and 
independent  monarch;  and  accordingly,  when 
Gregory  wrote  him  a  letter  demanding  the  ar- 
rears of  the  Peter-pence, \\  and  at  the  same  time 
summoning  him  to  do  homage  for  the  king- 
dom of  England,  as  a  fief  of  the  apostolic  see, 
William  granted  the  former,  but  refused  the 
iatterlT  with  a  noble  obstinacy,  declaring  that 


*  Lib.  vii.  ppist.  xx.  in  ftarduin's  Concilia,  torn, 
vi.  p.  1468.  "  Maxime  enitere  ut  B.  Petrum,  in  cujus 
"potestate  est  regnum  tuum  et  anima  tua,  qui  te 
"  pote.st  in  ccelo  et  in  terra  ligare  et  absolvere,  tibi 
"  facias  debitorem." 

t  Lib.  X.  ep.  vii.  "  Regnum  Hispania  ab  antique 
proprii  juris  S.  Petri  fuisse  et  soli  apostolicte  sedi  ex 
a^quo  pertinere." 

t  Lib.  X.  epist.  sxviii. 

J  See  Peter  de  Marca,  Histoire  de  Beam,  liv.  iv. 
p.  331. 

OlJ'  II  The  impost  of  Peter-pence  (so  called  from  its 
being  collected  on  the  festival  of  .St.  Peter  in  Vivcu- 
lis)  was  an  .Tncient  tax  of  a  penny  on  each  house, 
first  granted  in  725,  bylna,  kingof  the  West  Saxons, 
for  the  establishment  and  support  of  an  English  col- 
lege at  Rome,  and  afterwards  extended,  in  794,  by 
Offa,  over  all  Mercia  and  East  Anglia.  In  process 
of  time  it  became  a  standing  and  general  tax 
throughout  England;  and,  though  it  was  for  some 
time  applied  to  the  support  of  the  English  college  ac- 
cording to  its  original  design,  the  popes  at  length 
found  means  to  appropriate  it  to  themselves.  It  was 
rx)nfirmed  by  the  laws  of  Canute,  Edward  the  Con- 
fessor,  William  the  Conqueror,  &c.  and  was  never 
totally  abolished  till  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII. 

IT  The  letter  of  William  is  extant  in  "the  Miscella- 
nea of  Baluzius,  torn.  vii.  p.  127;  as  also  in  Collier's 
Ecclesiastical  History,  in  the  Collection  of  Records, 
at  the  end  of  the  first  volume,  p.  743,  No.  12.  "  Hu 
"  bertus  legatus  tuus  (says  the  resolute  monarch  to 
"  the  audacious  pontiff)  admonuit  me,  quatenus  tibi 
"  et  successoribus  tuis  fidelitatem  facerem,  et  de  pe- 
"  cunia,  quam  antecessores  raei  ad  ecclesiam  mittere 
"  solebant,  melius  cogitarem.  Unum  admisi,  alterum 
"  non  admisi.  Fidelitatem  facere  nolui  nee  voIo,"&c. 


he  held  his  kingdom  of  God  only,  and  his  own 
sword.  Obliged  to  yield  to  the  obstinacy  of 
the  English  monarch,  whose  name  struck  ter- 
ror into  the  boldest  hearts,  the  restless  pontiff 
addressed  his  imperious  mandates  where  he 
imagined  they  would  be  received  with  more 
facility.  He  wrote  circular  letters  to  the  most 
powerful  of  the  German  princes,*  to  Geysa, 
king  of  Hungary,!  and  Swein,  king  of  Den- 
mark,! soliciting  them  to  make  a  solemn  grant 
of  their  kingdoms  and  territories  to  the  prince 
of  the  apostles,  and  to  hold  them  imder  the  ju- 
risdiction of  his  vicar  at  Rome,  as  fiefs  of  the 
apostolic  see.  What  success  attended  his  de- 
mands upon  these  princes,  we  cannot  say;  but 
certain  it  is,  that  in  several  countries  his  efforts 
were  effectual,  and  his  modest  proposals  were 
received  with  the  utmost  docility  and  zeal. 
The  son  of  Demetrius,  czar  of  the  Russians, 
set  out  for  Rome,  in  consequence  of  the  pon- 
tiff's letter,§  in  order  to  "  obtain,  as  a  gift 
"  from  St.  Peter,  by  the  hands  of  Gregory, 
"  after  professing  his  subjection  and  allegiance 
"to  the  prince  of  the  apostles,"  the  kingdom 
wliich  was  to  devolve  to  him  upon  the  death 
of  his  father;  and  his  pious  request  was  readily 
granted  by  the  officious  pope,  who  was  ex- 
tremely liberal  of  what  did  not  belong  to  him. 
Demetrius  Suinimer,  duke  of  Croatia  and 
Dalmatia,  was  raised  to  the  rank  and  preroga- 
tives of  royalty  by  the  same  pontiff  in  1076, 
and  solemnly  proclaimed  king  by  his  legate  at 
Salona,  on  condition  that  he  should  pay  an 
annual  tribute  of  two  himdred  pieces  of  gold 
to  St.  Peter  at  every  Easter  festival.  ||  This 
bold  step  was  injurious  to  the  authority  of  the 
emperors  of  Constantinople,  who,  before  this 
time,  comprehended  the  province  of  Croatia 
within  the  limits  of  their  sovereignty.  The 
kingdom  of  Poland  became  also  the  object  of 
Gregory's  ambition,  and  a  favourable  occasion 
was  offered  for  the  execution  of  his  iniquitous 
views:  for,  when  Boleslaus  II.  had  assassinated 
Stanislaus,  bishop  of  Cracow,  the  pontiff  not 
only  excommunicated  him  with  all  the  cir- 
cumstances of  infamy  that  he  could  invent,  but 
also  hurled  him  from  his  throne,  dissolved  the 
oath  of  allegiance  which  his  subjects  had  taken, 
and,  by  an  express  and  imperious  edict,  pro- 
hibited the  nobles  and  clergy  of  Poland  from 
electing  a  new  king  without  the  pope's  con- 
sent H  Many  other  examples  might  be  alleged 
of  the  phrenetic  ambition  of  Gregory;  but 
those  which  have  been  already  mentioned  are 
sufficient  to  excite  the  indignation  of  every  im- 
partial reader.  Had  the  success  of  that  pon- 
tiff been  equal  to  the  extent  of  his  insolent 


*  See,  in  Harduin's  Concilia,  his  famous  letter 
(lib.  ix.  epist.  iii.)  to  the  bishop  of  Padua,  exhorting 
him  to  engage  Welpho,  duke  of  Bavaria,  and  other 
German  princes,  to  submit  themselves  and  their  do- 
minions to  the  apostolic  jurisdiction.  "  Admonere 
"  te  volumus  (says  the  pontitf)  ducem  Welphonem, 
"  ut  fidelitatem  B.  Petro  faciat.  llluni  enim  totum 
"  in  gremio  Beati  Petri  coUocare  desideramus,  et  ad 
"ejus  servitium  specialiter  provocare;  quam  volun- 
"tatem  si  in  eo,vel  etiam  in  aliis  potentibus  viris, 
"  amore  B.  Petri  ductis,  cognoveris,  ut  perficiant 
"  elabora." 

t  Lib.  ii.  ep.  Ixx.  J  Lib.  ii.  ep.  li. 

5  Lib.  ii.  ep.  Ixxiv. 

[  See  Du  Mont,  Corps  Diplomatique,  torn.  i.  n.  88, 
p.  53.— Jo.  Lucius,  de  Regno  Dalmatiae,  lib.  ii.  p  85. 

IT  See  Dlugossi  Histor.  Polon.  torn.  i.  p.  295. 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


271 


views,  all  the  kingdoms  of  Euroj)e  would  have 
been  at  this  day  tributary  to  tiie  Roman  see, 
and  its  princes  the  soldiers  or  vassals  of  St. 
Peter,  in  the  person  of  his  pretended  vicar  upon 
earth.  But,  though  his  most  important  pro- 
jects were  ineffectual,  many  of  his  attempts 
were  crowned  witli  a  favourable  issue;  for, 
from  the  time  of  his  pontificate,  the  face  of 
Europe  underwent  a  considerable  change,  and 
the  prerogatives  of  the  emperors  and  other 
sovereign  princes  were  much  diminished.  It 
was,  particularly  under  tiie  administration  of 
Gregory,  that  the  emperors  were  deprived  of 
the  privilege  of  ratifying,  by  their  consent,  the 
election  of  the  pope;  a  privilege  of  no  small 
importance,  which  they  have  never  recovered. 
XI.  The  zeal  and  activity  which  Grego- 
ry employed  in  extending  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Roman  see,  and  enriching  the  patrimo- 
ny of  St.  Peter,  met,  in  no  part  of  Europe, 
with  such  remarkable  success  as  in  Italy. — 
His  intimate  familiarity  with  Matilda,  the 
daughter  of  Boniface,  duke  of  Tuscany,  and 
the  most  powerful  and  opulent  princess  in  that 
country  (who  found  by  experience  that  neither 
ambition  nor  grace  had  extinguished  the  ten- 
der passions  in  the  heart  of  Gregory,)  contri- 
buted much  to  this  success;  for  he  engaged 
that  princess,  after  the  death  of  her  husband 
Godfrey,  duke  of  Lorrain,  and  her  mother 
Beatrix,  which  happened  in  the  years  10T6  and 
1077,  to  settle  all  her  possessions  in  Italy  and 
elsewhere  upon  the  church  of  Rome,  and  thus 
to  appoint  St.  Peter  and  his  pretended  vicar 
the  heirs  of  her  immense  treasures.  This  rich 
donation  was,  indeed,  considerably  invalidated 
by  the  second  marriage,  which  Matilda  con- 
tracted, in  1089,  with  Welph,  or  Guelph,  the 
son  of  the  duke  of  Bavaria,  not  without  the 
consent  of  pope  Urban  II.  She,  however,  re- 
newed it  in  a  solemn  maimer  in  1102,  about 
seven  years  after  her  separation  from  her  second 
husband,  by  wiiich  she  became  again  sole  mis- 
tress of  her  vast  possessions.*  But,  notwith- 
standing this  new  act,  the  popes  did  not  re- 
main in  the  peaceful  possession  of  this  splen- 
did inheritance.  It  was  warmly  and  power- 
fully disputed,  first  by  the  emperor  Henry  V. 
and  afterwards  by  several  other  princes;  nor 
were  the  pontiffs  so  successful  in  this  contest 
as  to  preserve  the  whole  inlieritance,  though, 
after   various  struggles  and  efforts,  they  re- 


*  Tho  life  and  exploits  of  this  heroic  princess  (who 
was  one  of  the  strongest  bulwarks  of  the  Roman 
church  against  the  power  of  the  emperors,  and  I  he 
most  lender  and  obedient  of  all  the  s/)iri(Mn/ daugh- 
ters of  Gregory  VII.)  have  been  written  by  Boned. 
Luchinu.'i,  Uoniin.  Mellinus,  FeMx  Contelorius,  and 
Jnlius  de  Puteo,  but  more  amply  by  Francis  Maria 
of  Florence,  in  his  Records  concerning  the  Countess 
Matilda,  written  in  Italian,  and  Bened.  Bacchinius, 
in  his  Historia  Monasterii  Podulironensis.  Tlie  fa- 
mous Leibnitz,  in  his  Scriptores  Brunsvic.  tom.  i.  p. 
629,  and  Lud.  Ant.  Muratori,  in  his  Scriptores  Re- 
runi  Italic,  tom.  v.  p.  3:t5.  have  published,  with  an- 
notations, the  ancient  histories  of  the  life  of  Matil- 
da, com(K)SPd  by  Donizo,  and  another  writer,  whose 
name  is  unknown,  together  with  the  copy  of  the  se- 
cond art  of  cession  by  which  that  princess  confirmed 
her  former  grant  to  the  church  of  Rome.  We  may 
add  here,  that  nothing  relating  to  this  extraordinary 
woman  is  more  worthy  of  perusal  than  the  accounts 
that  we  find  of  her  and  her  second  husband,  in  the 
Origines  Guelphica;,  torn,  i  lib  iii  cap.  v.  ettom.  ii. 
lib.  V- 


mained  in  the  possession  of  a  considerable  part 
of  it,  which  they  still  enjoy.* 

Xll.  The  plan  that  Gregory  had  formed  for 
raising  the  cliurch  above  all  human  authority, 
to  a  state  of  perfect  supremacy  and  indepen- 
dence, had  many  kinds  of  opposition  to  en- 
counter, but  none  more  difficult  to  surmount 
than  that  which  arose  from  the  two  reigning 
vices  of  concubinage  and  simony,  that  had  in- 
fected the  whole  body  of  tlie  European  clergy. 
The  pontifis,  from  the  time  of  Stephen  IX., 
had  combated  with  zeal  and  vehemence  those 
monstrous  vices,f  but  without  success,  as  they 

*  Many  learned  men  conclude  from  the  very  act  by 
which  this  donation  was  conlirmed  to  the  see  of 
Rome,  that  Matilda  comprehended  in  the  gift  only 
her  allodial  possessions,  and  not  the  territories  which 
she  held  as  the  tiefs  of  the  empire,  such  as  the  mar- 
quisate  of  Tuscany,  and  the  duchy  of  Spoleto.    For 

the  words  of  the  act  run  thus:  "Ego  Mathildis 

"  dedi  et  obtuli  ecclesia;  S.  Petri ....  omnia  mea  bona 
"jure  proprietario,  tam  qu<E  tunc  habueram,  quam 
"  ea  qucB  in  antea  acquisitura  eram,  sive  jure  sue- 
"  cessionis,  sive  alio  quocunque  jure  ad  me  pertine- 
"  aut."  See  the  Origines  Guelphicie,  tom.  i.  lib.  iii. 
p.  448.  But  it  is  much  to  be  questioned,  whether 
this  distinction  is  so  evident  as  is  pretended;  for  the 
words  jure  proprietario,  from  which  it  is  inferred 
that  Matilda  disposed  of  only  her  allodial  posses- 
sions in  favour  of  St.  Peter,  do  not,  in  my  opinion, 
relate  to  the  possessions  of  the  testatrix,  but  to  the 
nature  of  the  gift,  and  must  be  interpreted  in  con- 
junction with  the  preceding  verbs,  "  dedi  et  obtuli." 
Tho  princess  does  not  say,  "  dedi  omnia  bona  quae 
"  jure  proprietario  possideo  et  habeo,"  i.  e.  "  I  have 
"  granted  that  part  of  my  property  which  I  hold  by  a 
"  supreme  and  independent  right,"  in  which  case  the 
opinion  of  the  learned  men  above-mentioned  would 
be  well  founded;  but  she  says,  "  dedi  omnia  bona 
"  mea  ecclesijE  jure  proprietario,"  i.  e.  "  my  will  is, 
"  that  the  church  shall  possess  as  its  own  property 
"  the  inheritance  I  have  left  to  it."  Besides,  the  fol- 
lowing words  manifestly  show,  that  the  opinion  of 
these  learned  men  is  destitute  of  all  foundation, 
since  Matilda  would  not  have  added,  "  sive  jure  sue- 
cessionis,  sive  alio  quocunque  jure  ad  me  pertineant," 
i.  e.  "  I  grant  all  my  possessions,  under  whatever  ti- 
tle I  enjoy  them,  whether  by  right  of  succession,  or 
by  any  other  right,"  &c.  had  she  intended  to  confine 
her  donation  to  her  allodial  possessions.  Certain  it 
is,  that  in  this  ample  grant  she  excepts  no  part  of 
her  property,  but  evidently  comprehends  in  it  her 
whole  substance.  If  it  be  objected  to  this,  that  the 
pontifl's  never  afllrmed  that  the  fiefs  of  the  empire, 
which  Matilda  possessed,  were  comprehended  in  this 
grant  to  their  church,  and  that  they  only  claimed 
her  allodial  and  independent  possessions,  I  answer, 
by  questioning  the  fact,  since  many  circumstances 
concur  to  prove,  that  they  claimed  the  whole  sub- 
stance of  Matilda,  all  her  possessions  without  ex- 
ception, as  their  undoubted  right.  But,  suppose 
for  a  moment  that  the  case  was  otherwise,  and 
that  tho  Roman  church  had  never  made  such  an  uni- 
versal claim,  this  would,  by  no  means  invalidate  the 
opinion  I  here  maintain,  since  the  question  under 
consideration  is  not,  how  far  the  pontifts  may  have 
moderated  their  pretensions  to  the  territories  of  Ma- 
tilda, but  what  is  the  true  and  genuine  sense  of  the 
words  in  which  her  donation  is  expressed. 

t  Monstrous  vices  we  may  justly  call  them;  for, 
though  it  be  true,  that,  in  the  methods  Gregory  took 
to  extirpate  these  vices,  he  violated  not  only  the 
laws  of  religion,  but  also  the  dictate.s  of  natural 
equity  and  j.istice,  and,  under  the  mask  of  a  pious 
zeal,  committed  the  most  abominable  enormities,  yet 
it  is  certain,  on  the  other  hand,  that  these  vices  pro- 
duced the  most  unhappy  eftects  both  in  church  and 
state,  and  that  the  suppression  of  them  had  now  be- 
come absolutely  necessary.  There  were,  indeed, 
among  the  clergy  several  men  of  piety  and  virtue, 
who  lived  in  the  bonds  of  wedlock,  and  these  Gre- 
gory ought  to  have  spared.  But  there  is  no  doubt 
that  a  prodigious  number  of  ecclesiastics  through- 
out Europe,  not  only  of  priests  and  canons,  but 
also  of  monks,  lived  in  the  bonds  of  a  criminal 
love;    kent.  und&r  tbe  titles  of  wives,  mistreeses 


272 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


had  become  too  inveterate  and  too  general  to 
be  extirpated  without  the  greatest  ditBculty 
and  the  most  extraordinary  eiforts.  Accord- 
ingly Gregory,  in  the  year  10'74,  which  was 
the  second  of  his  pontificate,  exerted  himself 
with  much  more  vigour  than  his  predecessors 
had  done  in  opposition  to  the  vices  already 
mentioned.  For  this  purpose  he  assembled  a 
council  at  Rome,  in  which  all  the  laws  of  the 
former  pontiffs  against  simony  were  renewed 
and  coniirmed,  and  the  purchase  or  sale  of  ec- 
clesiastical benefices  prohibited  in  the  strictest 
and  severest  manner.  It  was  also  decreed  in 
the  same  council,  that  the  sacerdotal  order 
should  abstain  from  marriage,  and  that  such 
priests  as  already  had  wives  or  concubines, 
should  immediately  dismiss  them,  or  quit  their 
office.  These  decrees  were  accompanied  with 
circular  letters,  written  by  the  pontiff  to  all 
the  European  bishops,  enjoining  the  strictest 
obedience  to  the  decisions  of  this  solemn  comi- 
cil,  under  the  severest  penalties.  Gregory  did 
not  stop  here,  but  sent  ambassadors  into  Ger- 
many to  Henry  VI.  king  of  the  Romans,  in  or- 
der to  engage  that  prince  to  summon  a  coimcil 
for  the  trial  and  punishment  of  such  ecclesias- 
tics as  had  been  guilty  of  simoniacal  practices. 


whom  they  dismissed  at  pleasure,  to  enjoy  the  sweets 
of  a  licentious  variety;  and  not  only  spent,  in  the 
most  profuse  and  scandalous  manner,  the  revenues 
and  treasures  of  the  churches  and  convents  to  which 
they  belonged,  but  even  distributed  a  great  part  of 
them  among  their  bastards.  As  to  the  vice  of  si- 
mony, its  general  extent  and  its  pernicious  fruits  ap- 
pear evidently  from  those  records,  which  the  Bene- 
dictine monks  have  published  in  several  parts  of 
their  Gallia  Christiana,  not  to  mention  a  multitude 
of  other  ancient  papers  to  the  same  purpose.  One 
or  two  examples  will  be  sufficient  to  give  the  reader 
an  idea  of  this  matter.  We  find  in  the  first  volume 
of  the  admirable  work  now  mentioned  (in  the  Ap- 
pend. Document,  p.  5,)  a  public  act  by  which  Ber- 
nard a  viscount,  and  Froterius  bishop  of  Albi,  grant, 
or  rather  sell,  openly  to  Bernard  Aimurd  and  his  son, 
the  bishopric  of  Albi,  reserving  to  themselves  a  con- 
siderable part  of  its  revenues.  This  act  is  followed 
by  another,  in  which  count  Pontius  bequeaths  to  his 
wife  the  same  bishropic  of  Albi  in  the  following 
terms:  "  Ego  Pontius  dono  tibi  dilectse  sponsae  meiE 
"  episcopatum  Albienaem— cum  ipsa  ecclesia  et  cum 
"  omni  adjacentia  sua— et  medietatemde  episcopatu 
"  Nemauso,— et  medietatemde  abbatiaSti.  ^Egidii— 
"  post  obitum  tuum  remaneat  ipsius  alodis  ad  infan- 
"  tcs  qui  de  me  erunt  creati."— In  the  second  volume 
of  the  same  learned  work  (in  the  Append,  p.  173,) 
there  is  a  letter  of  the  clergy  of  Limoges,  beseeching 
William,  count  of  Aquitaino,  not  to  sell  the  bishop- 
ric, but  to  give  them  a  pastor,  and  not  a  devourer  of 
the  flock.  "Rogaraus  tuam  pietatem,  ne  propter 
"  mundale  lucrum  vendas  Sti.  Stepani  locum,  quia, 
"SI  tu  vendis  episcopalia,  ipse  nostra  manducabil 
"  communia. — Mitte  nobis  ovium  custodem,  non  de- 
"  voratorem."  Ademar,  viscount  of  Limoges,  la- 
ments, (tom.  ii.  p.  17!t.,)  that  "  he  himself  had  for- 
merly made  tragic  of  the  cure  of  souls  by  selling  be- 
nefices to  simoniacal  abbots."  The  barefaced  im- 
pudence of  the  sacerdotal  orders,  in  buyini  and  sel- 
ling benefices,  exceeded  all  measure,  and  almost  all 
credibility;  and  they  carried  matters  so  far  as  to  vin- 
dicate that  abominable  traffic,  as  may  be  seen  in  a 
remarkable  passage  in  the  Apologeticiim  of  Abbo. 
which  is  added  by  Pithou  to  the  Codex  Can.  Eccle- 
sicE  Romanse;  this  passage,  which  deserves  to  be 
quoted,  is  as  follows:  "  Nihil  pene  ad  ecclesiam  per- 
"  tinere  videtur,  quod  ad  pretium  non  largiatur,  scili- 
"  cet  episcopatus,  presbyteratus,  diaconatus,  et  ali- 
"  qui  minores  gradus,  archidiaconatu?  quoquc,  deca- 
"nia,prsepositura,  thesauri  cUstodia,  baptisterium— 
"  et  hujusmodi  negotiatores  subdola  responsione  so- 
"lent  astruere.  non  se  emere  bencdictioncm,  qua 
"  percipitur  gratia  spiritus  sancti,  sod  res  ecdesia- 
"  rum  vel  posscssiones  episcopi."  An  acute  distinc- 
tion truly! 


XIII.  These  decrees,  which  were  in  part 
equitable  and  just,  and  which  were,  in  every 
respect,  conformable  with  the  notions  of  reli- 
gion that  prevailed  in  this  age,  were  looked 
upon  by  the  people  as  liighly  salutary,  since 
they  rendered  a  free  election,  and  not  a  merce- 
nary purchase,  the  way  to  ecclesiastical  pro- 
motion, and  obliged  the  priests  to  abstain  from 
marriage,  which  was  absurdly  considered  as 
inconsistent  with  the  sanctity  of  their  office. 
Yet  botli  these  decrees  were  attended  with  the 
most  deplorable  tumults  and  dissensions,  and 
were  fruitful,  in  their  consequences,  of  innume- 
rable calamities.  No  sooner  was  the  law  con- 
cerning the  celibacy  of  the  clergy  published, 
than  the  priests,  in  the  several  provinces  of 
Europe,  who  lived  in  the  bonds  of  marriage 
with  lawful  wives,  or  of  lasciviousness  with 
hired  concubines,*  complained  loudly  of  the 
severity  of  this  coimci],  and  excited  dreadful 
tumults  in  the  greatest  part  of  the  European 
provinces.  Many  of  these  ecclesiastics,  espe- 
cially the  Milanese  priests,  chose  rather  to 
abandon  their  spiritual  dignities  than  their 
sensual  pleasures,  and  to  quit  their  benefices 
that  they  might  cleave  to  their  wives.  They 
went  still  farther:  for  they  separated  themselves 
entirely  from  tlie  church  of  Rome,  and  brand- 
ed with  the  infamous  name  of  Paterini,^  i.  e. 


*  All  the  historians  who  give  an  account  of  this 
century,  mention  the  tumults  excited  by  such  priests 
as  were  resolved  to  continue  with  their  wives  or 
concubines.  For  an  account  of  the  seditions  which 
arose  in  Germany,  upon  this  occasion,  see  Sigonius 
de  Regno  ItaliiB,  lib.  ix.  p.  557.  tom.  ii.  as  also  Ten- 
guagel's  Collcctio  Veter.  Monument,  p.  45,  47,  54. 
Those  which  the  priests  excited  in  England,  are 
mentioned  by  M.  Paris,  in  his  Hist.  Maj.  lib.  i.  The 
tumults  occasioned  by  the  same  reason  in  the  Belgic 
and  Gallic  provinces,  are  described  in  the  Epistola 
Clericorum  Cameracensium  ad  Remenses  pro  Ux 
oribus  suis,  published  in  Mabillon's  Annal.  Bene- 
dictin.  torn.  v.  p.  034;  and  in  the  Epistola  Novioma- 
gensium  Clericorum  ad  Cameracenses,  published  in 
Mabillon's  Museum  Italicum,  tom.  i.  p.  1528.  Great 
waj  the  flame  which  the  laws  of  Gregory  excited  in 
Italy,  and  particularly  in  the  province  of  Milan,  of 
which  we  have  an  ample  relation,  given  by  Arnulph 
and  Landulph,  two  Milanese  historians,  whose  works 
were  published  with  annotations  by  Muratori,  in  his 
Scriptores  Rerum  Italicarum,  tom.  iv.  p.  36.  Both 
these  historians  maintain,  against  Gregory  and  his 
successors,  the  cause  of  the  injured  priests,  and  the 
lawfulness  of  their  marriages. 

t  Paterinus  is  one  of  the  names  by  which  the  Pau- 
licians  or  Manicha-ans  (who  came  during  this  cen- 
tury from  Bulgaria  into  Italy,  and  were  also  known 
by  the  title  of  Catharia,  or  Pure)  were  distinguished 
among  the  Italians.  But,  in  process  of  time,  the 
term  Paterinus  became  a  common  name  for  all 
kinds  of  heretics,  as  we  might  show  by  many  ex- 
amples taken  from  the  writers  of  the  twelfth  and 
thirteenth  centuries.  There  are  various  opinions 
concerning  the  origin  of  this  word,  the  most  probable 
of  which  is  that  which  supposes  it  derived  from  a 
certain  place  called  Paiaria,  in  which  the  heretics 
held  their  assemblies;  and  it  is  well  known,  that  a 
part  of  the  city  of  Milan  is,  to  this  very  day,  called 
Patara.  or  Contrada  de  Patari.  See  Annotat.  ad 
Arnulphum  Mediolanensem  in  Muratori's  Scriptores 
Rerum  Italicar.  tom.  iv.  p.  39;  see  also  Saxius  ad  Sig- 
oniii mde  Regno  Italiee,  lib.  ix.  p. 53(5.  An  opinion  (of 
which,  if  I  err  not,  Sigonius  was  the  author)  pre- 
vailed, that  the  name  in  question  was  given  to  the 
Milanese  priests,  who  separated  from  the  church  of 
Rome,  and  retained  their  wives  in  opposition  to  the 
laws  of  the  pontiffs.  But  this  opinion  is  without 
foundation;  aiid  it  appears  evidently  from  the  testi- 
mony of  Arnulph  and  other  historians,  that  not  the 
married  priests,  but  the  faction  of  the  pontiffs,  who 
condemned  their  conjugal  bonds,  were  branded  with 
the  opprobrious  name  of  Paterini.    See  Arnulph.  lib. 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


273 


Manichceans,  the  pontiff  and  his  adherents, 
who  condemned  so  unjustly  the  conduct  of 
such  priests  as  entered  into  the  bonds  of  a 
lawful  and  virtuous  wedlock.  The  proceed- 
ings of  Gregory  appeared  to  the  wiser  part, 
even  of  those  who  approved  the  celibacy  of 
the  clergy,  unjust  and  criminal  in  two  respects: 
first,  because  his  severity  fell  indiscriminately, 
and  with  equal  fury,  upon  the  virtuous  hus- 
band and  the  licentious  rake;  and  he  dissolved, 
with  a  merciless  hand,  the  chastest  bonds  of 
wedlock,  and  thus  involved  husbands  and 
wives,  with  their  tender  offspring,  in  disgrace, 
perplexity,  anguish,  and  want.*  The  second 
thing  criminal  in  the  measures  taken  by  this 
pontiff  was,  that,  instead  of  cJiastising  the 
married  priests  with  wisdom  and  moderation, 
and  according  to  the  laws  of  the  ecclesiastical 
discipline,  whose  nature  is  wholly  spiritual,  he 
gave  them  over  to  the  civil  magistrate,  to  be 
punished  as  disobedient  and  unworthy  sub- 
jects, with  the  loss  of  their  substance,  and  with 
the  most  shocking  marks  of  undeserved  infamy 
and  disgrace. f 

XIV.  This  vehement  contest  excited  great 
tumults  and  divisions,  which,  however,  were 
gradually  calmed  by  length  of  time,  and  also 
by  the  perseverance  of  the  obstinate  pontiff; 

iii.  c.  X. — Anton.  Pagi.  Crit.  in  Ann.  Bar.  torn.  iii. 
ad  an.  1057,  sect.  iii.  Lufl.  Ant.  Muiatori  Antiq.  Ilal. 
inedii  JEvi,  torn.  v.  p.  82,  who  have  demonstrated 
this  in  the  most  ample,  learned,  and  satisfactory 
manner.  Nor  need  we,  indeed,  look  any  where  else 
for  the  origin  of  this  word.  It  is  abundantly  known, 
that  the  Manichsans,  and  their  brethren  the  Pauli- 
rians,  were  extremely  averse  to  marriage,  which 
they  looked  upon  as  an  institution  invented  by  the 
evil  principle:  they  in  consequence,  who  considered 
the  niarria<i;es  of  the  clergy  as  lawful,  employed  the 
ignominious  name  of  Paterini,  to  show  that  the  pon- 
tiffs, who  prohibited  these  marriages,  were  followers 
of  the  odious  doctrines  of  the  Manichaeans. 

*  We  must  always  remember  that  the  priests,  to 
whom  their  wives  or  mistresses  were  much  dearer 
than  the  laws  of  the  pontiffs,  were  not  all  of  the 
same  character;  nor  were  such  of  them  as  might  be 
justly  deemed  criminal,  all  criminal  in  the  same  de- 
gree. The  better  sort  of  these  ecclesiastics  (among 
which  we  may  count  the  Belgic  and  Milanese  clergy) 
desired  nothing  more  than  to  live  after  the  manner 
of  the  Greeks,  maintaining  that  it  was  lawful  for  a 
priest,  before  his  consecration,  to  marry  one  virgin, 
though  a  plurality  of  wives  had  been  justly  prohibit- 
ed; and  they  grounded  this  their  opinion  upon  the  au- 
thority of  St.  Ambrose.  See  Jo.  Petri  Puricelli  Dis- 
sertatio  utrum  S.  Ambrosius  Clero  suo  Mediolan. 
permiserit,  ut  Virgini  seniel  nubere  possent,  repub- 
lished by  Muratori,  in  his  Scriptores  Italic,  tom.  iv. 
p.  123.  Gregory  and  his  successors  ought  to  have 
dealt  more  gently  with  this  kind  of  ecclesiastics  (as 
the  warmest  admirers  of  the  pontiffs  acknowledge) 
than  with  those  priests  who  were  either  the  patrons 
of  concubinage,  or  who  pretended  to  justify  their 
espousing  of  a  plurality  of  wives.  It  was  also  un- 
just to  treat,  in  the  same  manner,  the  monks,  who, 
by  the  nature  of  their  profession  and  vows,  were 
necessarily  excluded  from  the  nuptial  state;  and  the 
priests,  who  could  not  bear  the  thoughts  of  being  torn 
from  the  chaste  partners  of  their  beds,  whom  they 
had  espoused  with  virtuous  sentiments  and  upright 
intentions,  or  from  the  tender  offspring  which  were 
the  fruit  of  virtuous  love. 

t  Theodnrici  Verdunensis  Epistola  ad  Grcgorium 
VII.  in  Martenne's  Thesaur.  Anecdotorura,  tom.  i. 
p.  218. — "  Faciem  mcam  in  eo  vel  maxime  confusione 
".perfundunt.  quod  legem  de  rlrrirorum  incontinentia 
■per  lairorum  insanias  coliibenda  unquam  suscep- 
■'erim — Nee  putetis  eos  qui  ila  sentiunt.  .  .  .  eccle- 
"siasticorum  craduum  inconlinentiam  talibus  de- 
"fensionibusfoverevelle.  Honestamconversationem 
"in  desiderio  habent,  nee  aliter,  quam  oportet, 
"eccIesiasticH-ultioniscensuram  intentarigaudent." 
Vol.  I,— S6 


nor  did  any  of  the  European  kings  and  princes 
concern  themselves  so  much  about  the  marria- 
ges of  tlie  clergy  as  to  maintain  their  cause, 
and  thereby  to  prolong  the  controversy.  But 
the  troubles  wltich  arose  from  the  law  that  re- 
garded the  extirpation  of  simony  were  not  so 
easily  appeased;  the  tumults  it  occasioned  be- 
came greater  from  day  to  day;  the  methods  of 
reconciliation  more  difficult;  and  it  involved 
both  the  church  and  state  during  several  years 
in  the  deepest  calamities  and  in  the  most  com- 
plicated scenes  of  confusion  and  distress.* 
Henry  IV.  received  indeed  graciously  the  le- 
gates of  Gregory,  and  applauded  his  zeal  for 
the  extirpation  of  simony;  but  neither  this 
prince,  nor  the  German  bishops,  would  permit 
these  legates  to  assemble  in  council  in  Ger- 
many, or  to  proceed  judicially  against  those, 
who,  in  time  past,  had  been  chargeable  with 
simoniacal  practices.  The  pontiff,  exasperated 
at  this  restraint  in  the  execution  of  his  designs, 
called  another  council  to  meet  at  Rome,  in 
1075,  in  which  he  pursued  his  adventuroua 
project  with  greater  impetuosity  and  vehe- 
mence than  ever;  for  he  not  only  excluded 
from  the  communion  of  the  church  several 
German  and  Italian  bishops  and  certain  favour- 
ites of  Henry,  of  whose  counsels  that  prince 
was  said  to  make  use  in  the  traffic  of  ecclesi- 
astical dignities,  but  also  pronounced,  in  a 
formal  edict,  an  "  Anathema  against  whoever 
"  received  the  investiture  of  a  bishopric  or 
"  abbacy  from  the  hands  of  a  layman,  as  also 
"  against  those  by  whom  the  investiture  should 


*  We  have  extant  a  great  number  both  of  ancient 
and  modern  writers,  who  have  related  the  circum- 
stances  of  this  dispute  concerning  investitures,  which 
was  begun  by  Gregory  VII.,  was  carried  on  by  him 
and  his  successors  on  the  one  side,  and  the  emperors 
Henry  IV.  and  V.  on  the  other,  and  became  a  source 
of  innumerable  calamities  to  the  greatest  part  of 
Europe,  But  few  or  none  of  these  writers  have 
treated  this  weighty  subject  with  an  entire  impar- 
tiality. They  all  pleaded  either  the  cause  of  the 
pontiffs,  or  that  of  the  emperors,  and  decided  the 
controversy,  not  by  the  laws  then  in  being  (which 
ought,  no  doubt,  to  be  principally  consulted,)  or  by 
the  opinions  that  generally  prevailed  at  the  time  of 
this  contest,  but  by  laws  of  their  own  invention, 
and  by  the  opinions  of  modern  times.  The  famous 
Gretser,  in  his  Apologia  proGrcgorio  VII.  (which  is 
published  in  the  sixth  volume  of  his  works,  and  also 
separately,)  has  collected  the  principal  of  (he  ancient 
writers  who  maintained  the  cause  of  the  pontiff:  in 
opposition  to  whom,  they  who  defended  the  cause  of 
Henry  IV.  are  collected  by  Melchior  Goldastus,  in 
his  Replicatio  contra  Gretserum  et  Apologia  pro 
Henrico  IV.  Hanov.  1011,  4to.  Among  the  modern 
writers  who  have  treated  thissubject,  we  may  reckon 
the  Centuriatores  Magdeburgenses,  Baronius,  the 
German  and  Italian  historians,  and  those  who  have 
written  the  life  of  the  famous  Matilda.  But,  besides 
these,  it  will  be  highly  proper  to  consult  Jo.  Schilte- 
rus,  de  Libertate  Ecclesia;  Germanics!,  lib.  iv.  p.  481. 
— Christ.  Thomasius,  Historia  Contentionis  inter 
Imperium  et  Sacerdolium — Hen.  Meibomius,  Lib.  de 
Jure  Investiture  Episcopalis,  tom.  iii.  Scriptorum 
Rer.  Germanicar.— Just.  Chr.  Dithmarus,  Historia 
Belli  inter  Imperium  et  Sarerdotium,  and.  above  all, 
the  famous  cardinal  Norris,  who  far  surpasses  in 
point  of  erudition  those  whom  we  have  mentioned, 
and  whose  Istoria  delle  Investiture  delle  Dignita  Ec- 
clesiastiche,  which  was  published  at  Mantua,  alXer 
his  death,  in  1711,  is  a  most  learned  work,  though  it 
be  imperfect  and  probably  maimed,  and  also  ex- 
tremely partial  in  favour  of  the  pontiffs;  which  is 
not  surprising  from  the  pen  of  a  cardinal.  See  also 
Jo.  Jar.  Mascovii  Connnentarii  de  Rebus  Imiicrii 
Gerinanici  sub  Henrico  IV.  et  V. 


274 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  U. 


"  be  performed."*  This  decree  alarmed  the 
emperors,  kings,  and  princes  of  Europe,  wlio, 
in  consequence  of  a  prevaihng  custom,  had  the 
rio-ht  of  conferring  the  more  important  eccle- 
siastical dignities,  and  the  government  of  mon- 
asteries and  convents,  of  which  they  disposed 
in  a  solemn  manner  by  the  well  known  cere- 
mony of  the  ring,  and  the  staff  or  crosier, 
which  they  presented  to  the  candidate  on 
whom  their  choice  fell.  Tliis  solemn  investi- 
ture was  the  main  support  of  tliat  power  of 
creating  bishops  and  abbots,  which  tiie  Euro- 
pean princes  claimed  as  their  undoubted  right, 
and  the  occasion  of  that  corrupt  commerce 
called  simony,  in  consequence  of  which,  eccle- 
siastical promotion  was  sold  to  the  highest 
bidder;  and  hence  arose  the  zeal  and  ardour 
of  Gregory  for  the  annulment  of  these  inves- 
titures, that  he  might  extirpate  simony  on  the 
one  hand,  and  diminish  the  power  of  princes 
in  ecclesiastical  matters  on  the  other. 

%i  short  digression  concerning  Investitures.'^ 

It  will  not  be  improper  to  illustrate  the 
custom  now  mentioned  of  investing  bishops 
and  abbots  in  their  respective  dignities  by  tlie 
ceremony  of  the  ring  and  crosier,  since  this 
custom  has  been  ill  understood  by  some,  and 
imperfectly  explained  by  others.  Even  the 
learned  cardinal  Norris  appears  higlily  defec- 
tive here;  for  though,  in  his  History  of  Inves- 
titures,]: there  are  some  pertinent  hints  and 
remarks  upon  the  reasons  which  engaged 
Gregory  to  prohibit  investitures  altogether, 
yet  that  learned  prelate  does  not  seem  to  have 
had  a  complete  notion  of  this  important  matter, 
since  he  omits  in  his  history  certain  points  that 
are  necessary  to  the  proper  knowledge  of  it. 
The  investiture  of  bishops  and  abbots  com- 
menced, undoubtedly,  at  that  period  when  the 
European  emperors,  kings,  and  princes,  made 
grants  to  the  clergy  of  certain  territories,  lands, 
forests,  castles,  &,c.  According  to  the  laws 
of  those  times  (laws  which  still  remain  in 
force)  no  persons  were  deemed  as  lawful  pos- 
sessors of  the  lands  or  tenements  which  tliey 
derived  from  the  emperors  or  other  princes, 
before  they  repaired  to  court,  took  the  oath 
orf"  allegiance  to  their  respective  sovereigns,  as 
the  supreme  proprietors,  and  received  from 
their  hands  a  solemn  mark,  indicating  a  trans- 
fer of  the  property  of  their  respective  grants. 
Such  was  the  maimer  in  which  the  nobility, 
and  those  who  had  distinguished  themselves 
by  military  exploits,  were  confirmed  in  the 
possessions  which  they  owed  to  the  liberality 
of  their  sovereigns.  But  the  custom  of  invest- 
ing the  bishops  and  abbots  with  the  ring  and 
the  crosier,  which  are  the  ensigns  of  the  sacred 
function,  is  of  a  much  more  recent  date,  and 
was  then  first  introduced,  when  the  European 
emperors  and  princes,  annulling  the  elections 
that  were  made  in  the  church  according  to  the 
ecclesiastical  laws  wliich  had  been  from  the 


*  Ant.  Pagi  Critica  in  Baronium,  torn.  iii.  ad  an. 
1075 — Hen.  Norris,  Hist.  Investiturarum,  p.  39 — 
Christ.  Lupus,  Scholia  et  Dissertation,  ad  Concilia, 
torn.  vi.  op.  p.  39 — 44. 

t  Here  the  translator  has  placed  the  note  (r)  of  the 
CTiginal  in  the  text,  under  the  form  of  a  dissertation. 

t  Chap.  iii.  p  -56. 


earliest  times  established  for  that  purpose,  as- 
sumed to  themselves  the  power  of  conferring, 
on  whom  they  pleased,  the  bishoprics  and 
abbeys  that  became  vacant  in  tlieir  dominions, 
and  even  of  selling  them  to  the  highest  bidder. 
This  power,  then,  being  once  usurped  by  the 
kings  and  princes  of  Europe,  they  at  first  con- 
firmed the  bishops  and  abbots  in  their  dignities 
and  possessions,  with  the  same  forms  and  cere- 
monies that  were  used  in  investing  the  counts, 
knights,  and  others,  with  their  feudal  tenures, 
even  by  written  contracts,  and  the  ceremony 
of  presenting  them  with  a  wand  or  bough.* 
And  this  custom  of  investing  the  clergy  and 
tiie  laity  with  the  same  ceremonies  would  have 
undoubtedly  continued,  had  not  the  clergy,  to 
whom  the  right  of  electing  bishops  and  ab- 
bots originally  belonged,  artfully  eluded  the 
usurpation  of  the  emperors  and  other  princes 
by  tiie  following  stratagem.  When  a  bishop 
or  abbot  died,  they  who  looked  upon  them- 
selves as  authorised  to  fill  up  the  vacancy, 
elected  immediately  some  one  of  their  order 
in  the  place  of  the  deceased,  and  were  careful 
to  have  him  consecrated  without  delay.  The 
consecration  being  tlius  performed,  the  prince, 
who  had  proposed  to  hunself  the  profit  of  sell- 
ing the  vacant  benefice,  or  the  pleasure  of  con- 
ferring it  upon  one  of  his  favourites,  was 
obliged  to  desist  from  his  purpose,  and  to 
consent  to  the  election,  which  the  ceremony 
of  consecration  rendered  irrevocable.  Many 
examples  of  the  success  of  this  stratagem, 
which  was  practised  both  in  chapters  and 
monasteries,  and  which  disappointed  the  libe- 
rality or  avarice  of  several  princes,  might  here 
be  alleged;  they  abound  in  the  records  of  the 
tenth  century,  to  which  we  refer  the  curious 
reader.  No  sooner  did  the  emperors  and 
princes  perceive  this  artful  management,  than 
they  turned  their  attention  to  the  most  proper 
means  of  rendering  it  ineffectual,  and  of  pre- 
serving the  valuable  privilege  they  had  usurp- 
ed. For  this  purpose  they  ordered,  that,  as 
soon  aa  a  bishop  expired,  his  ring  and  crosier 
should  be  transmitted  to  the  prince,  to  whose 
jurisdiction  his  diocese  was  subject;  for  it  was 
by  the  solemn  delivery  of  the  ring  and  crosier 
of  the  deceased  to  tire  new  bishop  that  his 
election  was  irrevocably  confirmed,  and  this 
ceremony  was  an  essential  part  of  his  conse- 
cration; so  that,  when  these  two  badges  of  the 
episcopal  dignity  were  in  the  hands  of  the 
sovereign,  the  clergy  could  not  consecrate  the 
person  whom  their  suffrages  had  appointed  to 
fill  the  vacancy.  Thus  their  stratagem  was 
defeated,  as  every  election  that  was  not  con- 
firmed by  the  ceremony  of  consecration  might 

*  This  appears  from  a  passage  in  cardinal  Hum- 
bert's third  book,  adversus  Simoniacos,  wliich  was 
composed  before  Gregory  had  set  on  foot  the  dispute 
concerning  investitures,  and  which  is  published  in 
Martenne's  Thesaur.  Anecd.  torn.  v.  p.  787.  The 
passage  is  as  follows:  "  Potestas  secularis  primo 
"  ambitiosis  ecclesiasticarum  dignitatum  vel  posses- 
"  sionum  cupidis  favebat  prece,  dein  minis,  deinceps 
"  verbis  concessivis;  in  quibus  omnibus  cernens  sibi 
"contradictorem  neminem,  nee  qui  moveret  pennam, 
"  vel  aperiret  os  et  ganniret,  ad  majora  progreditur, 
"  et  ,iam  sub  nomine  investiturs  dare  primo  tabellas 
"  velqualescumque  porrigere  virgulas,dein  baculos. 
"  — duod  ma.ximum  nefas  sic  inolevit  ut  id  solum  ca- 
"  nonicum  credatur,  nee  qua;  sit  ecrlesiaslica  regula 
"  sciatur  aut  attendatur.  " 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


275 


be  lawfully  annulled  and  rejected;  nor  was  the 
bishop  qualified  to  exercise  any  of  the  episcopal 
functions  before  the  ])prforniancc  of  that  im- 
portant ceremony.  As  soon,  therefore,  as  a 
bishop  drew  his  last  breath,  the  magistrate  of 
the  city  in  wlii('h  he  had  resided,  or  the  go- 
vernor of  the  province,  seized  his  ring  and 
crosier,  and  sent  them  to  court.*  The  emperor 
or  prince  conferred  the  vacant  see  upon  the 
person  whom  he  had  cliosen  l)y  delivering  to 
him  these  two  badges  of  tlie  episcopal  ottice; 
after  which  the  new  bishop,  thus  invested  by 
bis  sovereign,  repaired  to  his  metropolitan,  to 
whom  it  belonged  to  perform  the  ceremony 
of  consecration,  and  delivered  to  him  the  ring 
and  crosier  which  he  had  received  from  his 
prince,  that  he  might  receive  them  again  from 
his  hands,  and  be  thus  doubly  confirmed  in  his 
sacred  function.  It  appears,  therefore,  from 
this  account,  that  each  new  bishop  and  alibot 
received  twice  the  ring  and  the  crosier;  once 
from  the  hands  of  the  sovereign,  and  once  from 
those  of  the  metropolitan  bishop,  by  whom 
they  were  consecrated,  j 

It  is  very  uncertain  by  what  prince  this  cus- 
tom was  orighially  inti-oduced.  If  we  may 
believe  Adam  of  Bremen,!  this  privilege  was 
exercised  by  Louis  the  Debonnaire,  who,  in 
the  ninth  century,  granted  to  the  new  bishops 
the  use  and  possession  of  the  episcopal  reve- 
nues, and  confirmed  this  grant  by  the  cere- 
mony now  under  consideration.  But  the  ac- 
curacy of  this  historian  is  liable  to  suspicion; 
and  it  is  probable  that  he  attributed  to  the 
transactions  of  ancient  times  the  same  form 
that  accompanied  similar  transactions  in  the 
eleventh  century,  in  which  he  lived;  for  it  is 
certain  that,  in  the  ninth  century,  the  greatest 
part  of  the  European  princes  made  no  opposi- 
tion to  the  right  of  electing  the  bishops,  which 
was  both  claimed  and  exercised  by  the  clergy 
and  the  people;  and,  consequently,  there  was 


*  We  see  tfiis  fact  coiifiiiucil  in  tlie  I'ollowing  pas 
fiage  in  Ebbo's  LiO;  of  Otlio,  bisliup  of  B.uriburg,  lib. 
i.  sect.  8,  9,  ill  Actis  Sanctor.  mensjs  Jiilii,  torn.  i.  p. 
426.  "  Nee  multo  post  aumiliis  cum  virga  paslnrali 
"Bremeiisis  episcopi  ad  aiilam  ri;siaiu  traiishila  est. 
"  Eo  siquidem  tempore  erclitsiii  lilifiaiii  elcctiimciii 
"  nonlia  bobat.  .  .  .  seil  cinii  qiiilibit  :nitistfs  vi.irn 
"univcrsiE  carnis  iiiKiessiis  fiiissct,  ino\  cipilanri 
"civitatis  illins  anniiluiii  et  vir^'am  pasloi;ilc'iii  ad 
"  Palatiuin  traiisinittcbaiit,  sic(pie  i('j;i:i  ,iiif  Idj  ilali, 
"  comiimnicato  cum  auli(;is  coiisilio,  orbata:  plilii 
"idonoiiin  constitiud)at  pra-siileiii,  .  .  .  Post  paucns 
"  vero  dies  nirsinn  aniiulus  et  virga  pastoralis  l!ab 
"enbergensis  episcopi  domino  iinperatoritraiisinissa 
"est:  quo  aiidito,  nmlti  iiobib-s — ad  aulam  regiam 
"  confluebant,  qui  alteram  hannn  prece  vel  prctio 
"sibi  cnmpararc  tentabaiit." 

t  This  appears  from  a  variety  of  ancient  records. 
See  particularly  Humbert,  lib.  iii.  contra  Simoiiiacos, 
cap.  vi.  in  Martenne's  Tliesaur.  Anecdot.  torn.  v.  p. 
771I,  in  which  we  find  Uw  following  passage:  "Sir 
"  encoEniatus(i.e.  the  bishop  invested  by  the  emperor) 
"  violentus  invadit  clerum,  plebem  et  ordinem  priiis 
"domiriaturiis,  quam  ab  eis  cognoscatur,  qu.Tratur, 
"  aut  pctatur.  Sic  metropolitar.um  aggreditur,  non 
"ab  eo  judicandiis.  sed  ipsiim  judiraturus. — Quid 
"enim  sibi  jam  pertinet  aut  prodest  baculuin  et  an- 
"  nulum,  quos  portat,  reddere?  Ninnqnid  quia  a  laica 
"  persona  ilati  sunt?  Cur  redililur  quod  habetur,  nisi 
'■'  ut  aut  denuo  res  erclesiastira  sub  hac  specie  jUs- 
"  sionis  vel  donationis  vendatur,  aut  certe  ut  pran- 
"sumptio  laiCiC  ordinatinnis  pallietur  colore  et 
"  velaniento  quodam  disriplinie  clericalis?" 

\  In  his  Historia  Ecclesiastica,  lib.  i.  cap.  x.\xii. 
p.  10,  xxxi.^.  p.  12,  published  among  the  Scriplores 
Peptentrionales  of  Lindcnbrogius. 


then  no  occasion  for  the  investiture  mentioned 
by  Adam  of  Bremen.*  We  therefore  choose 
to  adopt  the  supposition  of  cardinal  Humbert,! 
who  places  the  commencement  of  the  custom 
now  under  consideration  in  the  reign  of  Otho 
the  Great;  for,  though  this  opinion  has  not  the 
approbation  of  Louis  Thomassin  and  Natalis 
Alexander,  yet  these  learned  men,  in  their 
deep  researches  into  the  origin  of  investitures,}; 
have  advanced  nothing  sutticient  to  prove  it 
erroneous.  We  learn  also  from  Humbert,^ 
that  the  emperor  Henry  III.,  the  son  of  Conrad 
II.  was  desirous  of  abrogating  these  investi- 
tures, though  a  variety  of  circumstances  con- 
curred to  prevent  the  execution  of  his  design; 
but  he  represents  Hem-y  I.,  king  of  France,  in 
a  different  point  of  light,  as  a  turbulent  prince, 
who  turned  all  things  into  confusion,  and  in- 
dulged himself  beyond  all  measure  in  simo- 
niacal  practices;  and  he  therefore  loads  him  with 
the  bitterest  invectives. 

In  this  method  of  creating  bishops  and  ab- 
bots, by  presenting  to  them  the  ring  and  cro- 
sier, there  were  two  things  that  gave  particular 
offence  to  the  Roman  pontiffs.  One  was,  that 
by  this  the  ancient  right  of  election  was  totally 
changed,  and  the  power  of  choosing  the  rulers 
of  the  church  was  usurped  by  the  emperors 
and  other  sovereign  princes,  and  was  confined 
to  them  alone.  This  indeed  was  the  most 
l)lausible  reason  of  complaint,  when  we  con- 
sider the  religious  notions  of  those  times, 
which  were  by  no  means  favourable  to  the 
conduct  of  the  emperors  in  this  affair.  Another 
circumstance  that  grievously  distressed  the 
pretended  vicars  of  St.  Peter,  was,  to  see  the 
ring  and  crosier,  the  venerable  badges  of  spi- 
ritual authority  and  distinction,  delivered  to 
the  bishop  elect  by  the  profane  hands  of  im- 
sanctificd  laymen;  an  abuse  which  they  looked 
upon  as  little  better  than  sacrilege.  Humbert, 
who,  as  we  previously  stated,  wrote  his  book 
against  simony  before  the  contest  between  the 
emperor  and  Gregory  had  commenced,  com- 
plains||  heavily  of  tliis  supposed  profanation, 
and  shudders  to  think,  that  the  .s^n^  which  de- 
notes the  ghostly  shepherd,  and  the  ring  which 
seals  the  mysteries  of  heaven,1I  deposited  in 
the  bosoms  of  the  episcopal  order,  should  be 
polluted  by  the  unhallowed  touch  of  a  civil 


*  Add  lo  this  the  refutation  of  Adam  of  Xtremen, 
by  Daniel  l'a}>ebroch,  in  the  Acta  Sanctorum,  torn. 
i.  F.br.  p.  5.57. 

t  Humbert,  lib.  iii.  contra  Simoniacos,  cap.  vii.  p. 
780,  and  rap.  xi.  p.  787. 

1  See  Ludov.  Thomassini  Di.sciplina  Eccles.  circa 
Renef.  tom.  ii.  lib.  ii.  p.  434;  and  Natal.  Alexander, 
Select.  Ilistor.  Eccles.  Capit.  Sac.  xi,  xii.  Diss.  iv.  p. 
72.5. 

§  Lib  iii.  cap.  vii. 

il  See  Humbert,  lib.  iii.  contra  Simoniac.  cap.  vi. 
p.  770,  7!I5.  His!  words  are,  "  (iuid  ad  laicas  pertinet 
"  personas  sacramenta  ecclesiastica  et  pontificalem 
"seu  pasloralein  graliam  distribiierc,  camyios  scili- 
"cet  harulos  et  annulos,  quibus  pra-cique  perticitur, 
"militat  et  innititur  tota  episcopalis  consecratio? 
"  Equidem  in  camyris  baculis— desigiiatur,  que  eis 
"  committitur  cura  pastoralis.— Porro  annulus  signa- 
"culum  secrctorum  coelestinm  indicat,  pramonena 
"  pra-dicatores,  ut  secretam  Dei  sapientiam  cum 
"  apostolo  dissignent.  Uuicunque  ergo  his  duobus 
"ali(^uem  initiant,  proculdubio  omnempastciralem 
"  aiictorilatem  hoc  pr.Tsumeiido  sibi  vendicant." 

ir  Humbert  mistook  the  spiritual  signification  of 
this  holy  ring,  which  was  the  emblem  of  a  nuptial 
bond  between  the  bishop  and  his  sec. 


276 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


magistrate;  and  that  emperors  and  princes,  by 
presenting  them  to  their  favourites,  should 
thereby  usurp  the  prerogatives  of  the  church, 
and  exercise  the  pastoral  authority  and  power. 
This  complaint  was  entirely  consistent,  as  we 
have  already  obsei-ved,  with  tlie  opinions  of 
the  times  in  which  it  was  made;  for,  as  the 
ring  and  crosier  were  generally  esteemed  the 
marks  and  badges  of  pastoral  power  and  spi 
ritual  authority,  so  he  who  conferred  these  sa- 
cred badges  was  supposed  to  confer  and  com- 
municate with  tiiem  the  spiritual  authority  of 
which  they  were  tlie  emblems. 

All  these  things  being  duly  considered,  we 
shall  immediately  perceive  what  it  was  that 
rendered  Gregory  VII.  so  averse  to  the  pre- 
tensions of  the  emperors,  and  so  zealous  in  de- 
priving them  of  the  privilege  they  had  assumed 
of  investing  the  bishops  with  the  ceremony  of 
the  ring  and  crosier.  In  the  first  council  which 
he  assembled  at  Rome,  he  made  no  attempt, 
indeed,  against  investitures,  nor  did  he  aim  at 
any  thing  farther  than  the  abolition  of  simony, 
and  the  restoration  of  the  sacerdotal  and  mo- 
nastic orders  to  their  ancient  right  of  electing 
their  respective  bishops  and  abbots.  But,  when 
he  afterwards  found  that  the  affair  of  investi- 
ture was  inseparably  connected  with  the  pre- 
tensions of  the  emperors,  who  seemed  to  con- 
sider it  as  empowering  them  to  dispose  of  the 
higher  ecclesiastical  dignities  and  benefices, 
he  was  persuaded  that  simony  could  not  be 
extirpated  as  long  as  investitures  were  in 
being;  and,  therefore,  to  pluck  up  the  evil  by 
the  root,  he  opposed  the  latter  custom  with 
the  utmost  vehemence.  All  this  shows  the 
true  rise  of  the  war  that  was  can-ied  on  be- 
tween the  pontiff  and  the  emperor  with  such 
bitterness  and  fury. 

And  to  understand  still  more  clearly  the 
merits  of  this  cause,  it  will  be  proper  to  ob- 
serve, that  it  was  not  investiture,  generally 
considered,  that  Gregory  opposed  with  such 
keenness  and  obstinacy,  but  that  particular 
species  which  prevailed  at  this  time.  He  did 
not  pretend  to  hinder  the  bishops  from  swear- 
ing allegiance  to  kings  and  emperors,  or  even 
from  becoming  their  vassals;  and  so  far  was  he 
from  prohibiting  that  kind  of  investiture  which 
was  performed  by  a  verbal  declaration  or  by  a 
written  deed,  that,  on  the  contrary,  he  allowed 
the  kings  of  England  and  France  to  invest  in 
this  manner,  and  probably  consented  to  the  use 
of  the  sceptre  in  this  ceremony,  as  did  also 
after  him  Cali.\tus  II.  But  he  could  iiot  bear 
the  ceremony  of  investiture  that  was  performed 
with  the  ensigns  of  the  sacerdotal  order,  much 
less  could  he  endure  the  performance  of  the 
ceremony  before  tlie  solemn  rite  of  consecra- 
tion; but  what  rendered  investitures  most  odious 
to  this  pontiff,  was  their  destroying  entirely  the 
free  elections  of  bishops  and  abbots.  It  is  now 
time  to  resume  the  thread  of  our  history. 

XV.  The  severe  law  that  had  been  enacted 
against  investitures,  by  the  influence  and  au- 
thority of  Gregory,  made  very  little  impression 
upon  Henry.  He  acknowledged,  indeed,  that 
in  exposing  ecclesiastical  benefices  to  sale,  he 
had  acted  improperly,  and  he  promised  amend- 
ment in  that  respect;  but  he  remained  inflexi- 
ble against  all  attempts  that  were  made  to 


persuade  him  to  resign  his  power  of  creating 
bishops  and  abbots,  and  the  right  of  investi- 
ture, which  was  intimately  connected  with  this 
important  privilege.  Had  the  emperor  been 
seconded  by  the  German  princes,  he  might 
have  maintained  this  refusal  with  dignity  and 
success;  but  tliis  was  far  from  being  the  case; 
a  considerable  number  of  these  princes,  and 
among  others  the  states  of  Saxony,  were  the 
secret  or  declared  enemies  of  Henry;  and  tliis 
furnished  Gregory  with  an  opportunity  of  ex- 
tending his  authority,  and  executing  his  ambi- 
tious projects.  This  was  by  no  means  ne- 
glected; the  imperious  pontiff  took  occasion, 
from  the  discords  that  divided  the  empire,  to 
insult  and  depress  its  chief;  he  sent,  by  his 
legates,  an  insolent  message  to  the  emperor  at 
Goslar,  ordering  him  to  repair  immediately  to 
Rome,  and  clear  himself,  before  the  council 
that  would  be  assembled  there,  of  the  various 
crimes  that  were  laid  to  his  charge.  The  em- 
peror, whose  high  spirit  could  not  brook  such 
arrogant  treatment,  was  filled  with  the  warm- 
est indignation  at  the  view  of  that  insolent 
mandate;  and,  in  the  vehemence  of  his  just 
resentment,  convoked  without  delay  a  council 
of  the  German  bishops  at  Worms.  In  that 
assembly,  Gregory  was  charged  witli  several 
flagitious  practices,  and  deposed  from  the  pon- 
tificate, of  which  he  was  declared  miworthy; 
and  orders  were  given  for  the  election  of  a  new 
pontiff.  Gregory  opposed  violence  to  violence; 
for  no  sooner  had  he  received,  by  the  letters 
and  ambassadors  of  Henry,  an  account  of  the 
sentence  that  had  been  pronounced  against 
him,  than,  in  a  fit  of  vindictive  phrensy,  he 
thundered  his  anathemas  at  the  head  of  that 
prince,  excluded  him  both  from  the  commu- 
nion of  the  chiu'ch  and  from  the  throne  of  his 
ancestors,  and  impiously  dissolved  the  oath  of 
allegiance  which  his  subjects  had  taken  to  him 
as  their  lawful  sovereign.  Thus  war  was  de- 
clared on  both  sides;  and  the  civil  and  ecclesi- 
astical powers  were  divided  into  two  great  fac- 
tions, of  which  one  maintained  the  rights  of 
the  emperor,  while  the  other  seconded  the  am- 
bitious views  of  the  pontiff.  No  terms  are 
sufficient  to  express  the  complicated  scenes  of 
misery  that  arose  from  this  deplorable  schism. 
XVI.  At  the  entrance  upon  this  war,  the 
Suabian  chiefs,  with  duke  Rodolph  at  their 
head,  revolted  from  Henry;  and  the  Saxon 
princes,  whose  former  quarrels  with  tlie  empe- 
ror had  been  lately  terminated  by  their  defeat 
and  submission,*  followed  their  example. 
These  united  powers,  being  solicited  by  the 
pope  to  elect  a  new  emperor  if  Henr)'  should 
persist  in  his  disobedience  to  the  orders  of  the 
church,  met  at  Tribur,  in  1076,  to  take  coun- 
sel together  concerning  a  matter  of  such  high 
importance.  The  result  of  the  deliberation  was 
far  from  being  favourable  to  the  emperor;  for 
they  agreed,  that  the  determination  of  the  con- 
troversy between  him  and  them  should  be  re- 
ferred to  the  pope,  who  was  to  be  invited  for 


Q(^  *  Tliis  same  Rodolph  had,  the  year  before  this 
revolt,  vanquished  the  Saxons,  and  obliged  them  to 
submit  to  the  emperor.  Beside  the  Suabian  and 
Saxon  chiefs,  the  dukes  of  Bavaria  and  Carinthia, 
the  bishops  of  Wurtzburg  and  Worms,  and  several 
other  eminent  personages,  were  concerned  in  this 
revolt. 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


277 


that  purpose  to  a  congress  at  Augsburg  in  the 
following  year,  and  that,  in  the  mean  time, 
Henry  should  be  suspended  from  his  royal  dig- 
nity, and  live  in  the  obscurity  of  a  private  sta- 
tion; to  which  rigorous  conditions  they  also 
added,  that  he  was  to  forfeit  iiis  kingdom,  if, 
within  the  space  of  a  year,  he  should  not  be 
restored  to  the  bosom  of  the  cluurch,  and  deli- 
vered from  the  anathema  that  lay  upon  his 
head.  When  things  were  come  to  tiiis  des- 
perate extremity,  and  the  faction,  wliich  was 
formed  against  this  unfortunate  prince,  grew 
more  formidable  from  day  to  day,  his  friends 
advised  him  to  go  into  Italy,  and  implore  in 
person  the  clemency  of  the  pontiff.  The  em- 
peror yielded  to  this  ignominious  counsel, 
without,  however,  obtaining  from  his  voyage 
the  advantages  he  expected.  He  passed  the 
Alps,  amidst  the  rigour  of  a  severe  winter,  and 
arrived,  in  f^ebruary,  1077,  at  the  fortress  of 
Canusium,  where  the  sanctimonious  pontiff  re- 
sided at  that  time  with  the  yomig  Matilda, 
countess  of  Tuscany,  tlie  most  powerful  pa- 
troness of  the  church,  and  the  most  tender  and 
affectionate  of  all  the  spiritual  daughters  of 
Gregory.  Here  the  suppliant  prince,  un- 
mindful of  his  dignity,  stood,  during  three 
days,  in  the  open  air  at  the  entrance  of  this 
fortress,  with  his  feet  bare,  his  head  uncovered, 
and  with  no  other  raiment  than  a  wretched 
piece  of  coarse  woollen  cloth  tluown  over  his 
body  to  cover  his  nakedness.  On  the  fourth 
day,  he  was  admitted  to  the  presence  of  the 
lordly  pontiff,  who  with  difhculty  granted  him 
the  absolution  he  demanded;  but,  as  to  his  po- 
litical restoration,  he  refused  to  determine  that 
point  before  the  approaching  congress,  at 
which  he  made  Henry  promise  to  appear,  for- 
bidding him,  at  the  same  time,  to  assume,  dur- 
ing this  interval,  the  title  of  king,  or  to  wear 
the  ornaments  or  exercise  the  functions  of  roy- 
alty. This  opprobrious  convention  justly  ex- 
cited the  indignation  of  the  princes  and  bishops 
of  Italy,  who  threatened  Henry  with  all  sorts 
of  evils,  on  account  of  his  base  and  pusillani- 
mous conduct,  and  would  undoubtedly  have 
deposed  him,  had  not  he  allayed  their  resent- 
ment by  violating  the  convention  into  which 
he  had  been  forced  to  enter  with  the  imperious 
pontiff,  and  resuming  the  title  and  other  marks 
of  royalty  which  he  had  been  obliged  to  re- 
linquish. On  the  other  hand,  the  confederate 
princes  of  Suabia  and  Saxony  were  no  sooner 
informed  of  this  unexpected  change  in  the  con- 
duct of  Henry,  than  they  assembled  at  Forc- 
heim  in  March,  107  7,  and  unanimously  elected 
Rodolph,  duke  of  Suabia,  emperor  in  his 
place.* 

XV'II.  This  rash  step  kindled  a  terrible 
flame  in  Germany  and  Italy,  and  involved,  for 
a  long  time,  those  unhappy  lands  in  the  cala- 
mities of  war.     In  Italy,  the  Normans,  who 

*  The  ancirnt  .inil  inndorn  writers  of  Italian  .and 
German  history  have  given  ample  relations  of  all 
these  events,  though  not  all  with  the  same  fidolity 
and  accuracy.  In  the  brief  account  I  have  given  of 
these  events,  I  have  followed  the  genuine  sources, 
and  those  writers  whose  testimonies  are  the  moat 
respectable  and  sure,  such  as  Sigonius,  Pagi,  Mara- 
tori,  Muscovius,  Norris,  &,c.  who,  though  they  dilT'er 
in  some  minute  circumstances,  yet  agree  in  those 
matters  which  are  of  the  most  importance. 


were  masters  of  the  lower  parts  of  that  coun- 
try, and  the  armies  of  the  powerful  and  valiant 
Matilda,  maintained  successfully  the  cause  of 
Gregory  against  the  Lombards,  who  espoused 
the  interests  of  Henry;  while  this  unfortimate 
prince,  with  all  the  forces  he  could  assemble, 
carried  on  the  war  in  Germany  against  Ro- 
dolph and  tiie  confederate  princes.  Gregory, 
considering  the  events  of  war  as  extremely 
doubtful,  was  at  first  afraid  to  declare  for  either 
side,  and  therefore  observed,  during  a  certain 
time,  an  appearance  of  neutrality;  but,  encou- 
raged by  the  battle  of  Fladenheim,  in  which 
Henry  was  defeated  by  the  Saxons,  in  1080, 
he  excommunicated  anew  that  vanquished 
prince,  and,  sending  a  crown  to  the  victor  Ro- 
dolph, declared  him  lawful  king  of  the  Ger- 
mans. The  injured  emperor  did  not  suffer  this 
new  insult  to  pass  unpunished.  Seconded  by 
the  suffrages  of  several  of  the  Italian  and  Ger- 
man bishops,  he  deposed  Gregory  a  second 
time  in  a  council  which  met  at  Mentz,  and,  in 
a  synod  that  was  soon  after  assembled  at 
Brixen,  in  the  province  of  Tirol,  he  raised  to 
the  pontificate  Guibert,  archbishop  of  Raven- 
na, who  assumed  the  title  of  Clement  III. 
when  he  was  consecrated  at  Rome  in  1084, 
four  years  after  his  election. 

XVIII.  This  election  was  soon  followed  by 
an  occurrence  which  gave  an  advantageous 
turn  to  the  affairs  of  Henry:  this  event  was  a 
bloody  battle  fought  upon  the  banks  of  the 
river  Elster,  where  Rodolph  received  a  mortal 
wound,  of  which  he  died  at  Mersburg.  The 
emperor,  freed  from  this  formidable  enemy, 
marched  into  Italy,  in  the  following  year 
(1081,)  with  a  design  to  crush  Gregory  and 
his  adherents,  whose  defeat  he  imagined  would 
contribute  effectually  to  put  an  end  to  the 
troubles  in  Germany.  Accordingly  he  made 
several  campaigns,  with  various  success, 
against  the  valiant  troops  of  Matilda;  and,  after 
having  raised  twice  the  siege  of  Rome,  he  re- 
sumed with  alacrity  that  bold  enterprise,  and 
became,  in  1084,  master  of  the  greatest  part 
of  that  city.  His  first  step  after  this  success 
was  to  place  Guibert  in  the  papal  chair:  he 
tlien  received  the  imperial  crown  from  the 
hands  of  the  new  pontiff,  was  saluted  emperor 
by  the  Roman  people,  and  laid  close  siege  to 
the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  whither  his  determin- 
ed enemy,  Gregory,  had  fled  for  safety.  He 
was,  however,  forced  to  raise  the  siege  by  the 
valour  of  Robert  Guiscard,  duke  of  Apulia 
and  Calabria,  who  lirought  Gregory  in  triiunph 
to  Rome;  but,  not  thinking  him  safe  there, 
conducted  him  afterwards  to  Salenium.  Here 
the  famous  pontift'  ended  his  days  in  the  suc- 
ceeding year,  and  left  Europe  involved  in  those 
calamities  which  were  the  fatal  effects  of  his 
boundless  ambition.  He  was  certainly  a  man 
of  extensive  abilities,  endowed  with  a  most  en- 
terprising genius,  and  an  invincible  firmness 
of  mind;  but  it  must,  at  the  same  time,  be  ac- 
knowledged, that  he  was  the  most  arrogant 
and  audacious  pontift'  that  had  hitherto  filled 
the  papal  chair.  The  Roman  church  worships 
him  as  a  saint,  though  it  is  certain  that  he  was 
never  placed  in  that  order  by  a  regular  canon- 
ization. Paul  v.,  abotit  the  beginning  of  the 
Beventeenth   century,  appointed   the  twenty- 


278 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


fifth  day  of  May,  as  a  festival  sacred  to  the 
memory  of  this  pretended  saint;*  but  tlie  empe- 
rors of  Germany,  the  kings  of  France,  and 
other  European  princes,  have  alwaj's  opposed 
the  celebration  of  this  festival,  and  have  thus 
effectually  prevented  its  becoming  universal. 
In  our  times,  the  zeal  of  Benedict  XIII.  to  se- 
cure to  Gregory  the  saintly  iionours,  occasion- 
ed a  contest,  the  result  of  which  was  by  no 
means  favourable  to  his  superstitious  views.] 

XIX.  The  death  of  Gregory  neither  restored 
peace  to  the  church,  nor  tranquillity  to  tlie 
state;  the  tumults  and  divisions  whicli  he  had 
excited  still  continued,  and  they  were  aug- 
mented from  day  to  day  by  the  same  passions 
to  which  they  owed  tlieir  origin.  Clement  III. 
who  was  the  emperor's  pontiff,J  was  master 
of  the  city  of  Rome,  and  was  acknowledged  as 
pope  by  a  great  part  of  Italy.  Henry  carried 
on  the  war  in  Germany  against  the  confeder- 
ate princes.  The  faction  of  Gregory,  supported 
by  tlie  Normans,  chose  for  liis  successor,  in 
1086,  Dideric,  abbot  of  Motmt  Cassin,  who 
adopted  the  title  of  Victor  III.  and  was  conse- 
crated in  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  in  1087,  when 
that  part  of  the  city  was  recovered  by  the  Nor- 
mans from  the  dominion  of  Clement.  But  this 
new  pontiff  was  of  a  character  quite  opposite 
to  that  of  Gregory;  he  was  modest  and  timor- 
ous, and  also  of  a  mild  and  gentle  disposition; 
and  finding  the  papal  chair  beset  with  factions, 
and  tlie  city  of  Rome  under  the  dominion  of 
liis  competitor,  he  retired  to  his  monastery, 
where  he  soon  after  ended  his  days  in  peace. 
But,  before  his  abdication,  he  held  a  council 
at  Benevento,  where  he  confirmed  and  renewed 
the  laws  that  Gregory  had  enacted  for  the 
abolition  of  investitures. 

XX.  Otho,  monk  of  Clugni,  and  bishop  of 
Ostia,  was,  by  Victor's  recommendation,  cho- 
sen to  succeed  him.  This  new  pontiff"  was 
elected  at  Terracini,  in  1088,  and  assumed  the 
name  of  Urban  II.  Inferior  to  Gregory  in  for- 
titude and  resolution,  he  was,  however,  his 
equal  in  arrogance  and  pride,  and  surpassed 
him  greatly  in  temerity  and  imprudence. §  The 
commencement  of  his  pontificate  had  a  fair 
aspect,  and  success  seemed  to  smile  upon  his 
undertakings;  but  on  the  emperor's  return  into 
Italy,  in  1090,  the  face  of  affairs  was  totally 
changed;  victory  crowned  the  arms  of  that 
prince,  who,  by  redoubled  efforts  of  valour,  at 
length  defeated  Guelph,  duke  of  Bavaria,  and 
the  famous  Matilda,  who  were  the  formidable 


*  Sef!  tlio  Acta  Sanctnr.  Antwerp,  ad  d.  xxv.  Mali, 
and  Mabillon,  Acta  Saiict.  Ord.  Benedict.  Saec.  vi. 
part  II. 

t  The  reader  will  find  an  ample  and  curious  ac- 
count of  this  matter  in  a  French  book  published  in 
Holland  in  174rt,  under  the  following  title:  L'Avocat 
du  Diable,  ou  Memoires  Historiques  et  Critiques  sur 
la  Vie  et  sur  la  Le<;ende  du  Pape  Gre^oire  VII. 

I  This  pontifi"  died  in  1100,  as  appears  evidently 
from  the  Chronicon  Beneventanum,  published  by  Mu- 
ratori,  in  his  Antiq.  Ital.  torn.  i.  p.  2(32.  See  also 
Rutoi  Historia  Ravennat.  lib.  v.  p.  307. 

§  We  find  in  the  Posthumous  Works  of  Mabillon, 
tom.  iii.  the  Life  of  Urban  II.  composed  by  Theod. 
Ruinart,  with  much  learning  and  industry,  but  with 
too  little  impartiality  and  fidelity,  as  we  may  natu- 
rally suppose  even  from  the  name  of  its  author,  since 
it  is  well  known  that  no  monkish  writer  durst  at- 
tempt to  paint  the  pontiffs  in  their  true  colours. — 
See  also,  for  an  account  of  Urban,  the  Ilist.  Lit.  do 
la  France  tom.  viii  p.  514. 


heads  of  the  papal  faction.  The  abominable 
treachery  of  his  son  Conrad,  who,  yielding  to 
the  .seduction  of  his  father's  enemies,  revolted 
against  liim,  and,  by  the  advice  and  assistance 
of  Urban  and  Matilda,  usurped  the  kingdom 
of  Italy,  revived  the  drooping  spirits  of  that 
faction,  who  hoped  to  see  tlie  laurels  of  the 
emperor  blasted  by  this  odious  and  unnatural 
rebellion.  The  consequences,  however,  of  this 
event,  were  less  mischievous  to  Henry,  than 
his  enemies  expected.  In  the  mean  time  the 
troubles  of  Italy  still  continued;  nor  could  Ur- 
ban, with  all  his  efforts,  reduce  Rome  under 
his  lordly  yoke.  Finding  all  his  ambitious 
measures  disconcerted,  he  assembled  a  council 
at  Placentia,  in  1095,  where  he  confirmed  the 
laws  and  the  anathemas  of  Gregory;  and  after- 
wards undertook  a  journey  into  France,  where 
he  held  the  famous  council  of  Clermont,  and 
liad  the  pleasure  of  kindling  a  new  war  against 
the  infidel  possessors  of  the  holy  land.  In  this 
council,  instead  of  endeavouring  to  terminate 
the  tumults  and  desolations  that  the  dispute 
concerning  investitures  had  already  produced, 
this  unworthy  pontiff"  added  fuel  to  the  flame, 
and  so  exasperated  matters  by  his  imprudent 
and  arrogant  proceedings,  as  to  render  an  ac- 
commodation between  the  contending  parties 
more  difficult  than  ever.  Gregory,  notwith- 
standing his  insolence  and  ambition,  had  never 
carried  matters  so  far  as  to  forbid  the  bishops 
and  the  rest  of  the  clergy  to  take  the  oath  of 
allegiance  to  their  respective  sovereigns.  This 
rebellious  prohibition  was  reserved  for  the  au- 
dacious arrogance  of  Urban,  who  published  it 
as  a  law  in  the  council  of  Clermont.*  After 
this  noble  expedition,  the  restless  pontiflf  re- 
turned into  Italy,  where  he  made  himself  mas- 
ter of  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  and  soon  after 
ended  his  days,  in  1099;  he  was  not  long  sur- 
vived by  his  antagonist,  Clement  III.  who  died 
in  the  following  year,  and  thus  left  Raynier 
(a  Benedictine  monk,  who  was  chosen  succes- 
sor to  Urban,  and  assumed  the  name  of  Pascal 
II.)  sole  possessor  of  the  papal  chair  at  the 
conclusion  of  this  century. 

XXI.  Among  the  eastern  monks  in  this  cen- 
tury, there  happened  nothing  worthy  of  being 
consigned  to  the  records  of  history,  while  those 
of  the  west  were  concerned  immediately  in 
transactions  of  great  consequence,  and  which 
deserve  the  attention  of  the  curious  reader. 
The  western  monks  were  remarkable  for  their 
attachment  to  the  Roman  pontiffs.  This  con- 
nexion had  been  long  formed,  and  it  was  ori- 
ginally occasioned  by  the  avarice  and  violence 
of  both  bisliops  and  princes,  who,  imder  vari- 
ous pretexts,  were  constantly  encroacliing  upon 
the  possessions  of  the  monks,  and  thus  obliged 
them  to  seek  for  security  against  these  inva- 
sions of  their  property  in  the  protection  of  the 
popes.     This  protection  was  readily  granted 


*  To  the  fifteenth  canon  of  this  council  the  follow- 
ing words  were  added:  "  Ne  episcopus  vel  sacerdos 
"regi  vel  alicui  laico  in  manibus  ligiam  fidelitatem 
"  facial,"  i.e.  '■  It  is  enacted,  that  no  bishop  or  priest 
"  shall  promise  upon  oath,  liege  obedience  to  any  king 
"or  any  layman."  They  are  entirely  in  an  error,  who 
affirm  that  Gregory  prohibited  the  "bishops  from  tak- 
ing oaths  of  allegiance  to  their  respective  sovereigns, 
as  cardinal  Norris  has  sufficiently  demonstrated  in 
his  Istoria  delle  Investiture,  chap.  x.  p.  279. 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


879 


by  the  pontiffs,  who  seized,  vvitii  avidity,  every 
occasion  of  enlarging  their  autliority;  and  the 
monks,  in  return,  engaged  themselves  to  pay  an 
annual  tribute  to  their  ghostly  patrons.  But  in 
this  century  things  were  carried  still  farther;  and 
the  pontiffs  (more  especially  Gregory  VII.  who 
was  eagerly  bent  upon  humbling  the  bishops, 
and  transferring  their  privileges  to  the  Roman 
see)  enlarged  their  jurisdiction  over  the  monks 
at  the  expense  of  tlie  episcopal  order.  They 
advised  and  exhorted  the  monks  to  withdraw 
themselves  and  their  possessions  from  the  ju- 
risdiction of  the  bishops,  and  to  place  both  un 
der  the  inspection  and  dominion  of  St.  Peter.* 
Hence,  from  the  time  of  Gregory,  the  number 
of  monasteries  that  had  received  immunities, 
both  from  the  temporal  authority  of  the  sove- 
reign and  the  spiritual  jurisdiction  of  the  bi- 
shops, increased  beyond  measure  throughout 
Europe;  and  the  rights  of  princes,  together 
with  the  interests  and  privileges  of  the  episco- 
pal order,  were  violated  and  trampled  upon, 
or  rather  engrossed,  to  swell  the  growing  des- 
potism of  the  all-grasping  pontiffs. f 

XXII.  All  the  writers  of  this  age  complain 
of  the  ignorance,  licentiousness,  frauds,  de- 
baucheries, dissensions,  and  enormities,  that 
dishonoured  the  greatest  part  of  the  monastic 
orders,  not  to  mention  the  numerous  marks  of 
their  profligacy  and  impiety  that  have  been 
handed  down  to  our  times. J  However  aston- 
ished we  may  be  at  such  gross  irregularities 
among  a  set  of  men  whose  destination  was  so 
sacred,  and  whose  profession  was  so  austere,  we 
shall  still  be  more  surprised  to  learn  that  this 
degenerate  order,  far  from  losing  aught  of  their 
influence  and  credit  on  account  of  their  licen- 
tiousness, were  promoted,  on  the  contrary,  to 
the  highest  ecclesiastical  dignities,  and  beheld 
their  opulence  and  authority  increasing  from 
day  to  day.  Our  suqirise,  indeed,  will  be  di- 
minished, when  we  consider  the  gross  igno- 
rance and  superstition,  and  the  unbounded  li- 
centiousness and  corruption  of  manners,  that 
reigned  in  this  century  among  all  ranks  and 
orders  of  men.^     Ignorance   and  corruption 

*  A  specimen  of  tliis  may  be  seen  in  the  seventh 
Epistle  of  Gregory,  in  which  he  reduces  the  monks 
of  Redon  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Roman  see, 
by  a  mandate  conceived  in  terms  that  had  never 
been  used  before  liis  time:  see  Martenne's  Thesaur. 
Anccdot.  tom.  i.  p.  'J04.  We  may  add,  to  this,  seve- 
ral similar  mandates  of  Urban  II.  and  the  succeed- 
ing pontiffs,  wliich  are  to  be  found  in  the  collection 
now  cited,  and  in  others  of  that  kind. 

t  There  is  not,  perhaps,  in  Germany,  a  single  in- 
stanci!  of  this  pernicious  immunity  before  the  time 
of  Gregory  VII. 

I  See  Jo.  Launoi,  Assert,  in  Privilcg.  S.  Medardi, 
cap.  xxvi.  sect.  vi.  op.  tom.  iii.  part  II.  p.  4'M;  and 
Simon,  Biblioth.  Critique,  tom.  iii.  cap.  x.\.\ii.  p.  331. 

§  For  an  account  of  the  astonishing  corruption  of 
this  age,  see  lilondel,  de  Formula,  regnante  Christo, 
p.  14.— Boulainvilliera,  de  I'Origine  ct  dos  Droits  rie 
la  Noblesse,  in  Molet's  Memoires  de  Literature  et 
d'HisloIre,  tom.  ix.  part  i.  p.  G3.  The  corruption  and 
violence  that  reigned  with  impunity  in  this  horrid 
age  gave  occasion  to  the  institutions  of  chivalry  or 
knighthood,  in  consequence  of  which,  a  certain  set 
of  e(iue.strian  heroes  undertook  the  defence  of  the 
po.or  and  feeble,  and  particularly  of  the  fair  sex, 
against  the  insults  of  powerful  oppressors  and  ra- 
vishers.  This  order  of  knights  errant  certainly  he- 
c.tnie  very  useful  in  these  miserable  times,  when  the 
majesty  of  laws  and  government  had  fallen  into 
contempt,  and  when  they  who  bore  the  titles  of  sove- 
reigns and  magistrates,  had  neither  resolution  nor 


pervert  the  taste  and  judgment  even  of  those 
who  arc  not  void  of  natural  sagacity,  and  often 
prevent  their  being  shocked  at  the  greatest  in- 
consistencies. Amidst  this  general  deprava- 
tion of  sentimeTit  and  conduct,  amidst  the  fla- 
gitious crimes  that  were  daily  perpetrated,  not 
only  by  the  laity,  but  also  by  the  various  or- 
ders of  the  clergy,  both  secular  and  regular, 
all  such  as  respected  the  common  rules  of  de- 
cency, or  preserved  in  their  external  demeanor 
the  least  appearance  of  piety  and  virtue,  were 
looked  upon  as  saints  of  the  highest  rank,  and 
considered  as  the  peculiar  favourites  of  Hea- 
ven. This  circumstance  was,  no  doubt,  fa- 
vourable to  many  of  the  monks  who  were  less 
profligate  than  the  rest  of  their  order,  and  might 
contribute  more  or  less  to  support  the  credit  of 
the  whole  body.  Besides,  it  often  happened, 
that  princes,  dukes,  knights,  and  generals, 
whose  days  had  been  consumed  in  debauchery 
and  crimes,  and  distinguished  by  nothing  but 
the  violent  exploits  of  unbridled  lust,  cruelty, 
and  avarice,  felt,  at  the  approach  of  old  age,  or 
death,  the  inexpressible  anguish  of  a  wounded 
conscience,  and  the  gloomy  apprehensions  and 
terrors  it  excites.  In  this  dreadful  condition, 
what  was  their  resource?  What  were  the  means 
by  which  they  hoped  to  disarm  tlie  uplifted  hand 
of  divine  justice,  and  render  tlie  governor  of 
the  world  propitious.''  They  purchased,  at  an 
enormous  price,  the  prayers  of  the  monks  to 
screen  them  from  judgment,  and  devoted  to 
God  and  to  the  saints  a  large  portion  of  the 
fruits  of  their  rapine,  or  entered  into  the  mo- 
nastic order,  and  bequeathed  their  possessions 
to  their  new  brethren.  And  thus  it  was  that 
monkery  perpetually  received  new  accessions 
of  opulence  and  credit. 

XXIII.  The  monks  of  Clugni  in  France 
surpassed  all  the  other  religious  orders  in  the 
renown  they  had  acquired,  from  a  prevailing 
opinion  of  their  emuient  sanctity  and  virtue. 
Hence  their  discipline  was  universally  respect- 
ed, and  hence  also  their  rules  were  adopted  by 
the  founders  of  new  monasteries,  and  the  re- 
formers of  those  that  were  in  a  state  of  de- 
cline. These  famous  monks  arose,  by  degrees, 
to  the  highest  summit  of  worldly  prosperity, 
by  the  presents  which  they  received  from  all 
quarters;  and  their  power  and  credit  grew, 
with  their  opulence,  to  such  a  height,  that,  to- 
ward tlie  conclusion  of  this  century,  they  were 
formed  into  a  separate  society,  which  still  sub- 
sists, under  the  title  of  the  Order  or  Congrega- 
tion of  Clugni.*  And  no  sooner  were  tliey 
thus  established,  than  they  extended  their  spi- 
ritual dominion  on  all  sides,  reducing,  under 
their  jurisdiction,  all  the  monasteries  which 
they  had  reformed  by  their  coimscls.  The  fa- 
mous Hugo,  si.xth  abbot  of  Clugni,  who  was 
in  high  credit  at  the  court  of  Rome,  and  had 
acquired  the  peculiar  protection  and  esteem 
of  several  princes,  laboured  with  such  success, 
in  extending  the  power  and  jurisdiction  of  hia 
order,  that,  before  the  end  ol"  this  century,  he 


power  to  maintain  their  authority,  or  to  perform  the 
duties  of  their  stations. 

*  For  a  particular  account  of  the  rapid  and  mon- 
strous strides  whicli  the  order  of  Clugni  made  to  opu- 
lence and  dominion,  see  Stepli.  Baluze,  MisccUan. 
tom.  V.  p.  343,  and  tom.  vi.  p.  436,  as  also  Mabillon 
Anna).  Benedict  torn  v.  passim. 


280 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II 


saw  himself  at  the  head  of  five-and-thirty  of 
the  principal  monasteries  in  France,  beside  a 
considerable  number  of  smaller  convents  that 
acknowledged  him  as  their  chief.  Many  other 
religious  societies,  though  thdj?^  refused  to  en- 
ter into  this  new  order,  and  continued  to  choose 
their  respective  governors,  yet  showed  such 
respect  for  the  abbot  of  Clugni,  or  the  Arch- 
Abbot,  as  he  styled  himself,  that  they  regarded 
him  as  their  spiritual  chief.*  This  enormous 
augmentation  of  opulence  and  authority  was, 
however,  fruitful  of  many  evils;  it  increased 
the  arrogance  of  these  aspiring  monks,  and 
contributed  much  to  the  propagation  of  the 
several  vices  that  dishonoured  the  religious 
societies  of  this  licentious  and  superstitious 
age.  The  monks  of  Clugni  soon  degenerated 
from  their  primitive  sanctity,  and  were  distin- 
guished by  nothing  but  the  peculiarities  of  their 
discipline,  from  the  rest  of  the  monastic  orders. 
XXIV.  The  example  of  thes6  monks  excited 
several  pious  men  to  erect  particular  monastic 
fraternities,  or  congregations,  like  that  of 
Clugni,  tlie  consequence  of  which  was,  that 
the  Benedictine  order,  which  had  been  hither- 
to one  great  and  compact  body,  was  now  di- 
vided into  separate  societies,  which,  thougii 
they  were  subject  to  one  general  rule,  ditfered 
from  each  other  in  various  circumstances,  both 
of  their  discipline  and  manner  of  living,  and 
rendered  their  division  still  more  conspicuous 
by  reciprocal  exertions  of  animosity  and  hatred. 
In  1023,  Romuald,  an  Italian  fanatic,  retired 
to  Camaldoli,t  on  the  mount  Apennine,  and, 
in  that  solitary  retreat,  founded  the  order,  or 
Congregation  of  the  Camaldolites,  which  still 
remains  in  a  flourishing  state,  particularly  in 
Italy.  His  followers  were  distinguished  into 
two  classes,  the  Cojnobites  and  the  Eremites. 
Both  observed  a  severe  discipline;  but  the  Coe- 
nobites gradually  degenerated  from  their  pri- 
mitive au«terity.|  Some  time  after  this,  Gual- 
bert,  a  native  of  Florence,  founded  at  Val- 
Ombroso,  amidst  the  Apennines,  a  congrega- 
tion of  Benedictine  monks,  who  quickly  pro- 
pagated their  discipline  in  several  parts  of  Ita- 
ly. §  To  these  two  Italian  monasteries  we  may 
add  that  of  Hirsauge  in  Germany,||  erected  by 
William,  an  eminent  abbot,  who  had  reformed 
many  ancient  convents,  and  was  the  founder 


*  Mabillon,  Prcef.  Act.  SS.  Ord.  Bened.  Sac.  v.— 
Hist.  Geneiale  de  Bourgogne  par  les  Moines  Bene- 
dictins,  torn.  i.  p.  151,  published  at  Paris,  in  1739.— 
Hist.  Liter,  de  la  France,  toni.  ix.  p.  470. 

t  Otherwise  called  Campo-Malduli. 

X  The  writers,  who  have  given  any  satisfactory 
accounts  of  the  order  of  the  Camaldolites,  are  enu- 
merated by  Jo.  Alb.  Fabricius  in  his  Bibliotheca  Lat. 
medii  JEvi,  torn.  i.  p.  8il5.— Add  to  these  Romualdi 
Vita,  in  Actis  Sanclor.  Februar.  torn.  ii.  p.  101,  and 
in  Mabillon's  Acta  Sanctor.  Ord.  Bened.  Sebc.  vi. 
part  I.  p.  247.— Helyot,  Hist,  des  Ordres,  torn.  v.  p. 
236.— Mabillon,  Annal.  Ord.  Bened.  torn.  v.  p.  2G1.— 
Magnoaldi  Zeigelbauer,  Centifolium  Canialdulense, 
sive  Notitia  Scriptor.  Camaldulensium,  published  at 
Venice  in  1750. 

§  See  the  life  of  Gualbert  in  Mabillon's  Acta  Sanc- 
tor. Ord.  Bened.  Saec.  vi.  part  ii.  p.  273.  See  also 
Helyot's  Hist,  des  Ordres,  torn.  v.  p.  208.  Many  in- 
teresting circum^'.auces  relating  to  the  history  of 
this  order  have  been  published  by  the  learned  Larai, 
in  the  Deliciae  Eruditorum,  torn.  ii.  where  the  ancient 
laws  of  the  order  are  enumerated. 

II  See  Mabillon,  part  ii.  p.  716,— Helyot,  torn.  v.  p. 
3.32. 


of  several  new  establishments.  It  is,  however, 
to  be  observed,  that  this  monastery  was  rather 
a  branch  of  the  congregation  of  Clugni,  wliose 
laws  and  manner  of  living  it  had  adopted,  than 
a  new  fraternity. 

XXV.  Toward  the  conclusion  of  this  centu- 
ry,* Robert,  abbot  of  Molesme  in  Burgimdy, 
having  in  vain  employed  his  most  zealous  ef- 
forts to  revive  the  decaying  piety  and  discip- 
line of  his  convent,  and  to  oblige  his  monks  to 
observe,  with  greater  exactness,  the  rule  of  St. 
Benedict,  retired,  with  about  twenty  monks, 
who  had  not  been  infected  with  the  dissolute 
turn  of  their  brethren,  to  Citeaux,  in  the  dio- 
cese of  Chalons.  In  this  retreat,  which  was 
at  that  time  a  miserable  desert,  covered  on  all 
sides  with  brambles  and  thorns,  but  which 
bears,  at  present,  a  quite  different  aspect,  Ro- 
bert laid  the  foundations  of  the  famous  order, 
or  Congregation  of  Cistertians,  which,  like 
that  of  Clugni,  made  a  most  rapid  and  aston- 
ishing progress,  was  propagated  through  the 
greatest  part  of  Europe  in  the  following  centu- 
ry, and  was  not  only  enriched  with  the  most 
liberal  and  splendid  donations,  but  also  ac- 
quired the  form  and  privileges  of  a  spiritual 
republic,  and  exercised  a  sort  of  dominion  over 
all  the  monastic  orders.f  The  great  and  fun- 
damental law  of  this  new  fraternity,  was  the 
rule  of  St.  Benedict,  which  was  to  be  solemnly 
and  rigorously  observed;  to  this  were  added 
several  other  institutions  and  injunctions, 
which  wore  designed  to  maintain  the  authority 
of  this  rule,  to  ensure  its  observance,  and  to 
defend  it  against  the  dangerous  effects  of  opu- 
lence, and  those  restless  efforts  of  human  cor- 
ruption which  render  the  best  establisliments 
imperfect.  These  injunctions  were  excessively 
austere,  and  grievous  to  natiue,  but  pious  and 
laudable  in  the  esteem  of  a  superstitious  age- 
They  did  not,  however,  secure  the  sanctity  of 
this  holy  congregation;  for  the  seductive  charms 
of  opulence,  that  corrupted  the  monks  of  Clug- 
ni much  sooner  than  was  expected,  produced 
the  same  effect  among  the  Cistertians,  whose 
zeal  in  the  rigorous  observance  of  their  rule 
began  gradually  to  diminish,  and  who,  in  pro- 
cess of  time,  became  as  negligent  and  dissolute 
as  the  rest  of  the  Benedictines.  J. 

XXVI.  Beside  these  convents,  that  were 
foimded  upon  the  principles,  and  might  be  con- 
sidered as  branches  of  the  Benedictine  order, 
several  other  monastic  societies  were  formed, 
which  were  distinguished  by  peculiar  laws, 
and  by  rules  of  discipline  and  obedience,  which 


*  In  the  year  1098. 

OtJ'  t  In  about  a  hundred  years  after  its  first  estab- 
lishment, this  order  boasted  of  1800  abbeys,  and  hart 
become  so  powerful,  that  it  governed  almost  all  Eu- 
rope, both  in  spirituals  and  temporals. 

I  The  principal  historian  of  the  Cistertian  order, 
is  Ang.  Manriquos,  whose  Annales  Cistertienses  (an 
ample  and  learned  work)  were  published  in  four 
volumes  folio,  at  Lyons,  in  the  year  1642.  After  him 
we  may  place  Pierre  le  Nain,  whose  Essai  de  I'His- 
toire  de  I'Ordre  des  Citeaux,  was  printed  in  the  year 
1696,  at  Paris,  in  nine  volumes  in  8vo.  The  other 
historians,  who  have  given  accounts  of  tliis  famous 
order,  are  enumerated  by  Fabricius,  in  his  Biblioth. 
Latina  medii  aevi,  tom.  i.  p.  1066.  Add  to  these 
Helyot's  Hist,  des  Ordres,  tom.  v.  p.  341,  and  Mabil- 
lon, who,  in  the  fifth  and  sixth  volumes  of  his  An- 
nales Benedictini,  has  given  a  learned  and  accurate 
accouut  of  the  origin  and  progress  of  the  Cistertians. 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


281 


they  had  drawn  up  for  themselves.  To  many 
of  "those  gloomy  and  fanatical  monks,  whose 
austerity  was  rather  the  fruit  of  a  bad  habit  of 
body,  than  tlie  result  of  a  relij^ious  principle, 
tlie  rule  of  Benedict  appeared  too  mild;  to 
others  it  seemed  incomplete  and  defective,  and 
not  sufficiently  accommodated  to  the  exercise 
of  the  various  duties  we  owe  to  the  Supreme 
Being.  Hence  Stephen,  a  nobleman  of  Au- 
vergne  (who  is  called  by  some  Stephen  de 
Muret,  from  the  place  where  he  first  erected 
the  convent  of  his  order,)  obtained  from  Grego- 
ry Vn.,  in  1073,  the  privilege  of  instituting  a 
new  species  of  monastic  discipline.  His  first 
design  was  to  subject  his  fraternity  to  the  rule 
of  St.  Benedict;  but  he  changed  his  mtention, 
and  composed  a  code  which  was  to  be  their 
rule  of  life,  piety,  and  manners.  In  his  laws 
there  were  many  injunctions,  that  showed  the 
excessive  austerity  of  their  author.  Poverty 
and  obedience  were  the  two  great  points  which 
he  inculcated  with  the  warmest  zeal,  and  all 
his  regulations  were  directed  to  promote  and 
secure  them  in  this  new  establishment.  For 
this  purpose  it  v\'as  solemnly  enacted  that  the 
monks  should  possess  no  lands  beyond  the 
limits  of  their  convent;  that  the  use  of  flesh 
should  be  allowed  to  none,  not  even  to  the 
sick  and  infirm;  and  that  none  should  be  per- 
mitted to  keep  cattle,  that  they  might  not  be 
exposed  to  the  temptation  of  violating  their 
frugal  regimen.  To  these  severe  precepts 
many  others  of  equal  rigour  were  added;  for 
this  gloomy  legislator  imposed  upon  his  frater- 
nity th«  solemn  observance  of  a  profound  and 
uninterrupted  silence,  and  insisted  so  much 
upon  the  importance  and  necessity  of  solitude, 
that  none  but  a  few  persons  of  tlie  highest  emi- 
nence and  authority  were  permitted  to  pass  the 
threshold  of  his  monastery.  He  prohibited  all 
intercourse  with  the  female  sex,  and,  indeed, 
excluded  his  order  from  all  the  comforts  and 
enjoyments  of  life.  His  followers  were  divided 
into  two  classes,  one  of  which  comprehended 
the  clerks,  and  the  other  what  he  called  the 
converted  brethren.  The  former  were  totally 
absorbed  in  the  contemplation  of  divine  things, 
while  the  latter  were  charged  with  the  care 
and  administration  of  whatever  related  to  the 
concerns  and  necessities  of  the  present  life. 
Such  were  the  principal  circumstances  of  the 
new  institution  founded  by  Stephen,  which 
arose  to  the  highest  pitch  of  renown  in  this  and 
the  following  century,  and  was  regarded  with 
the  most  profound  veneration  as  long  as  its 
laws  and  discipline  were  observed:  but  two 
things  contributed  to  its  decline,  and  at  length 
brought  on  its  ruin;  the  first  was,  the  violent 
contest  which  arose  between  the  clerks  and 
the  converts,  on  account  of  the  pre-eminence 
which  the  latter  pretended  over  the  former; 
and  the  second  was,  the  gradual  diminution  of 
the  rigour  and  austerity  of  Stephen's  rule, 
which  was  softened  and  mitigated  from  time 
to  time,  both  by  the  heads  of  the  order  and  by 
the  pontiffs.  This  once  famous  monastic  so- 
ciety was  distinguished  by  the  title  of  the  Or- 
der of  Grandmontains,  as  Muret,  where  they 
were  first  established,  was  situated  near  Gram- 
mont  in  the  province  of  Limoges.* 


•  The  origin  of  this  order  it  related  by  Bernard 
Vol.  1.-36 


XXVII.  In  the  year  1084,*  was  instituted 
the  famous  order  of  Carthusians,  so  called 
from  Chartreux,  a  dismal  and  wild  spot  of 
ground  near  Grenoble,  surrounded  with  barren 
mountains  and  craggy  rocks.  The  founder 
of  this  monastic  society,  which  surpassed  all 
the  rest  in  the  extravagant  austerity  of  its 
manners  and  discipline,  was  Bruno,  a  native 
of  Cologne,  and  canon  of  the  cathedral  of 
Rheims.  This  zealous  ecclesiastic,  who  had 
neither  power  to  reform,  nor  patience  to  bear, 
the  dissolute  manners  of  his  archbishop  Ma- 
nasse,  retired  from  his  church  with  six  of  his 
companions,  and,  having  obtained  the  permis- 
sion of  Hugh,  bishop  of  Grenoble,  fixed  his 
residence  in  the  miserable  desert  already  men- 
tioned.f  He  at  first  adopted  the  rule  of  St. 
Benedict,  to  wliich  he  added  a  considerable 
number  of  severe  and  rigorous  precepts;  his 
successors,  however,  went  still  farther,  and 
imposed  upon  the  Carthusians  new  laws,  much 
more  intolerable  than  those  of  their  founder, — 
laws  which  inculcated  the  highest  degrees  of 
austerity  that  the  most  gloomy  imagination 
could  invent. J  Yet  it  may  be  affirmed  (and 
the  fact  is  remarkable,)  tiiat  no  monastic  so- 
ciety degenerated  so  little  from  the  severity  of 
its  primitive  institution  and  discipline  as  this 
of  the  Carthusians.  The  progress  of  the  order 
was  indeed  less  rapid,  and  its  influence  less 
extensive  in  the  different  countries  of  Europe, 
than  the  progress  and  influence  of  those  mo- 
nastic establishments,  whose  laws  were  less 
rigorous,  and  whose  manners  were  less  aus- 


Guidon,  whose  treatise  on  that  subject  is  published 
in  the  Bibliotheca  Manuscriptorum  I'hil.  Labbei, 
torn.  ii.  p.  275.  For  an  account  of  the  history  of  this 
celebrated  society,  see  Mabillon,  Aniial.  J3ened.  torn. 
V.  p.  05,  s.  p.  99;  torn.  vi.  p.  llti;  and  Praef  ad  Acta 
SS.  Ord.  Bened.  Sxc.  vi.  part  ii.  340;  Heiyot,  torn.  vii. 
p.  409.— Gallia  Christ.  Monachor.  Bened.  torn.  ii.  p. 
045. — Baluzii.  VitE  Pontif  Avenionens.  torn.  i.  p. 
158,  et  Miscellanea,  torn.  vii.  p.  486.— Ci;?-  The  life 
and  spiritual  exploits  of  the  founder  of  this  order, 
are  recorded  in  the  Acta  Sanctorum,  torn.  ii.  Febr. 

*  Some  place  the  institution  of  this  order  in  1080, 
and  others  in  1086. 

t  The  learned  Fabricius  mentions,  in  his  Bibl.  Lat. 
medii  Aivi,  torn.  iL  p.  784,  several  writers  who  have 
composed  the  history  of  Bruno  and  his  order;  but  his 
enumeration  is  incomplete,  since  there  are  yet  ex- 
tant many  histories  of  the  Carthusians,  that  have 
escaped  his  notice.  See  Innocent.  Massoni  Annales 
Carthus,  published  in  1687;— Petri OrlandiChronicon 
Carthusianum,  and  the  elegant,  though  imperfect 
history  of  the  order  in  question,  which  is  to  be  found 
in  Helyot's  IIi.~t.  des  Ordres,  torn.  vii.  Many  im- 
portant illustrations  of  the  nature  and  laws  of  this 
famous  society  have  been  published  by  Mabillon,  in 
his  Annales  Benedict,  tom.  vi.  and  a  particular  and 
accurate  account  of  Bruno  has  been  given  by  the 
Benedictine  monks  in  their  Hist.  Liter,  de  la  France, 
torn.  ix.  It  was  a  current  report  in  ancient  times, 
that  the  occasion  of  his  retreat  was  the  miraculous 
restoration  of  a  certain  priest  to  life,  who,  during 
the  performance  of  the  funeral  service,  raised  him- 
self up  and  said,  "  By  the  just  judgment  of  God  I  am 
"  damned,"  and  then  expired  anew.  This  story  is 
looked  upon  as  fabulous  by  the  most  respectable 
writers,  even  of  the  Roman  church,  especially  since 
it  has  been  refuted  by  Launoy,  in  his  treatise  de 
Causa  Secessus  P.runonis  in  Desertum.  Nor  does  it 
seem  to  preserve  its  credit  among  the  Carthusians, 
who  arc  more  interested  than  others  in  this  protend- 
ed miracle.  Such  of  them,  at  least,  as  atfirm  it,  do 
it  with  a  good  deal  of  modesty  and  ditfidence.  The 
arauments  on  both  sides  are  candidly  and  accurately 
enumerated  by  C«s.  Egasse  du  Boulay,  in  his  Histor. 
Academ.  Paris,  tom.  i.  p.  467. 

t  See  Mabillon,  Pref  ad  Sa>c.  vi.  part  ii.  Aetor. 
93.  Ord.  Bened. 


282 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  ft.- 


tere.  It  was  a  long  time  before  the  tender  sex 
could  be  engaged  to  submit  to  the  savage  rules 
of  this  melancholy  institution;  nor  had  the 
Carthusian  order  ever  reason  to  boast  of  a  mul- 
titude of  females  subjected  to  its  jurisdiction; 
it  was  too  forbidding  to  captivate  a  sex  which, 
though  susceptible  of  the  seductions  of  enthu- 
siasm, is  of  a  frame  too  delicate  to  support  the 
severities  of  a  rigorous  self-denial.* 

XXVIII.  Toward  the  conclusion  of  this  cen- 
tury,t  the  order  of  St.  Antony  of  Vienne,  in 
Dauphine,  was  instituted  for  the  relief  and  sup- 
port of  such  as  were  seized  with  grievous  dis- 
orders, and  particularly  with  the  disease  called 
St.  Antony's  fire.  All  who  were  infected  with 
that  pestilential  disorder  repaired  to  a  cell  built 
near  Vienne  by  the  Benedictine  monks  of 
Grammont,  in  which  the  body  of  St.  Antony 
was  said  to  repose,  that,  by  the  prayers  and 
intercessions  of  this  eminent  saint,  they  might 
be  miraculously  healed.  Gaston,  an  opulent 
nobleman,  and  his  son  Guerin,  pretended  to 
have  experienced,  in  their  complete  recovery, 
the  marvellous  efficacy  of  the  saint's  interces- 
sion, and,  in  consequence  thereof,  devoted 
themselves  and  their  possessions,  from  a  prin- 
ciple of  pious  gratitude,  to  his  service,  and  to 
the  performance  of  generous  and  charitable 
offices  toward  all  such  as  were  afflicted  with 
the  miseries  of  poverty  and  sickness.  Their 
example  was  followed,  at  first,  only  by  eight 
persons;  their  community,  however,  was  after- 
wards considerably  augmented.  They  were 
not  boimd  by  particular  vows  like  the  other 
monastic  orders,  but  were  consecrated,  in  gen- 
eral, to  the  service  of  God,  and  lived  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  monks  of  Grammont.  In 
process  of  time,  growing  opulent  and  powerful 
by  the  multitude  of  pious  donations  which  they 
received  from  all  parts,  they  withdrew  them- 
selves from  the  dominion  of  the  Benedictines, 
propagated  their  order  in  various  comitries, 
and  at  length  obtained,  in  129T,  from  Boniface 
VIII.  the  dignity  and  privileges  of  an  indepen- 
dent congregation,  under  the  rule  of  St.  Au- 
gustin.J 


*  The  Carthusian  nuns  have  not  sufficiently  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  the  authors  who  have  writ- 
ten of  this  famous  order;  and  several  writers  have 
even  gone  so  far  as  to  maintain,  that  there  was  not 
in  this  order  a  single  convent  of  nuns.  This  notion, 
however,  is  highly  erroneous,  as  there  were  formerly 
several  convents  of  Carthusian  virgins,  of  which, 
indeed,  the  greatest  part  have  not  subsisted  to  our 
times.  In  the  year  1368,  an  extraordinary  law  was 
enacted,  by  which  the  establishment  of  any  more  fe- 
male Carthusian  convents  was  expressly  prohibited. 
Hence  there  remain  only  five  at  this  day;  four  in 
France,  and  one  at  Bruges  in  Flanders.  See  the  Va- 
rietes  Historiques,  Physiques,  etLiteraires,  tom.  i.  p. 
80,  published  in  1752.  Certain  it  is,  that  the  rigour- 
ou3  discipline  of  the  Carthusians  is  quite  inconsistent 
with  the  delicacy  and  tenderness  of  the  female  sex; 
and,  therefore,  in  the  few  female  convents  of  this  or- 
der that  still  subsist,  the  austerity  of  that  discipline 
has  been  diminished,  as  well  from  necessity  as  from 
humanity  and  wisdom;  it  was  morn  particularly 
found  necessary  to  abrogate  those  severe  injunctions 
of  silence  and  solitude,  that  are  so  little  adapted  to 
the  known  character  and  genius  of  the  sex. 

t  In  the  year  1095. 

i  See  Acta  Sanctor.  tom.  ii.  Januarii,  p.  160.— 
Helyot,  tom.  ii.  p.  108.— Gabr.  Penot.  Histor.  Canoni- 
corum  regular,  lib.  ii.  cap.  70.— Jo.  Erh.  Kapu  Diss, 
de  Fratribus  S.  Anton.  From  an  account  of  the 
jresent  state  of  the  principal  hospital,  or  residence 
^this  order  wlMre  the  abbot  remains,  gee  Martenae 


XXIX.  The  licentiousness  and  corruption 
which  had  infected  all  the  other  ranks  and  or- 
ders of  the  clergy,  were  also  remarkable  among 
the  canons,  who  composed  a  middle  sort  of  or- 
der between  the  monks  and  secular  priests,  and 
whose  first  establishment  was  in  the  eighth 
century.  In  certain  provinces  of  Europe,  the 
canons  were  corrupt  in  a  very  high  degree,  and 
surpassed,  in  the  profligacy  of  their  manners, 
all  the  other  ecclesiastical  and  monastic  orders. 
Hence  several  pious  and  virtuous  persons  ex- 
erted their  zeal  for  the  reformation  of  this  de- 
generate body;  some  pontiffs  appeared  in  this 
good  cause,  and  more  especially  Nicolas  II., 
who,  in  a  council  holden  at  Rome  in  1059,  ab- 
rogated the  ancient  rule  of  the  canons,  which 
had  been  drawn  up  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  and 
substituted  another  in  its  place.*  These  lauda- 
ble attempts  were  attended  with  considerable 
success;  and  a  much  better  rule  of  discipline 
was  established  in  almost  all  the  canonical 
orders,  than  that  which  had  been  formerly  in 
use.  It  was  not,  however,  possible  to  regulate 
them  all  upon  the  same  footing,  and  to  subject 
them  to  the  same  degree  of  reformation  and 
discipline;  nor  indeed  was  this  necessary.  Ac- 
cordingly, a  certain  number  of  these  canonical 
colleges  were  erected  into  communities,  the 
respective  members  of  which  had  one  common 
dwelling,  and  a  common  table,  which  was  the 
point  chiefly  insisted  upon  by  the  pontiff's,  as 
this  alone  was  sufficient  to  prevent  the  canons 
from  entering  into  the  bonds  of  matrimony.  It 
did  not,  however,  exclude  them  from  the  pos- 
ses.sion  or  enjoyment  of  private  property,  for 
they  reserved  to  themselves  the  right  of  appro- 
priating the  fruits  and  revenues  of  their  bene- 
fices, and  of  employing  them  as  they  thought 
expedient.  Other  canonical  congregations  sub- 
jected themselves  to  a  rule  of  life  less  agreea- 
ble and  commodious,  in  consequence  of  the 
zealous  exhortations  of  Ivo,  bishop  of  Chartres, 
renouncing  all  their  worldly  possessions  and 
prospects,  all  private  property,  and  living  in  a  ^ 

manner  that  resembled  the  austerity  of  the  m 
monastic  orders.  Hence  arose  the  well-known  m 
distinction  between  the  secular  and  the  regular  m 
canons;  the  former  of  which  observed  the  de-  m 

cree  of  Nicolas  II.,  while  the  latter,  more  prone 
to  mortification  and  self-denial,  complied  with 
the  directions  and  jurisdictions  of  Ivo;  and,  as  _ 

this  austere  prelate  imitated  St.  Augustinf  in       ,H 
the  maimer  of  regtilating  the  conduct  of  his        ^ 
clergy,  his  canons  were  called,  by  many,  "  the 
regular  canons  of  St.  Augustin."J 


and  Durand,  Voyage  Liter,  de  deux  Benedictins  do 
la  Congreg.  de  St.  Maur,  tom.  i.  p.  260. 

*  This  decree,  by  which  the  primitive  rule  of  the 
canons  was  changed,  is  published  by  Mabillon  among 
the  papers  which  serve  as  proofs  to  the  fourth  vol- 
ume of  his  Annales  Bened.  and  also  in  the  annals 
themselves. 

Olj=- 1  St.  Augustin  committed  to  writing  no  parti- 
cular rule  for  his  clergy;  but  his  manner  of  ruling 
them  may  be  learned  from  several  passages  in  his 
Epistles. 

t  See  Mabillon,  Annal.  Bened.  tom.  iv.  p.  586,  et 
Opera  Posthuma,  tom.  ii.  p.  102,  115.— Helyot,  torn, 
ii.  p.  11.— Lud.  Thomassini  Disciplina  Ecclesiae  circa 
Beneflcia,  tom.  i.  part  i.  1.  iii.  c.  xi.  p.  657.— Muratori, 
Antiq.  Ital.  medii  JEvi,  tom.  v.  p.  257.  In  the  Gallia 
Christiana  of  the  Benedictine  monks,  we  find  fre- 
quent mention  made  both  of  this  reformation  of  the 
canons,  and  also  of  their  division  into  seculars  and 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


283 


XXX.  The  most  eminent  Greek  writers  in 
this  century,  w.ere, 

Theophanes  Cerameus,  i.  e.  the  potter,  of 
whom  there  is  yet  extant  a  volume  of  Homilies, 
not  altogether  contemptible; 

Nilus  Doxopatrius,  who  was  remarkable 
for  his  knowledge  in  matters  relating  to  eccle- 
siastical polity; 

Nicetas  Pectoratus,  who  was  a  most  strenu- 
ous defender  of  the  religious  sentiments  and 
customs  of  the  Greek  church; 

Michael  Psellus,  whose  vast  progress  in  va- 
rious kinds  of  learning  and  science  procured 
him  a  most  distinguished  and  shining  reputa- 
tion; 

Michael  Cerularius,  bishop  or  patriarch  of 
Constantinople,  who  imprudently  revived  the 
controversy  between  the  Greeks  and  Latins, 
which  had  been  for  some  time  nappily  sus- 
pended; 

Simeon,  the  Younger,  author  of  a  book  of 
Meditations  on  the  Duties  of  the  Christian 
Life,  which  is  yet  extant; 

Theophylact,  a  Bulgarian,  whose  illustra- 
tions of  the  sacred  writings  were  received  with 
universal  approbation  and  esteem.* 

XXXI.  The  writers  who  distinguished  them- 


regulars.  The  regular  canons  are  much  displeased 
with  all  the  accounts  that  render  the  origin  of  their 
community  so  recent;  they  arc  extremely  ambitious 
of  appearing  with  the  venerable  character  of  an  an- 
cient establishment,  and  therefore  trace  back  their 
rise,  through  the  darkness  of  remote  ages,  to  Christ 
hijnself,  or,  at  least,  to  St.  Augustin.  But  the  argu- 
ments and  testimonies,  by  which  they  pretend  to 
support  this  imagined  antiquity  of  their  order,  are 
proofs  of  the  weakness  of  their  cause  and  the  vanity 
of  their  pretensions,  and  are  therefore  unworthy  of 
eerious  refutation.  It  is  true,  the  title  of  canon  is 
undoubtedly  of  much  more  ancient  date  than  the 
eleventh  century,  but  not  as  applied  to  a  particular 
order  or  institution;  for  at  its  rise  it  was  used  in  a 
very  vague  general  sense  (See  Claud,  de  Vert,  E.xpli- 
cation  des  Ceremonies  de  la  Messe,  lorn,  i.,)  and 
therefore  the  mere  e.xistence  of  the  title  proves  no- 
thing. At  the  same  time,  it  is  evident,  beyond  all 
possibility  of  contradiction,  that  we  find  not  the 
least  mention  made  of  the  division  of  the  canons  into 
reijular  and  secular  before  the  eleventh  century;  and 
it  13  equally  certain  that  those  canons  who  had  no- 
thing in  common  but  their  dwelling  and  table,  were 
called  secular,  while  those  who  had  divested  them- 
selves of  all  private  property,  and  had  every  thing, 
without  exception,  in  common  with  their  fraternity, 
were  distinguished  by  the  title  of  regular  canons. 

(tlj-  To  Dr.  IMosheim's  account  of  the  canons,  it 
may  not  be  improper  to  add  a  few  words  concerning 
their  introduction  into  England,  and  their  progress 
and  establishment  among  us.  The  order  of  regular 
canons  of  St.  Augustin  was  brought  into  England  by 
Adelwald,  confessor  to  Henry  I.,  who  first  erected  a 
priory  of  his  order  at  Nostel  in  Yorkshire,  and  had 
influence  enough  to  have  the  church  of  Carlisle  con- 
verted into  an  episcopal  see,  and  given  to  regular 
canons,  invested  with  the  privilege  of  choosing  their 
bishop.  This  order  was  singularly  favoured  and  pro- 
tected by  Henry  I.  who  gave  them,  in  the  year  1107, 
the  priory  of  Dunstable;  and  by  queen  Matilda,  who 
erected  for  them,  the  year  following,  the  priory  of 
the  Holy  Trinity  in  London,  the  prior  of  which  was 
always  one  of  the  twenty-four  aldermen.  They  in- 
creased so  prodiiiously,  that,  beside  the  noble  priory 
of  Merlon,  which  was  founded  for  them,  in  the  year 
1117,  by  Gilbert,  an  earl  of  the  Norman  blood,  they 
had,  under  the  reign  of  Edward  I.,  fifty-three  prio- 
ries, as  appears  by  the  catalogue  presented  to  that 
prince,  when  he  obliged  all  the  monasteries  to  re- 
ceive his  protection,  and  to  acknowledge  liis  jurisdic- 
tion. 

*  For  a  more  ample  account  of  these  Greek  writ- 
ers, the  reader  may  consult  the  Bibliotheca  Groeca 
of  Fabricius. 


selves  most  among  the  Latins,  were  the  fol- 
lowing: 

Fulbert,  bishop  of  Chartres,  eminent  for  his 
love  of  letters,  and  his  zeal  for  the  education 
of  youth;  as  also  for  various  compositions, 
particularly  his  epistles;  and  famous  for  his 
excessive  and  enthusiastic  attachment  to  the 
Virgin  Mary;* 

Humbert,  a  cardinal  of  the  Roman  church, 
who  far  surpassed  all  the  Latins,  both  in  the 
vehemence  and  learning  which  appeared  in 
his  controversial  writings  against  the  Greeks;! 

Petrus  Damianus,  who,  on  accoimt  of  his 
genius,  candour,  probity,  and  various  erudi- 
tion, deserves  to  be  ranked  among  the  most 
learned  and  estimable  writers  of  this  century, 
though  he  was  not  altogether  untainted  with 
the  reigning  prejudices  and  defects  of  the 
times;J 

Marianus  Scotus,  whose  Chronicle  and  other 
compositions  are  yet  extant; 

Anselm,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  a  man 
of  great  genius  and  subtilty,  deeply  versed  in 
the  dialectics  of  this  age,  and  most  illustriously 
distinguished  by  his  profound  and  extraordi- 
nary know^ledge  in  theology;§ 

Lanfranc,  also  archbisliop  of  Canterbury, 
who  acquired  a  high  degree  of  reputation  by 
his  Commentary  upon  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul, 
as  also  by  several  other  productions, ||  which, 
considering  the  age  in  which  he  lived,  discover 
an  uncommon  measure  of  sagacity  and  erudi- 
tion ;Tl 

Brimo  of  Mount-Cassin,  and  the  other  fa- 
mous ecclesiastic,  of  that  name,  who  founded 
tlie  monastery  of  the  Carthusians; 

Ivo,  bishop  of  Chartres,  who  was  so  emi- 
nently distinguished  by  his  zeal  and  activity  in 
maintaining  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the 
church; 

Hildebert,  archbishop  of  Tours,  who  was  a 
philosopher  and  a  poet,  as  well  as  a  divine, 
without  being  either  eminent  or  contemptible 
in  any  of  these  characters;**  but,  upon  the 


*  For  a  farther  account  of  this  eminent  man,  see 
the  Hist.  Liter,  de  la  France,  torn.  vii.  p.  261. 

t  See  Martenne,  Thesaurus  Anecdot.  torn.  v.  p. 
629. — Hist.  Liter,  de  la  France,  tom.  vii.  p.  527. 

I  Sec  the  Acta  Sanctor.  Febr.  tom.  iij.  p.  406.  Ge- 
neral Dictionary,  at  the  article  Damien — Casim. 
Oudini  Diss,  in  tom.  ii.  Comm.  de  Scriptor.  Ecclea 
p.  080. 

§See  the  Hist.  Literairc  de  la  France,  tom.  ix.  p. 
30y.— Rapin  Thoyras,  Hist.  d'Angleterre,  tom.  ii.  p. 
65, 166,  de  I'ed.  en  4to.— Colonia,  Hist.  Liter,  de  Lyon, 
torn.  ii.  p.  210.— We  have  already  given  a  more  am- 
ple account  of  the  eminent  abilities  and  learned 
productions  of  Anselm. 

{J(p-  II  Among  these  productions  we  may  reckon 
Lanfranc's  Letters  to  pope  Alexander  IL  to  Hilde- 
brand,  while  archdeacon  of  Rome,  and  to  several 
bishops  in  England  and  Normandy;  as  also  a  Com- 
mentary upon  the  Psalms,  a  Treatise  concerning 
Confession,  an  Ecclesiastical  History,  which  is  not 
extant,  and  a  remarkable  Dissertation  concerning 
the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  in  the  Euchari.st.  In 
this  last  performance,  Lanfranc  endeavours  toprove, 
against  Berenger,  the  reality  of  a  corporal  presence 
in  the  eucharist,  though  it  is  manifest  that  this  opi- 
nion was  not  the  doctrine  of  the  church  of  England 
at  the  conclusion  of  the  tenth,  or  the  commencement 
of  the  following  century.  See  Collier's  Eccles.  His 
tory  of  Great  Britain,  vol.  i.  p.  260,  2ti3. 

ii  Hist.  Liter,  de  la  France,  torn.  viii.  p.  260. 

**  The  Benedictine  monks  published  in  folio,  at 
Paris,  in  the  year  1708,  the  works  of  Hildebert,  U 
lustra  ted  by  the  observations  of  Beaugendre. 


284 


INTERNAL  fflSTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


whole,  a  man  of  considerable  learning  and  ca- 
pacity; 

Gregory  VII.  that  imperious  and  arrogant 
pontiff,  of  whom  we  have  several  productions, 
beside  his  Letters. 

CHAPTER  III. 

Concerning  the  Doctrine  of  the  Christian  Church 
in  this  Century. 

I.  It  is  not  necessary  to  draw  at  full  length 
the  hideous  portrait  of  the  religion  of  this  age. 
It  may  easily  be  imagined,  that  its  features 
were  full  of  deformity,  when  we  consider  that 
its  guardians  Vvcre  equally  destitute  of  know- 
ledge and  virtue,  and  that  the  heads  and  rul- 
ers of  the  Christian  church,  instead  of  exhibit- 
ing models  of  piety,  held  forth  in  their  conduct 
scandalous  examples  of  the  most  flagitious 
crimes.  The  people  were  sunk  in  the  grossest 
puperstifion,  and  employed  all  their  zeal  in  the 
worship  of  images  and  relics,  and  in  the  per- 
formance of  a  trifling  round  of  ceremonies,  im- 
posed upon  them  by  the  tyranny  of  a  despotic 
priesthood.  The  more  learned,  it  is  true,  re- 
tained still  some  notions  of  the  truth,  which, 
however,  they  obscured  and  corrupted  by  a 
wretched  mixture  of  opinions  and  precepts,  of 
which  some  were  ludicrous,  others  pernicious, 
and  most  of  them  equally  destitute  of  truth 
and  utility.  There  were,  no  doubt,  in  several 
places,  judicious  and  pious  men,  who  would 
have  willingly  lent  a  supporting  hand  to  the 
declining  cause  of  true  religion;  but  the  violent 
prejudices  of  a  barbarous  age  rendered  all  such 
attempts  not  only  dangerous,  but  even  despe- 
rate: and  those  chosen  spirits,  who  had  escaped 
the  general  contagion,  lay  too  much  concealed, 
and  had  therefore  too  little  influence,  to  com- 
bat with  success  the  formidable  patrons  of  im- 
piety and  superstition,  who  were  very  numer- 
ous, in  all  ranks  and  orders,  from  the  throne 
to  the  cottage. 

II.  Notwithstanding  all  this,  we  find,  from 
the  time  of  Gregory  VII.,  several  proofs  of  the 
zealous  efforts  of  those,  who  are  generally 
called,  by  the  Protestants,  the  witnesses  of  the 
truth;  by  whom  are  meant  such  pious  and  ju- 
dicious Christians,  as  adhered  to  the  pure  reli- 
gion of  the  Gospel,  and  remained  uncorrupted 
amidst  the  growth  of  superstition;  who  de- 
plored the  miserable  state  to  which  Christianity 
was  reduced,  by  the  alteration  of  its  divine 
doctrines,  and  the  vices  of  its  profligate  minis- 
ters; who  opposed,  with  vigour,  the  tyrannic 
ambition,  both  of  the  lordly  pontiff"  and  the 
aspiring  bishops;  and  in  some  provinces  pri- 
vately, ui  others  openly,  attempted  the  re- 
formation of  a  corrupt  and  idolatrous  church, 
and  of  a  barbarous  and  superstitious  age.  This 
was,  indeed,  bearing  witness  to  the  truth  in 
the  noblest  manner;  and  it  was  principally  in 
Italy  and  France  that  the  marks  of  this  heroic 
piety  were  exhibited.  ($J»Nor  is  it  at  all 
surprising  that  the  reigning  superstition  of  the 
times  met  with  this  opposition;  it  is  astonishing, 
on  the  contrary,  that  this  opposition  was  not 
much  greater  and  more  general,  and  that  mil- 
lions of  Christians  suffered  themselves  to  be 
hoodwinked  with  such  a  tame  submission,  and 
closed  their  eyes  upon  the  light  with  so  little 


reluctance.)  For,  notwithstanding  the  dark- 
ness of  the  times,  and  the  general  ignorance 
of  the  true  religion,  that  prevailed  in  all  ranks 
and  orders,  yet  the  very  fra^nents  of  the  Gos- 
pel (if  we  may  use  that  term)  which  were  still 
read  and  explained  to  the  people,  were  suffi- 
cient, at  least,  to  convince  the  most  stupid  and 
illiterate,  that  the  religion,  which  was  now 
imposed  upon  them,  was  not  the  true  religion 
of  Jesus;  that  the  discourses,  the  lives  and  mo- 
rals of  the  clergy,  were  directly  opposite  to 
what  the  divine  Saviour  required  of  his  disci- 
ples, and  to  the  rules  he  had  laid  down  for  the 
direction  of  their  conduct;  that  the  pontiflTs 
and  bishops  abused,  in  a  scandalous  manner, 
their  power  and  opulence;  and  that  the  favour 
of  God,  and  the  salvation  exhibited  in  his 
blessed  Gospel,  were  not  to  be  obtained  by  per- 
forming a  round  of  external  ceremonies,  by 
pompous  donations  to  churches  and  priests,  or 
by  foimding  and  enriching  monasteries,  but 
by  real  sanctity  of  heart  and  manners. 

III.  It  must,  indeed,  be  acknowledged,  that 
they  who  undertook,  with  such  zeal  and  ardour, 
the  reformation  of  the  church,  were  not,  for  the 
most  part,  equal  to  this  arduous  and  important 
enterprise,  and  that,  by  avoiding,  with  more 
vehemence  than  circumspection,  certain  abuses 
and  defects,  they  rushed  unhappily  into  the 
opposite  extremes.  They  all  perceived  the 
abominable  nature  of  those  inventions  with 
which  superstition  had  disfigured  the  religion 
of  Jesus:  but  they  had  also  lost  sight  of  the 
true  nature  and  genius  of  that  celestial  reli- 
gion, which  lay  thus  disfigured  in  the  hands  of 
a  superstitious  and  dissolute  priesthood.  They 
were  shocked  at  the  absurdities  of  the  esta- 
blished worship;  but  few  of  them  were  suffi- 
ciently acquainted  with  the  sublime  precepts 
and  doctrines  of  genuine  Christianity,  to  sub- 
stitute in  the  place  of  that  superstitious  wor- 
ship a  rational  service.  Hence  their  attempts 
of  reformation,  even  where  they  were  not 
wholly  unsuccessful,  were  very  imperfect,  and 
produced  little  more  than  a  motley  mixture  of 
truth  and  falsehood,  of  wisdom  and  indiscre- 
tion; of  which  we  might  allege  a  multitude  of 
examples.  Observing,  for  instance,  that  the 
corruption  and  licentiousness  of  the  clergy 
were,  in  a  great  measure,  occasioned  by  their 
excessive  opulence  and  their  vast  possessions, 
they  raslily  conceived  the  highest  ideas  of  the 
salutary  effects  of  indigence,  and  looked  upon 
voluntary  poverty  as  the  most  eminent  and  il- 
lustrious virtue  of  a  Christian  minister.  They 
had  also  formed  to  themselves  a  notion,  that  the 
primitive  church  was  to  be  the  standing  and 
perpetual  model,  according  to  which  the  rites, 
government,  and  worship  of  all  Christian 
churches,  were  to  be  regulated  in  all  the  ages 
of  the  world;  and  that  the  lives  and  manners 
of  the  holy  apostles  were  to  be  rigorously  fol- 
lowed, in  every  respect,  by  all  the  ministers  of 
Christ.  [$:f'  These  notions,  which  were  inju- 
diciously taken  up,  and  blindly  entertained 
(without  any  regard  to  the  dilFerence  of  times, 
places,  circumstances,  and  characters;  without 
considering  that  the  provident  wisdom  of 
Christ  and  his  apostles  left  many  regulations 
to  the  prudence  and  piety  of  the  governors  of 
the  church,)  were  productive  of  many  pemi- 


Chap.  HI. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


285 


cious  effects,  and  threw  these  good  reformers, 
whose  zeal  was  not  always  according  to  know- 
ledge, from  the  extreme  of  superstition  into 
the  extreme  of  enthusiasm.]  Many  well-mean- 
ing persons,  whose  intentions  were  highly  laud- 
able, fell  into  great  errors  in  consequence  of 
these  ill-grounded  notions.  Justly  incensed  at 
the  conduct  of  the  superstitious  multitude, 
who  placed  the  whole  of  religion  in  external 
services,  and  hoped  to  secure  their  salvation 
by  the  performance  of  a  laborious  round  of 
unmeaning  rites  and  ceremonies,  they  rashly 
maintained,  that  true  piety  was  to  be  strictly 
confined  to  the  inward  motions  and  affections 
of  the  soul,  and  to  the  contemplation  of  spi- 
ritual and  divine  things.  In  consequence  of 
this  specious,  yet  erroneous  principle,  they 
treated  with  the  utmost  contempt  all  the  exter- 
nal parts  of  religious  worship,  and  even  aimed 
at  the  total  suppression  of  sacraments,  churches, 
religious  assemblies  of  every  kind,  and  Clnis- 
tian  ministers  of  every  order. 

IV.  Of  the  Greek  and  Latin  writers  of  this 
age,  many  employed  their  learned  and  pious 
labours  in  the  exposition  and  illustration  of 
the  Scriptures.  Among  the  Latins,  Bruno 
wrote  a  commentary  on  the  Book  of  Psalma, 
Lanfranc  upon  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  Be- 
renger  upon  the  Revelations  of  St.  John,  Gre- 
gory Vll.  upon  the  Gospel  of  St.  Matthew, 
and  others  upon  other  parts  of  the  sacred  writ- 
ings. But  all  these  expositors,  in  compliance 
with  the  prevailing  custom  of  tiie  times,  either 
copied  the  explanations  of  the  ancient  com- 
mentators, or  made  such  wliimsical  applica- 
tions of  certain  passages  of  Scripture,  both  in 
explaining  the  doctrines,  and  in  inculcating  the 
duties  of  religion,  that  it  is  often  difficult  to  pe- 
ruse their  writings  without  indignation  or  dis- 
gust. The  most  eminent  Grecian  expositor 
was  Theophj'lact,  a  native  of  Bulgaria;  though 
he  also  is  indebted  to  the  ancients,  and  in  a 
particular  manner  to  St.  Chrysostom,  for  the 
greatest  part  of  his  most  judicious  observa- 
tions.* Nor  must  we  pass  in  silence  either 
the  commentary  upon  the  Book  of  Psalms  and 
the  Song  of  Solomon,  that  was  composed  by 
the  learned  Michael  Psellus,  or  the  chain  of' 
commentaries  upon  the  Book  of  Job,  which 
we  owe  to  the  industry  of  Nicetas. 

V.  All  the  Latin  doctors,  if  we  except  a  few 
Hibernian  divines,  who  blended,  with  the  beau- 
tiful simplicity  of  the  Gospel,  the  perplexing 
subtilties  of  an  obscure  philosophy,  had  hi- 
therto derived  their  system  of  religion,  and 
their  explications  of  divine  truth,  either  from 
the  Scriptures  alone,  or  from  these  sacred  ora- 
cles explained  by  the  illustrations,  and  com- 
pared with  the  theology,  of  the  ancient  doc- 
tors. But  in  this  century  certain  writers,  and, 
among  others,  the  famous  Berenger,t  went 


*  For  an  account  of  Theophylact,  see  Rich.  Simon's 
Hist.  Critique  des  principaux  Couimentateurs  du  N. 
T.  cli.  x.wiii.  p.  390.  Critique  de  la  Bibliothoque  des 
Auteurs  Ecclesiasliques,  par  Dul'in,  torn.  i.  p.  310, 
where  he  also  speaks  largely  of  Nicetas  and  O^cu- 
raeiiius. 

5CF"  t  Otherwise  called  Bcrengariua,  and  famous  for 
the  noble  opposition  he  made  to  the  doctrine  of  Tran- 
substantiation,  which  Lanfranc  so  absurdly  pretended 
to  support  upon  philosophical  principles.  The  at- 
tempt of  the  latter  to  introduce  the  rules  of  logic  into 


much  farther,  and  employed  the  rules  of  logic 
and  the  subtilties  of  metaphysical  discussion, 
both  in  explaining  the  doctrines  of  Scripture, 
and  in  proving  the  truth  of  their  own  particu- 
lar opinions.  Hence  Lanfranc,  the  antagonist 
of  Berenger,  and  afterwards  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  introduced  into  the  field  of  reli- 
gious controversy  the  same  philosophical  arms, 
and  seemed,  in  general,  desirous  of  employing 
the  dictates  of  reason  to  illustrate  and  confirm 
the  truths  of  religion.  His  example,  in  this 
respect,  was  followed  by  Anselm,  his  disciple 
and  successor  in  the  see  of  Canterbury,  a  man 
of  a  truly  metaphysical  genius,  and  capable  of 
giving  tlie  greatest  air  of  dignity  and  import- 
ance to  the  first  philosopher.  Such  were  the 
beginnings  of  that  philosophical  theology, 
which  grew  afterwards,  by  degrees,  into  a 
cloudy  and  enormous  system,  and,  from  the 
public  schools  in  which  it  was  cultivated,  ac- 
quired the  name  of  scholastic  divinity.*  It  is, 
however,  necessary  to  observe,  that  the  emi- 
nent divines,  who  first  set  on  foot  this  new 
species  of  theology,  and  thus  laudably  main- 
tained that  most  noble  and  natural  connexion 
of  faith  with  reason,  and  of  religion  with  phi- 
losophy, were  much  more  prudent  and  mode- 
rate than  their  followers,  in  the  use  and  appli- 
cation of  this  conciliatory  scheme.  They 
kept,  for  the  most  part,  within  bounds,  and 
wisely  reflected  upon  the  limits  of  reason; 
their  language  was  clear;  the  questions  they 
proposed  were  instructive  and  interesting;  they 
avoided  all  discussions  that  were  only  proper 
to  satisfy  a  vain  and  idle  curiosity;  and.  .in 
their  disputes  and  demonstrations,  tney  made, 
generally  speaking,  a  wise  and  sober  use  of 
the  rules  of  logic,  and  of  the  dictates  of  philo- 
sophy.!  [§^  Their  followers,  on  the  contrary. 


religious  controversy  would  have  been  highly  lauda- 
ble, had  not  he  perverted  this  respectable  science 
to  the  defence  of  the  most  monstrous  absurdities. 

*  See  Chr.  August.  Heumanni  I'rsfat.  ad  Tribbe- 
chovii  Librum  de  Doctoribus  Scholasticis,  p.  14.  The 
sentiments  of  the  learned,  concerning  the  first  au- 
tlior  or  inventor  of  the  scholastic  divinity,  are  col- 
lected by  Jo.  Franc.  Buddeus,  in  his  Isagoge  ad  Tlie- 
olog.  tom.  i.  p.  38. 

t  We  shall  here  transcribe  a  passage  from  the 
works  of  Lanfranc,  who  is  considered  by  many  as 
the  father  of  the  scholastic  system,  that  the  reader 
may  see  how  far  the  first  schoolmen  surpassed  their 
disciples  and  followers  in  wisdom,  modesty,  and  can- 
dour. We  take  this  passage  from  that  prelate's  book 
concerning  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ,*  and  it  is 
as  follows:  "  Testis  mihi  Deus  est  et  conscientia  mea, 
quia  in  tractatu  divinarum  hterarum  nee  proponere 
nee  ad  propositas  respondere  cuperem  dialecticas 
quEestiones,  vel  earum  solutiones.  Et  si  qnando  ma, 
teria  disputandi  talis  est,  ut  hujus  art  is  regulis  valeat 
enucleatius  explicari,  in  quantum  possum,  per  a;qui- 
pollentias  propositionum  tego  artcm,  ne  vidcar  ma- 
gis  arte,  quam  veritate  sanctorunique  patriim  auc- 
toritate,  confidere."  Lanfranc  here  declares,  in  the 
most  solemn  manner,  even  by  an  appeal  to  God  and  his 
conscience,  that  he  was  so  far  from  having  the  least 
inchnalion  to  propose  or  to  answer  logical  questions 
in  the  course  of  his  theological  labours,  that,  on  the 
contrary,  when  he  was  forced  to  have  recourse  to 
the  dialectic  science,  in  order  the  better  to  illustrate 
his  subject,  he  concealed  the  succours  he  thence  de- 
rived with  all  possible  care,  lest  he  should  seem  to 
place  more  confidence  in  the  resources  of  art  than  in 
the  simplicity  of  truth  and  the  authority  of  the  holy 
fathers.  These  last  words  show  plainly  the  two 
sources  from  which  the  Christian  doctors  had  hither- 


*  Cap.  vii.  p.  236.  Op.  ed.  Luc.  Dacherii. 


286 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


ran  with  a  metaphysical  phrensy  into  the  great- 
est abuses,  and,  by  the  most  mijustifiable  per- 
version of  a  wise  and  excellent  method  of 
searching  after,  and  confirming  truth,  they  ba- 
nished evidence  from  religion,  common  sense 
from  philosophy,  and  erected  a  dark  and  enor- 
mous mass  of  pretended  science,  in  which 
words  passed  for  ideas,  and  sounds  for  sense.] 

VI.  No  sooner  was  this  new  method  intro- 
duced, than  the  Latin  doctors  began  to  reduce 
all  the  doctrines  of  religion  into  one  perma- 
nent and  connected  system,  and  to  treat  theo- 
logy as  a  science;  an  enterprise  which  had 
hitherto  been  attempted  by  none  but  Taio  of 
Saragossa,  a  writer  of  the  seventh  century,  and 
the  learned  Damascenus,  who  flourished  among 
the  Greeks  in  the  following  age.  The  Latin 
doctors  had  hitherto  confined  their  theological 
labours  to  certain  branches  of  the  Christian 
religion,  which  they  illustrated  only  on  certain 
occasions.  The  first  production  which  looked 
like  a  general  system  of  theology,  was  that  of 
the  celebrated  Anselm;  this,  however,  was 
surpassed  by  the  complete  and  universal  body  of 
divinity,  which  was  composed,  toward  the 
conclusion  of  this  century,  by  Hildebert,  arch- 
bishop of  Tours,  who  seems  to  have  been 
regarded  both  as  the  first  and  the  best  model 
in  this  kind  of  writing,  by  the  innumerable 
legions  of  system-makers,  who  arose  in  suc- 
ceeding times.*  This  learned  prelate  demon- 
strated first  the  doctrines  of  his  system  by 
proofs  drawn  from  the  Scriptures,  and  also 
from  the  writings  of  the  ancient  fathers  of  the 
church;  and  in  this  he  followed  the  custom  that 
had  prevailed  in  the  preceding  ages;  but  he 
went  yet  farther,  and  answered  the  objec- 
tions which  might  be  brought  against  his  doc- 
trine, by  arguments  drawn  from  reason  and 
philosophy:  this  part  of  his  method  was  en- 
tirely new,  and  peculiar  to  the  age  in  which 
he  lived. t 

VII.  The  moral  writers  of  this  century,  who 

to  derived  all  their  tenets,  and  the  arguments  by  which 
they  maintained  them,  viz.  from  the  Scriptures, 
which  Lanfranc  here  calls  the  truth,  and  iVom  the 
writings  of  the  ancient  fathers  of  the  church.  To 
these  two  sources  of  theology  and  augmentation,  a 
third  was  added  in  this  century,  even  the  science  of 
logic,  which,  however,  was  only  employed  by  tlie 
managers  of  controversy  to  repulse  their  adversa- 
ries, who  came  armed  with  syllogisms,  or  to  remove 
difficulties  which  were  drawn  from  reason  and  from 
the  nature  of  things.  But,  in  succeeding  times,  the 
two  former  sources  were  either  entirely  neglected  or 
sparingly  employed,  and  philosophical  demonstration 
(or,  at  least,  something  that  bore  that  name)  was 
regarded  as  a  sufficient  support  to  the  truths  of  reli- 
gion. , 

*  This  body  of  divinity,  which  was  the  first  com- 
plete theological  system  that  had  been  composed 
among  the  Latins,  is  inserted  in  the  Works  of  Hil- 
debert, published  by  Beaugendre,  who  shows  evi- 
dently, in  his  preface,  that  Peter  Lombard,  PuUus, 
and  the  other  writers  of  theological  systems,  did  no 
more  than  servilely  follow  the  traces  of  Hildebert. 

t  It  may  not  be  improper  to  place  here  a  passage 
which  is  taken  from  a  treatise  written  by  Anselm, 
entitled,  Cur  Deus  komo?  since  this  passage  was  re- 
spected, by  the  first  scholastic  divines,  as  an  immu- 
table law  in  theology;  "Sicut  rectus  ordo  exigit," 
says  the  learned  prelate,  "  ut  profunda  fidei  Christi- 
ans credamus,  priusquain  ea  prssumamus  ratione 
discutere,  ila  negligentia  niihi  videtur,  si,  postquam 
confirmati  sumus  in  fide,  non  studemus  quod  credi- 
mus  intelligere:"  which  amounts  to  this,  That  we 
must  first  believe  without  examination,  but  must 
afterwards  endeavour  to  understand  what  we  believe. 


undertook  to  unfold  the  obligations  of  Chris- 
tians, and  to  delineate  the  nature,  the  extent, 
and  the  various  branches  of  true  virtue  and 
evangelical  obedience,  treated  this  most  ex- 
cellent of  all  sciences  in  a  manner  quite  un- 
suitable to  its  dignity  and  importance.  We 
find  sufficient  proofs  of  this  in  the  moral  writ- 
ings of  Peter  Damian,*  and  even  of  the  learned 
Hildebert. t  Tlie  moralists  of  this  age  generally 
confined  themselves  to  a  jejime  explication  of, 
what  are  commonly  called,  the  four  cardinal 
virtues,  to  which  they  added  the  ten  Com- 
mandments, to  complete  their  system.  An- 
selm, the  famous  prelate  of  Canterbury,  sur- 
passed, indeed,  all  the  moral  writers  of  his 
time;  the  books  which  he  composed  with  a 
design  to  promote  practical  religion,  and  more 
especially  his  Book  of  Meditations  and  Prayers, 
contain  many  excellent  remarks,  and  some 
happy  thoughts,  expressed  with  much  energy 
and  unction.  [$;^  Nor  did  the  mystic  divines 
satisfy  themselves  with  penetrating,  by  ecstatic 
thought  and  feeling,  into  the  sublime  regions  of 
beauty  and  love;  they  conceived  and  brought 
forth  several  productions  that  were  destined 
to  diffuse  the  pure  delights  of  imion  and  com- 
munion through  enamoured  souls.]  Johannes 
Johannellus,  a  Latin  mystic,  wrote  a  treatise 
concerning  Divine  Contemplation;};  and  Simeon 
the  younger,  who  was  a  Grecian  sage  of  the 
same  visionary  class,  composed  several  dis- 
courses upon  subjects  of  a  like  nature. 

VIII.  In  the  controversial  writings  of  this 
century,  we  observe  the  eflects  of  the  scholas- 
tic method  that  Berenger  and  Lanfranc  had 
introduced  into  the  study  of  theology.  We 
see  divines  entering  the  lists  armed  with  syllo- 
gisms which  they  manage  awkwardly,  and 
aiming  rather  to  confound  their  adversaries  by 
the  subtilties  of  logic,  than  to  convince  them 
by  the  power  of  evidence;  while  those  who 
were  unprovided  with  this  philosophical  ar- 
mour, made  a  still  more  wretched  and  despi- 
cable figure,  fell  into  the  grossest  and  most 
perverse  blunders,  and  seem  to  have  written 
without  either  thinking  of  their  subject,  or  of 
the  manner  of  treating  it  with  success.  Dami- 
anus,  already  mentioned,  defended  the  truth 
of  Christianity  against  the  Jews;  but  his  suc- 
cess was  not  equal  either  to  the  warmth  of  his 
zeal,  or  to  the  uprightness  of  his  intentions. 
Samuel,  a  convert  from  Judaism  to  Christi- 
anity, wrote  an  elaborate  treatise  against  those 
of  his  nation,  which  is  still  extant.  But  the 
noblest  champion  that  appeared  at  this  period 
in  the  cause  of  religion,  was  the  famous  An- 
selm, who  attacked  the  enemies  of  Christianity, 
and  the  audacious  contemners  of  all  religion, 
in  an  ingenious  work,§  which  was  perhaps,  by 
its  depth  and  acuteness,  above  the  compre- 
hension of  those  whom  it  was  designed  to  con- 
vince of  their  errors.  [^If'  For  it  happened, 
no  doubt,  in  these  earlier  times,  as  it  frequently 
does  in  our  days,  that  many  gave  themselves 
out  for  unbelievers,  who  knew  not  the  first 


*  See  Petrus  Darnianus,  De  Virtutibus. 

t  See  Hildeberti  Pliilosophia  Moralis,  et  liibellua 
de  IV.  Virtutibus  honestse  Vitae. 

I  See  the  Histoire  Literaire  de  la  France,  torn, 
viii.  p.  48. 

§  This  work  was  entitled,  Liber  adversua  insipi- 
entem,  i.  e.  The  fool  refuted. 


Chap.  HI. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


287 


principles  of  reasoning,  and  whose  incredulity 
was  the  fruit  of  ignorance  and  presumption, 
nourished  by  licentiousness  and  corruption  of 
heart.] 

IX.  The  famous  contest  between  the  Greek 
and  Latin  churches,  which,  though  not  de- 
cided, had  however  been  suspended  for  a  con- 
siderable time,  was  imprudently  revived,  in 
1053,  by  Michael  Cerularius,  patriarch  of  Con- 
stantinople, a  man  of  a  restless  and  turbulent 
spirit,  who  blew  the  flame  of  religious  discord, 
and  widened  the  fatal  breach  by  new  invectives 
and  new  accusations.  The  pretexts  that  were 
employed  to  justify  this  new  rupture,  were, 
zeal  for  the  truth,  and  an  anxious  concern 
about  the  interests  of  religion:  but  its  true 
causes  were  the  arrogance  and  ambition  of  the 
Grecian  patriarch  and  the  Roman  pontiff".  The 
latter  was  constantly  forming  the  most  artful 
stratagems  to  reduce  the  former  under  his  im- 
perious yoke;  and  for  this  purpose,  he  left  no 
means  unemployed  to  gain  over  to  his  side  the 
bishops  of  Alexandria  and  Antioch,  by  with- 
drawing them  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  see 
of  Constantinople.  The  tumultuous  and  un- 
happy state  of  the  Grecian  empire  was  appa- 
rently favourable  to  his  aspiring  views,  as  the 
friendship  of  the  Roman  pontiff"  was  highly 
useful  to  the  Greeks  in  their  struggles  with  the 
Saracens  and  the  Normans,  who  were  settled 
m  Italy.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Grecian 
pontiff"  was  not  only  determined  to  refuse  ob- 
Btinately  the  least  mark  of  submission  to  his 
haughty  rival,  but  was  also  laying  schemes  for 
extending  his  dominion,  and  for  reducing  all 
the  Oriental  patriarchs  under  his  supreme  ju- 
risdiction. Thus  the  contending  parties  were 
preparing  for  the  field  of  controversy,  when 
Cerularius  began  the  charge  by  a  warm  letter 
written  in  his  own  name,  and  in  the  name  of 
Leo,  bishop  of  Acrida,  who  was  his  chief 
counsellor,  to  John,  bishop  of  Trani,  in  Apulia; 
in  which  he  publicly  accused  the  Latins  of 
various  errors.*  Leo  IX.,  who  was  then  in 
the  papal  chair,  answered  this  letter  in  a  most 
imperious  manner;  and,  not  satisfied  with 
showing  his  high  indignation  by  mere  words, 
he  assembled  a  council  at  Rome,  in  which  the 
Greek  churches  were  solemnly  excommuni- 
cated.! 

X.  Constantine,  sumamed  Monomachus, 
who  was  now  at  the  head  of  the  Grecian  em- 
pire, endeavoured  to  stifle  this  controversy  in 
its  birth,  and,  for  that  purpose,  desired  the 
Roman  pontiff"  to  send  legates  to  Constantino- 
ple, to  concert  measures  for  restoring  and 
confirming  the  tranquillity  of  the  church. 
Three  legates  were  accordingly  sent  from 
Rome  to  that  imperial  city,  who  took  witli 
them  letters  from  Leo  IX.  not  only  to  the  em- 
peror, but  also  to  the  Grecian  pontifl^.  These 
legates  were  cardinal  Humbert,  a  man  of  a 
high  and  impetuous  spirit,  Peter,  archbishop 
of  Araalfi,  and  Frederic,  archdeacon  and  chan- 
cellor of  the  church  of  Rome.  The  issue  of 
this  congress  was  unliappy  in  the  highest  de- 


•  See  an  account  of  thnse  errors,  sect.  xi. 

t  These  letters  of  Cerularius  and  Leo  are  published 
in  the  Annals  of  Baronius,  ad  annum.  1053— The 
former  is  also  inserted  by  Canisius  in  his  Lection. 
Antiq.  torn.  iii.  p.  2dl,  ed.  nov — Leoniis  Concilia,  &c. 


gree,  notwithstanding  the  propensity  which 
the  emperor,  for  political  reasons,*  discovered 
to  the  cause  of  the  bishop  of  Rome.  The  ar- 
rogance of  Leo  IX.,  and  his  insolent  letters, 
excited  the  highest  indignation  in  the  breast 
of  Cerularius,  and  produced  a  personal  aver- 
sion to  this  audacious  pontiff",  which  inflamed, 
instead  of  healing,  the  wounds  of  the  church; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Roman  legates 
gave  many  and  evident  proofs,  that  the  design 
of  their  embassy  was  not  to  restore  peace  and 
concord,  but  to  establish  among  the  Greeks 
the  supreme  authority  and  the  ghostly  domi- 
nion of  the  Roman  pontiff".  Thus  all  hopes 
of  a  happy  conclusion  of  these  miserable  divi- 
sions entirely  vanished;  and  the  Roman  le- 
gates, finding  their  efforts  ineff'ectual  to  over- 
come the  vigorous  resistance  of  Cerularius, 
very  imprudently  and  insolently  excommuni- 
cated, in  the  church  of  St.  Sophia,  in  1054,  the 
Grecian  patriarch,  with  Leo  of  Acrida,  and 
all  their  adherents;  and  leaving  a  written  act 
of  their  inhuman  imprecations  and  anathemas 
upon  the  grand  altar  of  that  temple,  they 
shook  the  dust  off  their  feet,  and  thus  departed. 
This  violent  step  rendered  the  evil  incurable, 
which  it  was  before  not  only  possible,  but  per- 
haps easy,  to  remedy.  The  Grecian  patriarch 
imitated  the  vehemence  of  the  Roman  legates, 
and  did  from  resentment  what  they  had  perpe- 
trated from  a  principle  of  ambition  and  arro- 
gance. He  excommunicated  these  legates 
with  all  their  adherents  and  followers  in  a 
public  council,  and  procured  an  order  of  the 
emperor  for  burning  the  act  of  excommunica- 
tion which  they  had  pronounced  against  the 
Greeks. t  These  vehement  measures  were  fol- 
lowed on  both  sides  by  a  multitude  of  contro- 
versial writings,  that  were  filled  with  the  most 
bitter  and  irritating  invectives,  and  served  no 
other  purpose  than  to  add  fuel  to  the  flame. 

XI.  Cerularius  added  new  accusations  to 
the  ancient  charges  adduced  by  Photius  against 
the  Latin  churches;  of  which  the  principal 
was,  that  they  used  unleavened  bread  in  the 
celebrltion  of  the  Lord's  supper.  This  accu- 
sation (such  were  the  times!)  was  looked  upon 
as  a  matter  of  the  most  serious  nature,  and  of 
the  highest  consequence;  it  was,  therefore,  de- 
bated between  the  Greeks  and  Latins  with  the 
utmost  vehemence,  nor  did  the  Grecian  and 
Roman  pontiff's  contend  with  more  fury  and 
bitterness  about  the  extent  of  their  power,  and 
the  limits  of  their  jurisdiction,  than  the  Greek 
and  Latin  churches  disputed  about  the  use  of 
unleavened  bread.  The  otlier  heads  of  accusa- 
tion that  were  brought  against  the  Latins  by 


Qsj"  *  He  stood  greatly  in  need  of  the  acsislanco 
of  the  Germans  and  Italians  against  the  Normans, 
and  hoped  to  obtain  it  by  the  good  otTices  of  the  pope, 
who  was  in  high  credit  with  the  emperor  Henry  III. 

t  Beside  Baronius  and  other  writers,  whose  ac- 
counts of  this  period  of  time  are  generally  known, 
and  not  always  exact,  see  Mabillon,  Annal.  Bened. 
torn.  V.  lib.  Ix.  ad  an.  1053,  el  Pricf  ;id  Saec.  vi.  Actor. 
SS.  Benedicti,  part  ii.  p.  1.— Leo  Allatius,  de  libris 
Gra-cor.  Ecclesiast.  Diss.  ii.  p.  HiO,  ed.  Tabricii,  ct  de 
perpetua  Eccles.  Orient,  et  Occident.  Conscnsione, 
lib.  ii.  cap.  ix.  p.  614.— Mich,  le  Ciuicn,  Oriens  Chris- 
tianus,  torn.  i.  p.  260,  et  Diss,  namascena  prima, 
sect.  xixi.  p.  16.— Hermanni  Historia  Concertatio- 
num  de  pane  azymo  et  fermentato,  p.  59,  published 
at  Leipsic  in  the  year  173SI.— Jo.  Bapt.  Cotclerius, 
Monum.  Ecclesie  Grxcx,  tom.  ii.  p.  103. 


288 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  U. 


the  Grecian  pontiff,  discovered  rather  a  ma- 
lignant and  contentious  spirit,  and  a  profound 
ignorance  of  genuine  Christianity,  than  a  ge- 
nerous zeal  for  tlie  cause  of  truth.  He  com- 
plains, for  instance,  in  the  heaviest  manner, 
that  the  Latins  did  not  abstain  from  the  use 
of  blood,  and  of  things  strangled;  that  their 
monks  used  to  eat  lard,  and  permitted  the  use 
of  flesh  to  such  of  the  brethren  as  were  sick  or 
infirm:  that  their  bishops  adorned  their  fingers 
with  rings,  as  if  they  were  bridegrooms;  that 
their  priests  were  beardless:  and  that  in  the 
ceremony  of  baptism  they  confined  themselves 
to  one  immersion.*  Such  were  the  miserable 
and  trifling  objects  that  excited  a  fatal  schism, 
and  kindled  a  furious  war  between  the  Greeks 
and  Latins,  who  carried  their  animosities  to 
the  greatest  lengths,  and  loaded  each  other 
with  reciprocal  invectives  and  imprecations. 
The  attentive  reader  will  hence  form  a  just 
idea  of  the  deplorable  state  of  religion  both  in 
the  eastern  and  western  world  at  this  period, 
and  will  see,  in  this  dreadful  schism,  the  true 
origin  of  the  various  sects  that  multiplied  the 
different  forms  of  superstition  and  error  in 
these  unhappy  times. 

XII.  This  vehement  dispute,  which  the 
Greeks  had  to  carry  on  against  the  Latin 
church,  was  nearly  followed  by  a  fatal  division 
among  themselves.  Amidst  the  straits  and 
difficulties  to  which  the  empire  was  now  re- 
duced by  the  expenses  of  war,  and  the  ca- 
lamities of  the  times,  Alexius  not  only  em- 
ployed the  treasures  of  the  church,  in  order  to 
answer  the  exigencies  of  the  state,  but  ordered 
also  the  plates  of  silver,  and  the  figures  of  that 
metal  that  adorned  the  portals  of  the  churches, 
to  be  taken  down  and  converted  into  money. 
This  measure  excited  the  indignation  of  Leo, 
bishop  of  Chalcedon,  a  man  of  austere  morals, 
and  of  an  obstinate  spirit,  who  maintained  that 
the  emperor,  in  this  step,  was  guilty  of  sacri- 
lege; and,  to  prove  tliis  charge,  he  published 
a  treatise,  in  which  he  aSirmed,  that  in  the 
images  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  of  the  saints,  there 
resided  a  certain  kind  of  inherent  sanctity,  that 
was  a  proper  object  of  religious  worship;  and 
that,  therefore,  the  adoration  of  Christians  ought 
not  to  be  confined  to  the  persons  represented 
by  these  images,  but  extended  also  to  the 
images  themselves.  This  new  controversy  ex- 
cited various  tumults  and  seditions  among  the 
people;  to  suppress  which,  the  emperor  assem- 
bled a  council  at  Constantinople,  in  which  the 
question  was  terminated  by  the  following  de- 
cisions: "  That  the  images  of  Christ,  and  of  the 
"  saints,  were  to  be  honoured  only  with  a  rela- 
"  tive  worship,!  which  was  to  be  offered,  not 
"  to  the  substance  or  matter  of  which  these 
"  images  were  composed,  but  to  the  form  and 
"  features  of  which  they  bore  the  impression; 
"  that  the  representations  of  Clnrist,  and  of  the 
"  saints,  whether  in  painting  or  sculpture,  did 
"  in  no  sense  partake  of  the  nature  of  the  di- 


*  See  Cerularii  Epistola  ad  Johannem  Tranensem 
in  Canisii  Lection.  Antiq.  torn.  iii.  p.  281,  where  the 
reader  will  also  find  the  refutation  of  this  letter  by 
cardinal  Humbert.— See  likewise  Cerularii  Epistola 
ad  Petrum  Antiochens,  in  Cotelerii  Monumentis 
Ecclesiae  GreEC.  torn.  ii.  p.  138;  add  to  these  Martenne, 
Thesaur.  Aneedot.  torn.  v.  p.  847. 


"  vine  Saviour,  or  of  those  holy  men,  though 
"  they  were  enriched  with  a  certain  communi- 
"  cation  of  divine  grace;  and,  lastly,  that  in- 
"  vocation  and  worship  were  to  be  addressed 
"  to  the  saints,  only  as  the  servants  of  Christ, 
"  and  on  account  of  their  relation  to  him, 
"  as  their  master."  These  decisions,  absurd 
and  superstitious  as  they  were,  were  not  sufla- 
ciently  so  for  Leo,  the  idolatrous  bishop  of 
Chalcedon,  who  maintained  his  monstrous  sys- 
tem with  obstinacy,  and  was,  for  that  reason, 
sent  into  banishment.* 

XIII.  The  famous  dispute  concerning  the 
presence  of  Christ's  body  and  blood  in  tlie  eu- 
charist  was  revived  about  the  middle  of  this 
century  in  the  Latin  church.  Hitherto  the 
disputants  on  both  sides  had  proposed  their 
jarring  opinions  with  the  utmost  freedom,  un- 
restrained by  the  despotic  voice  of  authority, 
since  no  council  had  given  a  definitive  sen- 
tence upon  this  matter,  or  prescribed  a  rule  of 
faith  to  terminate  all  inquiry  and  debate.j 
Hence  it  was,  that,  in  the  beginning  of  this 
century,  Leutheric,  archbishop  of  Sens,  af- 
firmed, in  opposition  to  the  general  opinion  of 
the  times,  that  none  but  the  sincere  and  upright 
Christi;  a,  none  but  saints  and  real  believers, 
received  the  body  of  Christ  in  the  holy  sacra- 
ment. This  opinion,  which  was  broached  in 
1004,  seemed  likely  to  excite  commotions 
among  the  people;  but  these  its  natural  effects 
were  happily  prevented  by  the  influence  of 
Robert,  king  of  France,  and  the  wise  coun- 
sels of  some  prudent  friends,  who  hindered 
the  fanatical  prelate  from  disseminating  this 
whimsical  invention.};  It  was  not  so  easy  to 
extinguish  the  zeal,  or  to  stop  the  mouth  of 
the  famous  Berenger,  principal  of  the  public 
school  at  Tours,  and  afterwards  archbishop  of 
Angers,  a  man  of  a  most  acute  and  subtile 
genius,  and  highly  renowned  both  on  account 
of  his  extensive  learning,  and  the  exemplary 
sanctity  of  his  life  and  manners. §  This  emi- 
nent ecclesiastic  maintained  publicly,  in  1045, 
the  doctrine  of  Johannes  Scotus;  opposed 
warmly  the  monstrous  opinions  of  Paschasius 
Radbert,  which  were  adapted  to  captivate  a 
superstitious  multitude  by  exciting  their  aston- 
ishment, and  persevered  with  a  noble  obstinacy 
in  teaching,  that  the  bread  and  wine  were  not 
changed  into  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  in 
the  eucharist,  but  preserved  their  natural  and 
essential  qualities,  and  were  no  more  than 
figures  and  external  symbols  of  the  body  and 
blood  of  the  divine  Saviour.  This  wise  and 
rational   doctrine  was   no   sooner   published, 

*  An  ample  account  of  this  whole  matter  is  giver, 
by  Anna  Comnena,  in  her  Alexias,  lib.  v.  p.  104,  lib. 
vii.  p.  158,  edit.  Venet — The  acts  of  this  council,  the 
very  mention  of  which  is  omitted  by  several  histo- 
rians of  considerable  note,  are  published  by  Mcnt- 
faucon,  in  his  Bibliotheca  Coisliniana,  p.  1U3. 

t  The  various  opinions  concerning  the  sacramimt 
of  the  Lord's  supper,  that  were  embraced  during  Ihia 
century,  are  collected  by  Martenne  from  an  ancient 
manuscript,  and  published  in  his  Voyage  Literaire 
de  deux  Benediclins  de  la  Congregation  de  S.  Maur, 
torn.  ii.  p.  126. 

t  See  Du  Boulav,  Histor.  Acad.  Paris,  tom.  i.  p.  354. 

§  See  the  Life  of  Berenger  in  the  Works  of  Hilde 
bert,  archdeacon  of  Mans^p.  132-1.— See  also  Histoire 
Literaire  de  la  France,  tom.  viii.  p.  197.— Boulay, 
Hist.  Acad.  Paris,  tom.  i.  p.  304,  and  the  authors 
mentioned  by  Fabricius,  Biblioth.  Lat.  medii  sevi, 
tom.  i.  p.  570.    It  is  probably  by  an  error  of  the 


Chap.  III. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OK  THE  CHURCH. 


289 


than  it  was  opposed  by  certain  doctors  in 
France  and  Germany.  The  pontiff  Leo  IX. 
attaciicd  it  witli  pecuhar  vehemence  and  fury 
in  1050;  and,  iu  two  councils,  one  assembled 
at  Rome,  and  the  other  at  Vercelli,  had  the 
doctrine  of  Berenger  solemnly  condemned,  and 
the  book  of  Scotus,  from  which  it  was  drawn, 
committed  to  tiie  llamcs.  This  example  was 
followed  by  the  council  of  Paris,  which  was 
summoned  in  the  same  year  by  Henry  I.  and 
in  which  Berenger,  and  his  numerous  adlic- 
rents,  were  menaced  witli  all  sorts  of  evils, 
both  spiritual  and  temporal.  The.se  threats 
were  executed,  in  part,  against  tiiis  unhappy 
prelate,  whom  Henry  deprived  of  all  his  reve- 
nues; but  neitiier  threats,  nor  fines,  norsynodi- 
cal  decrees,  could  shake  the  fii'umess  of  his 
mind,  or  engage  him  to  renounce  tiie  doctrine 
he  had  embraced. 

XIV.  After  these  proceedings,  the  contro- 
versy was  for  some  years  happily  suspended, 
and  Berenger,  whose  patrons  were  as  numerous 
as  his  enemies  were  formidable,*  enjoyed,  for 
a  while,  the  sweets  of  liberty  and  peace.  His 
enemies,  however,  after  the  death  of  Leo  IX. 
rekindled  the  flame  of  religious  discord,  and 
persuaded  his  successor  Victor  II.  to  examine 
anew  the  doctrine  of  Berenger.  The  pontiff 
complied,  and  sent  his  legates  to  two  different 
councils,  that  were  assembled  at  Tours,  in 
1054, t  for  that  purpose.  In  one  of  these  coun- 
cils the  famous  Hildebrand,  who  was  after- 
wards pontiff  under  the  title  of  Gregory  VII.. 
appeared  in  the  character  of  legate,  and  op- 
posed the  new  doctrine  with  the  utmost  vehe- 
mence. Berenger  was  also  present  at  this  as- 
sembly, and,  overpowered  with  threats,  rather 
than  convinced  by  reason  and  argument,  he 
not  only  abandoned  his  opinions,  but  (if  we 
may  believe  his  adversaries,  to  whose  testimony 
we  are  confined  in  this  matter)  abjured  them 
solemnly,  and,  in  consequence  of  this  humiliat- 
ing step,  made  his  peace  with  the  church. 
This  abjuration,  however,  was  far  from  beuig 
sincere,  and  the  docility  of  Berenger  was  no 
more  than  an  act  of  dissimulation;  for,  soon 
after  this  period,  he  again  taught,  Ihougii  with 
more  circumspection  and  prudence,  the  opin- 
ions he  had  formerly  professed.  That  this 
conduct  appears  mean  and  dishonest,  is  indeed 
evident;  but  we  are  not  sufficiently  acquainted 
with  the  transactions  of  these  councils  to  fix 
precisely  the  degree  of  his  guilt. 

XV.  The  account  of  Berenger's  perfidy 
being  brought  to  Nicolas  II.  the  exasperated 
pontiff  summoned  him  to  Rome,  in  1058,  and, 
in  the  council  which  he  held  there  the.  follow- 
ing  year,  so  terrified  the  archdeacon,  that  he 
declared  his  readiness  to  embrace  and  adhere 
to  the  doctrines  which  that  venerable  assembly 
should  thmk  proper  to  impose  upon  his  faith. 
Humbert  was  accordingly  appointed  unani- 
mously by  Nicolas  and  the  council  to  draw 
up  a  confession  of  faith  for  Berenger,  who 
signed  it  pubhcly,  and  confirmed  his  adherence 
to  it  by  a  solemn  oath.     In  this  confession 


press,  that  Hildeb«rt  is  styled  archbishop  instead  of 
archdeacon,  by  Pans,  Hist.  lib.  i.  p.  10,  edit.  Watts. 

*   Lanfranc,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  was  his 
most  formidable  rival  and  enemy. 

Qf^  t  Other  historians  mention  but  one  council, 
and  place  it  in  the  year  1055. 
Vol.  I.— 37 


there  was,  among  other  tenets  equally  absurd, 
the  following  declaration,  that  "  the  bread 
and  wine,  after  consecration,  were  not  only  a 
sacrament,  but  also  the  real  body  and  blood 
of  Jesus  Christ;  and  that  this  body  and  blood 
were  handled  by  the  priest  and  consumed  by 
the  faithful,  not  merely  in  a  sjicramental  sense, 
but  in  reality  and  truth,  as  other  sensible  ob- 
jects are."  This  doctrine  was  so  monstrously 
nonsensical,  and  was  such  an  impudent  insult 
upon  the  very  first  principles  of  reason,  that  it 
could  have  nothing  alluring  to  a  man  of  Be- 
renger'sacute  and  philosophical  turn;  nor  could 
it  become  the  object  of  his  serious  belief,  as 
appeared  soon  after  this  odious  act  of  dissimu- 
lation; for  no  sooner  had  he  returned  into 
France,  than,  taking  refuge  in  the  counte- 
nance and  protection  of  his  ancient  patrons, 
he  expressed  the  utmost  detestation  and  ab- 
horrence of  tlie  doctrines  he  had  been  obliged 
to  profess  at  Rome,  abjured  them  solemnly 
both  in  his  discourse  and  in  his  writings,  and 
returned  zealously  to  the  profession  and  de- 
fence of  his  former,  which  had  always  been  his 
real  opinion.  Alexander  II.  employed  the 
seducing  influence  of  soft  and  friendly  expostu- 
lation to  engage  Berenger  to  dissemble  anew, 
or,  in  other  words,  to  return  from  his  pretended 
apostasy;  but  his  remonstrances  were  ineffec- 
tual, cliiefly  because  this  rebellious  son  of  a 
superstitious  church  was  powerfully  supported 
in  the  maintenance  of  his  opinions.  Hence 
the  controversy  was  prolonged,  during  many 
years,  by  a  multitude  of  writings  on  both  sides 
of  the  question,  and  the  number  of  Berenger's 
followers  daily  increased. 

XVI.  Gregory  VII.,  whose  enterprising 
spirit  no  difficulties  or  opposition  could  dis- 
courage, was  no  sooner  raised  to  the  pontifi- 
cate than  he  undertook  to  terminate  this  im- 
portant controversy,  and,  for  that  purpose,  sent 
an  order  to  Berenger,  in  1078,  to  repair  to 
Rome.  If  we  consider  tlie  natural  character 
of  this  pontiff",  we  sliall  be  inclined  to  admit 
that  his  conduct  in  this  affair  was  highly  lauda- 
ble, and  discovered  a  degree  of  unpartiality 
and  candour,  which  his  proceedings  on  other 
occasions  gave  little  reason  to  expect.  He 
seems  to  have  had  a  high  esteem  for  Berenger; 
and,  in  the  particular  points  in  which  he  was 
obliged  to  oppose  him,  he  did  it  with  all  possi- 
ble mildness,  and  with  a  tenderness  which 
showed  that  he  acted  rather  from  a  forced 
compliance  with  the  clamours  of  his  adversa 
ries,  than  from  inclination  or  principle.  In  the 
coimcil  which  he  held  at  Rome  toward  the 
conclusion  of  the  year  1078,  he  permitted  Be- 
renger to  draw  up  a  new  confession  of  hia 
faith,  and  to  renounce  that  which  had  been 
composed  by  Humbert,  though  it  had  been  so- 
lemnly approved  and  confirmed  by  Nicolas  II. 
and  a  Roman  council.  The  sagacious  pontiff 
perceived  clearly  the  absurdity  of  Humbert's 
confession,  and  therefore  revoked  it,  though  it 
had  been  rendered  sacred  by  papal  autliority.* 


*  It  is  worthy /if  observation,  that  Gregory,  whoss 
zea>  :n  extenriiuK  the  jurisdiction,  and  e.x.ilting  th« 
authority  of  the  Roman  pontilis,  surpassed  that  of  all 
his  predecessors,  acknowledgfd,  at  least  tacitly,  by 
this  step,  that  a  pope  and  council  might  err,  and  bad 
erred  in  effect.  He iv  otherwise  could  he  allow  Be- 
renger to  renounce  a  confeBsionof  faith  that  had  been 


290 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


In  consequence  of  this,  the  persecuted  arch- 
deacon made  a  second  declaration,  confirmed 
by  an  oath,  that  he  would  adhere  for  the 
future  to  the  following  propositions:  Tliat 
"  the  bread  deposited  upon  the  altar  became, 
after  consecration,  the  true  body  of  Christ, 
which  was  born  of  the  Virgin,  suffered  on  the 
cross,  and  now  sits  at  the  right-'aaiid  of  tlie  , 
Father:  and  tliat  the  wine  placed  upon  the  al-  ' 
tar  became,  after  consecration,  the  true  blood, 
which  flowed  from  the  side  of  Christ."  The 
pontiff  was  satisfied  with  this  declaration, 
which  was  far  from  producing  the  same  effect 
upon  the  enemies  of  iierenger;  they  showed 
that  it  was  ambiguous,  and  so  it  was  in  reality; 
and  they  insisted  that  Berenger  sliould  be 
obliged  not  only  to  sign  a  declaration  less  vague 
and  equivocal,  but  should  also  be  required  to 
prove  his  sincerity  by  the  fiery  trial.  Gregory 
absolutely  refused  the  latter  demand,  and 
would  have  equally  refused  tlie  other,  had  not 
his  favourable  intentions  toward  Berenger 
yielded  to  the  importunate  clamours  of  his 
enemies  and  persecutors. 

XVII.  The  pontiff,  therefore,  granted  that 
part  of  their  demand  which  related  to  a  new 
declaration;  and  in  a  council  convoked  at 
Rome,  in  1079,  procured  from  the  members  a 
third  confession  of  faith,  less  absurd  than  the 
first,  though  more  harsh  than  the  second;  and 
to  this  creed  Berenger,  after  reading  and  sub- 
scribing it  in  the  midst  of  the  assembly,  was 
obliged  to  declare  his  assent  by  a  solemn  oath. 
By  this  assent,  he  professed  to  believe,  "  That 
the  bread  and  wine,  by  the  mysterious  influ- 
ence of  the  holy  prayer,  and  the  words  of  our 
Redeemer,  were  substantially  changed  into  the 
true,  proper,  and  vivifying  body  and  blood  of 
Jesus  Christ:"  and  to  remove  all  grounds  of 
suspicion,  to  dispel  all  doubt  about  the  reality 
of  his  attachment  to  this  ridiculous  system,  he 
added  to  his  second  confession*  a  solemn  de- 
claration, that  "  the  bread  and  wine,  after 
consecration,  were  converted  into  the  real  body 
and  blood  of  Christ,  not  only  in  quality  of  ex- 
ternal signs  and  sacramental  representations, 
but  in  their  essential  properties,  and  in  sub- 
stantial reality."  No  sooner  had  Berenger 
made  this  strange  declaration,  than  tlie  pontiff 
redoubled  the  marks  of  esteem  which  he  had 
formerly  shown  him,  and  sent  him  back  to  his 
country  loaded  with  the  most  honourable  tes- 
timonies of  liberality  and  friendship.  The  dou- 
ble-minded doctor  did  not,  however,  think 
himself  bound  by  this  declaration,  solemn  as 
it  was;  and  therefore  retracted  publicly,  upon 
his  return  to  his  residence,  what  he  had  sub- 
scribed as  his  real  sentiments  in  the  council  of 
Rome,  and  went  even  so  far  as  to  compose  an 
elaborate  refutation  of  the  doctrine  to  which 
he  had  been  engaged  to  profess  his  assent. 
This  new  change  excited  a  warm  and  vehe- 
ment controversy,  in  which  Lanfranc  and 
Guitmund  endeavoured  to  perplex  Berenger 
with  their  sophistry,  and  to  overwhelm  him 
with  tlieir  invectives.  Gregory,  to  whose  pa- 
pal thunder  the  affronted  council  looked  with 
impatience,  seemed  neither  surprised  nor  of- 


Bolemnly  apprnvei  and  coHfirmed  by  Nicolas  TI.  in 
a  Roman  council? 
*  Mentioned  in  the  preceding  section. 


fended  at  the  inconstancy  of  Berenger;  nor  did 
he  take  any  step  which  could  testity  the  small- 
est mark  of  resentment  against  this  pretended 
apostate.  Hence  it  appears  more  than  proba- 
ble, that  the  second  confession  had  entirely 
satisfied  the  pontiff,  and  that  the  violent  impo- 
sition of  the  third  was  by  no  means  agreeable 
to  one  who  seems  to  have  adopted,  in  a  great 
measure  (if  not  wholly,)  the  sentiments  of  Be- 
renger.* 


*  A  remarkable  treatise  of  Bereuger'a composition, 
which  has  beuu  published  by  Martenne  in  his  The- 
saar.  Anecdot.  toin.  iv.  p.  99.  10;l,  will  contribute  to 
throw  a  satisfactory  light  upon  this  whole  affair, 
and  will  fully  unfold  the  real  sentiineiUs  of  Gregory 
coucerniiig  the  eiicharist.  For  from  this  piece  it  is 
undoubtedly  evident;  1st,  That  Berenger  was  es- 
teemed ,Tnd  favoured  in  a  singular  manner  by  Gre- 
gory; 2Jly,  That  this  pontiff  was  of  the  same  opinion 
with  Berenger  respecting  theeucharist;  it  is  certain, 
at  li^ast,  that  ho  was  for  adhering  to  the  words  of 
Scripture  in  this  matter,  and  was  eager  in  suppress- 
ing all  curious  researches  and  all  positive  decisions 
concerning  the  manner  of  Christ's  presence  in  the 
holy  sacrament.  This  appears  from  the  following 
words  which  he  addres.sed  to  Berenger  before  the 
meeting  of  the  last  council  of  Rome,  and  in  which  he 
speaks  of  his  design  to  consult  the  Virgin  Mary  upon 
the  conduct  which  it  was  proper  for  hiin  to  observe 
in  the  course  of  this  controversy;  "  Ego  plane  te" 
(says  th;  pontiff  in  the  lO^th  page  of  the  work,  cited 
in  the  beginning  of  this  note)  "  de  Christi  sacrilicio 
secundum  Scripturas  bene  sentire  non  dubito:  tamen 
quia  coiisuetudinis  mihi  est,  ad  B.  Mariam  de  his 
q(i:e  movent  recurreie — imposui  religioso  cuidam 
amico — a  B.  Maria  obtinere,  ut  per  eum  mihi  non 
taceret,  sed  verbis  commendaret,  quorsum  me  de 
iiugotio  quod  in  nianibus  habebam  de  Christi  sacrifi- 
cio  reciperein,  in  quo  immotus  pcrsisterem."  We  see 
here  plainly,  that  Gregory  e.xpresses  a  strong  pro- 
pensity to  the  sentiments  of  Berenger,  not,  however, 
v\  ithniit  some  hesitation  concerning  the  manner  in 
which  he  was  to  conduct  himself,  and  also  concern- 
ing the  precise  doctrine,  which  it  was  necessary  to 
embrace  in  relation  to  the  presence  of  Christ  in  the 
eucharist.  It  was  this  hesitation  which  led  him  to 
consult  the  Virgin  Mary,  whose  answer  the  pontiff 
gives  in  the  following  words:  "  B.  Maria  andivit  el 
h<\  me  retulit,  nihil  de  sacriticio  Christi  cogitandum, 
nihil  esse  tenendum,  nisi  quod  tenerent  authentioB 
Scriptnrs,  contra  quas  Berengarius  nihil  habebat. 
Hoc  tibi  rnanifestare  volui,  ut  securiorem  ad  nos 
fiduciam  et  alacriorem  spem  habeas."  Here  we  see 
an  answer  of  the  Virgin  pronouncing,  that  it  was 
necessary  to  adhere  to  the  express  declarations  of 
Scripture  concerning  the  presence  of  Christ  in  the 
sacrament;  and  whether  Gregory  was  fanatic  enough 
to  confl'le  in  this  answer  as  real,  or  rogue  enough  to 
forge  it,  it  is  still  certain,  that  ho  confined  his  belief 
respecting  the  point  in  debate  to  the  language  of 
Scripture,  and  lield  that  tlie  true  body  and  blood  of 
Christ  were  e.xhibited  in  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
supper,  though  it  was  neither  necessary  nor  expedi- 
ent to  inquire  into  the  nature  or  manner  of  this 
mysterious  presence.  3dly,  It  appears  manifest,  from 
the  treatise  already  mentioned,  that  the  assembling 
of  tiK'  second  council,  and  the  imposition  of  another 
confession  of  faith  upon  the  conscience  of  Berenger, 
were  measures  into  which  Gregory  was  forced  by 
the  enemies  of  that  ecclesiastic.  "  Dejectus  est," 
says  Berenger,  speaking  of  that  pontilT,  "  importuni- 
tate  Paduani  scurrrc.  non  episcopi,  et  Pisani  non 
episcopi,  sed  antichrist!  .  .  .  .  ut  permitteret  calum- 
uiatoribus  veritatis  in  posteriori  quadragesimali 
oincilio  .scriptum  a  se  firniatum  in  priori  mutari." 
stilly.  We  see  here  the  true  reason  why  Gregory 
showed  not  the  smallest  mark  of  resentment  against 
Berenger,  when,  upon  his  return  to  his  own  coun- 
try, he  violated  the  promise  by  which  he  had  so  so- 
leiimly  bound  himself  at  the  last  council,  and  re- 
futed the  confession  to  which  ho  had  sworn  his  as- 
sent. For  the  pontiff  was  very  far  from  adopting  the 
sentiments  of  those  who  had  drawn  up  or  suggested 
that  monstrous  confession,  and  deemed  it  sufficient 
to  believe  with  Berenger,  that  the  bf>dy  and  blood  of 
Jesus  Christ  were  exhibited  to  Christians  in  the  eu 
charist.    Hence  he  suffered  the  violent  advarsuries 


cbap.  in. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


291 


XVIII.  Amidst  the  clamours  of  his  incensed 
adversaries,  Berenger  observed  a  profound  si- 
lence, and  was  so  prudent  as  to  retiu-n  no  an- 
swer to  their  bitter  and  repeated  invectives. 
Fatigued  with  a  controversy,  in  which  the  first 
prhiciples  of  reason  were  so  impudently  insult- 
ed, and  exhausted  by  an  opposition  which  he 
was  unable  to  overcome,  he  abandoned  all  his 
worldly  concerns,  and  retired  to  the  isle  of  St. 
Cosme,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Tours,  where 
he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  days  in  tasting, 
prayer,  and  pious  exercises.  In  the  year  1088, 
death  put  an  end  to  the  alHiction  he  suffered  m 
his  retirement,  from  a  bitter  reflection  upon  the 
dissimulation  he  had  been  guilty  of  at  Rome, 
and  to  the  penitential  acts  of  mortification  and 
austerity,  to  which  he  seems  to  have  submitted 
with  a  view  of  expiating  the  enormity  of  his 
criminal  compliance,  and  the  guilt  of  his 
perjury.*  He  left  in  the  minds  of  the  people 
a  deep  impression  of  his  extraordinary  sanctity, 
and  his  followers  were  as  numerous  as  his  tame 
was  illustrious.!  There  have  been  disputes 
among  the  learned  about  the  real  sentiments 
of  this  eminent  man:  yet,  notwithstanding  the 
art  which  he  sometimes  used  to  conceal  his 
opinions,  and  the  ambiguity  that  is  often  re- 
markable in  his  expressions,  whoever  examines 
with  impartiality  and  attention  such  of  his 
writings  as  are  yet  extant,  will  immediately 
perceive,  that  he  looked  upon  the  bread  and 
wine  in  the  sacrament  as  no  more  tlian  the 
signs  or  symbols  of  the  body  and  blood  of  the 
divine  Saviour.|  In  this  opinion  Berenger  per- 


of  his  persecuted  friend  to  murmur,  scribble,  bawl, 
and  refute,  while  he  himself  observed  a  profound  si- 
lence, and  persisted  in  his  resolution  to  put  that 
unhappy  man  to  no  further  trouble.  It  is,  however, 
proper  to  observe,  that,  in  the  same  book  from  which 
these  particulars  arc  taken,  we  find  Berenger  ad- 
dressing himself,  with  the  utmost  humility,  to  the 
divine  niercy,  for  the  pardon  of  the  crime  of  dissimu- 
lation and  perjury  he  had  committed  at  Rome,  and 
confessini^  that  the  fear  fif  death  had  extorted  from 
him  oaths  and  declarations  diametrically  opposite  to 
his  real  senlinients,  and  engajed  him  to  subscribe 
to  a  set  of  tenets  which  he  abhorred.  "Dens  omni- 
potens,"  says  he,  "  miserere,  fous  misericordiarum, 
tantum  sacrileciuni  acnoscenti." 

*  This  will  appear  evident  to  such  as  peruse  the 
treatise  of  his  composition,  which  we  have  mention- 
ed in  the  precedinj;  note,  as  published  in  Marlenne's 
Thesaur.  Anecdot.  torn.  iv. 

t  The  canons  of  the  cathedral  of  Tours  continue 
to  honour  the  memory  of  Berenger  by  an  annual 
procession,  in  which  they  perform  a  solemn  service 
at  his  tomb  in  the  isle  of  St.  Cosmo.  See  Moleon, 
Voyaecs  Liturgiquos,  p.  130. 

I'Mabillon  and  other  Roman  catholic  writers,  as 
also  a  few  Lutheran  divines,  are  of  opinion  that 
Berenger  denied  only  the  doctrine  of  Transubstantia- 
tion,  while  he  maintained,  at  the  same  time,  the 
real  presence  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  in  the 
eucharist;  and  this  opinion  will,  indeed,  appear 
plausible  to  such  as  con.sider  only  the  declaration  he 
signed  in  the  first  council  at  Rome,  to  which  he  was 
summoned  by  Gregory  VII.  and  which  he  never  re- 
tracted, without  comparing  this  declaration  with  the 
rest  of  his  writings.  On  the  other  hand.  Usher,  Bas- 
nage,  and  almost  all  the  writers  of  the  reformed 
church,  maintain,  that  the  doctrine  of  Berenger  was 
exactly  the  same  with  that  which  Calvin  afterwards 
adopted;  and  I  cannot  help  joining  with  them  in 
this  opinion,  when  I  peruse  attentively  the  follow- 
ing words  of  his  Letter  to  Almannus,  published  in 
Martenne's  Thesaur.  torn.  iv.  Constat,  says  Beren- 
ger in  express  terms,  "  verum  Christi  corpus  in  ipsa 
mensa  proponi,  sed  spiritualiter  interi^ri  liomini  ve- 
rum in  ea  Christi  corpus  ab  his  duntaxat,  qui  Christi 
membra  sunt,  incorruptuni,  intaminatum,  inattri- 


severed  to  the  last;  nor  have  we  any  authentic 
proof  of  his  having  departed  from  it  before  his 
death,  as  some  of  the  Romish  writers  vainly 
pretend.* 


lumque  spiritualiter  manducari."  These  words  de- 
monstrate so  clearly,  that,  by  the  presence  o/ Christ's 
body  in  the  eucharist,  Berenger  meant  no  more  than 
a  spiritual  presence,  as  to  dispel  all  doubt  about  his 
real  Fenliments,  though,  upon  other  occasions,  he 
concealed  these  sentiments  under  dubious  expres- 
sions, to  deceive  his  adversaries. 

*  It  is  will  known  what  laborious  efforts  the  Ro- 
man catholic  writers  have  employed  to  persuade  us, 
that  Berenger,  before  his  death,  abandoned  the  opi- 
nion he  had  so  long  arid  so  warmly  defended,  and 
returned  to  the  doctrine  of  the  church  of  Rome  con- 
cerning the  corporal  presence  of  Christ  in  the  eucha- 
rist. But  when  we  inquire  into  the  reasons  on 
which  this  assertion  is  founded,  we  shall  immedi- 
ately perceive  their  weakness  and  insufficiency. 
They  allege,  in  the  first  place,  that  Berenger  gave 
an  account  of  his  doctrine  and  belief  in  the  council 
of  Bordeaux,  in  1087;  and  add  to  this,  that  the  an- 
cient \\riters  applaud  his  penitential  sentiments, 
and  afiirm  that  he  di(!d  in  the  catholic  faith.  In  all 
this,  however,  we  see  no  proof  of  Berenger's  retrac- 
tion. He  adhered,  indeed,  to  the  confession  of  faith, 
which  he  had  subscribed  and  adopted  in  the  first  of 
the  two  Roman  councils,  to  which  he  had  been  sum- 
monejl  by  Gregory,  and  which  that  pontift'  judged 
sufiicient  to  clear  him  from  the  imputation  of  heresy: 
and  they  who  confined  their  attention  to  the  literal 
sense  of  the  words  of  that  confession,  without  consi- 
derins  their  spirit,  and  the  different  meanings  of 
which  they  wi're  susceptible,  might  easily  imagine 
that  Berenger's  confession  was  agreeable  to  the  doc- 
trine of  the  church.  Gregory,  in  order  to  pacify 
matters,  confirmed  them  in  this  notion;  and  though 
he  was  well  informed  of  Berenger's  having  retracted 
the  confession  which  he  had  signed  in  the  last  Ro- 
man council  before  which  he  appeared,  and  of  his 
opposing,  with  the  utmost  warmth,  the  opinion  he 
had  there  so  solemnly  professed,  yet  he  sartered  the 
inconstant  doctor  to  remain  unmolested,  and  thereby 
tacitly  acquitted  him  of  the  crime  and  the  error  thai 
were  laid  to  his  charge. 

It,  is  of  the  utmost  importance  to  observe  here, 
that  the  Roman  church  had  not  come,  in  this  centu- 
ry, to  a  fixed  determination  concerning  the  nature 
and  manner  of  Christ's  presence  in  the  eucharist. 
This  appears  most  evidently  from  the  three  confes- 
sions which  Berenger  sign<;d  by  the  order  of  three 
eounfils;  which  confessions  differed  from  each  other, 
not  only  in  the  terms  and  the  turn  of  expression, 
but  also  in  the  opinions  and  doctrines  they  contain- 
ed. I'ope  Nicolas  II,  and  the  council  he  assembled 
at  Rome,  in  1050,  obliged  him  to  subscribe,  as  the 
true  arid  orthodox  doctrine  of  the  church,  the  first 
of  these  confessions,  or  that  which  cardinal  Hum- 
bert had  composed.  This  confession  was,  however, 
rejected,  not  only  as  harsh  in  point  of  expression, 
but  also  as  erroneous  and  unsound,  by  Gregory  and 
the  two  Roman  councils,  which  lie  had  expressly 
summoned  to  inquire  into  that  matter:  for.  had 
Humbert's  declaration  appeared  to  the  pontiff  to  be 
a  just  expression  of  the  doctrine  and  sense  of  the 
church  concerning  the  eucharist,  neither  he  nor  the 
succeeding  councils  would  have  permitted  other 
forms  of  doctrine  to  be  substituted  in  its  place.  Ore- 
gory,  as  we  have  already  seen,  was  of  opinion,  that 
it  was  highly  itnpropor  to  pry  with  too  much  curio- 
sity into  the  mysteries  of  the  eucharist.  and  that, 
laying  aside  all  disputes  concerning  the  manner  ot 
Christ's  presence  in  that  holy  institution,  it  was 
safest  to  adhere  to  the  plain  words  of  Scripture:  and 
as  this  was  also  the  opinion  of  Berenger.  and  was 
plainly  expressed  in  his  ccmfession  of  faith,  the  ju- 
dicious pontiff  pronounced  him  innocent.  But  a  fol- 
lowing  council  departed  from  this  equitable  sen- 
tence of  Gregory,  who,  though  with  much  reluctance, 
was  induced  to  confirm  their  rigorous  decision;  and 
hence  arose  a  third  confession,  which  was  extremely 
different  from  the  two  precedinr  ones.  We  may  re- 
mark, by  the  bye,  that  in  this  controversy  the  coun- 
cils seem  plainly  to  have  swayd  the  pontiffs,  since 
we  see  the  obstinate,  the  invincible  Gregory,  yield- 
ing, against  his  will,  to  one  of  these  clamorous  as- 
semblies. Berenger  had  no  sooner  gotten  out  of  the 
hands  of  his  enemies,  than  he  returned  to  the  second 


292 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


XIX.  It  is  not  rare  to  find,  in  the  history  of 
the  church,  the  most  trifling  objects  exciting 
the  warmest  and  most  vehement  controver- 
sies. Such  was  the  dispute  that  arose  in 
France,  in  1023,  between  the  priests  and 
monks  of  Limoges,  concerning  the  place  that 
was  to  be  assigned  in  the  pubhc  liturgy  to 
Martial,  the  first  bishop  of  that  diocese.  One 
party,  headed  by  Jordan,  bishop  of  Limoges, 
were  for  placing  him  among  the  confessors, 
while  Hugo,  abbot  of  the  monastery  of  St. 
Martial,  maintained,  that  the  prelate  in  ques- 
tion was  to  be  ranked  among  the  apostles,  and 
branded,  with  the  opprobrious  and  heretical 
title  of  Ebionites,  all  such  as  adhered  to  the 
proposal  of  Jordan.  This  momentoiis  affair 
was  debated,  first,  in  a  council  holden  at  Poic- 
tiers  in  1023,  and  in  another  assembled  at 
Paris  the  year  following;  in  which  latter  it 
was  determined  that  Martial  was  to  be  ho- 
noured with  the  title  of  an  apostle,  and  that 
all  who  refused  him  this  eminent  rank  were  to 
be  considered  as  Ebionites,  who,  as  is  well 
known,  confined  the  number  of  the  apostles  to 
twelve,  that  they  miglit  exclude  St.  Paul  from 
that  sacred  order.  Tlie  decree,  however,  of  this 
council  did  not  produce  the  effects  that  were 
expected  fi-om  it;  for  it  exasperated,  instead  of 
calming,  the  zeal  and  animosity  of  the  con- 
tending parties,  so  that  this  miserable  dispute 
became  daily  more  general,  and  spread  like  a 
contagion  through  all  the  provinces  of  France. 
The  matter  was  at  length  brought  before  the 
tribunal  of  the  Roman  pontiff,  John  XIX.  who 
decided  it  in  favour  of  the  monks,  and,  in  a 
letter  addressed  to  Jordan  and  the  other  bishops 
of  the  nation,  pronounced  Martial  worthy  of 
the  title  and  honours  of  an  apostle.  This  de- 
cision produced  the  most  substantial  and  per- 
manent effects:  for  in  a  council  assembled  at 


confession,  which  the  poiititf  had  approved,  and  piib- 
Jicly  declaimed  acainsttliat  which  had  been  imposed 
upon  him  in  the  last  Roman  council  before  which  he 
had  appeared,  without  receiving  the  least  mark  of 
disappiiihation  from  Gregory.  From  this  it  was  na- 
tural to  conclude,  that  although  he  opposed  the  de- 
cree of  that  council,  he  adopted  the  opinion  of  the 
pope  and  of  the  church. 

In  the  account  which  I  have  here  given  of  this 
memorable  controversy,  I  have  not  only  consulted 
the  ancient  records  relating  to  that  matter,  which 
have  been  made  public  (for  several  of  them  lie  yet  in 
manuscript  in  the  cabinets  of  the  curious,)  but  have 
also  been  assisted  by  the  labours  of  those  among  the 
learned,  who  have  treated  that  important  branch 
of  ecclesiastical  history  in  tlie  most  accurate  and 
ample  manner:  such  as,  first,  Franc,  de  Rove's 
book,  published  at  Angers  in  1650;  "Ad  Can.  Ego 
Berengarius  41.  de  consecrat.  distinct.  2.  Ubi  vita, 
hieresis,  et  ptenitentia  Berengarii  Andegavensis 
Archidiaconi,  et  ad  Josephi  locum  de  Christo,"  (a 
book  which  is  extremely  curious,  and  very  little 
known.)  Mabillon's  Prsef.  ad  torn.  ix.  Act.  SS.  Ord. 
Bened.  seu  Ssec.  vi.  part  II.  p.  4.  et  Dissert,  demulti- 
plici  damnatioue,  fidei  professione  et  lapsu,  which 
is  published  in  his  Analecla  veteris  sevi,  tom.  ii.  p. 
456.  Ue  Boulay,  Histor.  Acad.  Paris,  torn.  i.  p.  404. 
tom.  ii.  p.  4.52.  The  authors  of  the  reformed  church, 
whom  I  have  followed  in  this  controversy,  are, 
archbishop  Usher,  de  Successione  Ecclesiar.  Christi- 
anar.  in  occidente,  cap.  vii.  sect.  24.  p.  1!I5.  Basnage, 
Hist,  des  Eglises  Reformees,  tom.  i.  p.  105,  and  Hist, 
de  I'Eglise,  tom.  ii.  p.  1391.— Cas.  Oudin,  Dissert,  de 
Doctrina  et  Scriptis  Berengarii  in  Comment,  de 
Scriptor.  Ecclesiast.  tom.  ii.  p.  624.  There  appears, 
more  or  l^j?",  a  certain  spirit  of  partiality  in  all 
these  writers;  but  this  spirit  is  particularly  notorious 
among  those  of  the  church  of  Rome. 


Limoges,  in  1029,  Jordan  declared  his  acqui- 
escence in  the  papal  sentence;  in  a  provincial 
council  at  Bourges,  two  years  after,  Martial 
was  associated  to  the  company  of  the  apostles 
with  great  solemnity,  in  consequence  of  the 
decision  of  the  Roman  see;  and  about  the 
same  time  this  controversy  was  completely  and 
finally  terminated  in  a  numerous  council  con- 
voked at  Limoges,  in  which  the  prayers  that 
had  been  consecrated  to  the  memory  of 
the  apostle  Martial,  by  the  zealous  pontiff, 
were  publicly  recited.*  The  warm  contenders 
for  the  apostleship  of  Martial  asserted,  that  he 
was  one  of  the  seventy  disciples  of  Christ; 
whence  they  concluded,  that  he  had  an  equal 
title  with  Paul  and  Barnabas  to  the  honour  of 
an  apostle. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Concerning  the  Rites  and  Ceremonies  used  in  tht 

Church  durbig  this  Century. 

I.  The  form  of  public  worship,  which  was  es- 
tablished at  Rome,  had  not  yet  been  received 
in  all  the  western  provinces.  This  was  looked 
upon  by  the  imperious  pontiffs  as  an  insult 
upon  their  authority,  and  therefore  they  used 
tlieir  utmost  eftbrts  to  introduce  universally 
the  Roman  ceremonies,  and  to  promote  a  per- 
fect uniformity  of  worship  in  every  part  of  the 
Latin  world.  Gregorj'  VII.  employed  all  his 
diligence,  activity,  and  zeal  in  this  enterprise, 
as  appears  from  several  passages  in  his  letters; 
and  he  alone,  perhaps,  was  equal  to  the  execu- 
tion of  such  an  arduous  attempt.  The  Span- 
iards had  long  distinguished  themselves  above 
all  other  nations,  by  their  noble  and  resolute 
resistance  to  the  despotic  attempts  of  the  popes 
upon  this  occasion;  for  they  adhered  to  their 
ancient  Gothic  liturgyf  with  great  obstinacy, 
and  could  not  be  brought  to  change  it  for  the 
method  of  worship  established  at  Rome.  Alex- 
ander II.  had  indeed  proceeded  so  far,  in  1068, 
as  to  persuade  tlie  inhabitants  of  Arragon  into 
his  measures,!  ^""^  *°  conquer  the  aversion 
which  the  Catalonians  had  discovered  for  the 
Roman  worship.  But  the  honour  of  finishing 
this  dithcult  work,  and  bringing  it  to  perfec- 
tion, was  reserved  for  Gregory,  who,  without 
interruption,  exhorted,  threatened,  admonish- 
ed, and  intreated  Sanchez  and  Alphonso,  the 
kings  of  Arragon  and  Castile,  imtil,  fatigued 
with  the  importunity  of  this  restless  pontiff, 


*  See  Boulay,  tom.  i.  p.  372,  101. — J.  Longueval, 
Histoire  de  I'Eglise  Gallicane,  tom.  vii.  p.  188,  189, 
231. — The  Benedictine  monks,  in  their  Gallia  Chris- 
tiana, tom.  ii.  Append.  Documentor,  p.  162,  have 
published  the  Letter  of  Jordan  to  Pope  Benedict 
■VIII.  against  the  Apostleship  of  Martial.  The  de- 
crees of  the  councils  of  Bourges  and  Limoges  con- 
cerning this  matter  are  published  by  Labbe,  in  his 
Biblioth.  Nova  Manuscriptor.  tom.  ii.  p.  766.  Mabil- 
lon  has  given  an  ample  account  of  Ademar,  a  monk 
of  St.  Cybar,  the  first  promoter  of  this  ridiculous 
controversy,  in  his  Annal.  Ord.  S.  Benedict,  tom.  iv. 
p.  318,  and,  among  the  original  papers  subjoined  to 
that  volume,  has  published  a  letter  written  by  that 
monk  in  favour  of  the  apostleship  of  Martial.  See 
also  the  Histoire  Literaire  de  la  France,  tom.  vii.  p. 
301. 

\  See  IMabillon,  de  Lilurgia  Gallicana,  lib.  i.  cap. 
ii.  p.  10. — Jo.  Bona,  Res  Liturg.  lib.  i.  cap.  xi.  p. 
220,  op.— Pet.  Le  Brun,  Explication  des  Ceremonies 
de  la  Messe,  tom.  ii.  Diss.  v.  p.  272. 

t  ?H.  de  Marca,  Histoire  de  Beam,  liv.  ii.  cap.  ii. 


Ohap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


293 


they  consented  to  abolish  tlie  Gothic  service 
in  their  churclws,  and  to  introduce  the  Roman 
in  its  place.  Sanchez  was  tiie  first  wlio  com- 
plied with  the  request  of  the  pontitT;  and,  in 
1080,  his  example  was  followed  by  Alphonso. 
The  metlwds  which  tlie  nobles  of  Castile  em- 
ployed to  decide  the  matter  were  very  extra- 
ordinary. First,  thej'  chose  two  champions, 
who  were  to  determine  the  controversy  by  sin- 
gle combat,  the  one  fighting  for  the  Roman  li- 
turgy, the  oK.her  for  the  Gothic.  This  first 
trial  ended  in  favour  of  the  latter;  for  the  Go- 
thic hero  proved  victorious.  Recourse  was 
ne.\t  had  to  the  fiery  trial  for  the  decision  of 
the  dispute:  the  Roman  and  Gothic  liturgies 
were  committed  to  the  flames,  which,  as  tlie 
■story  goes,  consumed  the  former,  while  the  lat- 
ter remained  unblemislied  and  entire.  Thus 
were  the  Gothic  rites  crowned  with  a  double 
victory,  which,  however,  was  not  suflicient  to 
maintain  them  against  the  autliority  of  tlie 
pope,  and  the  influence  of  the  queen  Constan- 
tia,  who  determined  Alphonso  in  favour  of  the 
Roman  service.* 

II.  The  zeal  of  the  Roman  pontiffs  for  intro- 
ducing uniformity  of  worship  into  the  western 
churches  may  be,  in  some  m.easure,  justified; 
but  their  not  permitting  every  nation  to  cele- 
brate divine  worship  in  their  mother  tongue 
was  absolutely  ine.xcusable.  While,  indeed, 
the  Latin  language  was  in  general  use  amongst 
the  western  nations,  or,  at  least,  was  unknown 
only  to  a  very  small  number,  there  was  no  rea- 
son why  it  should  not  be  employed  in  the  pub- 
lic service  of  the  church.  But  when  tlie  decline 
of  the  Roman  empire  drew  on  by  degrees  the 
extinction  of  its  language  in  several  places, 
and  its  decay  in  all  the  western  provinces,  it 
became  just  and  reasonable  that  each  people 
should  serve  the  Deity  in  the  language  tlicy 
understood,  and  which  was  peculiar  to  them. 
This  reasoning,  however,  evident  and  striliing, 
had  no  sort  of  influence  upon  the  Roman  pon- 
tiffs, who,  neither  in  this  nor  in  tlie  following 
centuries,  could  be  persuaded  to  change  the 
established  custom,  but  persisted,  on  the  con- 
trary, with  the  most  senseless  obstinacy,  in  re- 
taining the  use  of  the  Latin  language  in  the 
celebration  of  divine  worship,  even  when  it 
was  no  longer  understood  by  the  people. |  This 
strange  conduct  has  been  variously  accounted 
for  by  different  writers,  who  have  tortured  their 
inventions  to  find  out  its  secj-et  reasons,  and 
have  imagined  many  that  seem  extremely  im- 
probable and  far-fetched.  A  superstitious  and 
extravagant  veneration  for  whatever  carried 
the  hoary  aspect  of  a  remote  antiquity,  was 
undoubtedly  the  principal  reason  that  rendered 
the  pontiffs  unwilling  to  abolisli  the  use  of  the 
Latin  language  in  the  celebration  of  divine 
worship.  The  same  absurd  principle  produc- 
ed a  similar  effect  in  tlie  eastern  churches; 
thus  the  Egyptian  Christians  perfomi  their  re- 
ligious service  in  the  language  of  tiie  ancient 
Copts,  the  .Jacobites  and  the  Nestorians,  in  the 
Syriac,  and  the  Abyssiiiians  in  the  old  Etliio- 


*  Bonn,  Ri'.s  Liturg.  lib.  i.  cap.  xi.  p.  'Jlii. — Le 
Brun,  torn.  li.  p.  2'.li!.— Jo.  de  Ferrerais,  Jlistoriii  tie 
EBpana,  torn.  tii. 

t  Usserii  Historia  Dogniatica  de  Scripturis  et  Sa- 
cris  Vernaculis,  *b  Hen.  Whartono  edita  et  aiicta, 
Londini.  1690,  in  4to. 


pic,  though  all  these  languages  have  been  long 
since  obsolete,  and  are  consequently  unintelli- 
gible to  the  multitude.* 

III.  It  would  be  tedious  to  enumerate,  in  a 
circumstantial  manner,  the  new  inventions 
tliat  were  imposed  upon  Christians,  in  this  cen- 
tury, under  the  specious  titles  of  piety  and 
zeal,  by  the  superstitious  despotism  of  an  im- 
perious clergy.  It  also  unnecessary  to  men- 
tion the  additions  that  were  made  to  former 
inventions,  the  multiplication,  for  example,  of 
the  rites  and  ceremonies  that  were  used  in  the 
worship  of  saints,  relics,  and  images,  and  the 
new  directions  that  were  administered  to  such 
as  undertook  pilgrimages,  or  other  supersti- 
tious services  of  that  nature.  We  shall  only 
observe,  that,  during  the  whole  of  this  century, 
all  the  European  nations  were  most  diligentlj' 
employed  in  rebuilding,  repairing,  and  adorn- 
ing their  churches. f  Nor  will  this  appear  sur- 
prising, when  we  consider,  that,  in  tlie  preced- 
ing century,  all  Europe  was  alarmed  with  a 
dismal  apprehension  that  the  day  of  judgment 
was  at  hand,  and  that  the  world  was  approach- 
ing to  its  final  dissolution;  for,  among  the  other 
effects  of  this  panic  terror,  the  churches  and 
monasteries  were  suffered  to  fall  into  ruin,  or 
at  least  to  remain  witliout  repair,  from  an  idea 
that  they  would  soon  be  involved  in  the  gene- 
ral fate  of  all  sublunary  tilings.  But,  when 
these  apprehensions  were  removed,  affairs  im- 
mediately assumed  a  new  aspect;  the  totter- 
ing temples  were  rebuilt;  and  the  greatest 
zeal,  attended  with  the  richest  and  most  libe- 
ral donations,  was  employed  in  restoring  the 
sacred  edifices  to  their  former  lustre,  or  rather 
in  giving  them  new  degrees  of  magnificence 
and  beauty. 

CHAPTER  V. 

Concerning  the  Divisions  and  Heresies  that  trou- 
bled the  Church  during  this  Century. 

I.  The  state  of  the  anciant  sects,  and  par- 
ticularly of  the  Nestorians  and  Monophj'sites, 
who  resided  in  Asia  and  Egypt,  under  the  Mo- 
hammedan government,  was  now  much  the 
same  as  it  had  been  in  the  preceding  century, 
neither  extremely  prosperous,  nor  absolutely 
miserable.  The  case  of  the  Manichseans,  or 
Paulicians,  whom  the  Grecian  emperors  had 
banished  from  the  eastern  provinces  into  Bul- 
garia and  Thrace,  was  mucli  more  unhappy  on 
account  of  the  perpetual  conflicts  they  had  to 
sustain  with  the  Greeks,  who  persecuted  and 
oppressed  them  with  much  keenness  and  ani- 
mosity. The  Greeks,  ;is  usually  happens  on 
the  like  occasions,  laid  the  blame  of  their 
violent  measures  upon  the  IVlanichaEans,  whom 
they  represented  as  a  turbulent,  perfidious, 
and  sanguinary  liiction,  and  as  the  declared  and 
inveterate  enemies  of  the  Grecian  empire.! 
This,  however,  is  by  no  means  to  be  rcceivea 


*  See  Euseb.  Koiiaiidot,  Dissertaf.  di'.  l.itiirgiarum 
Orietitalium  ori^ine  et  antifiiiitatc,  cap.  vi.  p.  40. 

t  Glab.  Rodolph.  Hist.  lib.  iii.  cap.  iv.  in  Duchesne's 
Scriptor.  Franc,  torn.  iv.  p.  217.  ■'  Infra  millesimum 
tertio  jam  fere  imminente  aniiocoiitigit  in  universo 
pene  terraiuni  orbe,  pra^cipue  tamen  in  Italia  et  in 
Galliis,  innovari  ecclesiarnm  basilicas." 

\  See  the  Alexias  of  Anna  Commena,  lib.  v.  p. 
105;  lib.  vi.  p.  124,  145. 


294 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


as  an  impartial  state  of  the  case;  at  least,  it 
appears  from  many  (.ircuiiistances,  that,  if  the 
Manichasans  were  exasperated  against  the 
Greeks,  their  resentment  was  in  some  mea- 
sure justified  by  the  violent  and  injurious  treat- 
ment which  they  had  received  from  them. 
The  Grecian  pontiffs  and  clergy  were  far  from 
being  destitute  of  the  odious  spirit  of  persecu- 
tion; and  it  is  certain  that  the  emperors,  insti- 
gated Ijy  them,  had  exhausted  the  patience  of 
the  Paulicians  by  repeated  vexations  and  cru- 
elties, and  alienated  their  affections  by  inflict- 
ing upon  them,  without  interruption,  a  variety 
of  pimishments,  such  as  banishment,  confisca- 
tion of  goods,  and  other  marks  of  severity  and 
violence.  \ 

Alexius  Comnenus,  who,  by  his  learning, 
was  an  ornament  to  tlie  imperial  sceptre,  per- 
ceiving that  the  Manichajans  were  not  to  be 
vanquished,  without  the  greatest  diiffculty,  by 
the  force  of  arms,  and  observing  also  tliat 
their  numbers  increased  from  day  to  day  both 
in  Thrace  and  in  the  adjacent  provinces,  had 
recourse  to  the  power  of  reason  and  argument 
to  conquer  their  obstinacy,  and  spent  whole 
days  at  Philippopolis,  in  disputing  with  the 
principal  doctors  of  that  pernicious  sect.  Many 
of  them  yielded  to  the  victorious  arguments 
of  this  royal  disputant,  and  his  learned  associ- 
ates; nor  is  this  to  be  wondered  at,  since  their 
demonstrations  were  accompanied  and  enforced 
by  rewards  and  punishments.  Such  of  the 
Manicheeans  as  retracted  tlieir  errors,  and  re- 
turned to  the  bosom  of  the  Greek  church,  were 
loaded  with  gifts,  honours,  and  privileges,  ac- 
cording to  their  respective  stations,  while  such 
as  stood  firm  against  the  reasoning  of  the  em- 
peror, were  inhumanly  condemned  to  per- 
petual imprisonment.* 

II.  Many  of  the  Paulicians,  either  from  a 
principle  of  zeal  for  the  propagation  of  tlieir 
opinions,  or  from  a  desire  of  relieving  them- 
selves from  the  persecution  and  oppression 
they  suffered  under  the  Grecian  yoke,  retired 
from  Bulgaria  and  Tlirace,  and  formed  settle- 
ments in  other  countries.  Their  first  migra- 
tion was  into  Italy;  whence,  in  process  of  time, 
they  sent  colonies  into  almost  all  the  other 
provinces  of  Europe,  and  formed  gradual!}'  a 
considerable  number  of  religious  assemblies, 
who  adhered  to  their  doctrine,  and  were  after- 
wards persecuted  witli  tiie  utmost  vehemence 
by  the  Roman  portiffs-f     It  is  difficult  to  fix 


*  There  is  an  ample  and  circumstantial  account  of 
this  controverBv  between  the  eniperor  and  the  Mani- 
cha;ans  in  the  work  mentioned  in  the  preopriing 
note,  lib.  xiv.  p.  357. 

t  See  Muratori,  Antiquitat.  Ital.  niedii  JEvi,  tom. 
V.  p.  83.— Liniborch,  llistoria  Inqnl.sitionis,  p.  .31.— 
Riccinii  Dissertatio  de  Catharis.  prefixed  to  the 
Summa  B.  MonctEe  contra  Tatharos.  We  might  also 
refer,  upon  this  occasion,  to  Glab.  Rndulph.  Hislor. 
lib.  iii.  cap.  viii.  to  Matth.  Paris,  and  other  ancient 
writers.  Certain  Italian  anthois,  and  among  others 
Riccini,  seemed  unwilling  to  acknowledge  that  the 
Paulicians  arrived  first  in  Italy,  and  proceeded 
thence  into  the  other  provinces  of  Europe;  and 
maintain,  on  the  contrary,  that  their  first  settle- 
ment was  in  France,  whence  they  repaired  to  Italy. 
These  writers  look  upon  it  as  ignominious  to  tlieir 
country,  to  be  considered  as  the  first  European  nation 
which  fostered  such  a  pernicious  and  impious  sect  in 
its  bosom.  Be  that  as  it  may,  their  hypothesis  is 
favoured  by  Peter  de  Marca  himself,  a  Frenchman, 
who   in  his  Histoire  de  Beam,  livr.  viii.  cap.  xiv. 


the  precise  period  when  the  Paulicians  began 
to  take  refuge  in  Europe;  it  is,  however,  certain, 
from  the  most  authentic  testimonies,  that  a 
considerable  number  of  that  sect  were,  about 
the  middle  of  this  century,  settled  in  Lombardy, 
Insubria,  and  principally  at  Milan,  and  tliat 
many  of  them  led  a  wandering  life  in  France, 
Germany,  and  other  countries,  where  they 
captivated  the  esteem  and  admiration  of  the 
multitude,  by  their  sanctimonious  looks,  and 
the  unconamon  air  of  piety,  which  they  put  on 
with  much  affectation.  In  Italy  they  were 
called  Paterini  and  Cathari,  or  rather  Gazari, 
which  latter  appellation  the  Germans  have 
preserved,  with  a  small  alteration  only,  which 
was  proper  to  adapt  it  to  the  genius  of  their 
language.*  In  France  they  were  called  Albi- 
gensesj  from  the  town  of  Albi,  and  Bulgarians 
because  they  came  from  Bulgaria,  and  because 
the  head  of  their  sect  resided  in  that  country; 
as  also  Publicans,  which  was  probably  a  corrupt 
pronunciation  of  Paulicians ,  and  boni  homines 
or  '  good  men,'  with  several  other  titles  and 
epithets. J 


declares  it  as  his  opinion,  that  the  Paulicians  joined 
themselves  to  the  Gallic  armies  that  returned  from 
the  hilly  war  by  the  province  of  Bulgaria,  and  were 
thus  conducted  into  France.  But  that  learned  au- 
thor alleges  no  proof  to  support  this  opinion:  it  ap- 
pears on  the  contrary,  from  the  records  of  the  Inqui- 
sition of  Toulouse,  published  by  Limborch,  and  from 
other  authentic  pieces,  that  the  Paulicians  settled 
first  in  Sicily,  Lombardy,  Liguria,  and  the  Milanese, 
and  thence  sent  many  doctors  and  missionaries  into 
France.  See  the  Codex  Tolosanus,  passim.  We 
learn  also  from  the  Code  of  Toulouse,  that  the 
French  Paulicians,  who  were  called  Albigenses,  had 
no  bishop  to  consecrate  their  Jlnciani  (such  was  the 
title  they  gave  to  their  presbyters.)  so  that  such  of 
them  as  were  desirous  of  being  placed  in  the  order 
of  presbyters,  were  obliged  to  repair  to  Italy,  in 
order  to  their  being  regularly  installed. 

*  The  title  of  Paterini,  which  was  given  to  this 
sect  in  Italy,  has  been  already  explained  in  the 
second  chapter  of  the  second  part  of  this  century, 
sect.  ^'^,  note  [t]-  As  to  the  term  Catharus,  it  was  un- 
doubtedly, when  applied  to  the  Paulicians,  the  same 
with  GaV.arus,  as  I  have  elsewhere  demon.strated. 
See  Histor.  Ord.  Apostol.  p.  3G7.  The  country  which 
bore,  in  this  century,  the  name  of  Gazaria,  was  what 
we  now  call  the  Minor  Tartary. 

t  That  the  Paulicians  were  called  Albigenses  in 
France,  and  were  a  sect  entirely  distinct  "from  the 
Waldenses  and  other  heretics,  appears  evidently 
from  the  Codex  Iiiquisitionis  Tolosans.  They  re- 
ceived this  name  from  a  town  in  Aquitaine,  called 
Albigia,  or  Albi,  where  their  errors  were  condemned 
in  a  council  which  met  in  1170.  See  Chatel's  Me- 
moires  de  I'Histoire  de  Langiiedoc,  p.  305.  It  is, 
therefore,  a  mistake  to  consider  the  Albigenses  as  a 
sect  so  called  from  Albi's  being  the  place  of  their 
birth,  their  residence,  or  theseat  of  their  principal  as- 
sembly, since  that  name  was  given  them  for  no 
other  reason  than  their  having  been  condemned  in 
a  council  holden  in  that  town.  There  were,  indeed, 
several  Paulicians  among  the  various  sects  of  dis- 
senters from  the  church  of  Rome,  that  inhabited  the 
country  about  Albi;  and  it  is  also  true,  that  the  title 
of  Albigenses  is  usually  extended  to  all  the  heretics, 
of  whatever  sect  or  denomination  they  were,  who 
dwelt  in  those  parts. 

J  The  learned  Du  Fresne.  in  his  Glosfearium  Latin, 
medii  A^-vi,  tom.  i.  p.  1338,  has  proved,  in  an  ample 
manner,  that  the  Paulicians  were  called  in  France 
Bulgares,  and  (by  a  corrupt  pronunciation  of  that 
word)  Bougres.  The  same  author,  in  his  Observe- 
tiones  ad  Villeharduini  Historiani  Constantinopolit., 
has  fully  demonstrated,  that  the  names  Popolicani 
and  Publicani,  that  were  imposed  upon  these  Mani- 
cha-ans.  were  no  more  than  a  corruption  of  the  term 
Pauliciani.  ill  pronounced.  The  appellation  of  Boni 
Homives,  or  Los  bos  Homos,  as  the  southern  French 
spoke  at  that  time,  was  a  title  which  the  Patiliciani 


Chap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


295 


III.  The  first  religious  assembly  which  the 
Paulicians  formed  in  Europe,  is  said  to  have 
been  discovered  at  Orleans,  in  1017,  under  the 
reign  of  Robert.  A  certain  Italian  lady  is  said  to 
have  been  at  the  head  of  this  sect;  its  principal 
members  were  twelve  canons  of  the  cathedral 
of  Orleans,  men  eminently  distinguished  by 
their  piety  and  learning,  among  whom  Lisoius 
and  Stephen  held  the  first  rank;  and  it  was 
composed,  in  general,  of  a  considerable  number 
of  citizens,  who  were  far  from  being  of  the 
meanest  condition.  The  impious  doctrines, 
professed  by  these  canons,  were  discovered  by 
a  certain  priest  named  Heribert,  and  by  Arifas- 
tus,  a  Norman  nobleman;  upon  which  liobert 
assembled  a  council  at  Orleans,  and  employed 
the  most  effectual  methods  that  he  could  devise 
to  bring  these  heretics  to  a  better  mind.  But 
all  his  endeavours  were  to  no  purpose;  this 
pernicious  sect  adhered  obstinately  to  its  prin- 
ciples; and  its  members  were  at  length  con- 
demned to  be  burned  alive.* 

It  is  difficult  to  come  to  a  fixed  determina- 
tion with  respect  to  the  character  and  doctrine 
of  these  sectaries;  for,  when  we  examine 
matters  attentively,  we  find  that  even  their 
enemies  acknowledged  the  sincerity  of  their 
piety,  tliat  they  were  blackened  by  accusations 
which  were  evidently  false,  and  that  the  opin- 
ions for  which  they  were  punished  ditfer  widel}' 
from  the  Manichsean  system. f  As  far  as  we 
can  see  into  the  case,  it  appears  to  us,  that 
these  pretended  Manichroans  of  Orleans  were 
a  set  of  Mystics,  who  looked  with  contempt 
upon  all  external  worship,  rejected  all  rites 
and  ceremonies,  and  even  the  Christian  sacra- 
ments, as  destitute  of  any,  even  the  least 
spiritual  efficacy  or  virtue;  placed  the  whole 
of  religion  in  the  internal  contemplation  of 
God,  and  the  elevation  of  the  soul  to  divine 
and  celestial  things;  and,  in  their  philosophical 
Bpeculations  concerning  God,  the  Trinity,  and 
the  human  soul,  soared  above  the  comprehen- 
sion of  the  age  in  which  they  lived.  A  like 
set  of  men  proceeded  in  vast  numbers  out  of 
Italy  in  the  following  ages,  spread  like  an  in- 
undation througii  all  the  European  provinces, 
and  were  known  in  Germany  under  the  name 
of  the  Brethren  of  the  free  Spirit,  while  they 
were  distinguished  in  other  countries  by  the 
appellation  of  Bcghards.J 


attributed  to  theniseives.  See  the  Codex  Iritjuisil. 
TolosancB. 

*  The  accounts  that  the  ancient  writers  have 
given  of  these  heretics  are  collected  by  lioulay,  in  his 
Hist.  Acad.  Paris,  toni.  i.  p.  3()4.— D'Arfjentre,  Col- 
lectio  Judicior.  de  novis  Krroribiis,  torn.  i.  p.  5. — Jo. 
Launoy,  de  Srhcilis  cclibrioribus  (Jaroli  Magni,  cap. 
xxiv.  p.  ?iO. — The  hi.-itory  of  the  synod  of  Orleans,  in 
which  thisscct  w  as  roiidi  inned,  is  given  by  U'Acheri, 
in  his  Spicilcf;.  Vcter.  Srriptor.  torn.  i.  p.  (iOI. 

t  Hasnagc,  in  his  llistnire  des  Epiises  Reformees, 
torn.  i.  period  iv.  p.  Ul,  iuid  in  his  Hist,  de  I'Eplise, 
torn.  ii.  p.  i:iHH,  pleads  the  cause  of  the  canons  of  Or- 
leans; but  this  learned  and  worthy  man  seems  to  have 
been  carried  too  far  by  his  zeal  for  augnientinf;  the 
number  of  those  who  have  been  martyrs  to  the  truth. 

{  We  shall  have  occasion  to  Rive  a  more  copious 
account  of  these  fanatics  in  the  history  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  in  which  they  were  first  drawn 
from  tliiir  obscurity,  and  condemned  by  many  coun- 
cils, psperially  in  Germany.  It  is,  however,  certain, 
that  they  had  a  clandestine  e,\istenee  long  before 
that  period,  and  that  they  piopapaled  their  tenets 
secretly  in  several  places.  Their  doctrine  resembles, 
in  some  particulars,  that  of  the  Manicha'ans;  and 


I  IV.  We  find  in  history  another  branch  of 
I  this  numerous  sect,  whose  errors  were  not  ac- 
companied with  the  crimes  that  were  laid  to 
tlie  cliarge  of  their  brethren,  and  who  were 
j  converted  by  a  pathetic  discourse  that  was  ad- 
I  dressed  to  them  by  Gerard,  bishop  of  Cambray 
and  Anas,  in  an  assembly  of  the  clergy,  holden 
in  the  latter  city,  in  1030.  These  honest  Mys- 
tics, who  were  equally  remarkable  for  their 
docility  and  their  ignorance,  had  received  the 
doctrine  they  professed  from  the  Italians,  and 
particularly  from  a  certain  eccentric  doctor, 
whose  name  was  Gundulf  They  maintained, 
in  general,  according  to  their  own  confession, 
that  the  whole  of  religion  consisted  in  the 
study  of  practical  piety,  and  in  a  course  of  ac- 
tion conformable  to  the  divine  laws;  and  they 
treated  all  external  modes  of  worship  writh  the 
utmost  contempt.  Their  particular  tenets  may 
be  reduced  to  the  following  heads:  1.  They 
rejected  baptism,  and,  in  a  more  especial  man- 
ner, the  baptism  of  infants,  as  a  ceremony  that 
was  in  no  respect  essential  to  salvation:  2. 
They  rejected,  for  the  same  reason,  the  sacra- 
ment of  the  Lord's  supper:  3.  They  denied, 
that  the  churches  were  endowed  with  a  greater 
degree  of  sanctity  than  private  houses,  or  that 
they  were  more  adapted  to  the  worship  of  God 
than  any  other  place:  4.  They  affirmed,  that 
the  altars  were  to  be  considered  in  no  other 
light  than  as  heaps  of  stones,  and  were  there- 
fore unworthy  of  any  marks  of  veneration  or 
regard:  5.  They  disapproved  the  use  of  in- 
cense and  consecrated  oil  in  services  of  a  reli- 
gious nature:  6.  Tliey  looked  upon  the  use  of 
bells  in  the  churches,  as  an  intolerable  super- 
stition: 7.  They  denied,  that  the  establishment 
of  bishops,  presbyters,  deacons,  and  other  ec- 
clesiastical dignities,  was  of  divine  institution, 
and  went  so  far  as  to  maintain  that  the  ap- 
pointment of  stated  ministers  in  tlie  church 
was  entirely  unnecessary:  8.  They  affirmed, 
that  the  institution  of  fimeral  rites  was  an  ef- 
fect of  sacerdotal  avarice,  and  that  it  was  a 
matter  of  indifi'erence  whctlier  the  dead  were 
buried  in  the  churches,  or  in  the  fields:  9. 
They  looked  upon  the  voluntary  punishment, 
called  penance,  so  generally  practised  in  this 
century,  as  unprofitable  and  absurd:  10.  They 
denied  that  the  sins  of  departed  spirits  could 
be,  in  any  measure,  atoned  for  by  the  celebra- 
tion of  masses,  the  distribution  of  alms  to  the 
poor,  or  a  vicarious  penance;*  and  they  conse- 
quently treated  the  doctrine  of  purgatory  as  a 
ridiculous  fable:  11.  They  considered  marriage 
as  a  pernicious  institution,  and  absurdly  con- 
demned, without  distinction,  all  connubial 
bonds:t  12.  They  looked  upon  a  certain  sort 
of  veneration  and  worship  as  due  to  the  apos- 
tles and  martyrs,  from  which,  however,  they 
excluded  such   as   were   only   confessors,    in 


hence  it  was  natural  for  the  ignorant  divines  of  the 
ase  in  which  Ihey  lived,  to  consider  them  as  a  branch 
of  that  iiernicious  sect. 

fXf-  *  By  a  virariutis  peiiaiirc  is  understood  the 
course  of  mortification  and  voluntary  sufTering,  that 
one  person  undergoes  in  order  to  procure  absolution 
for  another. 

t  This  eleventh  article  is  scarcely  credible,  at  least 
as  it  is  here  expressed.  It  is  more  reasonable  to 
suppose,  that  these  Mystics  did  not  abscdutely  con- 
demn marriage,  but  only  held  celibacy  in  higher  es- 
teem, as  a  mark  of  superior  sanctity  and  virtue. 


296 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  U. 


which  class  they  comprehended  the  saints,  who 
had  not  suffered  death  for  the  cause  of  Christ, 
and  whose  bodies,  in  their  esteem,  had  nothing 
more  sacred  than  any  other  human  carcase: 
13.  They  declared  the  use  of  instrumental 
music  in  the  churches,  and  other  religious  as- 
semblies, superstitious  and  unlawful:  14.  They 
denied,  that  tlie  cross  on  which  Christ  suffered 
was  in  any  respect  more  sacred  than  other 
kinds  of  wood,  and,  in  consecjuence,  refused  to 
pay  to  it  the  smallest  degree  of  religious  wor- 
ship: 15.  They  not  only  refused  all  acts  of 
adoration  to  the  images  of  Christ,  and  of  the 
saints,  but  were  also  for  having  them  removed 
out  of  the  churches:  16.  They  were  shocked  at 
the  subordination  and  distinctions  that  were 
establislied  among  the  clergy,  and  at  the  differ- 
ent degrees  of  authority  conferred  upon  the 
different  members  of  that  sacred  body.* 

When  we  consider  the  corrupt  state  of  reli- 
gion in  this  century,  and  {Kirticularly  the  su- 
perstitious notions  tliat  were  generally  adopted 
in  relation  to  outward  ceremonies,  the  efficacy 
of  penance  and  the  sanctity  of  churches,  rehcs, 
and  images,  it  will  not  appjear  surprising,  that 
many  persons  of  good  sense  and  solid  piety, 
running  from  one  extreme  to  another,  fell 
into  the  opinions  of  thsse  Mystics,  in  which, 
among  several  absurdities,  tliere  were  many 
things  plausible  and  specious,  and  some  highly 
rational. 

V.  A  controversy,  of  a  much  more  subtile 
and  difficult  nature,  arose  in  France,  about  the 
year  1089.  It  had  for  its  principal  author 
Iloscellinus,  a  canon  of  Compcigne,  a  profound 
dialectician,  and  tlie  most  eminent  doctor  of 
the  sect  called  Nominalists.  He  deemed  it  in- 
conceivable and  impossible  that  the  Son  of 
God  should  assume  the  human  nature  ^lone, 
i.  e.  witliout  the  Father  and  the  Holy  Ghost 
becoming  incarnate  also,  unless  by  the  three 
persons  in  the  godhead  were  n>eant  three  dis- 
tinct objects,  or  natures  existing  separately 
(such  as  three  angels,  or  three  distinct  spirits,) 
though  endowed  with  one  will,  and  acting  by 
one  power.  When  it  was  insinuated  to  Ro»- 
cellinus,  that  this  manner  of  reasoning  led 
directly  to  Tritheism,  or  the  doctrine  of  three 
gods,  he  answered  boldly,  that  the  existence 
of  three  gods  might  be  asserted  with  truth,f 


*  See  an  account  of  the  synod  of  Arras  in  the 
Spicileffinm  Scriptor.  Veter.  torn.  i.  p.  007 — tJ24;  also 
Car.  Plessis  D'Argentre,  CoUectio  Judieiorum  de 
JVoBts  Erroribus,  torn.  i. 

t  Such  is  the  account  piven  by  John,  the  accuser 
of  this  metaphysical  ecclesiastic,  in  a  letter  to  An- 
gelin,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  published  by  Balu- 
zius,  in  his  Miscellanea,  torn.  iv.  The  same  account 
is  confirmed  by  Anselm  himself,  in  the  book  de  fide 
Trinitatis,  which  he  wrote  against  Roscellinus:  see 
Oper.  tom.  i.  p.  41,  43,  and  lib.  ii.  Epistolar.  ep.  x.xxv. 
p.  335,  tom.  ii.  op. — and  also  by  Fulco,  bishop  of 
Beauvais,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  second  book  of  the 
Epistles  of  Anselm,  ep.  xli.  lib.  ii.  tom.  ii.  op.  p.  357. 
It  must,  however,  be  considered,  that  the  learned 
men  now  mentioned  were  the  inveterate  enemies  of 
Roscellinus,  and  that  they  perhaps  comprehended  his 
meaning  imperfectly,  or  p«;rverted  it  wilfully.  Seve- 
ral circumstances  prove,  that  some  of  his  adversaries 
were  in  one  or  the  other  of  these  two  cases.  Anselm 
nimself  furnishes  sufficient  grounds  for  this  suspi- 
cion, since,  notwithstanding  his  aversion  to  the 


were  not  the  expression  harsh  and  contrary  to 
the  phraseology  generally  received.  He  weis, 
however,  obliged  to  retract  this  error  in  a 
council  assembled  at  Soissons,  in  1092;  but  he 
resumed  it  when  the  council  was  dismissed,  and 
the  danger  over.  Persecuted  anew  on  account 
of  his  doctrine,  he  took  refuge  in  England,  and 
excited  there  divisions  and  contests  of  another 
kind,  by  maintaining,  among  other  things,  that 
persons  born  out  of  lawful  wedlock  ought  to 
be  deemed  incapable  of  admission  to  holy 
orders.  Tliis  doctrine,  which  was  by  no  means 
suited  to  the  times,  procured  Roscellinus  many 
enemies,  and  was  in  a  great  measure  the  occa- 
sion of  his  involuntary  removal  from  England. 
Banislied  thence,  he  returned  to  France,  and, 
taking  up  his  residence  at  Paris,  fomented 
again  the  old  dispute  concerning  the  Trinity. 
This,  however,  succeeded  not  according  to  his 
hopes,  but  exposed  him  to  much  trouble  and 
vexation  from  the  redoubled  attacks  of  his  ad- 
versaries, who  fiercely  assailed  him  from  all 
quarters.  Fatigued  with  their  persecutions, 
he  retired  at  last  into  Aquitaine,  where  he  ac- 
quired universal  esteem  by  his  eminent  piety, 
and  passed  the  rest  of  his  days  in  tranquillity 
and  repose.* 

Nouimalists,  of  whom  Roscellinus  was  the  chief,  he 
grants,  in  his  book  de  Fide  Trinitatis,  cap.  iii.  that 
the  opinion  of  his  antagonist  may  be  admitted,  or  at 
least  tolerated,  in  acertain  sense;  and  even  frequently 
intimates,  that  he  is  not  perfectly  assured  of  his  un- 
derstanding fully  the  meaning  of  Roscelliiius,  and 
that  he  believes  the  sentiments  of  that  ecclesiastic 
less  pernicious  than  his  accusers  have  represented 
them.  "  Sed  forsitan  (says  Anselm)  ipse  (Roscelli- 
nus) non  dicit,  sicut  sunt  tres  a-niraae  aut  tres  Ange- 
Ii;  sed  ille,  qui  mihi  ejus  mandavit  qusstionem,  hanc 
ex  suo  posuit  siniiLitudinem:  sed  solum  modo  tres 
personas  affirraat  esse  tres  Res,  sine  additamento 
alicujus  similitudinis."  The  same  Anselm  (Episto- 
lar. lib.  ii.  ep.  xli.  p.  357,)  declares,  that  the  account 
which  he  had  received  of  the  opinions  of  Roscellinus 
appears  to  him  extremely  dubious,  "  Quod  tamen 
(says  he)  absque  dubietate  credere  non  possum." 
From  all  this  it  is  evident,  that  Anselm  was  far 
from  having  an  entire  confidence  in  the  equity  and 
impartiality  of  the  aecusers  of  Roscellinus.  or  from 
looking  upon  that  ecclesiastic  as  so  bfack,  as  his 
enemies  had  endeavoured  to  make  hira. 

As  to  the  merits  of  the  cause,  it  appears  manifeat 
to  me,  that  this  subtle  dispute  was  a  consequence  of 
the  warm  controversy  that  subsisted  in  this  century, 
between  the  Realists  and  the  Nominalists.  The 
former  attacked  the  latter  by  the  dangerous  conclu- 
sions that  seemed  deducible  from  their  principles 
and  reasoned  thus:  "  If,  as  your  doctrine  supposes, 
"  universal  substances  are  no  more  than  mere 
■'  sounds  or  denominations,  and  the  whole  science  of 
"  logic  is  only  conversant  about  words,  it  must  of 
"  necessity  follow,  that  the  three  persons  in  the 
"  Godhead  are  only  three  names,  and  noJ  three  reali- 
"  ties  or  things." — "  We  deny  the  conclusion,"  re- 
plied Roscellinus;  "  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy 
"  Ghost,  are  not  placed  by  us  in  the  rank  of  denomi- 
"  natrons,  but  in  the  class  of  realities,  or  things." 
The  subtile  doctor  here,  as  all  must  more  or  less  do 
after  him,  by  avoiding  Scylla  fell  into  Cbarybdis, 
and  was  charged  by  his  adversaries  with  the  intro- 
duction of  tritheism,  bj'  holding  an  opinion  that  sup- 
posed the  existence  of  three  divine  substances. 
Were  any  of  the  writings  of  Roscellinus  nowe.xtant, 
they  would  help  us  to  form  a  more  just  notion  of 
this  controversy  than  we  can  have  at  present. 

*  Boulay,  tom.  i.  p.  485.— Mabillon,  Annal.  tom.  v. 
p.  262. — Histoire  Literaire  de  la  France,  tom.  ix.  p. 
358. — Anton.  Pagi,  Critica  in  Baronium  ad  Annum 
1094,  tom.  iv.  p.  317.— Longueval,  Hist,  de  I'EgliB* 
Gallicane,  tom.  viii.  p.  59. 


I 


THE  TWELFTH  CENTURY. 


PART  I. 


THE  EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Concerning  the  Prosperous  Events  that  happened 

to  the  Church  during  this  Century. 

A  coN-siDERABLE  part  of  Europe  lay  yet  in- 
volved in  pagan  darkness,  which  reigned  more 
especially  in  the  nortliern  provinces.  It  was, 
therefore,  in  these  regions  of  gloomy  supersti- 
tion, that  the  zeal  of  the  missionaries  was  prin- 
cipally exerted  in  this  century;  though  their 
eribrts  were  not  all  equally  successful,  nor  the 
methods  they  employed  for  the  propagation  of 
the  Gospel  equally  prudent.  Boleslaus,  duke 
of  Poland,  having  conquered  tlie  Pomeranians, 
offered  them  peace,  upon  condition  that  they 
would  receive  the  Christian  teachers,  and  per- 
mit them  to  exercise  tlieir  ministry  iti  that  van- 
quished province.  This  condition  vi'as  accept- 
ed; and  Otlio,  bishop  of  Bamberg,  a  man  of 
eminent  piety  and  zeal,  was  sent,  in  the  year 
1 124,  to  inculcate  and  explain  the  doctrines  of 
Christianity,  among  that  superstitious  and  bar- 
barous people.  JNIany  were  converted  to  the 
faith  by  his  ministry,  while  great  numbers 
stood  fu-m  against  his  most  vigorous  efforts, 
and  persisted,  with  an  invincible  obstinacy,  in 
the  religion  of  their  idolatrous  ancestors. — 
Nor  was  this  the  only  mortification  which  that 
illustrious  prelate  received,  in  the  execution  of 
his  pious  enterprise;  for,  upon  his  return  into 
Germany,  many  of  those  wliom  he  had  engag- 
ed in  the  profession  of  Christianity,  apostatised 
in  his  absence,  and  relapsed  into  tlieir  ancient 
prejudices:  this  obliged  Otho  to  undertake  a 
second  voyage  into  Pomerania,  A.  D.  1126, 
in  which,  after  much  opposition  and  ditficulty, 
his  labours  were  crowned  witii  a  happier  issue, 
and  contributed  much  to  enlarge  the  bounds  of 
the  rising  church,  and  to  establish  it  upon  so- 
lid foundations.*  From  this  period,  the  Chris- 
tian religion  seemed  daily  to  acquire  new  de- 
grees of  stability  among  the  Pomeranians,  who 
had  hitherto  refused  to  permit  the  settlement 
of  a  bishop  among  them.  They  now  received 
Adalbert,  or  Albert,  in  that  character,  who 
was  accordingly  tho  first  bishop  of  Pomerania. 

II.  Of  all  the  northern  princes  of  this  cen- 
tury, none  appeared  with  a  moro  distinguished 
lustre  than  Waldemar  I.  king  of  Denmark, 
who  acquired  an  immortal  name  by  the  glori- 
ous battles  he  fought  against  tho  pagan  na- 
tions, such  as  the  Sclavonians,  Venedi,  Van- 

*  Sec  Henr.  Canisii  Lpctiones  Antiquae,  toni.  iii. 
part  ii.  p  :!4,  where  we  find  the  hfo  of  Otho,  who,  A. 
D.  IIS'.I,  was  canonised  by  Clement  III.  See  the  Ac- 
ta Smctor.  Mensis  Julii,  tnin.  i.  p.  3411.  Dan.  Crame- 
ri  C'hr<inicon  Eccles.  Pomeraniae,  lib.  i.  as  also  a 
learned  Dissertation  concerning  the  conversion  of 
the  Pomeranians  by  the  ministry  of  Otho,  written  in 
the  German  language,  by  Christopher  Schotaen,  and 
published  at  Slargard,  in  the  year  1724.  Add  to  these 
Mabillon,  Annal.  Benedict,  torn  vi.  p.  123,  146,  323. 
Vol.  I.— 38 


dais,  and  others,  who,  cither  by  their  incur' 
sious  or  by  revolt,  drew  upon  them  the  weight 
of  his  victorious  arm.  He  unsheathed  his- 
sword,  not  only  for  the  defence  and  happiness 
of  his  people,  but  also  for  the  propagation  and 
advancement  of  Christianity;  and  wherever 
his  anns  were  successful,  he  pulled  down  the 
temples  and  images  of  the  gods,  destroyed  their 
attars,  laid  waste  their  sacred  groves,  and  sub- 
stituted in  their  place  tlie  Christian  worship, 
which  deserved  to  be  propagated  by  better 
means  than  the  sword,  by  the  authority  of  rea- 
son, ratlier  than  by  the  despotic  voice  of 
power.  The  island  of  Rugen,  which  lies  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Pomerania,  submitted  to 
the  victorious  arms  of  Waldemar,  A.  D.  1168j 
and  its  fierce  and  savage  inhabitants,  who 
were,  in  reality,  no  more  than  a  band  of  rob- 
bers and  pirates,  were  obliged,  by  that  prince, 
to  hear  tlie  instructions  of  the  pious  and  learn- 
ed doctors  that  followed  his  army,  and  to  re- 
ceive the  Christian  worship.  This  salutary 
work  was  brought  to  perfection  by  Absalom, 
archbishop  of  Lunden,  a  man  of  superior  ge- 
nius, and  of  a  most  excellent  character  in  every 
respect,  whose  eminent  merit  raised  him  to  th© 
summit  of  power,  and  engaged  Waldemar  to 
place  him  at  the  head  of  affairs.* 

III.  The  Finlanders  received  the  Gospel  in 
the  same  manner  in  which  it  had  been  propa- 
gated among  the  iniiabitants  of  tlie  isle  of  Ru- 
gen. They  were  also  a  fierce  and  savage  peo- 
ple, who  lived  by  plunder,  and  infested  Swe- 
den in  a  terrible  manner  by  their  perpetual 
incursions,  until,  after  many  bloody  battles, 
they  were  totally  defeated  by  Eric  IX.  styled 
after  his  deatli  the  Saint,  and  reduced  under 
the  Swedish  yoke.  Historians  differ  about  the 
precise  time  when  this  conquest  was  complet- 
ed;t  but  they  are  all  unanimous  in  their  ac- 
counts of  its  effects.  The  Finlanders  were 
commanded  to  embrace  the  religion  of  the  con- 
queror, which  the  greatest  part  of  them  did. 


*  SaxoGrammaticus,  liistor.  Danic.  lib.  xiv.  p. 
0:W. — Helinoldus,  Chron.  Sclavorum,  lib.  ii.  cap.  xii. 
p.  234,  and  Henr.  linngertus,  ad  h.  1. — Pontoppidani 
Annales  Ecclesiai  Danica;,  lom.  i.  p.  404. 

Cff?'  Beside  the  historians  here  mentioned  by  Dr. 
Mdsheiin,  we  refer  the  curious  reader  to  an  excellent 
history  of  Denmark,  written  in  French,  by  M.  Mai 
\ft,  professor  at  Copenh!*«;cn.  In  the  first  volume  of 
this  history,  the  insrenius  iiiid  learned  author  has  gi» 
ven  a  very  interesting  account  of  the  progress  of 
Christianity  in  the  northern  parts  of  Europe,  and  a 
particular  relation  of  the  exploits  of  Absalom,  who 
was.  at  the  same  time,  archbishop,  general,  admiral, 
and  prime  minister,  and  who  led  the  victorious  Dane* 
to  battle,  by  sea  and  land,  without  net'lecling  the  cur» 
of  souls,  or  in  the  least  diminishing  bis  pious  labour* 
in  the  propagation  of  the  Gospfd  abroad,  and  lit 
maintenance  and  support  at  home. 

t  Most  writers,  with  Baron i us,  place  this  event  ia 
the  year  1151.  Difterent,  howevpr.  from  this  is  tb# 
chronology  of  Vastovius  and  Oernhielmius,  th»  for- 
mer placing  it  in  1150,  and  the  latter  in  1157. 


298 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  I. 


though  wdth  the  utmost  reluctance.*  The 
founder  (and  ruler)  of  this  new  church  was 
Henry,  archbishop  of  Upsal,  who  accompani- 
ed the  victorious  monarch  in  that  bloody  cam- 
paign. This  prelate,  wliose  zeal  was  not  suf- 
ficiently tempered  witli  tlie  mild  and  gentle 
spirit  of  the  religion  ho  taught,  treated  the 
new  converts  witii  great  severity,  and  was  as- 
sassinated at  last,  in  a  cruel  manner,  on  ac- 
count of  the  heavy  penance  he  imposed  upon 
a  person  of  great  authority,  who  had  been 
guilty  of  homicide.  This  melancholy  event 
procured  Henry  the  honours  of  sajntship  and 
martyrdom,  which  were  solemnly  conferred 
upon  him  by  pope  Adrian  IV. f 

IV.  The  propagation  of  the  Gospel  among 
the  Livonians  was  attended  with  much  difficul- 
ty, and  also  with  horrible  scenes  of  cruelty  and 
bloodshed.  The  first  missionary,  who  attempt 
ed  the  conversion  of  that  savage  people,  was 
Mainliard,  a  regular  canon  of  St.  Augustin,  in 
the  monastery  of  Segeberg,  who,  toward  the 
conclusion  of  this  century, |  travelled  to  Livo- 
nia, with  a  company  of  merchants  of  Bremen, 
and  improved  this  opportunity  of  spreading  the 
light  of  the  Gospel  in  that  barbarous  region 
of  supei"stition  and  darkness.  The  instruc- 
tions and  exliortations  of  this  zealous  apostle 
were  little  attended  to,  and  produced  little  or 
no  effect  upon  that  uncivilized  nation;  where- 
upon he  addressed  hinaself  to  the  Roman  pon- 
tiff, Urban  III.  who  consecrated  him  bishop  of 
the  Livonians,  and,  at  the  same  time,  declared 
a  holy  v/ar  against  that  obstinate  people.  This 
war,  which  was  at  first  carried  on  against  the 
inhabitants  of  tiie  province  of  Esthonia,  was 
continued  with  still  greater  vigour,  and  render- 
ed more  general,  by  Berthold,  abbot  of  Lucca, 
who  left  his  monastery  to  share  the  laboui-s  and 
laurels  of  Mainhard,  whom  he  accordingly 
succeeded  in  the  see  of  Livonia.  The  new  bi- 
shop marched  into  that  province  at  the  head 
of  a  powerful  amiy  wliich  he  had  raised  in 
Saxony,  preached  tlie  Gospel  sword  in  hand, 
and  proved  its  truth  by  blows  instead  of  argu- 
ments. Albert,  canon  of  Bremen,  became  the 
third  bishop  of  Livonia,  and  followed,  with  a 
barbarous  enthusiasm,  the  same  military  me- 
thods of  conversion  that  had  been  practised  by 
his  predecessor.  He  entered  Livonia,  A.  D. 
1198,  with  a  fresh  body  of  troop's  drawn  out 
of  Saxony,  and,  encamping  at  Riga,  instituted 
there,  by  the  direction  of  pope  Innocent  III., 
the  military  order  of  the  knights  sword-bear- 
ers,§  who  were  commissioned  to  dragoon  the 
Livonians  into  the  profession  of  Christianity, 
and  oblige  them  by  force  of  arms  to  receive 
the  benefits  of  baptism.  ||  New  legions  were 
sent  from  Germany  to  second  the  efforts,  and 
add  efficacy  to  the  mission  of  these  booted 
apostles;  and  they,  in  concert  with  the  knights 
sword-bearers,  so  cruelly  oppressed,  slaughter- 


*  Oernliit'lmii  Histor.  Eccles.  GmUis  Suecorum, 
lib.  iv.  cap.  iv.  sect.  1."}. — Jo.  Loccenii  Histor.  Suecica, 
lib.  iii.  p.  76,  ed.  Francof.— Erlanrti  Vita  Erici  Sane- 
ti,  cap.  vii. — Vastovii  Vitis  Aquiloiiia,  p.  G5. 

t  Vastovii  Vitis  Aquiloii.  seu  Viloe  Saiictoriim 
Regni  Sueogothici,  p.  ffi.  Eric.  Benzelii  Mounifiita 
Ecclesia;  Sueofiothicft;,  part  i.  p.  33. 

t  In  the  year  118H. 

5  Equestris  Ordo  Militmn  Ensiferoruin. 

It  See  Henr.  Leonardi  Scliurtzfleischii  llialorta  Or 
iiinis  EnHfeioriim  Pq'ittum, 'WittenbeTg.  1701,  ?vo. 


ed,  and  tormented  this  wretched  people,  that, 
exhausted  at  length,  and  unable  longer  to 
stand  firm  against  the  arm  of  persecution, 
strengthened  still  by  new  accessions  of  power, 
they  abandoned  the  statues  of  their  pagan  dei- 
ties, and  substituted  in  their  places  the  images 
of  the  saints.  But,  while  they  received  the 
blessings  of  the  Gospel,  they  were  deprived 
of  all  earthly  comforts;  for  their  lands  and 
possessions  were  taken  from  them,  with  the 
most  odious  circimistances  of  cruelty  and  vio- 
lence, and  the  knights  and  bishops  divided  the 
spoil.* 

V.  None  of  the  northern  nations  had  a  more 
rooted  aversion  to  the  Christians,  or  a  more 
obstinate  antipathy  to  their  religion,  than  the 
Sclavonians,  a  rough  and  barbarous  people. 
who  inhabited  the  coast  of  the  Baltic  sea. 
This  excited  the  zeal  of  several  neighbouring 
princes,  and  of  a  multitude  of  pious  missiona- 
ries, who  united  their  efforts,  in  order  to  con- 
quer the  prejudices  of  this  people,  and  to  open 
their  eyes  upon  the  light  of  the  Gospel.  Hen- 
ry, duke  of  Saxony,  surnamed  the  Lion,  dis- 
tinguished himself  in  a  particular  manner,  by 
the  ardour  which  he  discovered  in  the  execu- 
tion of  this  pious  design,  as  well  as  by  the 
wise  methods  he  employed  to  render  it  suc- 
cessful. Among  other  measures  that  were 
proper  for  this  purpose,  he  restored  from  their 
ruins,  and  endowed  richly,  three  bishopries! 
that  had  been  ravaged  and  destroyed  by  these 
barbarians,  namely,  the  bishoprics  of  Ratze- 
burg  and  Schwerin,  and  that  of  Oldenburg, 
which  was  afterwards  transplanted  to  Lubeck. 
The  most  eminent  of  the  Christian  doctors, 
who  attempted  the  conversion  of  the  Sclavo- 
nians, was  Vicelinus,  a  native  of  Hamelen,  a 
man  of  extraordinary  merit,  who  surpassed 
almost  all  his  contemporaries  in  genuine  piety 
and  solid  learning,  and  who,  after  having  pre- 
sided many  years  in  the  society  of  the  regular 
canons  of  St.  Augustin  at  Falderen,  was  at 
length  consecrated  bishop  of  Oldenburg. — 
This  excellent  man  employed  the  last  thirty 
years  of  his  life,!  amidst  numberless  vexa- 
tions, dangers  and  difficulties,  in  instructing 
the  Sclavonians,  and  exhorting  them  to  com- 


*  See  the  Olivines  Livoniae,  seu  Chronicon  vetus 
Livdiiiciim,  published  in  folio,  at  Francfort,  in  the 
year  17-10,  by  Jo.  Daniel  Gruberus,  and  enriched  with 
ample  and  learned  observations  and  notes,  in  which 
the  laborious  author  enumerates  all  the  writers  of 
the  Livonian  history,  and  corrects  their  mistakes. 

Q(f'  t  Dr.  Moshelm's  account  of  this  matter  is  very 
dirt'erent  from  that  which  is  given  by  Fleury,  who 
asserts,  that  it  was  Hartwick,  archbishop  of  Bre- 
men, who  restored  the  three  ruined  sees,  and  conse- 
crated Vicelinus  bishop  of  Oldenburg;  and  that,  as 
he  had  done  this  without  addressing  himself  to  Hen- 
ry, the  duke  seized  the  tithes  of  Vicelinus,  until  a 
reconciliation  was  afterwards  brought  about  between 
till'  ofteudcd  prince  and  the  worthy  bishop.  See  Fleu- 
ry, Hist.  Eccles.  liv.  Ixix.  p.  t)65,  (iti8.  edit.  Bruxelles. 
Fleury,  in  this  and  other  parts  of  his  history,  shows, 
that  he  is  but  indifferently  acquainted  with  the  history 
of  Germany,  and  has  not  drawn  from  the  best  sources. 
The  authorities  which  Dr.  Mosheira  produces  for  his 
account  of  the  affair,  are  the  OrigincsGuelphics,  torn, 
iii.  p.  IB,  19,  34,  55,  61,  03,  72,  82,  with  the  celebrated 
Preface  of  Scheidius,  sect.  .xiv.  p.  41.  Ludewig'sRe- 
liquid  Manuscriptorum,  torn.  vi.  p.  230.  Jo.  Ern.  de 
Westphalen,  Monumenta  inedita  Rerum  Cimbrica 
rum  et  Megapolens.  torn.  ii.  p.  1998. 

J  That  is,  from  the  year  1134  tc  the  year  1154,  in 
which  he  died. 


Chap.  I. 


PROSPEROUS  EVENTS. 


299 


ply  with  the  invitations  of  the  Gospel  of 
Clirist;  and,  as  his  pious  labours  were  directed 
by  true  wisdom,  and  carried  on  with  the  most 
indefatigable  industry  and  zeal,  so  were  they 
attended  with  much  fruit,  even  among  that 
fierce  and  intractable  people.  Nor  was  his  mi- 
nistry among-  the  Sclavonians  the  only  circum- 
stance that  redounds  to  the  honour  of  his  me- 
mory; the  history  of  his  life  and  actions  in  ge- 
neral furnishes  proofs  of  his  piety  and  zeal,  suf- 
ficient to  transmit  his  name  to  the  latest  gene- 
rations.* 

VI.  It  is  needless  to  repeat  here  the  observa- 
tion we  have  so  often  had  occasion  to  make 
upon  such  conversions  as  these,  or  to  intimate 
to  the  reader  that  tlie  savage  nations,  wlio 
were  thus  dragooned  into  the  church,  became 
the  disciples  of  Christ,  not  so  much  in  reality, 
as  in  outward  appearance.  [§:^-They  pro- 
fessed, with  an  inward  reluctance,  a  religion 
which  was  inculcated  by  violence  and  blood- 
shed, which  recalled  to  their  remembrance  no- 
thing but  scenes  of  desolation  and  misery;  and 
which,  indeed,  when  considered  in  the  repre- 
sentations that  were  given  of  it  by  the  great- 
est part  of  the  missionaries,  was  but  a  few  de- 
grees removed  from  the  absurdities  of  pagan- 
ism.] The  pure  and  rational  religion  of  the 
Gospel  was  never  presented  to  these  unliappy 
nations  in  its  native  simplicity;  they  Vvere  only 
taught  to  appease  the  Deity,  and  to  render  him 
propitious,  by  a  senseless  round  of  trifling  ce- 
remonies and  bodily  exercises,  which,  in  many 
circumstances,  resembled  the  superstitions  they 
were  obliged  to  renounce,  and  might  have  been 
easily  reconciled  with  them,  had  it  not  been 
that  the  name  and  history  of  Christ,  the  sign 
of  the  cross,  and  some  diversity  between  cer- 
tain rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  two  religions, 
opposed  tliis  coalition.  Besides,  the  missiona- 
ries whose  zeal  for  imposing  the  name  of 
Christians  upon  this  people  was  so  vehement 
and  even  furious,  were  extremely  indulgent  in 
all  other  respects,  and  opposed  their  prejudices 
and  vices  with  much  gentleness  and  forbear- 
ance. They  permitted  them  to  retain  several 
rites  and  observances  that  were  in  direct  oppo- 
sition to  the  spirit  of  Christianity,  and  to  the 
nature  of  true  piety.  The  tr^ith  of  the  mat- 
ter seems  to  have  been  tliis,  that  the  leading 
views  of  these  Christian  Iieralds,  and  propa- 
gators of  the  faith,  a  smaller  number  excepted, 
were  rather  turned  toward  the  advancement  of 
their  own  interests,  and  the  confirming  and  ex- 
tending the  dominion  of  the  Roman  pontiffs, 
than  toward  the  true  conversion  of  these  sa- 
vage Pagans;  that  conversion  which  consists 
in  the  removal  of  ignorance,  the  correction  of 
error,  and  the  reformation  of  vice 

VII.  A  great  revolution  in  Asiatic  Tartary, 
which  borders  upon  Catiiay,  changed  the  face 
of  things  in  that  distant  region  about  the  com- 


*  There  is  a  particular  and  ample  account  of  Vi- 
celinus  in  the  C'iinbrja  I.itprataof  Mollerus,  torn.  ii. 
p.  910,  and  in  the  Res  Hanihurf;.  of  Lambecius,  lib. 
fi.  p.  12.  See  also  upon  thi?  subject  theOrigincsNi:- 
omonaster.  et  Bordesholmens.  of  the  most  learned 
and  industrious  Joh.  Em.  de  VVestphalen,  which  are 
published  in  the  second  tome  of  the  Monumenta  in- 
edita  Cimbrica,  p.  2344,  and  the  Preface  to  this  tome, 
p.  33.  There  is  in  this  work  a  print  of  Vicelinus 
well  engraven 


!  mencernent  of  this  century,  and  proved,  by  its 
j  effects,  extroniely  beneficial  to  the  Christian 
t  cause.     Toward  the  conclusion  of  the  preced- 
ing century,  died  Koircmkhan,  otherwise  cal- 
led Kenkhan,  tiie  most  powerful  monarch  that 
was  known  in  the  eastern  regions  of  Asia;  and, 
while  that  mighty  kingdom  was  deprived  of 
I  its  chief,  it  was  invaded  witli  such  unconmion 
1  valour   and    success,   bj'    a    Nestorian    priest, 
I  whose  name  was  John,  tiiat  it  fell  Itelbre  his 
!  victorious  arms,  and  acknowledged  this  war- 
I  like  and  enlerprising  presbyter  as  its  monarch. 
This  was  tlie  famous  Prester  John  (as  he  was 
called,)  whose  territory  was,  for  a  long  thne, 
considered  by  the  Europeans  as  a  second  para- 
dise, as  the  seat  of  opulence  and  complete  feli- 
city.    As  he  was  a  presbyter  before  iiis  eleva- 
tion to  the  royal  dignity,  many  continued  to 
call  him  Presbyter  John,  even  when  he  was 
seated  on  the  throne;*  but  his  kingly  name 
was  Unkhan.     The   hiijh  notions  which  the 


*  The  account  I  have  here  given  of  this  famous 
Presbyter,  commonly  called  Prester  John,  who  was, 
for  a  long  time,  considered  as  the  greatest  and  happi- 
est of  all  earthly  monarchs,  is  what  appeared  to  me 
the  most  probable  among  the  various  relations  that 
have  been  given  of  the  life  and  adventures  of  that 
extraordinary  man.  This  account  is  moreover  con- 
firmed by  the  testimonies  of  contemporary  writers, 
wiiose  knowledge  and  impartiality  render  them  wor- 
thy of  credit;  such  as  William  of  Tripoli,  (see  Du- 
fresne's  Adnot.  ad  Vitam  Ludovici  Sti,  a  Joinvillio 
scriptam,  p.  89.)  as  also  a  certain  bishop  of  Gabala 
mentioned  by  Otto  Frising.  Chronic,  lib.  vii.  cap. 
.wxii.  See  also  Guillaume  Rubruqui.i,  Voyage,  cap. 
xviii.  p.  30,  in  theAntiqua  in  Asiam  Itinera,  collect- 
ed by  father  Bergeron,  and  Alberic  in  Chronico,  ad 
A.  llCio,  and  1]7(),  in  Leibnitii  Accessionibus  Histor- 
icis,  tuni.  ii.  p.  .345,  355.  It  is  indeed  surprising,  that 
such  aulhtntic  records  as  these  should  have  escaped 
the  iihsirvation  of  the  learned,  and  that  so  many 
difli'reiit  opinions  should  have  been  advanced  con- 
cerning Prester  John,  and  the  place  of  his  residence, 
liut  it  is  too  generally  the  fate  of  learned  men,  to 
overlook  those  accounts  that  carry  the  plainest 
marks  of  evidence,  and,  from  a  passion  for  the  mar 
vellous.  to  plunge  into  the  regions  of  uncertainty 
and  doubt.  In  the  fifteenth  century,  John  II.  king 
of  Portugal,  employed  Pedro  Covilliano  in  a  labori- 
ous inquiry  into  the  real  situation  of  the  kingdom 
of  Prester"  John.  The  curious  voyager  undertook 
this  task,  and,  for  information  in  the  matter,  travel- 
led with  a  few  companions  into  Abyssinia;  and  ob- 
serving in  the  emperor  of  the  Abyssinians.  or  Ethi- 
opians, many  circumstances  that  resembled  the  ac- 
counts which,  at  that  lime,  prevailed  in  Europe  con- 
cerning Prester  John,  he  persuaded  himself  that  he 
had  fulfilled  his  commission,  and  found  out  the  resi- 
dence of  that  extraordinary  monarch,  who  was  the 
object  of  his  researches.  His  opinion  easily  gained 
credit  in  Europe,  which  had  not  yet  emereed  out  of 
its  ignorance  and  barbarism.  See  Morinus,  de  Sa- 
cris  Eccles.  Ordinationibus,  part  ii.  p.  307.  But  a 
new  light  was  rast  upon  this  matter  in  the  seven- 
teenth century,  by  the  publication  of  several  pieces, 
which  the  industry  of  the  curious  drew  forth  from 
their  obscurity,  aiid  by  which  a  great  number  of 
learned  men  were  engaged  to  abandon  the  Portu- 
guese opinion,  and  were  convinced  that  Prester  John 
reigned  in  Asia,  though  they  still  continued  to  dis- 
pute about  the  situation  of  his  kingdom,  and  other 
particular  circumstances.  There  are,  notwithstand- 
ing all  this,  some  men  of  the  most  eminent  learning 
in  our  times,  who  maintain,  that  John  was  emperor 
of  the  Abyssinians,  and  thus  pnfer  the  Poitnguess 
opinion,  though  destitute  of  aulhentic  proofs  and 
tislimonies,  to  the  other  above  mentioned,  though 
supported  by  the  strongest  evidence,  and  the  most 
un<iuc>stionable  authorities,  t'ee  Euseb.  Renaudot, 
Hist.  Patriarch.  Alexandr.  p.  O-iS,  337.  Jos.  Franc. 
Latitau,  Hist.  6es  Decouvertes  des  Portngais.  torn.  i. 
p.  ,58,  and  torn.  iii.  p.  57.  Henr.  le  Grand.  Dis.  de 
Johanne  Presbyter©  in  Lobo's  Voyage  d'Abyssinie, 
tome  i   p.  295. 


800 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  1. 


Greeks  and  Latins  generally  entertained  of  the 
grandeur  and  magnificence  of  this  royal  pres- 
Syter,  were  principally  produced  by  tlie  letters 
he  wrote  to  the  Roman  emperor  Frederic  I. 
«.nd  to  Emanuel  emperor  of  the  Greeks,  in 
•which,  puffed  up  with  prosperity,  and  flushed 
with  success,  he  vaunted  his  victories  over  the 
neighbouring  nations  that  disputed  his  passage 
to  the  throne;  described,  in  the  most  pompous 
and  extravagant  terms,  tlie  splendour  of  his 
riches,  the  grandeur  of  his  state,  and  the  ex- 
tent of  his  dominions;  and  exalted  himself  far 
above  all  other  earthly  monarchs.  All  this 
was  easily  believed;  and  the  Nestorians  w.ere 
extremely  zealous  in  confirming  the  boasts  of 
their  vain-glorious  prince.  He  was  succeeded 
by  his  son,  or,  as  others  think,  his  brother, 
whose  name  was  David,  though,  in  common 
discourse,  he  was  also  called  IVester  John,  as 
bis  predecessor  had  been.  The  reign  of  Da- 
vid was  far  from  being  happy,  nor  did  he  end 
his  days  in  peace;  Genghiz  Khan,  the  great 
and  warlike  emperor  of  the  Tartars,  invaded 
his  territories  toward  tlie  conclusion  of  this 
century,  and  deprived  him  both  of  his  life  and 
his  dominions. 

Vin.  The  new  kingdom  of  Jerusalem, 
which  had  been  erected  by  the  holy  warriors 
of  France,  near  the  close  of  the  preceding  cen- 
tury, seemed  to  flourish  considerably  at  the 
beginning  of  this,  and  to  rest  upon  firm  and 
•olid  foundations.  This  prosperous  scene  was, 
however,  but  transitory,  and  was  soon  succeed- 
ed by  the  most  terrible  calamities  and  desola- 
tions. For,  wlien  the  Mohammedans  saw 
vast  numbers  of  those  who  had  engaged  in 
this  holy  war  returning  into  Europe,  and  tlie 
Christian  chiefs  that  remained  in  Palestine  di- 
vided into  factions,  and  every  one  advancing 
his  private  interest,  without  any  regard  to  the 
public  good,  they  resumed  their  courage,  re- 
covered from  the  terror  and  consternation  into 
which  tliey  had  been  thrown  by  the  amazing 
valour  and  rapid  success  of  the  European  le- 
gions, and,  gatliering  troops  and  soliciting  suc- 
cours from  all  quarters,  they  harassed  and  ex- 
hausted the  Christians  by  invasions  and  wars 
without  interruption.  The  Christians,  on  the 
other  hand,  sustained  these  efibrts  with  their 
usual  fortitude,  and  maintained  their  ground 
during  many  years;  but  when  Atabeck  Zen- 
ghi,*  after  a  long  siege,  made  himself  master 
of  the  city  of  Edessa,  and  threatened  Antioch 
with  the  same  fate,  their  courage  began  to  tail, 
and  a  diffidence  in  their  own  strength  obliged 
them  to  turn  their  eyes  once  more  toward 
Europe.  They  accordingly  implored,  in  the 
most  lamentable  strain,  the  assistance  of  the 
European  princes;  and  requested  tliat  a  new 
anny  of  cross-bearing  champions  might  be 
Bent  to  support  their  tottering  empire  in  the 
Holy  Land.  Their  entreaties  were  favourablj' 
received  by  the  Roman  ponlifls,  who  left  no 
method  of  persuasion  unemployed,  that  might 


♦  Alabock  was  a  title  of  honour  {jivpn  by  the  sul- 
tana to  the  viceroys  or  lieutenants,  whom  they  in- 
trusted with  the  government  of  their  provinces. 
The  Latin  ituthors,  wlio  have  written  the  history  of 
this  holy  war,  and  of  whom  Bongarsius  has  given 
us  a  complete  list,  call  this  Atabeck  Zcnnhi.  Sangni- 
nui.  See  Herbelot.  Biblioth.  Orient,  at  the  word 
At  aback,  p.  14^. 


engage  the  emperor  and  other  Christian  princes 
to  undertake  a  new  expedition  into  Palestine. 
IX.  This  new  expedition  was  not,  however, 
resolved  upon  with  such  unanimity  and  pre- 
cipitation as  the  former  had  been;  it  was  the 
subject  of  long  deliberation,  and  its  expediency 
was  keenly  debated  both  in  the  cabinets  of 
princes,  and  in  the  assemblies  of  the  clergy  and 
the  people.  Bernard,  the  famous  abbot  of 
Clairval,  a  man  of  the  boldest  resolution  and 
of  the  greatest  authority,  put  an  end  to  those 
disputes  under  the  pontificate  of  Eugenius  III. 
who  had  been  his  disciple,  and  who  was  wholly 
governed  by  his  counsels.  This  eloquent  and 
zealous  ecclesiastic  preached  the  cross,  i.  e.  the 
crusade,  in  France  and  Germany,  with  great 
ardour  and  success;  and  in  the  grand  parlia- 
ment assembled  at  Vezalai,  A.  D.  1146,  at 
which  Louis  VII.  king  of  France,  his  queen, 
and  a  prodigious  concourse  of  the  principal 
nobilit)',  were  present,  Bernard  recommended 
this  holy  expedition  with  such  a  persuasive 
power,  and  declared  with  such  assurance  that 
he  had  a  divine  commission  to  foretell  its  glo- 
rious success,  that  the  king,  the  queen,  and  all 
tlie  nobles,  immediately  put  on  the  military 
cross,  and  prepared  themselves  for  the  journey 
into  Palestine.  Conrad  III.  emperor  of  Ger- 
man}', was,  for  some  time,  unmoved  by  the 
exhortations  of  Bernard;  but  he  was  at  length 
gained  over  by  the  urgent  solicitations  of  the 
fervent  abbot,  and  followed  the  example  of  the 
French  monarch.  Tlie  two  princes,  each  at 
the  head  of  a  numerous  army,  set  out  for  Pa- 
lestine, to  which  they  were  to  march  by  difter- 
ent  roads.  But,  before  their  arrival  in  the 
Holy  Land,  the  greatest  part  of  their  forces 
perished  miserably,  some  by  famine,  some  by 
the  sword  of  tlie  Mohammedans,  some  by  ship- 
wreck, and  a  considerable  number  by  the  per- 
fidious cruelty  of  the  Greeks,  who  looked  upon 
the  western  nations  as  more  to  be  feared  than 
the  infidels  themselves.  Louis  VII.  left  his 
kingdom  A.  D.  1147,  and,  in  the  month  of 
March  of  the  following  year,  he  arrived  at  An- 
tioch, with  the  wretched  remains  of  his  army, 
dejected  and  exhausted  by  a  series  of  hard- 
ships. Conrad  set  out  also  in  the  year  1147, 
in  the  month  of  May;  and,  in  November  fol- 
lowing, he  arrived  at  Nice,  where  he  joined 
the  Frencli  army,  after  having  lost  the  great- 
est part  of  his  own  by  calamities  of  various 
kinds.  From  Nice,  the  two  princes  proceeded 
to  Jerusalem,  A.  D.  1148;  whence  they  led 
back  into  Europe,  the  year  following,  the 
miserable  handful  of  troops,  whicli  had  sur- 
vived the  disasters  of  the  expedition.  Such 
was  the  unhappy  issue  of  this  second  crusade, 
whicli  was  rendered  ineftectual  by  a  variety  of 
causes,  but  more  particularly  by  the  jealousies 
and  divisions  that  reigned  among  the  Christian 
chiefs  in  Palestine.  Nor  was  it  more  ineffec- 
tual in  Palestine  than  it  was  detrimental  to 
Europe,  by  draining  the  wealth  of  its  fairest 
provinces,  and  destroying  a  prodigious  number 
of  its  inhabitants.* 


*  Re^de  the  historians  enumerated  by  Bongarsiiis, 
see  Mabillon,  Aniial.  Benedict,  torn.  vi.  p.  399,  404, 
407,  417,  451.  Jac.  Gervasii  Histoire  de  I'  Abbe 
Suger,  torn.  iii.  p.  104.  128,  173,  100,  239.  This  was 
the' famous  Siiger.  abbot  of  St.  Denys,  who  had  se- 
coudtid  tlie  exhortations  of  Bernard  in  favour  of  the 


Cukv.  I. 


PROSPEROUS  EVENTS. 


301 


X.  The  unhappy  issue  of  tliis  second  expe- 
dition was  not  however  suflicient,  when  con- 
sidered alone,  to  render  the  affairs  of  the 
Christians  in  Palestine  entirely  desperate.  Had 
their  chiefs  and  princes  relinquished  their  ani- 
mosities and  contentions,  and  attacked  the 
common  enemy  with  their  united  force,  they 
would  have  soon  repaired  their  losses,  and  re- 
covered their  glory.  But  this  was  far  from 
beina^  the  case.  A  fatal  corruption  of  senti- 
ments and  manners  reigned  among  all  ranks 
and  orders.  Botii  the  people  and  their  leaders, 
and  more  especially  the  latter,  abandoned 
themselves  without  reluctance  to  all  the  ox- 
cesses  of  ambition,  avarice,  and  injustice;  they 
indulged  themselves  in  the  practice  of  all  sorts 
of  vices;  and  by  their  intestine  quarrels,  jea- 
lousies, and  discords,  they  weakened  their  ef- 
forts against  the  enemies  that  surrounded 
them,  and  consumed  their  strength  by  thus 
unhappily  dividing  it.  Saladiu,  viceroy  or 
ratiier  sultan  of  Egypt  and  Syria,*  and  tlie 
most  valiant  chief  of  whom  the  Mohammedan 
annals  boast,  took  advantage  of  tiiese  lamenta- 
ble divisions.  He  waged  war  against  the 
Christians  with  the  utmost  valour  and  success; 
took  prisoner  Guy  of  Lusignan,  king  of  Jeru- 
salem, in  a  fatal  battle  fought  near  Tiberias, 
A.  D.  11S7;  and,  in  the  course  of  tiie  same 
year,  reduced  Jerusalem  itself  under  his  do- 
minion.! The  carnage  and  desolation  that 
accompanied  this  dreadful  campaign,  tlirew 
the  affairs  of  the  Christians  in  the  east  into  a 
deplorable  condition,  and  left  them  no  glimpse 
of  hope,  but  what  arose  from  the  expected  suc- 
cours of  the  European  princes.  Succours  were 
obtained  for  them  by  the  Roman  pontiff's  with 
much  difficulty,  in  consequence  of  repeated 
solicitations  and  entreaties.  But  the  event, 
as  we  shall  soon  see,  was  by  no  means  an- 
swerable to  the  deep  schemes  that  were  con- 
certed, or  to  the  pains  that  were  employed, 
for  the  support  of  the  tottering  kingdom  of  Je- 
rusalem. 

XI.  Tlie  third  expedition  was  undertaken, 
A.  D.  1189,  by  Frederic  I.  surnamed  Barba- 
rossa,  emperor  of  Germany,  who,  with  a  pro- 
digious army,  marched  through  several  Gre- 
cian provinces,  where  he  had  innumerable 
difficulties  and  obstacles  to  overcome,  into 
Asia  Minor,  whence,  after  having  defeated  the 
Bultan  of  Iconiuni,  he  penetrated  into  Syria. 
His  valour  and  conduct  promised  successful 
and  glorious  campaigns  to  the  army  he  com- 
manded, when,  by  an  unhappy  accident,  he 

crusade,  and  whom  Louis  appointed  recent  of  France 
during  his  ab.-icnce.  Vcrtot,  Histoire  des  Chevaliers 
de  Malte,  torn.  i.  p.  rifi.  Joh.  Jac.  Mascovius,  de 
Rcbns  Imperii  sub  Conrado  llf. 

Q(^  *  Saladin,  so  called  by  the  western  writer?, 
Salaha'ddin  by  the  Orientals,  was  no  loneer  vizir 
or  viceroy  of  Enypt,  when  he  undertook  the  siefie  of 
Jerusalem,  but  had  usurped  the  sovereign  power  in 
that  country,  and  had  also  added  to  his  dominions, 
by  rii"ht  of  conquest,  several  provinces  of  Syria. 

t  See  the  Life  of  Saladin  by  Bohao'ddin  Rbii 
Sheddad,  an  Arahiiui  writer,  whose  history  of  lh:it 
warlike  sultan  was  published  at  Leyden  in"  the  year 
1732,  by  the  late  celebrated  professor  Albert  Schul- 
tens,  and  accompanied  with  an  excellent  Latin 
translation.  See  also  Herbelot,  Biblioth.  Orient,  at 
the  article  Salaha'ddin,  p.  7li!,  and  Marigny's  His- 
toire des  ArahpB,  tome  iv.  p.  'Ml.  (t[J~  Hut.  above 
all,  gee  the  learned  History  of  the  Arabians  in  the 
modern  part  of  the  Universal  History. 


i  lost  his  life  in  the  river  Saleph,*  which  runs 
I  through  Seleucia.  The  manner  of  his  death 
'<  is  not  known  with  certainty;  the  loss  however 
'  of  such  an  able  chief  dejected  the  spirits  of  his 
I  troops,  so  that  considerable  numbers  of  them 
returned  into  Europe.  Those  who  remained 
;  continued  the  war  under  the  command  of 
Frederic,  son  of  tlie  deceased  emperor;  but  the 
greatest  part  of  them  perished  miserably  by  a 
pestilential  disorder,  which  raged  with  extra- 
ordinary violence  in  the  camp,  and  swept  off 
vast  numbers  every  day.  The  new  general 
died  of  this  terrible  disease,  A.  D.  1191;  those 
who  escaped  its  fury  were  dispersed,  and  few 
returned  to  their  own  country. j 

XII.  The  example  of  Frederic  Barbarossa  was 
followed,  in  the  year  1 190,  by  Philip  Augustus 
king  of  France,  and  the  lion-hearted  Ptichard, 
king  of  England.  These  two  nionarchs  set 
out  from  their  respective  dominions  with  a  con- 
siderable number  of  sliips  of  war  and  trans- 
ports;]; arrived  in  Palestine  in  the  year  1191, 
each  at  the  head  of  a  separate  army;  and  were 
pretty  successful  in  their  first  encounters  with 
the  infidels.  After  the  reduction  of  the  strong 
city  of  Acre  or  Ptolemais,  which  had  been  de- 
fended by  the  Moslems  with  the  most  obsti- 
nate valour,  the  French  monarch  returned 
into  Europe,  in  the  month  of  July,  1191,  leav- 
ing, however,  a  considerable  part  of  the  army 
whicii  he  had  conducted  into  Palestine.  After 
his  departure  the  king  of  England  pushed  the 
war  with  the  greatest  vigour,  gave  daily  marks 
of  his  heroic  intrepiditj'  and  military  skill,  and 
not  only  defeated  Saladin  in  several  engage- 
ments, but  also  made  himself  master  of  JaiVa^ 
and  Ca3sarca.  Deserted,  however,  by  the 
French  and  Italians,  and  influenced  by  other 
motives  and  considerations  of  the  greatest 
weight,  he  concluded,  A.  D.  1 19:2,  with  Saladin, 
a  truce  of  three  years,  three  months,  and  as 
many  days,  and  evacuated  Palestine  with  his 
whole  army. II  Such  was  the  issue  of  the  third 
expedition  against  the  infidels,  which  nearly 
exhausted  England,  France,  and  Germany, 
both  of  menaaid  money,  without  bringing  any 
solid  advantage,  or  giving  even  a  favourable 
tin-n,  to  the  affairs  of  tlie  Christians  in  the 
Holy  Land. 

XIII.  These  bloody  wars  between  the  C'hris- 
tians  and  the  Mohammedans  gave  rise  to  three 
famous  military  orders,  whose  office  it  was  to 


(t(7»  *  Mainibonrff,  in  his  Histoire  des  Croisades, 
and  Maricny  in  his  Hist,  du  xii.  Si.cle,  say,  that 
Frederic  perished  in  the  Cydiuis,  a  river  of  Cilicia. 
But  they  are  easily  to  be  reconciled  with  our  author, 
since,  acconiiiiir  to  the  descriptions  Riven  of  the  Sa- 
leph by  several  learned  >reoL'ra pliers,  and  ainons 
othersby  Roger  the  Annalist,  it  appears  that  the 
Saleph  and  the  Cydnus  were  the  same  river  under 
difl'erent  names. 

t  See  an  ample  and  satisfactory  account  of  this 
unhappy  campaign  in  the  Life  of  Frederic  L  written 
in  German  by  Henry  count  Bunau,  p.  27P,  2'.i3,  309. 

{pj"  I  Thelearneii  authors  of  the  Modern  I'niver- 
sal  History  aflirm  that  I'hilip  arrived  in  Palestine, 
v\Tth  a  supply  of  men,  money,  &c.  on  boarri  of  six 
ships,  uhereas  Renandot  irientii>ns  100  sail  as  em- 
ployed in  this  expedition.  The  fleet  of  Richard  con- 
sisted of  150  larye  ships,  beside  ealleys,  &c. 

§  More  commonly  known  by  the  name  of  Joppa. 

Ij  Daniel,  Histoire  de  France,  tome  iii.  p.  430. — 
Rapin  Thoyras,  Histoire  d'Angleterre,  tome  ii. 
Regne  de  Richard  CtKur-de-Lion.— Marigny,  Hii- 
tolro  des  Arabes,  tome  iv.  p.  285. 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


302 

destroy  the  robbers  that  infested  the  pubhc 
roads,  to  harass  the  Moslems  by  perpetual  in- 
roads and  warlike  achievements,  to  assist  the 
poor  and  sick  pilgrims,  whom  the  devotion  of 
the  times  conducted  to  the  holy  sepulchre, 
and  to  perform  otiier  services  that  tended  to  the 
general  good.**  The  first  order  was  that  of  the 
Kniglits  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  wlio  de- 
rived their  name,  and  particularly  that  of  Hos- 
pitalers, from  an  hospital  in  that  city,  dedi- 
cated to  St.  John  the  Baptist,  in  which  certain 
pious  and  charitable  brethren  were  constantly 
employed  in  relieving  and  refreshing  with 
necessary  sujiplies  the  indigent  and  diseased 
pilgrims,  who  were  daily  arriving  at  Jerusalem. 
When  this  city  became  the  metropolis  of  a 
new  kingdom,  the  revenues  of  the  hospital 
were  so  highly  augmented  by  the  liberality  of 
several  princes,  and  the  pious  donations  of  such 
opulent  persons  as  frequented  the  holy  places, 
that  they  far  surpassed  the  wants  of  those 
whom  they  were  designed  to  cherish  and  re- 
lieve. Hence  it  was  that  Raymond  du  Puy, 
who  was  the  ruler  of  this  charitable  house, 
offered  to  the  king  of  Jerusalem  to  make  war 
upon  the  Mohammedans  at  his  own  expense, 
seconded  by  his  brethren,  who  served  under 
him  in  this  famous  hospital.  Baldwin  H.  to 
whom  this  proposal  was  made,  readily  accepted 
it,  and  the  enterprise  was  solemnly  approved 
and  confirmed  by  the  authority  of  the  Roman 
pontiff.  Thus  was  the  world  surprised  with 
the  strange  translbrmation  of  a  devout  fra- 
ternity, who  had  lived  remote  from  the  noise 
and  tumult  of  arms,  in  the  performance  of  works 
of  charity  and  mercy,  into  a  valiant  and  hardy 
band  of  warriors.  The  whole  order  was  upon 
this  occasion  divided  into  three  classes:  the  first 
contained  the  knights,  or  soldiers  of  illustrious 
birth,  who  were  to  unsheath  tlieir  swords  in 
the  Christian  cause;  in  the  second  were  com- 
prehended the  priests,  who  were  to  officiate 
in  the  churches  that  belonged  to  the  order; 
and  in  the  third  were  the  serving  brethren,  or 
the  soldiers  of  low  condition.  This  celebrated 
order  gave,  upon  many  occasions,  eminent 
proofs  of  resolution  and  valour,  and  acquired 
immense  opulence  by  heroic  exploits.  When 
Palestine  was  irrecoverably  lost,  the  knights 
passed  into  the  isle  of  Cyprus;  tliey  afterwards 
made  themselves  masters  of  tJie  isle  of  Rhodes, 
where  they  maintained  tliemselves  for  a  long 
time;  but,  being  finally  driven  thence  by  the 
Turks,  tliey  received  from  the  esnperor  Charles 
V.  a  grant  of  the  island  of  Malta. f 

XIV.  Another  order,  which  was  entirely  of 
a  military  nature,  was  that  of  the  knights  tem- 
plars, so  called  from  a  palace,  adjoining  to 
the  temple  of  Jerusalem,  wliicli  was  appro- 
priated to  their  use  for  a  certain  time  by 
Baldwin  II.  The  foundations  of  tliis  order 
were  laid  at  Jerusalem,  in  the  year  1118,  by 


*  The  writers,  who  have  civeii  the  history  of  the^e 
three  orders,  are  eiuirueratert  by  Jo.  Alb.  Fahriciiis, 
Bibhograph.  Antiquar.  p.  4ti5;  but  his  eiiuiiieration 
is  not  complete. 

t  The  best  and  the  most  recent  liistory  of  this 
order  is  that  which  was  composed  by  Vertot  at  the 
request  of  the  knights  of  Malta;  it  was  first  publish- 
ed at  Paris,  and  afterwards  at  Amsterdam,  in  five 
volumes  8vo.  in  the  year  1732.  See  also  Helyot's 
Hist,  des  Ordres,  tome  iii.  p  72. 


Part  I. 


Hugues  des  Payens,  Geoffrey  of  St.  Aldemar, 
or  of  St.  Amour,  as  some  will  have  it,  and 
seven  other  persons,  whose  names  are  un- 
known; but  it  was  not  before  the  year  1228 
that  it  acquired  a  proper  degree  of  stability, 
b\'  being  solemnly  confirmed  in  the  council  of 
Troyes,  and  subjected  to  a  rule  of  discipline 
drawn  up  by  St.  Bernard.*  These  warlike 
templars  were  to  defend  and  support  the  cause 
of  Christianity  by  force  of  arms,  to  have  in- 
spection over  tlie  public  roads,  and  to  protect 
the  pilgrims,  wlio  came  to  visit  Jerusalem, 
against  the  insults  and  barbarity  of  the  Mos- 
lems. The  order  flourished  for  some  time, 
and  acquired,  by  the  valour  of  its  knights,  im- 
mense riches,  and  an  eminent  degree  of  military 
renown;  but,  as  their  prosperity  increased,  their 
vices  were  multiplied,  and  their  arrogance, 
luxury,  and  irdimnan  cruelty,  rose  at  last  to 
such  a  monstrous  height,  that  their  privileges 
were  revoked,  and  their  order  suppressed  with 
the  most  terrible  circumstances  of  infamy  and 
severity,  by  a  decree  of  the  pope  and  of  the 
council  of  Vienne  in  Dauphine,  as  we  shall  see 
in  the  history  of  the  fourteenth  century. f 

XV.  The  third  order  resembled  the  first  in 
this  respect,  that,  though  it  was  a  military  in- 
stitution, the  care  of  the  poor  and  relief  of  the 
sick  were  not  excluded  from  the  services  it 
prescribed.  Its  members  were  distinguished 
by  the  title  of  Teutonic  Knights  of  St.  Mary 
of  Jerusalem;  and  as  to  its  rise,  we  cannot, 
with  any  degree  of  certainty,  trace  it  farther 
back  than  the  year  1190,  during  the  siege  of 
Acre,  or  Ptolcmais,  though  there  are  histori- 
ans adventurous  enough  to  seek  its  origin 
(which  they  place  at  Jerusalem)  in  a  more  re- 
mote period.  During  the  long  and  tedious 
siege  of  Acre,  several  pious  and  charitable 
merchants  of  Bremen  and  Lubeck,  moved 
with  compassion  at  the  sight  of  the  miseries 
which  the  besiegers  suffered  in  the  midst  of 
their  success,  devoted  themselves  entirely  to 
the  service  of  the  sick  and  wounded  soldiers, 
and  erected  a  kind  of  hospital,  or  tent,  where 
tliey  gave  constant  attendance  to  all  such  un- 
happy objects  as  had  recourse  to  their  charity. 
This  pious  undertaking  was  so  agreeable  to 
the  German  princes,  who  were  present  at  this 
terrible  siege,  tliat  they  thought  proper  to 
form  a  fraternity  of  German  knights  to  bring 
it  to  perfection.  Their  resolution  was  highly 
approved  by  pope  Celestine  III.  who  confirmed 
the  new  order  by  a  bull  issued  on  the  twenty- 
third  of  February,  A.  D.  1192.  This  order 
was  entirely  appropriated  to  the  Germans;  and 
even  of  them  none  were  admitted  as  members 
of  it,  but  such  as  were  of  an  illustrious  birth. 
The  support  of  Clu-istianity,  the  defence  of 
the  Holy  Land,  and  the  relief  of  the  poor  and 
needy,  wero  tlie  important  duties  and  services 
to  which  the  Teutonic  knights  devoted  them- 
selves by  a  solemn  vow.  Austerity  and  fru- 
gality were  tlie  first  characteristics  of  this  rising 


*  Sec  Mabillon.  Annal.  Benedict,  torn.  vi.  p.  159. 

t  See  Matthew  Paris,  Histor.  Major,  p.  56,  foi  an 
account  of  the  comniencement  of  this  order.  See 
also  Piitean,  Histoire  de  I'Ordre  Militaire  des  Tem- 
pliers,  which  was  republished  with  considerable  ad- 
<litions,  at  Brussels,  in  4to.  in  the  year  1751:  and 
Nic.  Gurtleri  Historia  Templariorum  Militura,  Am- 
stelodam.  1691,  in  8vo. 


Chap.  II. 


CALAMITOUS  EVENTS. 


303 


order,  and  the  equestrian  garment,*  bread,  and 
water,  were  the  only  rewards  which  the 
knights  derived  from  their  generous  labours. 
But  as,  according  to  the  fate  of  human  things, 
prosperity  generates  corruption,  so  it  happened 
that  this  austerity  was  of  a  short  duration,  and 
diminished  in  proportion  as  tlie  revenues  and 
possessions  of  the  order  were  augmented.  The 
Teutonic  knights,  after  their  retreat  from 
Palestine,  made  themselves  masters  of  Prussia, 
Livonia,  Courland,  and  Semigallia;  but,  in 
process  of  time,  their  victorious  arms  received 
several  checks;  and  when  tlie  light  of  the  re- 
formation arose  upon  Germany,  tliey  were 
deprived  of  the  richest  provinces  which  tliey 
possessed  in  that  country;  though  they  still  re- 
tain there  a  certain  portion  of  their  ancient 
territories.f 

CHAPTER  II. 

Concerning  the  Calamitous  Events  that  happened 

to  the  Church  during  this  Century. 

I.  The  progress  of  Christianity  in  the  west 
had  disarmed  its  most  inveterate  enemies,  and 
deprived  them  of  the  power  of  doing  much 
mischief,  though  tliey  still  entertained  tlie  same 
aversion  to  the  disciples  of  Jesus.  The  Jews 
and  Pagans  were  no  longer  able  to  oppose  the 
propagation  of  the  Gospel,  or  to  oppress  its 
ministers.  Their  malignity  remained;  but  their 
credit  and  authority  were  gone.  The  Jews 
were  accused  by  the  Christians  of  various 
crimes,  whether  real  or  fictitious  we  shall  not 
determine;  but,  instead  of  attacking  their  ac- 
cusers, they  were  content  to  defend  their  own 
lives,  and  secure  their  persons,  without  daring 
to  give  vent  to  their  resentment.  Affairs  were 
in  a  somewhat  different  state  in  the  northern 
provinces.  The  Pagans  were  yet  numerous 
there  in  several  districts;  and  wherever  they 
composed  the  majority,  they  persecuted  the 
Christians  with  the  utmost  barbarity,  the  most 
unrelenting  and  merciless  fury.];  It  is  true, 
the  Christian  kings  and  princes,  who  lived  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  these  persecuting  barba- 
rians, checked  by  degrees  their  impetuous 
rage,  and  never  ceased  to  harass  and  weaken 
them  by  hostilities  and  incursions,  until  at 
length  they  subdued  them  entirely,  and  de- 
prived them,  by  force,  both  of  their  independ- 
ence and  their  superstitions. 

II.  The  writers  of  this  century  complain 
grievously  of  the  inhuman  rage  witli  which  the 
Saracens  persecuted  the  Christians  in  the  east; 
nor  can  we  question  the  trutii  of  what  they  re- 
late on  the  subject  of  this  severe  persecution. 
But  they  pass  over  in  silence  the  principal  rea- 


*  This  garment  was  a  white  mantle  with  a  black- 
cross. 

t  See  Raymond!  Diiellii  Histor.  Ord.  Teutonici, 
published  in  folio  at  Vienna,  in  1727.— Chron icon 
Prussiae,  by  Peter  Dulbnrg,  public^hed  in  4to.  at  Jena. 
in  the  year  1()79.  by  Christoph.  Hartknoch.— Helvot, 
Hist,  lies  Ordres,  tomeiii.p.  140.— Chronicon  Ord'inis 
Teutonici,  in  Anton.  MatthiBi  Analectis  voteris 
lEvi,  toin.  V.  p.  (i2],  658,  ed.  nov. — Privilepia  Ordinis 
Teutonici  in  Petr.  a  Ludewig  Reliquiis  Manuscrip- 
tor.  torn.  vi.  p.  43. 

t  Helniold,  Chronic.  Sclavor.  lib.  i.  cap.  x.xxiv.  p. 
ee,  cap.  .T.wv.  p.  89,  cap.  xl  p.  99.— Lindenbrogii 
Scriptor.  Seftentrional.  p.  195,  19fl,  201.— Petri  Lam- 
berii  Res  Hamb\irg  lib  i.  p.  23. 


sons  that  inflamed  the  resentment  of  this 
fierce  people,  and  voluntarily  forget  that  the 
Christians  were  the  aggressors  in  this  dreadful 
war.  If  we  consider  the  matter  with  impar- 
tiality and  candour,  the  conduct  of  the  Sara- 
cens, however  barbarous  it  may  have  been, 
will  not  appear  so  surprising,  particularly 
when  we  reflect  on  the  provocations  they  re<- 
ceived.  In  the  first  place,  they  liad  a  right,  by 
the  laws  of  war,  to  repel  by  force  the  violent 
invasion  of  their  country;  and  the  Christians 
could  not  e.xpect,  without  being  chargeable 
witli  the  most  audacious  impudence,  that  a 
people  whom  tliey  attacked  with  a  formidable 
army,  and  whom,  in  the  fury  of  their  misguid- 
ed zeal,  tliey  massacred  without  mercy,  should 
receive  insults  with  a  tame  submission,  and 
give  up  their  lives  and  possessions  without  re- 
sistance. It  must  also  be  confessed,  though 
with  sorrow,  that  the  Christians  did  not  con- 
tent themselves  with  making  war  upon  the 
Mohammedans  in  order  to  rescue  Jerusalem 
and  the  holy  sepulchre  out  of  their  hands,  but 
carried  their  brutal  fury  to  the  greatest  length, 
disgraced  their  cause  by  the  most  detestable 
crimes,  filled  the  eastern  provinces  through 
\vhich  they  passed  with  scenes  of  horror,  and 
made  the  Saracens  feel  the  terrible  effects  of 
their  violence  and  barbarity  wherever  their 
arms  were  successfiil.  Is  it  then  so  surprising 
to  see  the  infidel  Saracens  committing,  by  way 
of  reprisal,  the  same  barbarities  that  the  holy 
warriors  had  perpetrated  without  the  least 
provocation.'  Is  there  any  thing  so  new  and 
so  extraordinary  in  this,  that  a  people  natu- 
rally fierce,  and  exasperated,  moreover,  by  the 
calamities  of  a  religious  war,  carried  on  against 
them  in  contradiction  to  all  the  dictates  of  jus- 
tice and  humanity,  should  avenge  themselves 
upon  the  Cliristians  who  resided  in  Palestine, 
as  professing  the  religion  which  gave  occasion 
to  the  war,  and  attached,  of  consequence,  to 
the  cause  of  their  enemies  and  invaders.' 

III.  The  rapid  and  amazing  victories  of  the 
great  Genghiz-Klian,  emperor  of  the  Tartars, 
gave  an  unhappy  turn  to  the  affairs  of  the 
Christians  in  the  northern  parts  of  Asia,  near 
the  close  of  this  century.  This  warlike  prince, 
who  was  by  birth  a  Mogul,  and  whose  military 
exploits  raise  him  in  the  list  of  fame  above  al- 
most all  the  commanders  either  of  ancient  or 
modern  times,  rendered  his  name  formidable 
throughout  all  Asia,  whose  most  flourishing 
dynasties  fell  successively  before  his  victorious 
arms.  David,  or  Unkhan,  who,  according  to 
some,  was  the  son,  or,  as  others  will  have  it, 
the  brother,  but  who  was  certainly  the  succes- 
sor, of  the  famous  Prester  John,  and  was  him- 
self so  called  in  common  discourse,  was  the 
first  victim  that  Genghiz  sacrificed  to  his 
boundless  ambition.  He  invaded  his  territory, 
and  put  to  flight  his  troops  in  a  bloody  battle, 
where  David  lost,  at  the  same  time,  his  king- 
dom  and  his  life.*  The  princes,  who  governed 

*  The  Greek,  Latin,  and  Oriental  writers  are  far 
from  being  agreed  concerning  the  year  in  which  the 
emperor  of  the  Tartars  attacked  and  defeated  Pres- 
ter John.  The  greater  part  of  the  Latin  writers 
place  this  event  in  the  year  1202,  and  consequently 
in  the  thirteenth  century.  But  Marcus  Paulus  Vene- 
tuB  (in  his  book  de  Regionibus  Orientalibus,  lib.  i. 
cap.  li.  lii.  liii )  and  other  historians  wh"se  accounts 


304 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  H. 


the  Turks,  Indians,  and  the  province  of  Ca- 
thay, fell,  in  their  turn,  before  the  victorious 
Tartar,  and  were  all  either  put  to  deatli,  or 
rendered  tributary;  nor  did  Geiighiz  stop  here, 
but  proceeding  into  Persia,  India,  and  Arabia, 
he  overturned  tlie  Saracen  dominion  in  those 
regions,  and  substituted  that  of  tiie  Tartars  in 
its   place.*     From   this   jjeriod  the  Christian 


1  have  followed  as  the  mosl  probable,  place  the  defeat 
of  this  second  Prester  Joliu  in  the  year  1187.  The 
learned  and  illustrious  Demetrius  Cantemir  (in  his 
Praf.  ad  Histor.  Imperii  Ottomaiiici,  p.  45,  torn.  i.  of 
the  French  edition)  gives  an  account  of  this  matter 
different  from  the  two  now  mentioned,  and  affirms, 
upon  the  authority  of  the  Arabian  writers,  that  Geng- 
hiz  did  not  invade  the  territoiies  of  his  neighbours 
before  the  year  1214. 

*  See  Petit  de  la  Croi.x  Histoire  de  Genghiz-Can,  p. 
120,  121,  published  in  12mo.  at  Paris  in  the  year 
1711.— Herbelot,  Biblioth.  Oriental,  at  the  article 
Genghiz-Khan,  p.  378. — Assemaui  Biblioth.  Oriental. 


cause  lost  much  of  its  authority  and  credit  in 
the  provinces  that  had  been  ruled  by  Frester 
John  and  his  successor  David,  and  continued 
to  decline  and  lose  ground  until  it  sunk  en- 
tirely under  the  weiglit  of  oppression,  and  was 
succeeded  in  some  places  by  the  errors  of  the 
Mohammedan  faith,  and  in  others  by  the  su- 
perstitions of  paganism.  We  must  except, 
however,  in  this  general  account,  the  kingdom 
of  Tangut,  the  chief  residence  of  Frester  John, 
in  which  his  posterity,  who  persevered  in  the 
profession  of  Christianity,  maintained,  for  a 
long  time,  a  certain  sort  of  tributary  dominion, 
which  exhibited,  indeed,  but  a  faint  shadow 
of  their  former  grandeur.* 


Vatican,  torn.  iii.  part  i.  p.  lUl,  and  2'J5. — Jean  du 
Plan  Carpin,  Voyage  en  Tartarie,  ch.  v.  in  the  Re- 
cueil  des  Voyages  au  Nord,  tome  vii.  p.  350. 

*  Assemani  Biblioth.  Oriental.  Vatiean,  torn.  iii. 
part  ii.  p.  500. 


PART  IL 


THE  INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAFTER  I. 

Concerning  the  state  of  Letters  and  Philosophy 
during  this  Century. 

I.  NoTWiTHSTANDiKG  the  dechnc  of  the 
Grecian  empire,  the  calamities  in  which  it  was 
repeatedly  involved,  and  the  frequent  revolu- 
tions and  civil  vvars  that  consumed  its  strength, 
and  were  precipitating  its  ruin,  the  arts  and 
sciences  still  flourished  in  Greece,  and  covered 
with  glory  such  as  cultivated  them  witli  assi- 
duity and  success.  Tliis  may  be  ascribed,  not 
only  to  the  liberality  of  the  emperors,  and  to 
the  extraordinary  zeal  which  the  family  of  the 
Cornneni  discovered  for  the  advancement  of 
learniug,  but  also  to  the  provident  vigilance 
of  the  patriarclis  of  Constantinople,  wlio  took 
all  possible  moasurss  to  prevent  the  clergy 
from  falling  into  ignorance  and  sloth,  lest  the 
Greek  churcli  should  thus  be  deprived  of  able 
champions  to  defend  its  cause  against  the  La- 
tins. The  learned  and  ingenious  commenta- 
ries of  Eustathius,  bishop  of  Thessalonica, 
upon  Homer  and  Dionysius  the  Geographer, 
are  sulRcient  to  show  the  diligence  and  labour 
that  were  employed  by  men  of  the  first  genius 
in  the  improvement  of  classical  erudition,  and 
in  the  study  of  antiquity.  And  if  we  turn  our 
view  toward  the  various  WTiters  who  composed 
in  this  century  the  history  of  their  own  times, 
such  as  Cinnamus,  Glycas,  Zonaras,  Nicepho- 
rus,  Briennius  and  others,  we  shall  find  in  their 
productions  undoubted  marks  of  learning  and 
genius,  as  well  as  of  a  laudable  ambition  to  ob- 
tain the  esteem  and  approbation  of  future  ages. 

II.  Nothing  could  equal  the  zeal  and  en- 
thusiasm with  which  Michael  Anchialus,  pa- 
triarch of  Constantinople,  encouraged  the 
study  of  philosophy  by  his  munificence,  and 
still  more  by  the  extraordinary  influence  of  his 
illustrious  example.*     It  seems,  however,  to 


'  Theodorus  Balsamon,  Pref.ad  Photii  Nomocan- 


have  been  the  Aristotelian  philosophy  that  was 
favoured  in  such  a  distinguished  manner  by 
this  eminent  prelate;  and  it  was  in  the  illustra- 
tion and  improvement  of  this  profound  and  in- 
tricate system  that  those  Greeks  who  had  a 
philosophical  turn  were  principally  employed, 
as  appears  from  several  remains  of  ancient 
erudition,  and  particularly  from  the  commenta- 
ries of  Eastratius  upon  the  ethics  and  other 
treatises  of  the  Grecian  sage.  We  axe  not, 
however,  to  imagme  that  the  sublime  wisdom 
of  Plato  was  neglected  in  this  century,  or  that 
his  doctrines  had  fallen  into  disrepute.  It  ap- 
pears, on  the  contrary,  that  they  were  adopted 
by  many.  Such,  more  especially,  as  had  im- 
bibed the  precepts  and  spirit  of  the  Mystics, 
preferred  them  infinitely  to  the  Peripatetic 
philosophy,  vi'hich  they  considered  as  an  end- 
less source  of  sophistry  and  presumption,  while 
they  looked  upon  the  Platonic  system  as  the 
philosophy  of  reason  and  piety,  of  candour  and 
virtue.  This  diversity  of  sentiment  produced 
the  famous  controversy,  which  was  managed 
with  such  vehemence  and  erudition  among  the 
Greeks,  concerning  the  respective  merit  and 
excellence  of  the  Peripatetic  and  Platonic  doc- 
trines. 

III.  In  the  western  world  the  pursuit  of 
knowledge  was  now  carried  on  with  incredible 
emulation  and  ardour;  and  all  branches  of  sci- 
ence were  studied  with  the  greatest  applica- 
tion and  industry.  This  literary  enthusiasm 
was  encouraged  and  supported  by  the  influ- 
ence and  liberality  of  some  of  the  European 
monarchs,  and  Roman  pontitls,  who  perceived 
the  happy  tendency  of  the  sciences  to  soften 
the  savage  manners  of  uncivilized  nations,  and 
thereby  to  administer  an  additional  support  to 
civil  government,  as  well  as  an  ornament  to 
human  society.  Hence  learned  societies  were 
formed,  and  colleges  established,  in  which  the 


onem  in  Henr.  Justelli  Bibliotheca  Juris  canonic! 
veteris,  torn.  ii.  p.  814. 


Chap.  I. 


LEARNING  AND  PHILOSOPHY. 


305 


liberal  arts  and  sciences  were  publicly  taught. 
The  prodigious  concourse  of  students,  who  re- 
eorted  thither  for  instruction,  occasioned,  in 
process  of  time,  the  enlargement  of  tiiese 
schools,  which  had  arisen  from  small  begin- 
nings, and  their  erection  into  universities,  as 
they  were  called,  in  the  succeeding  age.  Tlie 
principal  cities  of  Europe  were  adorned  with 
establishments  of  this  kind;  but  Paris  surpassed 
them  all  in  the  number  and  variety  of  its 
schools,  the  merit  and  reputation  of  its  public 
teachera,  and  tlie  immense  multitude  of  the 
studious  youth  that  frequented  its  colleges. 
And  thus  was  exliibited  in  that  famous  city  the 
model  of  our  present  schools  of  learning;  a 
model  indeed  defective  in  several  respects,  but 
which,  in  after-times,  was  corrected  and  im- 
proved, and  brought  gradually  to  higher  de- 
grees of  perfection.*  About  the  same  time  the 
famous  school  of  Angers,  in  wiiich  the  youth 
were  instructed  in  various  sciences,  and  parti- 
cularly and  principally  in  the  civil  law,  was 
founded  by  the  zeal  and  industry  of  Ulgerius, 
bishop  of  that  city;t  and  the  college  of  Mont- 
pelier,  where  law  and  physic  were  taught  with 
great  success,  had  already  acquired  a  conside- 
rable reputation. J  The  same  literary  spirit 
reigned  also  in  Italy.  The  academy  of  Bo- 
logna, whose  origin  may  be  traced  higher  than 
this  century,  was  now  in  the  highest  renown, 
and  was  frequented  by  great  numbers  of  stu- 
dents, and  more  especially  by  such  as  were 
desirous  of  being  instructed  in  the  civil  and 
canon  laws.  The  fame  of  this  academy  was, 
in  a  great  measure,  established  by  tlie  munifi- 
cence of  the  emperor  Lotharius  II.  who  took  it 
under  his  protection,  and  enriched  it  with  new 
privileges  and  immunities.  §  In  the  same  pro- 
vince flourished  also  the  celebrated  school  of 
Salernum,  where  great  numbers  resorted,  and 
which  was  wholly  set  apart  for  the  study  of 
physic.  While  this  zealous  emulation,  in  ad- 
vancing the  cause  of  learning  and  philosophy, 
animated  so  many  princes  and  prelates,  and 
discovered   itself  in  the  erection  of  so  many 


*  Boiilay,  Hist.  Acad.  Paris,  torn.  ii.  p.  4(53.— Pas- 
quier,  Recherches  de  la  France,  liv.  iii.  ch.  xxix. — 
Petri  Lambecii  Ilistor.  Biblioth.  Vinrtubon.  lib.  ii. 
cap.  V.  p.  200. — Ilistoire  Liter,  de  la  Franco,  tome  ix. 
p.  60—80. 

t  Boulay,  Hist.  Acad.  Paris,  torn.  ii.  p.  215.  Poc 
quel  de  la  Livoniere,  Dissert,  sur  I'Antiiiuite  de 
rUniversite  d'Angers,  p.  21,  published  in  4to.  at  An- 
gers, 1736. 

I  Histoire  Gen.  de  Languedoc,  par  les  Beiiedictins, 
tome  ii.  p.  517. 

§  The  inhabitants  of  Bologna  pretend,  that  their 
academy  was  founded  in  the  fifth  century  by  Theo- 
dosius  II.  and  they  pretend  to  show  the  diploma  by 
which  that  emperor  enriched  their  city  with  this  va- 
luable establishment.  But  the  greatest  part  of  those 
writers,  who  liave  studied  with  attention  and  im- 
partiality the  records  of  ancient  times,  maintain, 
that  this  diploma  is  a  spurious  production,  and  al- 
lege weighty  arguments  to  prove,  that  the  academy 
of  Bologna  is  of  no  older  date  than  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury, and  that  in  the  succeeding  age,  particularly 
from  the  time  of  Lotharius  II.  it  received  those  im- 
provements that  rendered  it  so  famous  throughout 
all  Europe.  See  Sigonii  Historia  Bononiensis,  as  it 
is  published,  with  learned  observations,  in  the  works 
of  that  excellent  author.— Muratori  Antiq.  Italic, 
medii  svi,  torn.  ii.  p.  23,  834,  898.— Just.  Hen.  Boh- 
meri  Pra-fat.  ad  Corpus  Juris  Canon,  p.  9,  as  also  the 
elegant  History  of  the  Academy  of  Bologna  written 
in  the  German  language  by  the  learned  Keufelius, 
■nd  published  at  Helmstadt  in  8vo.  in  the  year  1750. 
Vol.  I.— 39 


academies  and  schools  of  learning,  the  Roman 
pontiff,  Alexander  III.  was  seized  also  with 
noble  enthusiasm.  In  a  council  holden  at 
Rome,  A.  D.  1 179,  he  caused  a  solemn  law  to 
be  published,  for  erecting  new  schools  in  the 
monasteries  and  cathedrals,  and  restoring  to 
their  primitive  lustre  those  whicli,  through  the 
sloth  and  ignorance  of  tlie  niojiks  and  bishops, 
had  fallen  into  ruin.*  15ut  tlie  eflect  which 
this  law  was  intended  tu  produce  was  pre- 
vented by  the  growing  fame  of  the  newly- 
erected  academies,  to  whicii  tlie  youth  resorted 
from  all  parts,  and  left  the  epi,scopal  and  mo- 
nastic sciiools  entirely  empty;  so  that  they  gra- 
dually declined,  and  sunk,  at  last,  mto  a  total 
oblivion. 

IV.  Many  were  the  signal  advantages  that 
attended    these    literary   establishments;   and 
what  is  particularly  worthy  of  notice,  they  not 
only  rendered    knowledge    more   general   by 
faciHtating  the  means  of  instruction,  but  were 
also  the  occasion  of  forming  a  new  circle  of 
sciences,  better  digested,  and  much  more  com- 
prehensive than  that  which  had  been  hitherto 
studied   by  the   greatest   adepts  in  learning. 
TJie  whole  extent  of  learning  and  philosophy, 
before  this  period,  was  confined  to  the  seven 
liberal  arts,  as  they  were  commonly  called,  of 
which  tliree  were  known  by  the  name  of  the 
trivium,  which  comprehended  grammar,  rhet- 
oric, and  logic;  and  tlie  otlier  four  by  the  title 
of  quadriviuin,   wliich    included    arithmetic, 
music,  geometry,  and  astronomy.     The  great- 
est part  of  the  learned,  as  we  have  formerly  ob- 
served, were  satisfied,  with  their  literary  ac- 
quisitions,  when  they  had  made  themselves 
masters  of  the  triviiun,  while  such  as  with  an 
adventurous  flight  aspired  to  the  quadrivium, 
were  considered  as  stars  of  the  first  magnitude, 
as  the  great  luminaries  of  the  learned  world. 
But  in  this  century  the  aspect  of  letters  un- 
derwent a  considerable  and  an  advantageous 
change.     The  liberal  arts  and  sciences  were 
multiplied;  and  new  and  unfrequented  paths  of 
knowledge  were  opened  to  the  emulation  of 
the  studious  youth.     Theology  was  placed  in 
the  number  of  the  sciences;  not  that  ancient 
theology  which  had  no  merit  but  its  simplicity, 
and  which  was  drawn,  without  the  least  order 
or  connexion,   from  diverse  passages  of  the 
holy  scriptures,  and  from  the  opinions  and  in- 
ventions of  the  primitive  doctors,  but  that  phi- 
losophical or  scholastic  theology  which,  with 
the  deepest  abstraction,  traced  divine  truth  to 
its  first  principles,  and  thence  followed  it  into 
its  various  connexions  and  branches.     Nor  was 
theology  alone  added  to  the  ancient  circle  of 
sciences;  the  studies  of  the  learned  languaget, 
of  the  civil  and  canon  law,  and  of  physic.f 
were  now  brought   into   high   repute.     Par- 
ticular   academies  were    consecrated   to   the 
culture  of  each  of  these  sciences,  in  various 
places;  and  thus  it  was  natural  tn  consider 
them  as  important  branches  of  erudition,  and 
an  acquaintance  with  them  as  a  qualification 


*  See  B.  Bohmeri  Jus  Eccles.  Protciitant.  tom.  i», 

p.  705. 

ffj*  t  The  word  pkysica,  though,  according  to  its 
etymology,  it  denotes  the  study  of  natural  philosophy 
in  general,  was,  in  the  twelfth  century,  applied  par- 
ticularly to  medicinal  studies;  and  it  has  also  pre- 
served that  limited  sense  in  the  English  language. 


306 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


necessary  to  Buch  as  aimed  at  universal  learning. 
All  this  required  a  considerable  change  in  the 
division  of  the  sciences  hitherto  received;  and 
this  change  was  accordingly  brought  about. 
The  seven  liberal  arts  were,  by  degrees,  re- 
duced to  one  general  title,  and  were  compre- 
hended under  the  name  of  philosophy,  to 
which  theology,  jurisprudence,  and  physic, 
were  added.  And  hence  originated  the  four 
classes  of  science,  or,  to  use  the  academic 
phrase,  the  four  faculties  which  prevailed  in  the 
universities,  in  the  following  century. 

V.  A  happy  and  unexpected  event  restored 
in  Italy  the  lustre  and  authority  of  tlie  ancient 
Roman  law,  and,  at  the  same  time,  lessened 
the  credit  of  those  systems  of  legislation  which 
had  been  received  for  several  ages  past.  This 
event  was  the  discover}'  of  the  original  manu- 
script of  the  famous  Pandect  of  Justinian, 
which  was  found  in  the  ruins  of  Amalphi,  or 
Melfi,  when  that  city  was  taken  by  Lotharius 
II.  in  113',  and  of  which  thai  emperor  made 
a  present  to  the  inhabitants  of  Pisa,  whose 
fleet  had  contributed,  in  a  particular  manner, 
to  the  success  of  the  siege.  This  admirable 
collection,  which  had  been  almost  buried  in 
oblivion,  was  no  sooner  recovered,  than  the 
Roman  law  became  the  grand  object  of  the 
•tudies  and  labours  of  the  learned.  In  the 
academy  of  Bologna,  colleges  were  erected  ex- 
pressly for  the  study  of  the  Roman  jurispru- 
dence; and  these  excellent  institutions  were 
multiplied  in  several  parts  of  Italy,  in  process 
of  time,  and  animated  other  European  nations 
to  imitate  so  wise  an  exam.ple.  Hence  arose 
a  great  revolution  in  the  public  tribunals,  and 
an  entire  change  in  their  judicial  proceedings. 
Hitherto  different  systems  of  law  had  been  fol- 
lowed in  different  courts;  and  every  person  of 
distinction,  particularly  among  the  Franks, 
had  the  liberty  of  choosing  that  code  of  law 
which  was  to  be  the  rule  of  his  conduct.  But 
the  Roman  law  acquired  such  credit  and  au- 
thority, that  it  superseded,  by  degrees,  all 
other  laws  in  the  greatest  part  of  Europe,  and 
was  substituted  in  the  place  of  the  SaHc,  Lom- 
bard, and  Burgundian  codes,  which  before  this 
period  v/ere  in  the  highest  reputation.  It  is 
an  ancient  opinion,  that  Lotharius  II.  pursuant 
to  tlie  counsels  and  solicitations  of  Irnerius,* 
principal  professor  of  the  Roman  law  in  the 
academy  of  Bologna,  published  an  edict  en- 
joining the  abrogation  of  all  the  statutes  then 
in  force,  and  substituting  in  their  place  the 
Roman  law,  by  which,  for  the  future,  all  with- 
out exception  were  to  modify  their  contracts, 
terminate  tlieir  differences,  and  regulate  their 
actions.  But  this  opinion,  as  many  learned 
men  have  abundantly  proved,!  is  far  from  be- 
ing supported  by  sufficient  evidence. 


*  Otherwise  called  Werner. 

t  See  Herm.  Conringiusde  Origine  Juris  Gerinauici, 
cap.  xxii.— Guirli)  Grandus,  Epist.  de  Pandectis,  p. 
21,  60,  published  at  Florence,  in  4to.  in  1T37.— Henry 
Brcncmann,  llistoria  Pandectar.  p.  41.— Lud.  Ant. 
Muiatori,  Praf.  ad  Leges  Lan{;obardicas,  apud 
scriptor.  reriun  Ital.  torn.  i.  part  ii.  p.  4,  &c.  Antiq. 
Ual.  medii  aevi,  torn.  ii.  p.  285.  There  was  a  warm 
controversy  carried  on  concernins;  this  matter  be- 
tween George  Calixtiis  and  Barthol.  Nihusius,  the 
latter  of  whom  embraced  the  vulgar  opinion  concern- 
ine  the  edict  of  Lotharius,  obtained  by  the  solicita. 
»»on«  of  Irnerius,  of  tins  controversy  there  is  a  cir- 


VI.  No  sooner  was  the  civil  law  placed  in 
the  number  of  the  sciences,  and  considered  as 
an  important  branch  of  academical  learning, 
than  the  Roman  pontiffs,  and  their  zealous 
adherents,  judged  it,  not  only  expedient,  but 
also  highly  necessary,  that  the  canon  law 
should  have  the  same  privilege.  There  ex- 
isted, before  this  time,  certain  collections  of 
the  canons  or  laws  of  the  church;  but  these 
collections  were  so  destitute  of  order  and 
method,  and  were  so  defective,  both  in  respect 
to  matter  and  form,  that  they  could  not  be 
conveniently  explained  in  the  schools,  or  be 
brought  into  use  as  systems  of  ecclesiastical 
polity.  Hence  it  was,  that  Gratian,  a  Bene- 
dictine monk,  belonging  to  the  convent  of 
St.  Felix  and  Nabor  at  Bologna,  and  by  birth 
a  Tuscan  composed,  about  the  year  1130,  for 
the  use  of  the  schools,  an  abridgement,  or 
Epitome  of  Canon  Law,  drawn  from  the  letters 
of  the  pontiffs,  the  decrees  of  councils,  and  the 
writings  of  the  ancient  doctors.  Pope  Euge- 
nius  III.  was  extremely  pleased  with  this  work, 
which  was  also  received  with  the  highest  ap- 
plause by  the  doctors  and  professors  of  Bologna, 
and  was  imaniinously  adopted,  as  the  text 
they  were  to  follow  in  their  public  lectures. 
The  professors  at  Paris  were  the  first  that  fol- 
lowed the  example  of  those  of  Bologna,  which, 
in  process  of  time,  was  imitated  by  the  great- 
est part  of  the  European  colleges.  But,  not- 
withstanding the  encomiums  bestowed  upon 
this  performance,  which  was  commonly  called 
the  decretal  of  Gratian,*  and  was  entitled,  by 
the  author  himself,  the  re-union  or  coalition 
of  the  jarring  canons,!  several  most  learned 
and  eminent  writers  of  the  Romish  communion 
acknowledge,  that  it  is  full  of  errors  and  de- 
fects.|  As,  however,  the  main  design  of  this 
abridgement  was  to  support  the  despotism, 
and  to  extend  the  authority  of  the  Roman 
pontiffs,  its  innumerable  defects  were  over- 
looked, its  merits  were  exaggerated;  and,  what 
is  still  more  surprising,  it  enjoys,  at  this  day, 
in  an  age  of  light  and  liberty,  that  high  degree 
of  veneration  and  authority,  which  was  incon- 
siderately, though  more  excusably,  lavished 
upon  it  in  an  age  of  tyranny,  superstition,  and 
darkness. § 

cumstantial  account  in  the  Cimbria  Literata  of 
Mollerus,  toni.  iii.  p.  142. 

*  Decretuni  Gratiani. 

t  Concordia  Discordantinm  Canonum. 

X  See,  among  others,  Anton.  Augustinus,  De 
Emendatione  Gratiani,  published  in  8vo.  at  Arnheim, 
A.  D.  1678,  with  the  learned  observations  of  Steph. 
Baluze  and  Ger.  a  Maestricht. 

5  See  Gerhard,  a  Maestricht,  Historia  Juris  Eccle. 
siastici,  sect.  293,  p.  32o. — B.  Just.  Hen.  Bohmer'a 
Jus  Eccles.  Protestant,  torn.  i.  p.  100,  and  more  par. 
ticularlythe  learned  Preface,  with  which  he  enriched 
the  new  edition  of  the  Canon  Law,  published  at 
Halle  in  4to.  in  the  year  1747.  See  also  Alex. 
Machiavelli  Observationes  ad  Sigonii  Histor.  Bonon- 
iensem,  torn.  iii.  Oper.  Sigonii,  p.  128.  This  writer 
has  drawn,  from  the  Kalendarium  Archl-Gymnasii 
Bononiensis,  several  particularities  concerning  Gra- 
tian and  his  work,  which  were  generally  unknown, 
but  whose  truth  is  also  much  disputed.  What  in. 
creases  the  suspicion  of  tlieir  being  fabulous  is.  that 
this  famous  Kalendar,  of  which  the  Bolognese  boast 
so  much,  and  which  they  have  so  often  promised  to 
publish  in  order  to  dispel  the  doubts  of  the  learned, 
has  never  yet  seen  the  light.  Besides,  in  the  frap- 
ments  that  have  appeared,  there  are  manifest  marks 
of  unfair  dealing. 


Chap.  I. 


LEARNING  AND  PHILOSOPHY. 


307 


VII.  Such  among  the  Latins  as  were  am- 
bitious of  making  a  figure  in  the  republic  of 
letters,  apphed  themselves  to  philosophy  with 
the  utmost  zeal  and  diligence.  Taken  in  its 
most  extensive  and  general  meaning,  that 
study  comprehended,  according  to  the  method 
which  was  the  most  generally  received  toward 
the  middle  of  this  century,  lour  classes:  it  was 
divided  into  theoretical,  practical,  mechanical, 
and  logical.  The  first  class  comprised  natural 
theology,  mathematics,  and  natural  philoso- 
phy. In  the  second  class  were  ranked  ethics, 
(Economics,  and  politics.  The  third  contained 
the  seven  arts  that  are  more  immediately  sub- 
servient to  the  purposes  of  life,  such  as  naviga- 
tion, agriculture,  hunting,  &c.  The  fourtli 
was  divided  into  grammar  and  composition, 
the  latter  of  which  was  subdivided  into  rhet- 
oric, dialectics,  and  sophistry;  and  under  the 
term  dialectic  was  comprehended  that  part  of 
the  metaphysic  science  which  treats  of  general 
notions.  This  division  was  almost  universally 
adopted.  Some,  indeed,  were  inclined  to 
separate  grammar  and  mechanics  from  philoso- 
phy; a  separation  highly  condemned  by  others, 
who,  under  the  general  term  philosophy,  com- 
prehended the  whole  circle  of  the  sciences.* 

VIII.  The  learned,  who  taught  or  who 
cultivated  these  different  branches  of  study, 
were  divided  into  various  factions,  which  at- 
tacked each  other  with  the  utmost  animosity 
and  bitterness.f  At  this  time,  tliree  methods 
of  teaching  philosophy  were  practised  by  dif- 
ferent doctors.  The  first  was  the  ancient  and 
plain  method,  which  confined  its  researches  to 
the  philosophical  notions  of  Porphyry,  and  the 
dialectic  system,  commonly  attributed  to  St. 
Augustine,  and  in  which  was  laid  down  this 
general  rule,  that  philosophical  inquiries  were 
to  be  limited  to  a  small  number  of  subjects, 
lest,  by  their  becoming  too  extensive,  religion 
might  suffer  by  a  profane  mixture  of  human 
subtilty  with  its  divine  wisdom.  The  second 
method  was  called  the  Aristotelian,  because  it 
consisted  in  explications  of  the  works  of  that 
philosop]ier,J  several  of  whose  productioire, 
being  translated  into  Latin,  were  now  almost 
every  where  in  the  hands  of  the  learned. 
These  translations  were,  indeed,  extremely  ob- 


«  Tliese  literary  anecdotes  I  fiave  taken  from  se- 
veral writers,  particularly  from  Hugo  a  St.  Victore, 
Didascali  Libro  ii.  cap.  ii.  p.  7.  toni.  i.  op.  and  from 
the  Melalogicum  of  John  of  Salisbury. 

t  See  Godof  do  St.  Victore,  (^armen  de  Sectis 
Philosoph.  published  by  Le  Bfpnf,  in  his  Di.ss.  sur 
I'Histoirc  Ecclesiast.  et  Civile  de  Paris,  tome  Ii.  p. 
<J54. — Boiilay,  Hist.  Acad.  Paris,  torn.  ii.  p.  5tii, — 
Ant.  Wood,  Antiq.  Oxoniens.  tom.  i.  p.  51.  Jo.  Saris- 
buriensis  Metnlog.  et  Pnlicrat.  passim. 

}  Rob.  de  Monte,  Append,  ad  Siffebertiim  Gembla- 
cens.  published  by  d'Acheri,  among  the  works  of 
Guibert,  abbot  of  Nogent,  ad  annum  1128.  p.  753. 
"  Jacobus  Clericus  rie  Venetia  transtulit  de  Gr<TCo  in 
Latinum  quosdam  libros  Aristotelis  et  commentatus 
est,  scilicet  Topica,  Annal  priores  et  posteriores  et 
elenchos;  quamvis  antiquior  translatio  super  eosdcm 
libros  haberetur."  Thorn  Becket,  Epistolar.  lib.  ii. 
ep.  xciii.  p.  454.  edit.  Bruxell.  1682,  in  -Ito.  "  Itero 
preces,  quatenus  libros  Ari.stotelis,  quns  habetis, 
mihi  faciatis  exscribi.— Precor  etiani  iterata  suppli- 
catione  quatenus  in  opeiibus  Arislotelis,  ubi  tliffi- 
ciliora  fuerint,  notulas  facialis,  co  quod  interpretcm 
aliquatenus  suspectum  habeo,  quia,  licet  eloquene 
fuerit  aliaH.  ut  t^tepe  audivi,  minni  tamen  fuit  In 
grammatica  inMitutus." 


scure  and  incorrect,  and  led  those  who  made 
use  of  them  in  their  academical  lectures,  into 
various  blunders,  and  often  into  such  notions 
as  were  not  more  absurd  tJian  whimsical  and 
singular.  The  third  was  termed  the  frea 
method,  employed  by  such  as  were  bold  enough 
to  search  after  truth,  in  the  manner  they 
thought  the  most  adapted  to  render  their  in- 
quiries successful,  and  who  followed  the  bent 
of  their  own  genius,  without  rejecting,  how- 
ever, tlie  aid  of^  Aristotle  and  Plato.  Laudabla 
as  this  method  was,  it  became  an  abundant 
source  of  sophistry  and  chicane,  by  the  im- 
prudent management  of  those  who  employed 
it;  for  these  subtile  doctors,  through  a  wanton 
indulgence  of  their  metaphysical  fancies,  did 
little  more  than  puzzle  their  disciples  with  vain 
questions,  and  fatigue  them  with  endless  dis- 
tinctions and  divisions.*  These  different  sys- 
tems, and  vehement  contests  that  divided  the 
philosophers,  gave  to  many  a  disgust  against 
philosopliy  in  general,  and  prompted  them  to 
desire,  with  impatience,  its  banishment  from 
the  public  schools. 

IX.  Of  all  the  controversies  that  divided  the 
philosophers  in  this  century,  there  were  none 
carried  on  with  greater  animosity,  and  treated 
with  greater  subtilty  and  refinement,  than  the 
contest  of  the  Dialecticians  concerninp-  univer- 
sals.  The  sophistical  doctors  were  wholly 
occupied  about  the  intricate  questions  relating 
to  genus  and  species,  to  the  solution  of  which 
they  directed  all  their  philosophical  efforts, 
and  the  whole  course  of  their  metaphysical 
studies;  but  not  all  in  the  same  metiiod,  nor 
upon  the  same  principles. f  The  two  leading 
sects  into  which  thty  had  been  divided  long  be- 
fore this  period,  and  which  were  distinguished 
by  the  titles  of  Realists  and  Nominalists,  not 
only  still  subsisted,  but  were  subdivided,  each 
into  smaller  parties  and  factions,  according  as 
the  two  opposite  and  leading  schemes  were 
modified  by  new  fancies  and  inventions.  The 
Nominalists,  though  they  had  their  followers, 
were  nevertheless  much  inferior  to  the  Real- 
ists, both  with  respect  to  the  number  of  their 
disciples,  and  to  the  credit  and  reputation  of 
their  doctrine.  A  third  sect  arose  under  the 
name  of  Formalists,  wlio  pretended  to  termi- 


*  See  Jo.  Sarisburiensis  Policrat.  p  4.14,  et  Meta- 
Idg.  p.  814.  &c, 

t  John  of  Salisbury,  a  very  elegant  and  ingenious 
writer  of  this  age,  censures,  with  no  small  degree  of 
wit,  the  crude  and  unintellicible  speculations  of  these 
sophists  in  his  book  intitled  Policraticon,  seu  de 
Nugis  (Jurialium,  lib.  vii.  p.  451.  He  observes,  that 
more  time  had  been  consumed  in  resolving  the  ques- 
tion relating  to  genus  and  species,  than  the  C^sars 
had  employed  in  making  themselves  masters  of  the 
whole  world;  that  the  riches  of  Croesus  were  inferior 
to  the  treasures  which  had  been  exhausted  in  this 
controversy;  and  that  the  contending  parties,  after 
havingspent  their  whole  lives  upon  this  single  point, 
had  neither  been  so  happy  as  to  determine  it  to  their 
satisfaction,  nor  to  make,  in  the  labyrinths  of 
science  where  they  had  been  groping,  any  discovery 
that  was  worth  the  pains  they  had  taken.  His 
words  are:  "  Veterem  paratus  est  solvere  quKstionem 
de  gencrihuset  speciebus  (bespeaks  here  of  a  certain 
philosopher)  in  qua  laborans  mundus  jam  senuit,  in 
qua  plus  temporis  consumptum  est,  quam  in  acqui- 
rendo  et  regendo  orbis  impcrio  consumpscrit  Csaarea 
domus:  plus  eftusum  pecuni.T,  quam  in  omnibus  di- 
vitiiK  suis  poesederit  Crcesus.  Htec  enim  tarn  diu 
multos  tenuit,  ut  cum  hocunum  tola  vitaqunrerent, 
tandem  nee  istud  nee  aliud  invenirsnt," 


308 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


nate  the  controversy,  by  steering  a  middle 
course  between  the  jarring  systems  now  men- 
tioned; but,  as  the  hypotlieses  of  these  new 
doctors  were  most  obscure  and  unintelhgible, 
they  only  perplexed  matters  more  than  they 
had  hitherto  been,  and  furnished  new  subjects 
of  contention  and  dispute.* 

Those  among  the  learned,  who  turned  their 
pursuits  to  more  interesting  and  beneficial 
branches  of  science,  tiian  the  intricate  and  puz- 
zlino-  doctrine  of  universals,  travelled  into  the 
different  countries,  where  the  kinds  of  jcnow- 
ledge,  which  they  wished  to  cultivate,  chiefly 
flourished.  The  students  of  physic,  astronomy, 
and  mathematics,  continued  to  frequent  the 
schools  of  the  Saracens  in  Spain.  Many  of 
the  learned  productions  of  the  Arabians  were 
also  translated  into  Latin;!  ^or  the  high  fame 
which  that  people  had  acquired  for  erudition, 
together  with  a  desire  of  converting  the 
Spanish  Saracens  to  Christianity,  had  excited 
many  to  study  their  language,  and  to  acquire 
a  considerable  knowledge  of  their  doctrine. 

*  See  the  above  cited  author's  Policrat.  lib.  vii.  p. 
451,  where  he  gives  a  succinct  account  of  the  For- 
malists, Realists,  and  Nominalists,  in  the  following 
words:  "  Sunt  qui  more  mathematicorum  formasah- 
strahunt,et  ad  illas  quicquiddeuniversalibusdicitur 
referunt."  Such  were  the  Formalists,  who  applied  the 
doctrine  of  universal  ideas  to  what  the  mathemati- 
cians call  abstract  forms.  ■•  Aliidiscutiunt  Intellectus, 
et  eos  universalium  nominibns  cenaeri  confirmant." 
Here  we  lind  the  Realists  pointed  out,  who,  under  the 
name  of  universals,  comprehended  all  intellectual 
povvera,  qualities,  and  ideas.  '  Fuerunt  et  qui  voces 
ipsas  genera  dicerent  et  species:  sed  eorum  jam  ex- 
plosa  sententia  est,  et  facile  cum  auctore  suo 
evanuit.  Sunt  tamen  adhuc,  qui  deprehenduntur 
in  vestiiiiis  eorum,  licet  erubescant  vel  auctorem 
vel  scientiam  profiteri,  solis  nominibus  inhierentes, 
quod  rebus  et  intellectibus  subtrahunt,  sermonibus 
ascribunt."  This  was  a  sect  of  the  Nominalists, 
who,  ashamed  (as  this  author  alleges)  to  profess  the 
exploded  doctrine  of  Roscellinus,  which  placed  ge- 
nus and  species  in  the  class  of  mere  words,  or  sim- 
ple denominations,  modified  that  system  by  a  slight 
change  of  expression  only,  which  did  not  essentially 
distinguish  their  doctrine  from  that  of  the  ordinary 
Nominalists.  It  appears  from  all  this,  that  the  sect 
of  the  Formalists  is  of  more  ancient  date  than  John 
Duns  Scotus,  whom  many  learned  men  consider  as 
its  founder.  See  Jo.  Sarisbur.  Metalogic.  lib.  ii.  cap. 
xvii.  p.  814.  where  that  eminent  author  describes  at 
large  the  various  contests  of  these  three  sects,  and 
sums  up  their  differences  in  the  following  words: 
"  Alius  consistit  in  vocibus,  licet  h»c  opinio  cum 
Roscellino  suo  fere  jam  evanuerit;  alius  sermone.^ 
intuetur:  alius  versatur  in  intellectibus,"  &c. 

t  Oerard  of  Cremona,  who  was  so  famous  among 
the  Italians  for  his  eminent  skill  in  astronomy  and 
physic,  undertook  a  voyase  to  Toledo,  where  he 
translated  into  Latin  several  Arabian  treatises;  see 
Muratori's  Antiq.  Ital.  medii  svi,  tom.  iii.  p.  936, 
937. — Mirmet,  a  French  monk,  travelled  into  Spain 
and  Africa,  to  learn  geography  among  the  Saracens. 
See  Luc.  Darherii  Spicileeium  Scriptor.  tom.  ix.  p. 
443,  ed.  Antiq. — Daniel  Morlach,  an  Englishman, 
who  was  extremely  fond  of  mathematical  learning, 
undertook  a  journey  to  Toledo,  whence  he  brought 
into  his  own  country  a  considerable  number  of  Ara- 
bian books:  Ant.  VVood,  Antiqiiit.  Oxon.  tom.  i.  p. 
5.V — Peter,  abbot  of  Clugni,  surnamed  the  Venera- 
ble, after  having  sojourned  for  some  time  among  the 
Spiiniards,  in  order  to  make  himself  master  of  the 
Arabian  l.inguage,  translated  into  Latin  the  Koran, 
and  the  Lite  of  IVIidiammed:  see  Mabillon,  Annal. 
Beneil.  tom.  vi.  lib.  Ixxvii.  345.  This  eminent  eccle- 
siastic, as  appears  from  the  Bibliotheca  Cluniacen- 
(is,  p.  1169,  found,  upon  his  arrival  in  Spain,  persons 
of  learning  from  England  and  other  countries,  who 
applied  themselves  wiih  extraordinary  assiduity  and 
ardour  to  thf  study  of  astrology.  We  might  multiply 
llie  example*  of  ihosa  who  travelled   in  quasi  of 


CHAPTER  n. 

Concerning  the  Doctors  and  Ministers  of  the 
Church,  and  its  Form  of  Government,  during 
this  Century. 

I.  Wherever  we  turn  our  eyes  among  the 
various  ranks  and  orders  of  the  clergy,  we  pei^ 
ceive,  in  this  century,  the  most  flagrant  marks 
of  licentiousness  and  fraud,  ignorance  and 
luxury,  and  other  vices,  whose  pernicious  ef- 
fects were  deeply  felt  both  in  chm-ch  and  state. 
If  we  except  a  very  small  number,  who  re- 
tained a  sense  of  the  sanctity  of  their  vocation, 
and  lamented  the  corruption  and  degeneracy 
of  their  order,  it  may  be  said,  with  respect  to 
the  rest,  that  their  whole  business  was  to  sa- 
tisfy their  lusts,  to  multiply  their  privileges  by 
grasping  perpetually  at  new  honours  and  dis- 
tinctions, to  increase  their  opulence,  to  dimi- 
nish the  authority  and  encroach  upon  the  pri- 
vileges of  princes  and  magistrates,  and,  ne- 
glecting entirely  the  interests  of  religion  and  the 
cure  of  souls,  to  live  in  ease  and  pleasutre,  and 
draw  out  their  days  in  an  unmanly  and  luxu- 
rious indolence.  This  appears  manifestly  from 
two  remarkable  treatises  of  St.  Bernard,  in 
one  of  which  he  exposes  the  corruption  of  the 
pontiffs  and  bishops,*  while  he  describes  in  the 
other  the  enormous  crimes  of  the  monastic  or- 
ders, whose  licentiousness  he  chastises  with  a 
just  severity.! 

II.  The  pontiffs,  who  successively  ruled  the 
Latin  church,  governed  that  spiritual  and  mys- 
tical body  by  the  maxims  of  worldly  ambition, 
and  thereby  fomented  the  warm  contest  that 
had  arisen  between  the  imperial  and  sacerdotal 
powers.  On  the  one  hand,  the  popes  not  only 
maintained  the  opulence  and  authority  which 
they  had  already  acquired,  but  extended  their 
views,  and  laboured  strenuously  to  enlarge 
both,  thougli  they  had  not  all  equal  success  in 
this  ambitious  attempt.  The  European  empe- 
rors and  princes,  on  the  other  hand,  alarmed 
at  the  strides  which  the  pontiffs  were  making 
to  universal  dominion,  used  their  utmost  ef- 
forts to  disconcert  their  measures,  and  to  check 
their  growing  opulence  and  power.  These  vio- 
lent dissensions  between  the  empire  and  the 
priestliood  (for  so  the  contending  parties  were 
styled  in  this  century,)  were  most  unhappy  in 
their  effects,  which  were  felt  throughout  all 
the  European  provinces.  Pascal  II.  who  had 
been  raised  to  the  pontificate  about  the  con- 
clusion of  the  preceding  age,  seemed  now  to 
sit  firm  and  secure  in  the  apostolic  chair,  with- 
out the  least  apprehension  fi-om  the  imperial 
faction,  whose  affairs  had  taken  an  unfavour- 
able turn,  and  who  had  not  the  courage  to 
elect  a  new  pope  of  their  party  in  the  place  of 
Guibert,  who  died  in  the  year  1100.| 


science  during  this  century,  but  those  now  alleged 
are  sufficient  for  our  purpose. 

*  In  the  work  entitled,  Considerationum  Libri  V. 
ad  Eugenium  Pontiflcem. 

t  See  his  defence  of  the  crusades,  under  the  titla 
of  Apologia  ad  Gulielmum  Abbatem;  as  also  Gerho- 
hus,  de  corrupto  Ecclesiie  Sntu,  in  Baluzii  Miscell. 
tom.  V.  p.  63.— Gallia  Christiana,  tom.  i.  p.  6.  App. 
torn.  ii.  p.  21)5,  273,  &;c.  Boulay'sHistor.  Academ.  Pa- 
ris, tom.  ii.  p.  4110,  690. 

0(7-  I  Dr.  Mosheim'9  affirmation  here  muit  be 
somewhat  modified  in  order  to  be  true;  it  is  certain 


Chap.  U. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


309 


Unwilling  to  let  pass  unimproved  the  pre- 
sent success  of  the  papal  faction,  Pascal  re- 
newed, in  a  council  assembled  at  Rome,  A.  D. 
1102,  the  decrees  of  his  predecessors  against 
investitures,  and  the  excommunications  they 
had  thundered  out  against  Henry  IV.  and  used 
his  most  vigorous  endeavours  to  raise  up  on 
all  sides  new  enemies  to  that  unfortunate  em- 
peror. Henry  opposed,  with  great  constancy 
and  resolution,  the  efforts  of  this  violent  pon- 
tiff, and  eluded,  with  much  dexterity  and  vigi- 
lance, his  perfidious  stratagems.  But  his  heart, 
wounded  in  the  tenderest  part,  lost  all  its  firm- 
nes^and  courage,  when,  in  the  year  1106,  an 
unnatural  son,  under  the  impious  pretext  of 
religion,  took  up  arms  against  his  person  and 
his  cause.  Henry  V.  (so  was  this  monster 
afterwards  named)  seized  his  father  in  a  most 
treacherous  manner,  and  obliged  him  to  abdi- 
cate the  empire;  after  which  the  unhappy 
Erince  retired  to  Liege,  where,  deserted  by  all 
is  adherents,  he  shook  off,  in  1 106,  the  bur- 
then of  life  and  of  misery.  It  has  been  a  mat- 
ter of  dispute,  whether  it  was  the  instigation 
of  the  pontiff,  or  the  ambitious  and  impatient 
thirst  of  dominion,  that  engaged  Henry  V.  to 
declare  war  against  his  father;  nor  is  it,  per- 
haps, easy  to  decide  this  question  with  a  per- 
fect degree  of  evidence.  One  thing,  however, 
is  unquestionably  certain,  that  Pascal  11.  not 
only  dissolved,  or  rather  impiously  pretended 
to  dissolve,  the  oath  of  fidelity  and  obedience 
that  Henry  had  taken  to  his  father,  but  adopt- 
ed the  cause,  and  supported  the  interests  of 
this  unnatural  rebel  with  tlie  utmost  zeal,  assi- 
duity, and  fervour.* 

III.  The  revolution  that  this  odious  rebel- 
lion caused  in  the  empire,  was,  however,  much 
less  favourable  to  the  views  of  Pascal,  than 
that  lordly  pontiff  expected.  Henry  V.  could 
by  no  means  be  persuaded  to  renounce  his 
right  of  investing  the  bishops  and  abbots, 
though  he  was  willing  to  grant  the  right  of 
election  to  the  canons  and  monks,  as  was  usual 
before  his  time.  Upon  this  the  exasperated 
pontiff  renewed,  in  the  councils  of  Guastalla 
and  Troyes,  the  decrees  that  had  so  often  been 
promulgated  against  investitures;  and  the 
flame  broke  out  with  new  force.  It  was,  in- 
deed, suspended  during  a  few  years,  by  the 
wars  in  which  Henry  was  engaged,  and  which 
prevented  his  b^inging  the  atlair  to  a  decision. 
But  no  sooner  had  he  made  peace  with  his 
enemies,  and  composed  the  tumults  that  trou- 
bled the  tranquillity  of  the  empire,  than  he  set 
out  for  Italy  with  a  formidable  army,  A.  D. 
II 10,  in  order  to  put  an  end  to  this  long  and 
unhappy  contest.  He  advanced  towards  Rome 
by  slow  marches,  while  the  trembling  pontiff, 
seeing  himself  destitute  of  all  succour,  and  re- 
duced to  tlie  lowest  and  most  defenceless  con- 


that,  after  tlie  (teatli  of  Giiil)i,Tt,  the  imperial  party 
chose  in  his  place  a  pi;rsoii  nameil  Albert,  who,  in- 
deed, was  seized  and  imprisoned  on  the  day  of  liis 
election.  Theodorir,  and  Magnnlf  were  enccessively 
chosen  after  Albert,  bnl  could  not  long  support  their 
claims  to  the  pontificate.  See  Flenry,  Hist.  Eccles. 
liv.  Ixv.  vol.  xiv.  p.  10.  BrusselH  edition  in  tvo. 

*  These  accounts  are  drawn  from  the  most  au- 
thentic sources,  and  also  from  the  eminent  writers, 
whose  authority  I  made  use  of,  and  whose  names  I 
mentioned,  iji  that  part  of  the  preceding  century 
which  corrpsp<.)iids  with  the  subject  here  treated. 


dition,  proposed  the  following  conditions  of 
peace:  That  the  emperor,  on  the  one  hand, 
should  renounce  the  right  of  investing  with  the 
ring  and  crosier;  and  that  the  bishops  and  ab- 
bots should,  on  the  other  hand,  resign  and  give 
over,  to  him  and  his  successors,  all  the  grants, 
received  from  Charlemagne,  of  the  rights  and 
privileges  that  belong  to  royalty,  such  as  the 
power  of  raising  tribute,  coining  money,  and 
possessing  independent  lands  and  territories, 
with  other  immunities  of  a  like  nature.  Theso 
conditions  were  agreeable  to  Henry,  who  ac- 
cordingly gave  a  formal  consent  to  them  in  the 
year  1111;  but  they  were  extremely  displeas- 
ing to  the  Italian  and  German  bishops,  who 
expressed  their  dissent  in  the  strongest  terms. 
Hence  a  terrible  tumult  arose  in  the  church  of 
St.  Peter,  where  the  contending  parties  were 
assembled  with  their  respective  followers;  upon 
which  Henry  ordered  the  pope  to  be  seized, 
and  t-o  be  confined  in  the  castle  of  Viterbo. 
After  having  remained  there  for  some  time, 
the  captive  pontiff  was  engaged,  by  the  un- 
happy circumstances  of  his  present  condition, 
to  enter  into  a  new  convention,  by  which  he 
solemnly  receded  from  the  article  of  the  for- 
mer treaty  that  regarded  investitures,  and  con- 
firmed to  the  emperor  the  privilege  of  inaugu- 
rating the  bishops  and  abbots  with  the  ring 
and  crosier.  Peace  being  thus  concluded,  the 
vanquished  pontiff  arrayed  Henry  with  the 
imperial  diadem.* 

IV.  This  tratisitory  peace,  which  was  the 
fruit  of  violence  and  necessity,  was  followed 
by  greater  tumults  and  more  dreadful  wars, 
than  had  yet  afflicted  the  church.  Immedi- 
ately after  the  conclusion  of  this  treaty,  Rome 
was  filled  with  the  most  vehement  commotions; 
and  a  loud  clamour  was  raised  against  the 
pontift',  who  was  accused  of  having  violated, 
in  a  scandalous  manner,  the  duties  and  dig- 
nity of  his  station,  and  of  having  prostituted 
the  majesty  of  the  church  by  his  ignominious 
compliance  with  the  demands  of  the  emperor. 
To  appease  these  commotions,  Pascal  assem- 
bled, in  the  year  1112,  a  council  in  the  Late- 
ran  church,  and  not  only  confessed,  with  con- 
trition and  humility,  the  fault  he  had  com- 
mitted in  concluding  such  a  convention  with 
Henry,  but  submitted  the  question  to  the  de- 
termination of  the  council,  who  accordingly 
took  that  treaty  into  consideration,  and  so- 
lemnly annulled  it.j  This  step  was  followed 
by  many  events  that  gave,  for  a  long  time,  an 
unfavourable  turn  to  the  affairs  of  the  empe- 
ror. He  was  excommunicated  in  many  synods 
and  councils,  both  in  France  and  Germany; 
he  was  even  placed  in  the  black  lists  of  here- 
tics, a  denomination  which  exposed  him  to  the 
greatest  dangers  in  tliose  superstitious  and 
barbarous  times;J  and,  to  complete  his  anxiety, 


*  Beside  the  writers  already  mentioned,  see  Ma- 
billon,  Annal.  Henedict.  tom.  v.  p.  tiHl,  and  torn.  vi. 
p.  1,  at  the  particular  years  to  which  the  events  here 
noticed  belong. 

t  Pascal,  upon  this  occasion,  ns  Gregory  VII.  had 
formerly  done  in  the  case  of  Berenger,  submitted  hit 
proceedings  and  his  authority  to  the  judgment  of  a 
council,  to  which,  of  consequence,  he  acknowledged 
his  subordination.  That  council  even  condemned 
liis  measures,  and  declared  them  bcandaloua. 

]  See  Gervaise,  Diss,   sur  I'Herpiie  dei   Investi' 


310 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II 


he  saw  the  German  princes  revolting  from  his 
authority  in  several  places,  and  taking  up  arms 
in  the  cause  of  the  church.  To  put  an  end  to 
calamities  that  thus  afflicted  the  empire  on  all 
sides,  Henry  set  out  a  second  time  for  Italy, 
with  a  numerous  army,  in  the  year  1116,  and 
arrived,  in  the  following  year,  at  Rome,  where 
he  assembled  the  consuls,  senators,  and  no- 
bles, while  the  fugitive  pontitf  retired  to  Bene- 
vento.  Pascal,  however,  during  this  forced 
absence,  engaged  the  Normans  to  come  to  his 
assistance;  and,  encouraged  by  the  prospect 
of  immediate  succour,  prepared  every  thing 
for  a  vigorous  war  against  the  emperor,  and 
attempted  to  make  himself  master  of  Rome. 
But,  in  the  midst  of  these  warlike  preparations, 
which  drew  the  attention  of  Europe,  and  por- 
tended great  and  remarkable  events,  the  mili- 
tary pontiff  yielded  to  fate,  A.  D.  1118. 

V.  A  few  days  after  the  death  of  Pascal, 
John  of  Gaieta,  a  Benedictine  monk  of  Mont- 
Cassin,  and  chancellor  of  the  Roman  Church, 
was  raised  to  the  pontificate  under  the  title  of 
Gelasius  II.  In  opposition  to  this  choice, 
Henry  elected  to  the  same  dignity  Maurice 
Burdin,  archbishop  of  Braga,  in  Spain,*  who 
assumed  the  denomination  of  Gregory  VIII. f 
Upon  this,  Gelasius,  not  thinking  himself  safe 
at  Rome,  or  indeed  in  Italy,  set  out  for  France, 
and  soon  after  died  at  Clugni.  The  cardinals, 
who  accompanied  him  in  his  journey,  elected 
to  the  papacy,  immediately  after  his  departure, 
Guy,  archbishop  of  Vienne,  count  of  Burgun- 
dy, who  was  nearly  related  to  the  emperor,  and 
is  distinguished  in  the  list  of  the  Roman  pon- 
tiffs by  the  name  of  Calixtus  II.  The  eleva- 
tion of  this  eminent  ecclesiastic  was,  in  the  is- 
sue, extremely  fortunate  both  for  the  church 
and  state.  Remarkably  distinguished  by  his 
illustrious  birth,  and  still  more  by  his  noble  and 
heroic  qualities,  this  magnanimous  pontiff"  con- 
tinued to  oppose  the  emperor  with  courage  and 
success,  and  to  carry  on  the  war  both  with  the 
Bword  of  the  spirit,  and  with  the  arm  of  flesh. 
He  made  himself  master  of  Rome,  threw  into 
prison  the  pontiff"  who  had  been  cliosen  by  the 
emperor,  and  fomented  the  civil  commotions 
in  Germanj'.  But  his  fortitude  and  resolu- 
tion were  tempered  with  moderation,  and  ac- 
companied with  a  spirit  of  generosity  and 
compliance  which  dift"ered  much  from  the  ob- 
stinate arrogance  of  his  lordly  predecessors. 
Accordingly,  he  lent  an  ear  to  prudent  coun- 
Bels,  and  was  willing  to  relinquish  a  part  of 
the  demands  upon  which  the  former  pontirt"s 
had  so  vehemently  insisted,  that  he  might  re- 
store the  public  tranquillity,  and  satisfy  the  ar- 
dent desires  of  so  many  nations,  who  groaned 
under  the  dism.al  effects  of  these  deplorable 
divisions. I 

It  will   appear   unquestionably  evident   to 

tures,  which  is  the  fourtti  of  the  Dissertations  pre- 
fixed to  his  History  of  the  Abbot  Sugcr. 

QQ"  *  Braga  was  the  metropolis  of  ancient  Gali- 
cia,  but  at  present  is  one  of  the  three  archbishoprics 
of  Portugal,  in  the  province  of  Entre  Duero  e  Minho. 
The  archbishop  of  that  see  claims  the  title  of  pri- 
mate of  Spain,  which  is  annexed  in  Spain  to  the  see 
of  Toledo. 

t  Sea  Stephani  Baluzii  Vita  Mauritii  Burdini,  in 
Miacellaneis  torn,  iii  p.  471- 

QCf-  I  Tho  paragraph  following  ia  the  note  (t)  of 
Ihc  original  placed  in  the  text. 


every   attentive   and    impartial    observer   of 
things,  that  the  illiberal  and  brutal  manners 
of  those  who  ruled  the  church  were  the  only 
reason  that  rendered  the  dispute  concerning 
investitures  so  violent  and  cruel,  so  tedious  in 
its  duration,  and  so  unhappy  in   its  effects. 
I  During  the  space  of  fifty-five  years,  the  church 
I  wa.s  governed  by  monks,  who,  to  the  obscurity 
I  of  their  birth,  the  asperity  of  their  natural 
tempers,  and  the  unbounded  rapacity  of  their 
ambition  and  avarice,  joined  that  inflexible  ob- 
1  stinacy  which  is  one  of  the  essential  character- 
!  istics   of  the    monastic   order.     Hence  arose 
;  those  bitter  feuds,  those  furious  efforts  of  am- 
bition and  vetigeance,  that  dishonourecF  the 
church  and  afflicted  the  state  during  the  course 
of  this  controversy.     But  as  soon  as  the  papal 
chair  was  filled  by  a  man  of  a  more  dignified 
nature,  and  of  a  liberal  education,  the  face  of 
things  changed  entirely,  and  a  prospect  of 
peace  arose  to  the  desires  and  hopes  of  ruined 
and  desolate  countries. 

VI.  These  hopes  were  not  disappointed;  for, 
after  much  contestation,  peace  was,  at  length, 
concluded  between  the  emperor  and  the  pope's 
legates,  at  a  general  diet,  holden  at  Worms, 
A.  D.  1122.     The  conditions  were  as  follow: 

"  Tliat  for  the  future  the  bishops  and  abbots 
"  should  be  chosen  by  those  to  whom  the  right 
"  of  election  belonged;*  but  that  this  election 
"  should  be  made  in  presence  of  the  emperor, 
"or  of  an  ambassador  appointed  by  him  for 
"  that  purpose:! 

"  That,  in  case  of  a  dispute  among  the  eleo 
"tors,  the  decision  of  it  should  be  left  to  the 
"emperor,  who  was  to  consult  with  the  bi- 
"  shops  upon  that  occasion: 

"  That  the  bishop  or  abbot  elect  should  take 
"  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  emperor,  receive 
"  from  his  hand  the  regalia,  and  do  homage 
"  for  them: 

"  That  the  emperor  should  no  more  confer 
"  the  regalia  by  the  ceremony  of  the  ring  and 
"  crosier,  wliich  were  the  ensigns  of  a  ghostly 
"  dignity,  but  by  that  of  the  sceptre,  which 
"  was  more  proper  to  invest  the  person  elected 
"  in  the  possession  of  rights  and  privileges 
"  merely  temporal. "J 

This  convention  was  solemnly  confirmed  in 
the  following  year  in  tlie  Lateran  council, 
and  remains  still  in  force  in  our  times,  though 
the  true  sense  of  some  of  its  articles  has  occa- 
sioned disputes  between  the  emperors  and  pon- 
titfs.§ 

VII.  Calixtus  did  not  long  enjoy  the  fruits 
of  this  peace,  to  which  he  had  so  much  contri- 
buted by  his  prudence  and  moderation.     He 

{)lj-  *  The  expression  is  ambignous;  but  it  signi- 
fies that  the  elections  of  bishops  and  abbots  were  to 
be  made  by  monks  and  canons  as  in  former  times. 

t  From  this  period  the  people  in  Germany  were 
excluded  from  the  right  of  voting  in  the  election  of 
bishops.  See  Fetr.  de  Marca,  de  concordia  sacerdo- 
tii  et  imperii,  lib.  vi.  cap.  ii.  sect.  9,  p.  786,  edit.  Boh- 
meri. 

X  SeeMuratori,  Antiq.  Ital.  mediisevi.tom.vi.  p.  76. 
Schilterus,  de  Libertate  Eccl.  Germanics,  lib.  iv.  cap. 
iv.  p.  545. — Cffisar  Rasponus,  de  Basilica  Lateranensi, 
lib.  iv.  p.  295. 

§  It  was  disputed  among  other  thing.s,  whether  the 
consecration  of  the  bishop  elect  was  to  precede  or 
follow  the  collation  of  the  regalia.  See  Jo.  Wilh 
Hoflman,  ad  concord.itum  Henrici  V.  et  Caliati  IL 
Vitembergff,  1739,  in  4to. 


Chap.  H. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


died  in  the  year  1124,  and  was  succeeded  by 
Lambert,  bishop  of  Ostia,  who  assumed  the 
title  of  Honorious  II.  and  under  whose  ponti- 
ficate nothing  wortliy  of  mention  was  trans- 
acted. His  death,  which  happened  A.  D. 
1130,  gave  rise  to  a  considerable  schism  in  the 
church  of  Rome,  or  rather  in  the  college  of 
cardinals,  of  whom  one  party  elected,  to  the 
papal  chair,  Gregory,  a  cardinal  deacon  of  St. 
Angelo,  who  was  distinguished  by  the  name  of 
[nnocent  II.  while  the  other  chose,  for  succes- 
sor to  Honorius,  Peter,  the  son  of  Leo,  a  Ro- 
man prince,  under  the  title  of  Anacletus  II. 
The  friends  of  Innocent  were  far  from  being 
numerous  in  Rome,  or  throughout  Italy  in  ge- 
neral, for  which  reason  he  judged  it  expedient 
to  retire  into  France,  where  he  had  many  ad- 
herents, and  where  he  sojourned  during  the 
space  of  two  years.  His  credit  was  very  great 
out  of  Italy;  for,  beside  the  emperor  Lotharius, 
the  kings  of  England,  France,  and  Spain,  with 
other  princes,  espoused  warmly  the  cause  of 
Innocent,  principally  by  the  influence  of  St. 
Bernard,  who  was  his  intimate  friend,  and 
whose  counsels  had  the  force  and  authority  of 
laws  in  almost  all  the  countries  of  Europe. 
The  patrons  of  Anacletus  were  fewer  in  num- 
ber, and  were  confined  to  the  kings  of  Sicily 
and  Scotland.  His  death,  in  the  year  1138, 
terminated  the  contest,  and  left  Innocent  in  the 
entire  and  undisputed  possession  of  the  apos- 
tolic chair.  The  surviving  pontiff  presided,  in 
the  year  1139,  at  the  second  Lateran  council, 
and,  about  four  years  after,  ended  Ids  days  in 
peace.* 

VIII.  After  the  death  of  Innocent,  the  Ro- 
man see  was  filled  by  Guy,  cardinal  of  St. 
Mark,  who  ruled  the  church  about  five  months, 
under  the  title  of  Celestine  II.  If  his  reign 
was  short,  it  was,  however,  peaceable,  and  not 
like  that  of  his  successor,  Lucius  II.  whose 
pontificate  was  disturbed  by  various  tumults 
and  seditions,  and  who,  about  eleven  months 
after  his  elevation  to  the  papacy,  was  killed  in 
a  riot  which  he  was  endeavouring  to  suppress 
by  his  presence  and  authority.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Bernard,  a  Cistortian  monk,  and  an 
eminent  disciple  of  the  famous  St.  Bernard, 
abbot  of  Clairval.  This  worthy  ecclesiastic, 
who  is  distinguished  among  the  popes  by  the 
title  of  Eugenius  III.  was  raised  to  that  high 
dignity  in  tlie  year  1 145,  and,  during  a  period 
of  eight  years,  he  was  involved  in  tlie  same  pe- 
rils and  perple.\ities  that  had  embittered  the 
government  of  his  predecessor.  Ho  was  often 
obliged  to  leave  Rome,  and  to  save  himself  by 
fligiit  from  the  fury  of  the  people;!  and  the 
same  reason  engaged  liim  to  retire  into  France, 
where  he  resided  for  a  considerable  time.     At 

*  Beside  tho  ordinary  writers  of  the  papal  history, 
eee  Jean  de  Lanncs,  Histoire  du  Pontilicut  du  Pape 
Innocent  II.  Paris,  1741,  in  fvo. 

00=- 1  There  was  a  party  formed  in  Rome  at  this 
time,  whose  design  was  to  restore  the  Roman  senate 
to  its  foruier  privileges,  and  to  its  ancient  splendour 
and  glory;  and,  for  this  purpose,  to  reduce  the  papal 
revenues  and  prerogativiis  to  a  narrower  compass, 
even  to  the  tithes  and  oblations  that  were  offered  to 
the  primitive  bishops,  and  to  the  spiritual  govern- 
ment of  the  church,  attended  with  an  utter  exclu- 
sion from  all  civil  jurisdiction  over  the  city  of  Rome. 
It  was  this  party  that  produced  the  feuds  and  sedi 
lions  to  which  Dr  Mosheim  hag  an  eye  in  thig  eighth 
i«ction. 


311 


length,  exhausted  by  the  opposition  he  met 
with  in  supporting  what  he  deemed  the  prero- 
gatives of  the  papacy,  he  died  in  the  year 
1153.  The  pontificate  of  his  successor  Con- 
rad, bishop  of  Sabino,  who,  after  his  elevation 
to  the  see  of  Rome,  assumed  the  title  of  Anas- 
tasius  IV.,  was  less  disturbed  by  civil  commo- 
tions; but  it  was  not  of  long  duration;  forAnas- 
tasius  died  about  a  year  and  four  months  after 
his  election. 

IX.  The  warm  contest  between  the  empe- 
rors and  the  popes,  which  was  considered  as 
at  an  end  ever  since  the  time  of  Calixtus  II., 
was  unhappily  renewed  under  the  pontificate 
of  Adrian  IV.  who  was  a  native  of  England, 
and  whose  original  name  was  Nicolas  Break- 
spear.  Frederic  I.  surnamed  Barbarossa,  be- 
ing placed  in  1152  on  the  imperial  throne, 
publicly  declared  his  resolution  to  maintain 
the  dignity  and  privileges  of  the  Roman  em- 
pire in  general,  and  more  particularly  to  ren- 
der it  respectable  in  Italy;  nor  was  he  at  all 
studious  to  conceal  the  design  he  had  formed 
of  reducing  the  overgrown  power  and  opu- 
lence of  the  pontiffs  and  clergy  within  nar- 
rower limits.  Adrian  perceived  the  danger 
that  threatened  the  majesty  of  the  church  and 
the  authority  of  the  clergy,  and  prepared  him- 
self for  defending  both  with  vigour  and  con- 
stancy. The  first  occasion  of  trying  their 
strength  was  ofl^ered  at  the  coronation  of  tlie 
emperor  at  Rome,  in  the  year  1155,  when  the 
pontiff  insisted  upon  Frederic's  performing  the 
office  oi'  equerry,  and  holding  the  stirrup  to 
his  holiness.  This  humiliating  proposal  was 
at  first  rejected  with  disdain  by  the  emperor, 
and  was  followed  by  contests  of  a  more  mo- 
mentous nature,  relating  to  the  political  inter- 
ests of  the  empire. 

These  differences  were  no  sooner  reconciled, 
than  new  disputes,  equally  important,  arose  in 
the  year  1158,  when  the  emperor,  in  order  to 
put  a  stop  to  the  enormous  opulence  of  the 
pontiffs,  bishops,  and  monks,  which  increased 
from  day  to  day,  enacted  a  law  to  prevent  the 
transferring  of  fiefs  without  the  knowledge  or 
consent  of  the  superior,  or  lord,  in  whose  name 
they  were  holden,*  and  turned  the  whole  force 
of  his  arms  to  reduce  the  little  republics  of 
Italy  under  his  dominion.  An  open  rupture  be- 
tween the  emperor  and  the  pontiff,  was  expected 
as  the  inevitable  consequence  of  such  vigor- 
ous measures,  when  the  death  of  Adrian,  which 
happened  on  the  first  of  September,  1159,  sus- 
pended the  storm. t 

X.  In  tlie  election  of  a  new  pontiff,  the  car- 
dinals were  divided  into  two  factions.  The 
more  numerous  and  powerful  of  the  two  parties 
raised  to  the  pontificate,  Rowland,  bishop  of 
Sienna,  who  assumed  the  name  of  Alexander 
111.  while  the  rest  of  the  conclave  elected  to 


*  This  prohibition  of  transferring  the  possession 
of  fiefs  from  one  to  another,  without  the  consent  of 
the  sovereign,  or  supreme  lord,  under  whom  they 
were  holden,  together  with  other  laws  of  a  like  na- 
ture, formed  the  first  effectual  barrier  that  was  op- 
posed to  the  enormous  and  growing  opulence  and 
authority  of  the  clergy.  See  Muratori,  Antiq.  Ital. 
medii  svi,  tom.  vi.  p.  2.'?9. 

t  See  the  accurate  and  circumstantial  account  of 
this  whole  affair  that  is  given  by  the  illustrious  and 
learned  count  Bunau.  in  his  history  of  Frederic  I. 
written  in  German,  p  45,  49,  73,  99,  105,  tc 


312 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  H. 


that  high  dignity  Octavian,  cardinal  of  St. 
Cecilia,  known  by  the  title  of  Victor  IV.  The 
latter  was  patronized  by  the  emperor,  to  whom 
Alexander  was  extremely  disagreeable  on 
several  accounts.  The  council  of  Pavia,  which 
was  assembled  by  the  emperor  in  the  year 
1160,  adopted  his  sentiments,  and  pronounced 
in  favour  of  Victor,  who  thus  became  trium- 
phant in  Germany  and  Italy;  so  that  France 
alone  was  left  open  to  Alexander,  who  accord- 
ingly fled  thither  from  Rome  for  safely  and  pro- 
tection. Amidst  the  tumults  and  commotions 
which  this  schism  occasioned,  Victor  died  at 
Lucca,  in  tlie  year  1 164;  but  his  place  was  im- 
mediately filled  by  the  emperor,  at  whose  de- 
sire Guy,  cardinal  of  St.  Calixtus,  was  elected 
pontiff  under  the  title  of  Pascal  III.  and  ac- 
knowledged in  that  character  by  the  German 
princes  assembled  in  the  year  1 161,  at  the  diet 
of  Wurtzburg.  In  the  mean  time  Alexander 
recovered  his  spirits,  and,  returning  into  Italy, 
maintained  his  cause  with  uncommon  resolu- 
tion and  vigour,  and  not  without  some  promis- 
ing hopes  of  success.  He  held  at  Rome,  in 
the  year  11 6 T,  the  Lateran  council,  in  which 
he  solemnly  deposed  the  emperor  (whom  he 
had,  upon  several  occasions  before  this  period, 
publicly  loaded  with  anathemas  and  execra- 
tions,) dissolved  the  oath  of  allegiance  which 
his  subjects  had  taken  to  him  as  their  lawful 
sovereign,  and  encouraged  and  exhorted  them 
to  rebel  against  his  authority,  and  to  shake  off 
his  yoke.  But,  soon  after  this  audacious  pro- 
ceeding, Frederic  made  himself  master  of 
Rome;  upon  which  the  insolent  pontiff  fled  to 
Benevento,  and  left  the  apostolic  chair  to 
Pascal,  his  competitor. 

XI.  The  affairs  of  Alexander  seemed,  soon 
after,  to  take  a  more  prosperous  turn,  when 
(the  greatest  part  of  the  imperial  army  being 
consumed  by  a  pestilential  disorder)  the  empe- 
ror was  forced  to  abandon  Italy,  and  when  the 
death  of  Pascal,  which  happened  in  the  year 
1168,  delivered  him  from  a  powerful  and  for- 
midable rival.  But  this  fair  prospect  soon 
vanished;  for  the  imperial  faction  elected  to 
the  pontificate  John,  abbot  of  Strum,  under 
the  title  of  Calixtus  III.  whom  Frederic,  not- 
withstanding his  absence  in  Germany,  and  the 
various  wars  and  disputes  in  which  he  was 
involved,  supported  to  the  utmost  of  his  power. 
When  peace  was  in  some  measure  restored  to 
the  empire,  Frederic  marched  into  Italy,  A.  D. 
1174,  to  chastise  the  perfidy  of  the  states  and 
cities  that  had  revolted  during  his  absence, 
and  seized  the  first  opportunity  of  throwring 
off  his  yoke.  Had  this  expedition  been  crown- 
ed with  the  expected  success,  Alexander  would, 
undoubtedly,  have  been  obliged  to  desist  from 
his  pretensions,  and  to  yield  the  papal  chair 
to  Calixtus.  But  the  event  came  far  short  of 
the  hopes  which  this  grand  expedition  had 
excited;  and  the  emperor,  afler  having,  during 
the  space  of  three  years,  been  alternately  de- 
feated and  victorious,  was  at  length  so  fatigued 
with  the  hardships  he  had  suffered,  and  so  de- 
jected at  a  view  of  the  difficulties  he  had  yet 
to  overcome,  that,  in  the  year  im,  he  con- 
cluded a  treaty  of  peace  at  Venice  with  Alex- 
ander, and  a  truce  with  the  rest  of  his  ene- 


mies.* Some  writers  affirm,  that,  upon  this 
occasion,  the  haughty  pontiff  trod  upon  the 
neck  of  the  suppliant  emperor,  while  he  kissed 
his  foot,  repeating  at  the  same  time  those 
words  of  the  royal  Psalmist:  "  Thou  shall 
tread  upon  the  lion  and  adder:  the  young  lion 
and  the  dragon  slialt  thou  trample  under  feet."f 
The  greatest  part,  however,  of  modem  authors 
have  called  this  event  in  question,  and  con- 
sider it  as  utterly  destitute  of  authority  and 
mivvorthy  of  credit. J 

XII.  Alexander  III.,  who  was  rendered  so 
famous  by  his  long  and  successful  contest  with 
Frederic  I.,  was  also  engaged  in  a  warm  dis- 
pute with  Henry  II.  king  of  England,  which 
was  occasioned  by  the  arrogance  of  Thomas 
Becket,  archbishop  of  Canterbury.  In  the 
council  of  Clarendon,  which  that  prince  held 
in  the  year  1164,  several  laws  were  enacted, 
by  which  the  king's  power  and  jurisdiction 
over  the  clergy  were  accurately  explained,  and 
the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  bishops  and 
priests  reduced  within  narrow  bounds. §  Becket 


*  All  the  circumstances  of  these  conventions  are 
accurately  related  by  count  Bunau,  in  his  History 
of  Frederic  I.  p.  115 — 242. — See  also  FortunatlOlmi 
Istoria  della  Venuta  a  Venetia  occultamente  nel  A. 
1177,  di  Papa  Alessandro  III.  Venet.  1029,  in  4to.— 
Muratorl,  Antiq.  Italics  medii  aevi,  torn.  iv.  p.  2,  9. — 
Origines  GuelphiciE,  torn.  ii.  p.  379. — Acta  Sancto- 
runj,  torn.  i.  April,  p.  40,  in  Vita  Hugonis  abbati* 
Bon.-R-Vallis,  &  torn.  ii.  April,  in  Vita  Galdini  Me- 
diolanensis,  p.  596,  two  famous  ecclesiastics,  who 
were  employed  as  ambassadors  and  arbiters  in  the 
treaty  of  peace  here  mentioned. 

t  Psalm  xci.  13. 

I  See  Bunau's  Life  of  Frederic  I.  p.  242. — Heuman- 
ni  PcBciles.  torn.  iii.  lib.  i.  p.  145. — Bibliotheqi>e 
Italique,  torn.  vi.  p.  5,  as  also  the  authors  mentioned 
by  Caspar  Sagittarius,  in  his  Introduct.  in  Histor. 
Eccles.  torn.  i.  p.  030,  torn.  ii. 

§  See  Matth.  Paris,  Histor.  Major,  p.  82,  83,  101, 
114.  Dav.  VVilkins,  Concilia  MaguEe  Britanniae,  torn, 
i.  p.  434. 

(}(^  Henry  II.  had  formed  the  wise  project  of 
bringing  the  clergy  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  civil 
courts,  on  account  of  the  scandalous  abuse  they  had 
made  of  their  immunities,  and  the  crimes  whicht 
the  ecclesiastical  tribunals  let  pass  with  impunity. 
The  Constitutions  of  Clarendon,  which  consisted  of 
si.xteen  articles,  were  drawn  up  for  this  purpose: 
and,  as  they  are  proper  to  give  the  reader  a  just  idea 
of  the  prerogatives  and  privileges  that  were  claimed 
equally  by  the  king  and  the  clergy,  and  which  occa- 
sioned of  consequence  such  warm  debates  between 
state  and  church,  it  will  not  be  altogether  useless  t<^ 
transcribe  them  at  length. 

I.  When  any  difterence  relating  to  the  right  of 
patronage  arises  between  the  laity,  or  between  the 
clergy  and  laity,  the  controversy  is  to  be  tried  and 
ended  in  the  King's  court. 

II.  Those  churches  which  are  fees  of  the  crown, 
cannot  be  granted  away  in  perpetuity  without  the 
king's  consent. 

III.  When  the  clergy  are  charged  with  any  mis- 
demeanour, and  summoned  by  the  justiciary,  they 
shall  be  obliged  to  make  their  appearance  in  his 
court,  and  plead  to  such  parts  of  the  indictment  as 
shall  be  put  to  them;  and  likewise  to  answer  such 
articles  in  the  ecclesiastical  courts  as  they  shall  be 
prosecuted  for  by  that  jurisdiction;  always  provided, 
that  the  king's  justiciary  shall  send  an  oHicer  to  in- 
spect the  proceedings  of  the  Court  Christian.  And 
m  case  any  clerk  is  convicted,  or  pleads  guilty,  he 
is  to  forfeit  the  privilege  of  his  character,  and  to  be 
protected  by  the  church  no  longer. 

IV.  No  archbishops,  bishops,  or  parsons,  are  al- 
lowed to  depart  from  the  kingdom,  without  a  licence 
from  the  crown;  and  provided  they  have  leave  to 
travel,  they  shall  give  security,  not  to  act  or  solicit 
any  thing  during  their  passage,  stay,  o»  return,  to 
the  prejudice  of  the  king  or  kingdom. 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


313 


refused  obedience  to  these  laws,  wliich  he 
deqiftgd  prejudicial  to  the  divine  rights  of  the 
church  in  general,  and  to  the  prerogatives  of 
the  Roman  pontiffs  in  particular.     Upon  this 


V.  When  any  nf  the  laity  aru  prnseciitod  in  llie 
ecclesiastical  courts,  the  charge  on-rht  to  be  jircived 
before  the  bishop  by  lejral  and  rcpntable  witnfsst;:^; 
and  the  course  of  the  process  is  to  be  so  inanagcil 
that  the  archdeacon  may  not  lose  any  part  of  liis 
right,  or  the  profits  accruing  to  his  office:  and  if  any 
offenders  seem  to  have  been  screened  from  prosecu- 
tion upon  the  score  either  of  favour  or  quality,  the 
sheriff,  at  the  bishop's  instance,  shall  order  twelve 
sufficient  men  of  the  neiirhbourhood  to  make  oath 
before  the  bishop,  that  tliry  will  discover  tlie  truth 
according  to  the  best  of  tlii-ir  know  liilge. 

VI.  Excommunicated  persons  siiall  not  be  obliged 
to  make  oath,  or  give  security  to  continue  upon  the 
place  where  they  live,  but  only' to  abide  by  the  judg- 
ment of  the  church  in  order  to  their  absolution. 

VII.  No  person  that  holds  in  cliirf  of  the  king,  or 
any  of  Ills  barons,  shall  be  cxcomniuNic  alrd,  nor  any 
of  their  estates  put  under  an  interdict,  bi  fore  appli- 
cation be  made  to  the  king,  provided  he  be  in  the 
kingdom;  and  if  his  highness  be  out  of  England,  the 
justiciary  must  be  acquainted  with  the  dispute,  in 
order  to  make  satisfaction:  and  thus  what  belongs 
to  the  cognizance  of  the  king's  court,  must  be  tried 
there;  and  that  which  belongs  to  the  Court  Chris- 
tian, must  be  remitted  to  that  jurisdiction. 

VIII.  In  case  of  appeals  in  ecclesiastical  causes, 
the  first  step  is  to  he  made  from  the  archdeacon  to 
the  bishop,  and  from  the  bishop  to  the  archbishop; 
and,  if  the  archbishop  fails  to  do  justice,  recourse 
may  be  had  to  the  king,  by  whose  order  the  contro- 
versy is  to  be  finally  decided  in  the  archbishop's 
court.  Neither  shall  it  be  lawful  for  either  of  the 
parties  to  move  for  any  farther  remedy  without  leave 
from  the  crown. 

IX.  When  a  difference  happens  to  arise  between 
any  clergyman  and  layman  concerning  a  tenement, 
and  the  clerk  pretends  that  it  is  holden  by  frank 
Almoine,*  and  the  layman  pleads  it  a  lay  fee,  the 
tenure  shall  be  tried  liy  the  inquiry  and  verdict  of 
twelve  sufficient  men  of  the  neighbourhood,  sum- 
moned according  to  the  custom  of  the  realm.  And, 
if  the  tenement  or  thing  in  controversy  shall  be 
found  frank  Almoine,  the  dispute  concerning  it  shall 
be  tried  in  the  ecclesiastical  court.  But  if  it  is 
brought  in  a  lay-fee,  the  suit  shall  be  followed  in  the 
lung's  courts,  unless  both  the  plaintiff  anddefVndant 
hold  the  tenemenV  in  question  of  the  same  bishop; 
in  which  case  the  cause  shall  be  tried  in  the  court  of 
such  bishop  or  baron,  with  this  farther  proviso,  that 
he  who  is  seized  of  the  thing  in  controversy,  shall 
not  be  disseized  during  the  suit  (pendente  lite,)  upon 
the  ground  of  the  verdict  above-mentioned. 

X.  With  regard  to  one  who  holds  of  the  king  in 
any  city,  castle,  or  borough,  or  resides  upon  any  of 
the  demesne  lands  of  the  crown,  in  case  he  is  cited 
by  the  archdeacon  or  bishop  to  answer  for  any  mis- 
behaviour belonging  to  their  cognizance;  if  he  re- 
fuses to  obey  their  summons,  and  to  stand  to  the 
sentence  of  the  court,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  ordi- 
nary to  put  him  under  an  interdict,  but  not  to  ex- 
communicate him,  till  the  king's  principal  officer  of 
the  town  shall  he  pre-acquaintcd  with  the  case,  in 
order  to  enjoin  hiin  to  make  satisfaction  to  the 
church.  And  if  such  officer  or  magistrate  shall  fail 
in  his  duty,  he  shall  be  fined  by  the  king's  judges. 
And  then  the  bishop  may  exert  his  discipline  on  the 
refractory  person  as  he  thinks  fit. 

Xr.  All  archbishops,  bishops,  and  ecclesiastical 
persons,  who  hold  of  the  king  in  chief,  and  by  the 
tenure  of  a  barony,  are  for  that  reason  fibliged  to 
appear  before  the  king's  justices  and  ministers,  to 
answer  the  duties  of  their  tenure,  and  to  observe  all 
the  usages  and  customs  of  the  realm;  and,  like  other 
barons,  are  hound  to  be  present  at  trials  in  the 
king's  court,  till  sentence  is  to  be  pronounced  for  the 
losins  of  life  or  limbs. 

XII.  When  any  archbishopric,  bishopric,  abbey. 
or  priory,  of  royal  foundation,  become  vacant,  the 
king  is  to  make  .leizure;  from  which  time  all  the 
profits  and  issues  are  to  be  p.aid  into  the  exchequer, 
as  if  they  were  the  demesne  lands  of  the  crown. 


*  i.  R.  A  tenure  by  diviue  set  vice,  as  Briltun  ex- 
jtlains  It. 

Vol.  I.— 40 


there  arose  a  violent  debate  between  the  reso- 
lute monarch  and  the  rebellious  prelate,  which 
obliged  the  latter  to  retire  into  France,  where 
Alexander  was  at  that  time  in  a  kind  of 
exile.  This  pontitl'  and  the  king  of  France 
interposed  their  good  offices  in  order  to  com- 
pose these  differences,  in  which  they  succeeded 
so  far,  after  nmch  trouble  and  difficulty,  as  to 
encourage  Becket  to  return  to  England,  where 
he  was  reinstated  in  his  forfeited  dignity. 
But  the  generous  and  indulgent  proceedings 
of  his  sovereign  toward  him,  were  not  sufficient 
to  subdue  his  arrogant  and  rebellious  obsti- 
nacy in  maintaining  what  he  called  the  privi- 
leges of  the  church;  nor  could  he  be  induced 
by  any  means  to  comply  with  the  views  and 
measiu-es  of  Henry.  The  consequences  of  this 
inflexible  resistance  were  fatal  to  tlie  haughty 
prelate;  for  he  was,  soon  after  his  return  into 
England,  assassinated  before  the  altar  while 
he  was  at  vespers  in  his  cathedral  by  four 
persons,  who  certainly  did  not  commit  this  act 
of  violence  without  the  king's  knowledge  and 
connivance.*     This  event  produced  warm  de- 


And  when  it  is  determined  that  the  vacancy  shall  be 
filled  up,  the  king  is  to  summon  the  most  considera- 
ble persons  of  the  chapter  to  court,  and  the  election 
is  to  be  made  in  the  chapel  royal,  with  the  consent 
of  our  sovereign  lord  the  king,  and  by  the  advice  of 
such  persons  of  the  government,  as  ins  highness 
sliall  think  fit  to  consult;  at  which  time,  the  person 
elected  shall,  before  his  consr^ration,  be  obliged  to 
do  homage  and  fealty  to  the  king,  as  his  liege  lord; 
which  homage  shall  be  performed  in  the  usual  form, 
with  a  clause  saving  the  privilege  of  his  order. 

XIII.  If  any  of  the  temporal  barons,  or  great 
men,  shall  encroach  upon  the  rights  or  property  of 
any  archbishop,  bishop,  or  archdeacon,  and  refuse  to 
make  satisfaction  for  wrong  done  by  themselves,  or 
their  tenants,  the  king  shall  do  justice  to  the  party 
aggrieved.  And  if  any  person  shall  disseize  the  king 
of  any  part  of  his  lands,  or  trespass  upon  his  preroga- 
tive, the  archbishops,  bishops,  and  deacons,  shall 
call  him  to  an  account,  and  oblige  him  to  make  the 
crown  restitution;  i.  e.  "They  were  to  excommuni- 
cate such  disseizera  and  injurious  persons,  in  case 
they  proved  refractory  and  incorrigible." 

XIV.  The  goods  and  chatties  of  those  who  lie  un- 
der forf(jitures  of  felony  or  treason  are  not  to  be  de- 
tained in  any  church  or  church-yard,  to  secure  them 
against  seizure  and  justice,  because  such  goods  are 
the  king's  property,  whether  they  are  lodged  within 
the  precincts  of  a  church  or  without  it. 

XV.  All  actions,  and  pleas  of  debts,  though  par- 
ticularly solemn  in  the  circumstances  of  the  con- 
tract, shall  be  tried  in  the  king's  courts. 

XVI.  The  sons  of  copy-holders  are  not  to  be  or- 
dained without  the  consent  of  the  lord  of  the  manor 
where  they  were  born. 

Such  w'ere  the  articles  of  the  conslitulions  of  Cla- 
rendon, against  the  greatest  part  of  which  the  pope 
protested.  They  were  signed  by  the  English  clergy, 
and  also  by  Becket.  The  latter,  however,  repented 
of  what  he  had  done,  and  retiring  from  court,  sus- 
pended himself  from  his  office  in  the  chiirch  for  about 
forty  days,  till  he  received  absolution  from  Alexan- 
der, who  was  then  at  Sens.  His  aversion  to  these 
articles  manifested  itself  by  an  open  rebellion 
against  his  sovereign,  in  which  he  discovered  his 
true  character,  as  a  most  daring,  turbulent,  vindic- 
tive, and  arrogant  priest,  whose  ministry  was  solely 
employed  in  extending  the  despotic  dominion  of 
Rome,  and  whose  fixed  purpose  was  to  airsirandizB 
the  church  upon  the  ruins  of  the  slate.  See  (jollier's 
Ecclesiastical  History,  vol.  i.  xiith  ct;ntury.  Rapin 
de  Thoyras.  in  the  reign  of  Henry  11. 

{J(p-  *  This  assertion  is  in  our  opinion  by  much  too 
strong.  It  can  only  be  founded  upon  certain  inilis- 
crete  and  passionate  expressions,  which  the  intole- 
rable insolence  and  phrenetic  obstinacy  nf  Becket 
drew  from  Henry  in  an  unguarded  moment,  when, 
after  having  received  new  affronts,  nolwithstandinif 
the  reconciliation  he  had  effected  viiih  eo  much 


314 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  D. 


bates  between  the  king  of  England  and  the 
Roman  pontiff,  who  gained  his  point  so  far  as 
to  make  the  suppHant  monarch  undergo  a 
severe  course  of  penance,  in  order  to  expiate 
a  crime  of  which  he  was  considered  as  the 
principal  promoter,  while  the  murdered  pre- 
late, in  1173,  was  solemnly  enrolled  in  the 
highest  rank  of  saints  and  martyrs.* 

XIII.  It  was  not  only  by  force  of  arms,  but 
also  by  uninterrupted  efforts  of  dexterity  and 
artifice,  by  wise  counsels  and  prudent  laws, 
that  Alexander  III.  maintained  the  pretended 
rights  of  the  church,  and  extended  the  autho- 
rity of  the  Roman  pontiffs.  For,  in  the  third 
Lateran  council,  liolden  at  Rome  in  1179,  the 
following  decrees,  among  many  others  upon 
different  subjects,  were  passed  by  his  advice 
and  authority.  1st,  In  order  to  put  an  end  to 
the  confusion  and  dissensions  which  so  often 
accompanied  the  election  of  the  Roman  pon- 
tiffs, it  was  determined  that  the  right  of  elec- 
tion should  be  vested  in  the  cardinals  alone, 
and  that  the  person,  in  whose  favour  two- 
thirds  of  the  college  of  cardinals  voted,  should 
be  considered  as  tiie  lawful  pontiff.  This  law 
is  still  in  force;  it  was  therefore  from  the  time 
of  Alexander  that  the  election  of  the  pope  ac- 
quired that  form  which  it  still  retains,  and  by 
which,  not  only  the  people,  but  also  the  Ro- 
man clergy,  are  excluded  from  all  share  in  the 
honour  of  conferring  that  important  dignity. 


trouble  and  condescension,  lie  expressed  himself  to 
this  purpose:  '  Am  I  not  unhappy,  that,  among  the 
numbers  who  are  attached  to  my  interests,  and  em- 
ployed in  my  service,  there  is  no  one  possessed  of 
spirit  enough  to  resent  the  aftronts  which  I  am  con- 
stantly receiving  from  a  miserable  priest?'  These 
words,  indeed,  were  not  pronounced  in  vain.  Four 
gentlemen  of  the  court,  whose  names  were  Fitz- 
Urse,  Tracy,  Brito,  and  Morville,  murdered  Becket 
in  his  chapel,  and  thus  performed,  in  a  licentious 
and  criminal  manner,  an  action  which  the  laws 
might  have  commanded  with  justice.  But  it  is  ex- 
tremely remarkable,  that,  after  the  murder,  the  as- 
sassins were  afraid  they  had  gone  too  far,  and  durst 
not  return  to  the  king  s  court,  which  was  then  in 
Normandy;  but  retired  at  first  to  Knaresborough  in 
Yorkshire,  which  belonged  to  Morville,  whence  they 
repaired  to  Rome  for  absolution,  and  being  admitted 
to  penance  by  Alexander,  were  sent  by  that  pontiff 
to  Jerusalem,  and  passed  the  remainder  of  their  lives 
upon  the  Black  Mountain  in  the  severest  acts  of 
austerity  and  mortitication.  All  this  does  not  look 
as  if  the  king  had  been  deliberately  concerned  in 
this  murder,  or  had  expressly  consented  to  it.  On 
the  contrary,  various  circumstances  concur  to  prove 
that  Henry  was  entirely  innocent  of  this  murder. 
Mr.  Hume  mentions  particularly  one,  which  is 
worthy  of  notice.  The  king,  suspecting  the  design 
of  the  four  gentlemen  above-mentioned,  by  some 
menacing  expressions  they  had  dropped,  "despatched 
"(says  Mr.  Hume)  a  messenger  after  them,  ordering 
"them  to  attempt  nothing  against  the  person  of  the 
"  primate.  But  these  orders  came  too  late."  See  his 
History  of  England,  vol.  i.  p.  294.  Rapin  Thoyras, 
Histoire  d'Angleterre,  Collier's  Ecclesiastical  His- 
tory of  England.  The  works  to  which  Dr.  Mosheim 
refers  for  an  account  of  this  matter,  are  as  follow: 
Guiliel.  Stephanida;  Histnria  Thoniae  Cantuariensis 
apud  Scriptores  rcrum  Anglicarum,  published  in  fo- 
lio at  London  by  Sparke,  in  the  year  1723. — Christ, 
liupi  Epistola;  et  Vita  Thoma;  Cantuar. — Epistolje 
Alexandri  III.  Ludovici  VII.  Henrici  II.  in  hac 
causa,  ex  M.  S.  Vaticano,  Bruxelles,  1682,  2  vol. 
4to. — Natalis  Alexandri  Select.  Histor.  Eccles  Ca- 
pita, Skc.  xii.  Diss.  x.  p.  833.— Thomas  Stapletoni 
Tres  Thoma;,  sen  res  gest»  Thomse  Apostoli,  S. 
Thorns  Cantuariensis,  et  Thomse  Mori.  Coloniae, 
1612,  in  8vo. 

*  Boulay,  Histor.  Academ.  Paris,  torn.  ii.  p.  328, 
el  de  Die  Festo  ejus,  p.  397.  Dom.  Colonia,  Histoire 
Literaire  de  la  Villa  de  Lyon,  lorn.  ii.  p  249. 


2dly,  A  spiritual  war  was  declared  against  the 
heretics,  whose  numbers,  increasing  considera- 
bly about  this  time,  created  much  distuiljance 
in  the  church  in  general,  and  infested,  in  a 
more  particular  manner,  several  provinces  in 
France,  which  groaned  under  the  fatal  dissen- 
sions that  accompanied  the  propagation  of 
their  errors.*  3dly,  The  right  of  recommend- 
ing and  nominating  to  the  saintly  order  was 
also  taken  away  from  councils  and  bishops, 
and  canonization  was  ranked  among  the  great- 
er and  more  important  causes,  the  cognizance 
of  which  belonged  to  the  pontiff  alone. f  We 
must  not  forget  to  add,  that  the  power  of 
erecting  new  kingdoms,  which  had  been  claim- 
ed by  the  pontifis  from  the  time  of  Gregory 
VII.,  was  not  only  assumed,  but  also  exercised 
by  Alexander  in  a  remarkable  instance;  for, 
in  the  year  1179,  he  conferred  the  title  of 
king,  with  the  ensigns  of  royalty,  upon  Al- 
phonso  I.  duke  of  Portugal,  who,  imder  the 
'  pontificate  of  Lucius  II.,  had  rendered  his  pro- 
vince tributary  to  the  Roman  see.]; 

XIV.  Upon  the  death  of  Alexander,  Ubald, 
bishop  of  Ostia,  otherwise  linown  by  the  name 
of  Lucius  III.,  was  raised  to  the  pontificate, 
A.  D.  1181,  by  the  suffrages  of  the  cardinals 
alone,  in  consequence  of  the  law  mentioned  in 
the  preceding  section.  The  administration  of 
this  new  pontiff  was  embittered  by  violent  tu- 
mults and  seditions;  for  he  was  twice  driven 
out  of  the  city  by  the  Romans,  who  could  not 
bear  a  pope  that  was  elected  in  opposition  to 
the  ancient  custom,  without  the  knowledge 
and  consent  of  the  clergy  and  the  people.  In  the 
midst  of  these  troubles  he  died  at  Verona  in 
the  year  1185,  and  was  succeeded  by  Hubert 
Crivelli,  bishop  of  Milan,  who  assumed  the 
title  of  Urban  III.  and  who,  without  having 
transacted  any  thing  worthy  of  mention  dtiring 
his  short  pontificate,  died  of  grief  in  the  year 
1187,  upon  hearing  that  Saladin  had  made 
himself  master  of  Jerusalem.  The  pontificate 
of  his  successor  Albert, §  whose  papal  denomi-  ^ 

nation  was  Gregory  VIII.  exliibited  a  still  ■ 
more  striking  instance  of  the  fragility  of  hu-  % 
man  grandeur;  for  this  pontiff  yielded  to  fate 
about  two  months  after  his  elevation.  He  was 
succeeded  by  Paul,  bishop  of  Preneste,  who 
filled  the  papal  chair  above  three  years  under 
the  title  of  Clement   III.  and  died  in   1191, 


*  See  Natalis  Alexander,  Select.  Histor.  Eccles. 
Capit.  Saic.  xii.  Diss.  ix.  p.  819,  where  he  treats  par- 
ticularly of  this  council. — See  also  tom.  vi.  part  ii. 
Concilioruni  Harduini,  p.  1671. 

tjQ'  Dr.  Mosheim,  as  also  Spanheim  and  Fleury, 
call  this  the  'id  Lateran  council,  whereas  other  his- 
torians mention  eight  preceding  councils  holden  in 
the  Lateran  church,  viz.  those  of  the  years  649,  864, 
1105,  1112,  1116,  1123,  1139,  1167.  Our  author  has 
also  attributed,  to  this  council  of  1179,  decrees  that 
probably  belong  to  a  later  period. 

t  See  what  has  been  observed  already,  under  the 
xth  century,  concerning  the  election  of  the  popes, 
and  the  canonization  of  saints. 

t  Baronius,  Annal.  ad.  A.  1179.— Innocentii  III. 
EpistolfE  liib.  ep.  xlix.  p.  54,  tom.  i.  ed.  Baluz. 

8!j="  Alphonso  had  been  declared,  by  his  victorious 
army,  king  of  Portugal,  in  the  year  1136,  in  the 
midst  of  the  glorious  exploits  he  had  performed  in 
the  war  against  the  Moors;  so  that  Alexander  did 
no  more  than  confirm  this  title  by  an  arrogant  bull, 
in  which  he  treats  that  excellent  prince  as  his  vassal. 

§  This  prelate,  before  his  elevation  to  the  papacy, 
was  bishop  of  Benevento,  and  chancellor  of  the  Ro- 
man church. 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


315 


without  having  distinguislied  liis  ecclesiastical 
reigo  by  any  memorable  achievement,  if  we 
except  his  zeal  for  draining  Europe  of  its  trea- 
sures and  inhabitants  by  the  publication  of  new 
crusades.  Celestine  III.*  makes  a  more  shin- 
ing figure  in  history  than  the  pontiffs  we  have 
been  now  mentioning;  for  he  thundered  his 
excommunications  against  the  emperor  Henry 
VI.  and  Leopold,  duke  of  Austria,  on  account 
of  their  having  seized  and  imprisoned  Richard 
I.  king  of  England,  as  he  was  returning  from 
the  Holy  Land:  he  also  subjected  to  the  same 
malediction  Alplionso  X.  king  of  Gallicia  and 
Leon,  on  account  of  an  incestuous  marriage 
into  wliich  that  prince  had  entered;  and  com- 
manded Philip  Augustus,  king  of  France,  to 
readmit  to  the  conjugal  state  and  honours  In- 
gelburga  his  queen,  whom  he  had  divorced  for 
reasons  unknown;  though  this  order,  indeed, 
produced  little  effect. f  But  the  most  illustri- 
ous and  resolute  pontiff,  that  filled  the  papal 
chair  during  this  century,  and  whose  exploits 
made  the  greatest  noise  in  Europe,  was  Lo- 
tharius,  count  of  Segni,  cardinal  deacon,  other- 
wise known  by  the  name  of  Innocent  III.  The 
arduous  undertakings  and  bold  achievements 
of  this  eminent  pontiff,  who  was  placed  at  the 
head  of  the  church  in  the  year  1198,  belong  to 
the  history  of  the  following  century. 

XV.  If,  from  the  series  of  pontifls  that  ruled 
the  church  in  this  century,  we  descend  to  the 
other  ecclesiastical  orders,  such  as  the  bishops, 
priests,  and  deacons,  very  unpleasing  objects 
will  be  e.xhibited  to  our  view.  The  unani- 
mous voice  of  the  historians  of  tliis  age,  the 
laws  and  decrees  of  synods  and  councils,  loudly 
declare  the  gross  ignorance,  odious  frauds,  and 
flagitious  crimes,  that  reigned  among  the  dif- 
ferent ranks  and  orders  of  the  clergy  now 
mentioned.  It  is  not  therefore  at  all  surpris- 
ing, that  the  monks,  whose  rules  of  discipline 
obliged  them  to  a  regular  method  of  living,  and 
placed  them  out  of  the  way  of  many  tempta- 
tions to  licentiousness,  and  occasions  of  sinning, 
to  which  the  episcopal  and  sacerdortal  orders 
were  exposed,  were  in  higher  estimation  than 
these  were.  The  reign  of  corruption  became, 
however,  so  general,  that  it  reached  at  last 
even  the  convents;  and  the  monks,  who  were 
gaining  with  the  most  ardent  efibrts  the  sum- 
mit of  ecclesiastical  power  and  authority,  and 
who  beheld  both  the  secular  clerks  and  the  re- 
gular canons  with  aversion  and  contempt,^  be- 
gan, in  many  places,  to  degenerate  from  that 
sanctity  of  manners,  and  that  exact  obedience 
to  their  rules  of  discipline,  by  which  they  had 
been  formerly  distinguished,  and  to  exhibit  to 
the  people  scandalous  examples  of  immorality 
and  vice.§     The  Benedictines  of  Clugni,  who 


*  Whose  name  was  Hyacinth,  a  native  of  Rome, 
and  a  cardinal  deacon. 

8(7=- 1  It  vvas  in  consequence  of  the  vigorous  and 
terrible  proceedings  of  Innocent  III.  that  the  ro-union 
between  Philip  and  Ingelburga  was  accompli.=hed. 
See  L'Histoire  de  France,  par  I'Abbe  Velly,  torn, 
iii.  p.  367. 

I  See  Ruperti  Epistola  in  Martenne's  Thesaur. 
Anecd.  torn.  i.  p.  285.  This  writer  prefers  the  monks 
to  the  apostles. 

§  See  Bernardi  Considerationes  ad  Eugenimn,  lib. 
iii.  cap.  iv. — See  also  the  Speculum  Stultorum,  or 
Brunelles,  a  poem,  composed  by  Nigel  Wiri'ker.  an 
English  bard  of  no  mean  reputation,  who  lived  about 


tmdoubtedly  surpassed,  in  regularity  of  con- 
duct and  purity  of  manners,  all  the  monastic 
orders  who  lived  under  their  rule,  maintained 
their  integrity  for  a  long  time,  amidst  the  gene- 
ral decay  of  piety  and  virtue:  but  they  were 
at  length  carried  away  with  the  torrent.  Se- 
duced by  the  example  of  their  abbot  Pontius, 
and  corrupted  by  the  treasures  that  were  pour- 
ed daily  into  their  convent  by  the  liberality  of 
the  opulent  and  pious,  they  fell  from  their  pri- 
mitive austerity,  and  following  the  dissolute 
examples  of  the  other  Benedictines,  they  '  gave 
themselves  up  to  pleasure,  and  dwelt  careless- 
ly.'* Several  of  the  succeeding  abbots  endea- 
voured to  remedy  this  disorder,  and  to  recover 
the  declining  reputation  of  their  convent;  but 
their  efforts  were  much  less  successful  than 
they  expected,  nor  could  the  monks  of  Clugni 
ever  be  brought  back  to  their  primitive  sanc- 
tity and  virtue. t 

XVI.  The  Cistertian  Order,  which  was  much 
inferior  to  the  monks  of  Clugni,  both  with  re- 
spect to  the  antiquity  of  its  institution,  and 
tlie  possessions  and  revenues  of  its  convent,  far 
surpassed  them  in  external  regularity  of  life  and 
manners,  and  in  a  striking  air  of  irmocence 
and  sanctity.  Hence  its  members  acquired 
that  high  degree  of  reputation  and  authority 
which  the  Order  of  Clugni  had  formerly  en- 
joyed; and  the  fraternity  increased  daily  in 
number,  credit,  and  opulence.  The  famous 
St.  Bernard,  abbot  of  Clairval,  whose  influ- 
ence throughout  Europe  was  incredible,  whose 
word  was  a  law,  and  whose  counsels  were 
regarded  by  kings  and  princes  as  so  many  or- 
ders to  whicii  the  most  respectful  obedience 
was  due,  was  the  person  who  contributed  most 
to  eru'icli  and  aggrandize  the  Cistertian  order. 
Hence  he  is  justly  considered  as  its  second  pa- 
rent and  founder;  and  hence  the  Cistertians, 
not  only  in  France,  but  also  in  Germany  and 
other  countries,  were  distinguished  by  the  title 
of  Bernardine  monks,  j:  A  hundred  and  sixty 
religious  communities  derived  their  origin,  or 
their  rules  of  discipline,  from  this  illustrious 
abbot;  and  he  left,  at  his  death,  seven  hundred 
monks  in  the  monastery  of  Clairval.  The 
churcli  abounded  with  bishops  and  archbishops 
who  had  been  formed  and  prepared  for  the  mi- 
nistry by  his  instructions;  and  he  also  reckoned, 
among  the  number  of  his  disciples,  Eugenius 
III.  one  of  tlie  best  and  wisest  of  the  Roman 
pontiffs. 

XVII.  The  growing  prosperity  of  the  Cister- 
tian Order  excited  the  envy  and  jealousy  of 
the  monks  of  Clugni,  and,  after  several  dissen- 
sions of  less  consequence,  produced  at  length 
an  open  rupture,  a  declared  war,  between  these 
opulent  and  powerful  monasteries.  They  both 
followed  the  rule  of  St.  Benedict,  though  they 


the  middle  of  the  xiith  century.  In  this  poem,  of 
which  several  editions  have  been  published,  the  dif- 
ferent orders  of  monks  are  severely  censured;  the 
Carthusians  alone  have  escaped  the  keen  and  viru- 
lent satire  of  this  witty  writer. 

*  Isaiah,  .xlvii.8. 

t  See  Martenne's  Amplissinia  Collectio  Monument 
tor.  Veter.  torn.  ix.  p.  1119. 

J  See  Jo.  Mabillon,  Annal.  Ord.  Benedict,  torn.  vi. 
passim,  in  vita  Sti.  Bernardi,  which  he  has  prefixed 
to  his  edition  of  the  works  of  that  saint. — See  also 
the  Annales  Cistercienscs,  by  Manriquez,  torn.  ii. 
and  iii. 


316 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part IL 


differed  in  their  habit,  and  in  certain  laws, 
whicii  the  Cistertians  more  especially  had  ad- 
ded to  that  rule.  Tiie  monks  of  Clugni  accus- 
ed the  Cistertians  of  affecting'  an  extravagant 
austerity  in  their  manners  and  discipline; 
while  the  Cistertians,  on  tjie  other  hand,  charg- 
ed them,  upon  very  good  grounds,  with  having 
degenerated  from  their  former  sanctity  and  re- 
gularity of  conduct.  St.  Bernard,  who  was 
the  oracle  and  protector  of  the  Cistertians, 
wrote,  in  the  year  1 127,  an  apology  for  his  own 
conduct  with  respect  to  the  division  that  sub- 
sisted between  the  two  convents,  and  inveigh- 
ed, with  a  just  but  not  intemperate  severity, 
against  the  vices  that  corrupted  the  monks  of 
Clugni.*  This  charge  was  answered,  tlioiigh 
with  uncommon  moderation  and  candour,  by 
Peter  Mauricius,  abbot  of  Clugni;  and  hence 
arose  a  controversy  in  form,  which  spread  from 
day  to  day  its  baneful  influence,  and  excited 
disturbances  in  several  provinces  of  Europe. f 
It  was,  however,  followed  by  a  much  more  ve- 
hement and  bitter  contest  concerning  an  ex- 
emption from  the  payment  of  tithes,  granted 
among  other  privileges  and  immunities  to  the 
Cistertians,  A.  D.  1132,  by  Innocent  II.  A 
considerable  part  of  the  lands  which  the  Cis- 
tertians possessed,  and  to  whicli  the  pontiff 
granted  this  exemption,  were  subject  to  the 
monks  of  Clugni,  who  consequently  suffered 
by  this  act  of  liberality,  and  disputed  the  mat- 
ter, not  only  with  tlie  Cistertians,  but  with 
the  pope  himself  This  keen  dispute  was,  in 
some  measure,  terminated  in  the  year  1155; 
but  in  what  manner,  or  upon  what  conditions, 
we  do  not  precisely  know. J 

XVIII.  The  regular  canons,  who  had  been 
formed  into  a  fixed  and  permanent  order  in 
the  preceding  century,  employed  their  time  in 
a  much  more  useful  and  exemplary  manner 
than  the  monastic  drones,  who  passed  tJieir 
days  in  luxury  and  sloth.     They  kept  jtublic 


Qtf'  »  Tliis  apology,  as  it  is'  called,  of  St.  iVniard 
is  well  worth  the  attontion  of  the  curious  reader,  as 
it  exhibits  a  true  and  lively  picture  of  monastic  opu- 
lence and  luxury,  and  shows  how  the  religious  or- 
ders in  general  lived  in  this  century.  The  famous 
abbot,  in  this  performance,  accuses  the  monks  of 
Clugni  of  luxury  and  intemperance  at  their  table,  of 
Huperfluity  and  magnificence  in  their  dress,  their  bed- 
chambers, their  furniture,  equipage,  and  buildings. 
He  points  out  the  pride  and  vanity  of  the  abbots, 
who  looked  much  more  like  the  governors  of  pro- 
vinces, than  the  spiritual  fathers  of  humble  and  holy 
communities,  whose  original  profession  it  was.  to 
be  crucified  and  dead  to  the  interests  and  pleasures, 
the  pomps  and  vanities  of  the  present  world.  He  de- 
clares, with  a  pious  concern,  that  he  knew  several 
abbots,  each  of  whom  had  more  than  sixty  horses  in 
his  stable,  aiui  such  a  prodigious  variety  of  wines  in 
his  cellar,  that  it  was  scarcely  possible  to  taste  the 
half  of  them  at  a  siuclo  entertainment.  See  Fleury, 
Hist.  Ecclesiastiquc.liv.  Ixxvii.  torn.  xiv.  p.  351,  edit. 
Bruxellfis. 

t  See  S.  Bernardi  Apolojia  in  Oper.  tom.  i  p.  523 — 
.133.  The  apology  of  Peter,  abbot  of  Clugni,  sur- 
named  the  venerable,  which  is  piiblisheil  among  his 
Epistles,  lib.  i.  ep.  2H,  in  the  Bibliotlieca  Cluniacon- 
sis,  tom.  i.  p.  G57 — 1)95.  See  also  the  Dialogus  inter 
Cluniacensem  et  Cisterciensem,  publislnd  by  IVIar- 
tenne,  in  hisThesaur.  Anecdot.  toip.  v.  p.  157.3 — 1()13. 
Compare  with  all  these  Mabillon,  Annal.  Benedict, 
tom.  vi.  p.  80,  and  Manriquez,  Annal.  Cisterc.  torn. 
i  p.  28. 

t  See  Manriquez,  Annal.  Cistercienscs,  torn.  i.  p. 
232.— Mabillon,  Annal.  Benedict,  torn.  vi.  p.  212,  479 
and  pra^fat.  ad  Opf-ra  S.  Bernarfli. — Jo.  de  Lannes, 
Histoire  dii  Pontificat  d'Innorent  II.  p.  68. — 79. — Jo. 
Nie.  Ilertii  diss  de  exemptione  Cisterc.  a  decimis. 


schools  for  the  instruction  of  youth,  and  exer- 
cised a  variety  of  ecclesiastical  functions,  which 
rendered  them  extremely  useful  to  the  church.* 
Hence  they  rose  daily  in  credit  and  reputation, 
received  many  rich  and  noble  donations  from 
several  persons,  whose  opulence  and  piety 
rendered  tliem  able  and  willing  to  distinguish 
merit,  and  were  also  often  put  in  possession  of 
the  revenues  of  the  monks,  whose  dissolute 
lives  occasioned,  from  time  to  time,  the  sup- 
pression of  their  convents.  This,  as  might  well 
be  expected,  inflamed  the  rage  of  the  monastic 
orders  against  the  regular  canons,  whom  they 
attac]\ed  with  the  greatest  fury,  and  loaded 
with  the  bitterest  invectives.  The  canons,  in 
their  turn,  were  far  from  being  backward  in 
making  reprisals;  they  exclaimed,  on  the  con- 
trary, against  the  monks  with  the  utmost  vehe- 
mence; enumerated  their  vices  both  in  dis- 
cotu-ses  and  in  writings,  and  insisted  upon  their 
being  confined  to  their  monasteries,  sequestered 
from  human  society,  and  excluded  from  all 
ecclesiastical  honours  and  functions.  Hence 
arose,  between  the  monks  and  canons,  a  long 
and  warm  contest  for  pre-eminence;  in  which 
both  parties  carried  their  pretensions  too  high, 
and  exceeded  the  bounds  of  decency  and 
moderation. f  The  champions,  who  espoused 
the  interest  of  the  monks,  were  the  famous 
Peter  Abclard,  Hugh  of  Amiens,  Rupert  of 
Duytz;  while  the  cause  of  the  canons  was  de- 
fended by  Philip  Harvengius,  a  learned  abbot, 
and  several  other  men  of  genius  and  abilities.j 
Tiie  effects  and  remains  of  this  ancient  con- 
troversy are  yet  visible  in  our  times. 

XIX.  A  new  society  of  religious  Benedic- 
tines arose  about  the  commencement  of  this 
century,  whose  principal  monastery  was  erect- 
ed in  a  barren  and  solitary  place,  called 
Fontevraud,  between  Angers  and  Tours; 
whence  the  order  derived  its  name.  Robert 
of  Arbrisselles,  its  founder,  who  had  been  first 
a  hermit,  and  afterwards  a  monk,  prescribed 
to  his  religious  of  both  sexes  the  rule  of  St. 
Benedict,  ainplified,  however,  by  the  addition 
of  several  new  laws,  which  were  extremely 
singular  and  excessively  severe.  Among  other 
singularities  that  distinguished  this  institution, 
one  was,  that  the  several  monasteries  which 
Robert  had  built,  within  one  and  the  same  inclo- 
sure,  for  his  monks  and  nuns,  were  all  sub- 
jected to  the  authority  and  government  of  one 
abbess;  in  justification  of  which  measure,  the 
example  of  Christ  was  alleged,  who  recom- 
mended St.  John  to  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  im- 
posed it  as  an  order  upon  that  beloved  disci- 
ple, to  be  obedient  to  her  as  to  his  own  mother.§ 


*  See  the  Histoire  Literaire  de  la  France,  tom.  ix 
p.  112. 

t  See  Lambert!  Epistola  in  Martenne's  Thesaur. 
Anecdot.  tom.  i.  p.  329. 

X  Abelardi  Opera,  p.  228.  Paris,  1616,  in  4to.— 
Martenne's  Thesaur.  Anecdot.  tom.  v.  p.  970 — 975, 
l<il4,  et  Amplissima  ejusdem  CoUectio,  tom.  ix.  p. 
971,  972.— Phil.  Harvengii  Opera,  p.  385.  Duaci 
1621.  in  folio. 

§  See  the  works  of  Abelard,  p.  48,  whose  testimony 
in  this  matter  is  confirmed  by  the  present  state  and 
constitution  of  this  famous  order;  though  Mabillon, 
front  an  excessive  partiality  in  favour  of  the  Bene 
dictines,  has  endeavoured  to  dimini.oh  its  credit  in 
his  Annal.  Benedict,  tom.  v.  p.  423.  For  an  account 
of  Robert  and  his  order,  see  the  Acta  Sanctor.  tom. 
iii.   Februar    0.    593.— Dion     Sammarlhani    Oallia 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


317 


This  new  order,  like  all  other  novelties  of  that 
kind,  gained  immediately  a  hijjh  degree  of 
credit:  the  singularity  of  its  disoipline,  its  form, 
and  its  laws,  engaged  m\iltitndes  to  embrace 
it;  and  thus  the  lahonrb  of  its  founder  were 
crowned  with  remarkable  success.  [^I^  But 
the  association  of  vigorous  monks  and  tender 
virgins,  in  the  same  community,  v/as  an  im- 
prudent measure,  and  could  not  but  be  at- 
tended witii  many  inconveniences.  However 
that  may  be,  Robert  continued  his  pious 
labours,  and  tlie  odour  of  his  sanctity  ])erfumcd 
all  the  places  where  he  exercised  his  ministry.] 
He  was,  indeed,  suspected  by  some,  of  too 
great  an  intimacy  with  his  female  disciples; 
and  it  was  rumoured,  tiiat  in  order  to  try  his 
virtue,  by  opposing  it  to  the  strongest  tempta- 
tions, he  exposed  it  to  an  inevitable  defeat  by 
the  manner  in  wliich  he  conversed  with  these 
holy  virgins.  It  was  affirmed,  that  their  com- 
merce was  softened  by  something  more  tender 
than  divine  love;  against  which  charge  his 
disciples  have  used  tlieir  most  zealous  endea- 
vours to  defend  their  master.* 

XX.  Norbert,  a  German  nobleman,  wlio 
took  holy  orders,  and  was  afterwards  arch- 
bishop of  Magdeburg,  employed  his  most 
strenuous  etforts  to  restore  to  its  primitive 
severity  the  discipline  of  the  regular  canons, 
which  was  extremely  relaxed  in  some  places, 
and  almost  totally  abolished-  in  others.  This 
eminent  reformer  founded,  in  the  year  1121, 
the  Order  of  Premontre  in  Picardy,  whose  fame 
spread  throughout  Europe  witli  an  amazing 
rapidity,  and  whose  opulence,  in  a  short  space 
of  time,  became  excessive  and  enormous,!  iii 


Christiana,  toin.  ii.  p.  1311. — Ii<-iy!i;'s  Dictionary,  at 
the  article  Fontevrauil.— Ilelynt,  Hist,  des  Onlres, 
torn.  vi.  p.  83. — The  present  slate  of  this  monastery 
is  descrilied  by  Moleon,  in  liis  Voyages  I^iturgiques, 
p.  108,  and  by  Martenne,  in  the  second  part  of  his 
Voyage  Literairede  deu.\  Benedictitis. 

*  See  the  letters  of  GeofTry,  abbot  of  Vcndome, 
and  of  Marbnd,  bishop  of  Kennes;  in  which  Robert 
is  accnsed  of  lying  in  the  same  bed  with  the  nuns. 
How  the  grave  abbot  was  defended  against  this  ac- 
cusation by  the  mcnibera  of  his  order,  may  be  .seen 
in  Mainferme's  Clypeus  Nascentis  Ordiuis  Fonte- 
braldensis,  published  in  8vo.  at  Paris,  in  the  year 
1()H4;  and  also  by  another  production  of  the  same 
author,  entitled,  Dissertationes  in  Kpislolam  contra 
Robertuni  de  Abrissello.  Salmuiii,  1()82,  in  8vo. 
Bayle's  account  of  ihis  famous  abbot,  in  which  there 
is  such  an  admirable  mi.xtnre  of  wit,  sense,  and 
malice,  has  been  also  attacked  by  several  writers; 
see,  among  other  works,  the  vih  and  vith  tomes  of 
Mabillon's  Annals,  and  the  Dissertation  Apologeti 
que  pour  le  bienheurenx  Robert  d'Arbrisselles  snr 
ce  qu'en  a  dit  M.  Bayle,  An  vers  1701,  in  8vo. 

(^J"  In  the  year  1177,  some  nuns  of  this  order 
were  brought  into  England  at  the  desire  of  Henry  II. 
who  cave  tlient  the  monastery  of  Ambresbnry,  in 
Wiltshire.  They  had  two  other  houses  here;  one  at 
Eton,  the  other  at  VVestwood,  in  Worcestershire. 

(t(J»  t  The  religious  of  this  order  were  at  first  so 
poor,  that  thi-y  had  nothing  they  could  call  their 
own,  but  a  single  ass,  which  served  to  carry  the 
wood  they  cut  down  every  morning,  and  sent  to 
Laon  in  order  to  purchase  bread.  But  in  a  short 
time  they  received  so  many  donations,  and  built  so 
many  monasteries,  that,  thirty  years  after  the  foun- 
dation of  this  order,  theyliail  above  a  huiulred  ab- 
beys in  France  and  Germany.  In  process  of  time, 
the  order  increased  so  prodigiously,  that  it  had  mo- 
nasteries in  all  parts  of  riiristendoni,  amounting  to 
1,000  abbeys,  300  provoslships,  a  vast  number  of 
priories,  and  .100  nunneries.  But  (his  number  is  now 
greatly  diminished.  Besides  what  they  lost  in  Pro- 
testant countries,  of  f>5  abbeys,  that  they  had  in 
Italy,  there  is  not  one  now  remaining. 


consequence  of  the  high  esteem  which  the 
monks  of  this  community  had  acquired  by  the 
gravity  of  theii  manners,  and  their  assiduous 
application  to  the  liberal  arts  and  sciences. 
But  tiieir  overgrown  prosperity  was  the  source 
of  tlicir  ruin;  it  soon  diminished  their  zeal  for 
the  exercises  of  devotion,  extinguished  their 
thirst  after  useful  knowledge,  and  thus  gradu- 
ally plunged  tlicm  into  all  kinds  of  vice.  The 
rule  which  they  followed  was  that  of  St.  Au- 
gustine, with  some  slight  alterations,  and  an 
addition  of  certain  severe  laws,  whose  au- 
thorit}',  however,  did  not  long  survive  their 
austere  founder.* 

XXI.  About  the  middle  of  this  century,  a 
Calabrian,  whose  name  was  Berthold,  set  out 
with  a  Cow  companions  for  mount  Carmel,  and, 
upon  the  very  spot  where  the  prophet  Elias  is 
said  to  have  disappeared,  built  an  humble  cot- 
tage, with  an  adjoining  chapel,  in  which  he 
led  a  life  of  solitude,  austerity,  and  labour. 
Tiiis  little  colony  subsisted,  and  the  places  of 
those  that  died  were  more  than  filled  by  new- 
comers; so  that  it  was,  at  length,!  erected  into 
a  monastic  community  by  Albert,  patriarch  of 
.lerusalem.  This  austere  prelate  drew  up,  for 
the  new  monks,  a  rule  of  discipline,  which  was 
afterwards  confirmed  by  the  authority  of  the 
Roman  pontitfs,  who  modified  and  altered  it 
in  several  respects,  and,  among  other  correc- 
tions, mitigated  its  excessive  rigour.^  Such 
was  the  origin  of  the  famous  Order  of  Carme- 
lites, or,  as  they  are  commonly  called,  the 
Order  of  our  Lady  of  Mount  Carmel,  which 
was  afterwards  transplanted  from  Syria  into 
i^urope,  and  obtained  the  principal  rank 
among  the  mendicant  or  begging  orders.  It  is 
true,  the  Carmelites  reject,  with  the  highest 
indignation,  an  origin  so  recent  and  obscure, 
and  affirm  to  this  very  day,  that  the  prophet 
Elias  was  the  parent  and  founder  of  their  an- 
cient community. §     Very  few,  however,  have 


*  See  Helyot,  Hist,  des  Ordres,  torn.  ii.  p.  156  — 
Chrysost.  Vander  Sterre,  Vita  S.  Norberti  PrEPmon- 
stratensium  Patriarchs,  published  in  8vo.,  at  Ant- 
werp, in  lC5t). — iiouis  Hughes,  Vie  de  S.  Norbert, 
Luxeinb.  1704,  in  4to. — Add  to  these,  notwithstand- 
ing his  partiality,  Jo.  Launoy,  Inquisit.  in  Privile- 
gia  Ordin.  Prsmonstrat.  cap.  i.  ii.  Oper.  torn.  iii. 
part  i.  p.  448.  For  an  account  of  the  present  state 
o)  the  Order  of  Premontre,  see  Martenne's  Voyage 
Literaire  de  deux  Beiiedirtiiis,  tom.  ii.  p.  59. 

(t^  The  Pricnionslrniriiscs,  or  monks  of  Pre- 
montre, vulgarly  calliil  White  Canons,  came  first 
into  England  in  the  year  104t).  Their  first  monastery, 
called  New  House,  was  built  in  Lincolnshire,  by 
Peter  de  Saiilia,  and  dedicated  to  St.  Martial.  In 
the  reign  of  Edward  I.  the  order  in  question  had  27 
monasteries  in  England. 

t  In  the  year  1'20.5. 

{  I  have  here  principally  followed  Dan.  Papebroch, 
an  accurate  writer,  and  one  who  is  always  careful 
to  produce  suflicient  testimonies  of  the  truth  of  his 
narrations.  See  the  Acta  Sanctor.  Antwerp.  Mense 
April,  tom.  iii.  p.  774—80-2.  It  is  well  known,  that 
an  accusation  was  brought  against  this  learned  Je- 
suit, before  the  tribunal  of  the  pii|ie,  by  the  Carme- 
lites, on  account  of  his  having  called  in  question  the 
dignity  and  high  anli(iuity  of  their  order.  We  have 
in  Helyot's  Hist,  des  Ordres  (lorn.  i.  p.  282)  an  ac- 
count of  this  long  and  tedious  contest,  which  was  so 
far  determined,  or  at  least  suspended,  in  the  year 
1698,  by  Innocent  XII.  thai  silence  was  imposed  upon 
the  contending  parties. 

§  The  most  concise  and  accurate  of  all  the  Carme- 
lite writers,  who  have  treated  ihis  matter,  iBTbornqs 
Aquinas,  a  French  monk,  in  his  Disscrtatio  Histor. 
Theol.  in  qua  Patriarchatus  Ordinis  Carmelitarum 


318 


INTERNAL  fflSTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  TI. 


been  engaged  to  adopt  this  fabulous  and  chi 
merical  account  of  the  establishment,  except 
the  members  of  the  order;  and  many  Roman 
Catholic  writers  have  treated  their  pretensions 
to  such  a  remote  antiquity  with  the  utmost  con- 
tempt.* [^I^  And  scarcely,  indeed,  can  any 
thing  be  more  ridiculous  than  the  circumstan- 
tial narrations  of  the  occasion,  origin,  founder, 
and  revolutions  of  this  famous  order,  which  we 
find  in  several  ecclesiastical  authors,  whose 
zeal  for  tliis  fraternity  has  rendered  them  capa- 
ble of  adopting  without  reluctance,  or,  at 
least,  of  reciting  without  shame,  the  most 
puerile  and  glaring  absurdities.  They  tell  us 
that  Elias  was  introduced  into  the  state  of 
monachism  by  the  ministry  of  angels;  that  his 
first  disciples  were  Jonah,  Micah,  and  also 
Obadiah,  whose  wife,  in  order  to  shake  off  an 
importunate  crowd  of  lovers,  who  fluttered 
about  her  at  the  court  of  Ahab  after  the  depar- 
ture of  her  husband,  bound  herself  by  a  vow 
of  chastity,  received  the  veil  from  the  hands 
of  father  Elias,  and  thus  became  the  first  ab- 
bess of  the  Carmelite  order.  They  enter  into 
a  minute  detail  of  the  circumstances  that  relate 
to  the  rules  of  discipline  which  were  drawn  up 
for  this  community,  the  habit  which  distin- 
guished its  members,  and  the  various  altera- 
tions which  were  successively  introduced  into 
their  rule  of  discipline.  They  observe,  that 
among  other  marks  which  were  used  to  dis- 
tinguish the  Carmelites  from  the  seculars,  the 
tonsure  was  one;  that  this  mark  of  distinction 
exposed  them,  indeed,  to  the  mockeries  of  a 
profane  multitude;  and  that  this  furnishes  the 
true  explication  of  the  term  bald-head,  which 
the  cliildren  addressed,  by  way  of  reproach,  to 
Elisha  as  he  was  on  his  way  to  Carmel.f  They 
also  affirm,  that  Pythagoras  was  a  member  of 
this  ancient  order;  that  he  drew  all  his  wisdom 
from  Mount  Carmel,  and  had  several  conver- 
sations with  the  prophet  Daniel  at  Babylon, 
upon  the  subject  of  the  Trinity.  They  even 
go  farther  into  the  region  of  fable,  and  assert, 
that  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  Jesus  himself,  as- 
sumed the  habit  and  profession  of  Carmelites; 
and  they  loaded  this  fiction  with  a  heap  of  ab- 
surd circumstances,  which  it  is  impossible  to 
read  without  the  highest  astonishment.^ 


Prophetffi  Eliffi  vindicatur,  published  in  8vo.  at  Paris 
in  the  year  lti3-2.  The  modern  writers  who  have 
maintained  the  cause  of  the  Carmelites  against 
Papebroch,  are  extremely  prolix  and  tiresome. 

*  See  Harduini  Opera  Posthum.  p.  (552. — Labat, 
Voyage  en  Espagne  et  Italie,  torn.  iii.  p.  87. — Cou- 
rayer,  Examen  des  Defauts  Theologiques,  torn.  i.  p. 
455. 

t  See  2  Kings  ii.  23. 

53"  I  For  an  ample  account  of  all  the  absurd  in- 
ventions here  hinted  at.  see  a  very  remarkable 
work,  entitled,  "  Ordres  Monastiques,  Histoire  ex- 
"  traite  dc  tons  les  Auteurs  qui  ont  conserve  a  la 
"  Posterite  ce  qu'il  y  a  de  plus  curieux  dans  chaque 
"  Ordre,  enrichie  d'un  tres  grand  nombre  de  passages 
"  des  memes  Auteurs,  pour  servir  de  demonstration 
"  que  ce  qu'on  y  avance  est  eealement  veritable  et 
"curieux."  Tliis  work,  which  was  first  printed  at 
Paris  in  1751,  under  the  title  of  Berlin,  and  which 
was  suppressed  almost  as  soon  as  it  appeared,  is 
written  with  great  wit,  eloquence,  and  learning: 
and  all  the  narrations  it  contains  are  confirmed  by 
citations  from  the  most  eminent  authors,  who  have 
given  accounts  of  the  religious  orders.  The  author's 
view  seems  to  have  been  to  expose  the  monks  of 
every  denomination  to  the  laughter  of  his  readers; 
and  it  is  very  remarkable,  that,  in  the  execution  of 


XXII.  To  this  brief  account  of  the  religious 
orders,  it  will  not  be  amiss  to  add  a  list  of  the 
principal  Greek  and  Latin  writers  who  flour- 
ished in  this  century.  The  most  eminent 
among  the  Greeks  were  those  that  follow: 

Philippus  Solitarius,  whose  Dioptra,  or 
controversy  between  the  soul  and  the  body, 
is  sufficiently  known; 

Eustratius,  who  maintained  the  cause  of 
the  Greek  church  against  the  Latins  with 
great  learning  and  spirit,  and  who  wrote  com- 
mentaries on  certain  books  of  Aristotle; 

Euthymius  Zigabenus,  who,  by  his  anti- 
heretical  Panoply,  together  with  his  commen- 
taries upon  several  parts  of  the  sacred  writings, 
acquired  a  place  among  the  principal  authors 
of  this  centiu-y;* 

Johannes  Zonaras,  whose  Annals,  with 
several  other  productions  of  his  learned  pen, 
are  still  extant; 

Michael  Glycas,  who  also  applied  himself  to 
historical  composition,  as  well  as  to  other 
branches  of  learning;! 

Constantius  Haxmenopulus,  whose  com- 
mentaries on  the  civil  and  canon  laws  are  de- 
servedly esteemed; 

Andronicus  Camaterus,  who  wrote  with 
great  warmth  and  vehemence  against  the 
Latins  and  Armenians; 

Eustathius,  bishop  of  Thessalonica,  the  most 
learned  of  the  Greeks  in  this  century,  and  the 
celebrated  commentator  upon  the  Iliad; 

Theodorus  Balsamon,  who  employed  great 
diligence,  erudition  and  labour,  in  explaining 
and  digesting  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  laws 
of  the  Greeks.  J 

XXIII.  The  most  eminent  among  the  Latin 
writers  were, 

Bernard,  abbot  of  Clairval,  from  whom  the 
Cistertian  monks  (as  has  been  already  observ- 
ed) derived  the  title  of  Bemardins;  a  man  who 
was   not  destitute   of  genius  and  taste,  and 
whose  judgment,  in  many  respects,  was  just 
and  penetrating;  but  who,  on  the  other  hand,         J 
discovered  in  his  conduct  maiiy  marks  of  su-         fl 
perstition  and   weakness,   and   what    is    still         ^ 
worse,  concealed  the  lust  of  dominion  imder 
the  mask  of  piety,  and  made  no  scruple  of 
loading,  with  false  accusations,  such  as  had 
the  misfortune  to  incur  his  displeasure;§ 


his  purpose,  he  has  drawn  his  materials  from  the 
gravest  writers,  and  from  the  most  zealous  defenders 
of  monarchism.  If  he  has  embellished  his  subject, 
it  is  by  the  vivacity  of  his  manner,  and  the  witty 
elegance  of  his  style,  and  not  by  imputing  to  the 
monastic  communities  any  practices  which  their 
most  serious  historians  omit  or  disavow.  Tne 
authors  of  the  Bibliotheque  des  Sciences  et  des  Beaux 
Arts,  at  the  Hague,  have  given  several  interesting 
extracts  from  this  work  in  the  2d,  3d,  4th,  and 
5th  volumes  of  that  literary  journal. 

(!l^  The  Carmelites  came  into  England  in  the 
year  1240,  and  erected  a  vast  number  of  monasteries 
in  that  kingdom.  See  Broughton's  Historical  Li- 
brary, vol.  i.  p.  208. 

*  See  Rich.  Simon,  Critique  de  la  Bibliotheque  des 
Auteurs  Eccles.  par  M  Du  Pin,  torn.  i.  p.  318,  324. 

t  Other  historians  place  Glycas  in  the  fifteenth 
century.  See  Lami  Dissertatio  de  Glyca,  which  is 
prefixed  to  the  first  volume  of  his  Delicis  Virorum 
eruditorum. 

t  See  the  Bibliotheca  Graca  of  Fabricius. 

§  The  learned  Mabillon  has  given  a  splendid  edi- 
tion of  the  works  of  St.  Bernard,  and  has  not  only, 
in  his  preface,  made  many  excellent  observations 
upon  the  life  and  history  of  this  famous  abbot,  but 


Chap.  HI. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


319 


Iiuiocent  ni.  bishop  of  Rome,  whose  episs- 
tles  and  other  productions  contribute  to  illus- 
trate the  religious  sentiments,  as  also  the  dis- 
cipline and  morals,  that  prevailed  in  this  cen- 
tury;* 

Anselni  of  Laon,  a  man  of  a  subtile  genius, 
and  deeply  versed  in  logical  disquisition; 

Abelard,  the  disciple  of  Anselm,  and  most 
famous  in  this  century',  on  account  of  the  ele- 
gance of  his  wit,  the  extent  of  his  erudition, 
tlie  power  of  his  rhetoric,  and  the  severity  of 
his  fate;t 

Geof&y  of  Vendome,  whose  Epistles  and 
Dissertations  are  yet  extant; 

Rupert  of  Duytz,  the  most  eminent,  per- 
haps, of  all  the  scriptural  expositors  who  flou- 
rished among  the  Latins  during  this  century, 
a  man  of  a  sound  judgment  and  an  elegant 
taste;J 

Hugh  of  St.  Victor,  a  man  distinguished  by 
the  fecundity  of  his  genius,  who  treated  of  all 
the  branches  of  sacred  and  profane  erudition 
that  were  known  in  his  time,  and  composed 
several  dissertations  that  are  not  destitute  of 
merit;§ 

Richard  of  St.  Victor,  who  was  at  the  head 
of  the  Mystics  in  this  century,  and  whose  trea- 
tise, entitled,  The  Mystical  Ark,  which  con- 
tains, as  it  were,  the  marrow  of  that  kind  of 
theology,  was  received  with  the  greatest  avi- 
dity, aaid  applauded  by  the  fanatics  of  the 
times;|| 

Honorius  of  Autun,1l  no  mean  philoso- 
pher, and  tolerably  versed  in  theological  learn- 
ing; 

Gratian,  a  learned  monk,  who  reduced  the 
canon  law  into  a  new  and  regular  form,  in  his 
vast  compilation  of  the  decisions  of  the  ancient 
and  modem  councils,  the  decretals  of  the  pon- 
tiffs, the  capitularies  of  the  kings  of  France,  &c.; 

William  of  Rheims,  the  author  of  several  pro- 
ductions, calculated  to  excite  pious  sentiments, 
and  contribute  to  the  progress  of  practical  re- 
ligion; 

Peter  Lombard,  who  was  commonly  called, 
in  France,  Master  of  the  Sentences,  because 


has  also  subjoined  to  his  works  the  accounts  that 
have  been  given,  by  the  ancient  writers,  of  his  life 
and  actions. 

*  The  Epistles  of  Innocent  III.  were  published  at 
Paris,  in  two  large  volumes  in  folio,  by  Baluze,  in 
the  year  1682. 

t  See  Bayle's  Dictionary,  at  the  articles  Abelard 
and  Paraclet. — Gervais,  Vie  de  Pierre  Abeillard, 
Abbe  de  Ruys,  et  d'FIcloise,  published  at  Paris  in 
two  volumes  8vo.,  in  the  year  1728.  The  works  of 
this  famous  and  unfortunate  monk  were  published 
at  Paris  in  1016,  in  one  volume  4to.,  by  Franc.  Am- 
boise.  Another  edition,  much  more  ample,  might 
be  given,  since  there  are  a  great  number  of  the  pro- 
ductions of  Abelard  that  have  never  yet  seen  the 
light. 

J  See  Mabillon,  Annal.  Bened.  torn.  vi.  p.  19,  42, 
144,  168,  2<>1,  282,  296.  He  gives  an  ample  account 
of  Rupert,  and  of  the  disputes  in  which  he  was  in- 
volved. 

§  See  Gallia  Christiana,  torn.  vii.  p.  661.  The  works 
of  this  learned  man  were  published  at  Rouen,  in 
three  folio  volumes,  in  the  year  1648.  See,  for  a 
farther  account  of  him,  Derlangii  Dissert,  de  Ilugone 
a  S.  Victore,  Ilclmstadt,  1746,  in  4to.,  and  Slar- 
tonne's  Voyage  Lileraire,  tom.  ii  p.  91,  92. 

II  Gallia  Christiana,  tom.  vii.  p.  669. 

V  Such  is  the  place  to  which  Honorius  is  said  to 
have  belonged.  But  I,e  Boeuf  proves  him  to  have 
been  a  German,  in  his  Dissert,  sur  I'Hist.  Francoise, 
tom.  i.  p.  254. 


he  had  composed  a  work  so  entitled,  which 
was  a  collection  of  opinions  and  sentences  re- 
lative to  the  various  branches  of  theology,  ex- 
tracted from  the  Latin  doctors,  and  reduced 
into  a  sort  of  system;* 

Gilbert  de  la  Porree,j  a  subtile  dialectician, 
and  a  learned  divine,  who  is,  however,  said  to 
have  adopted  several  erroneous  sentiments 
concerning  the  Divine  Essence,  the  Incarna- 
tion, and  the  Trinity;]; 

William  of  Auxerre,  who  acquired  a  consi- 
derable reputation  by  his  Theological  System;§ 

Peter  of  Blois,||  whose  epistles  and  other 
productions  may  yet  be  read  with  profit; 

John  of  Salisbury,  a  man  of  great  learning 
and  true  genius,  whose  philosophical  and  theo- 
logical knowledge  was  adorned  with  a  lively 
wit  and  a  flowing  eloquence,  as  appears  in  his 
Metalogicus,  and  his  book  de  Nugis  Curialiimi; 

Petrus  Comestor,  author  of  An  Abridgement 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  which  was 
used  in  the  schools  for  the  instruction  of  the 
youth,  and  called  (probably  from  that  circum 
stance)  Historia  Scholastica. 

A  more  ample  account  of  the  names  and 
characters  of  the  Latin  writers  may  be  found 
in  those  authors  who  have  professedly  treated 
of  that  branch  of  literature. 

CHAPTER  HI. 

Concerning  the  Doctrine  of  the  Christian  Church 

in  this  Century. 

I.  When  we  consider  the  multitude  of 
causes  which  tmited  their  influence  in  obscur- 
ing the  lustre  of  genuine  Christianity,  and 
corrupting  it  by  a  profane  mixture  of  the  in- 
ventions of  superstitious  and  designing  men 
with  its  pure  and  sublime  doctrines,  it  will  ap- 
pear surprising,  that  the  religion  of  Jesus  was 
not  totally  extinguished.  All  orders  contri- 
buted, though  in  different  ways,  to  corrupt  the 
native  purity  of  true  religion.  The  popes  led 
the  way;  they  would  not  suffer  any  doctrines 
to  prevail  that  had  the  smallest  tendency  to 
diminish  their  despotic  authority;  but  obliged 
the  public  teachers  to  interpret  the  precepts 
of  Christianity  in  such  a  manner,  as  to  ren- 
der them  subservient  to  the  support  of  papal 
dominion  and  tyranny.  This  order  was  so 
much  the  more  terrible,  as  those  who  refused 
to  comply  with  it,  and  to  force  the  words  of 
scripture  into  significations  totally  opposite  to 
the  intentions  of  its  divine  author  (such,  in  a 
word,  as  had  the  courage  to  place  the  authority 
of  the  Gospel  above  that  of  the  Roman  pon- 
tiffs, and  to  consider  it  as  the  supreme  rule  of 
their  conduct,)  were  answered  with  the  formi- 
dable arguments  of  fire  and  sword,  and  re- 
ceived death  in  the  most  cruel  forms,  as  the 


*  Gallia  Christiana,  tom.  vii.  p.  68. 

t  Called,  in  Latin,  Gilbertus  Porrotanus. 

(K^  \  He  held,  among  other  things,  this  trifling 
and  sophistical  proposition,  that  the  divine  essence 
and  attributes  are  not  Go,l;  a  proposition  that  was 
every  way  proper  to  exercise  the  quibbling  spirit  of 
the  scholastic  writers. 

§  Le  BoEuf,  Dissert,  sur  la  Somme  Theologique  de 
Guillaumc  d'Auxerrc,  in  Molafs  Continuation  des 
Memoircs  d'Histoire  et  de  Literature,  tom.  iii.  part 
ii.  p.  317. 

II  Petrus  Bieaensis. 


320 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


fruit  of  their  sincerity  and  resolution.  The 
priests  and  monks  contributed,  in  tlieir  way, 
to  disfigure  the  beautiful  simplicity  of  religion; 
and,  finding  it  their  interest  to  keep  tlie  people 
in  the  grossest  ignorance  and  darkness,  daz- 
zled their  feeble  eyes  with  the  ludicrous  pomp 
of  a  gaudy  worship,  and  led  them  to  place  the 
whole  of  religion  in  vain  ceremonies,  bodily 
austerities  and  exercises,  and  particularly  in  a 
blind  and  stupid  veneration  for  the  clergy. 
The  scholastic  doctors,  who  considered  the  de- 
cisions of  the  ancients,  and  the  precepts  of  the 
Dialecticians,  as  tlie  great  rule  and  criterion 
of  truth,  instead  of  explaining  the  doctrines  of 
the  Gospel,  undermined  them  by  degrees,  and 
sunk  divine  truth  in  the  ruins  of  a  captious 
philosophy;  while  the  Mystics,  running  into 
the  opposite  extreme,  maintained,  that  the 
souls  of  the  truly  pious  were  incapable  of  any 
spontaneous  motions,  and  could  only  be  moved 
by  a  divine  impulse;  and  thus  not  only  set 
limits  to  the  pretensions  of  reason,  but  exclud- 
ed it  entirely  from  religion  and  morality,  if 
they  did  not  in  some  measure  deny  its  very 
existence. 

II.  The  consequences  of  all  this  were  super- 
stition and  ignorance,  which  were  substituted 
for  true  religion,  and  reigned  over  the  multitude 
with  an  universal  sway.  Relics,  which  were 
for  the  most  part  fictitious,  or  at  least  uncer- 
tain, attracted  more  powerfully  the  confidence 
of  the  people,  than  the  merits  of  Christ,  and 
were  supposed  by  many  to  be  more  effectual, 
than  the  prayers  offered  to  heaven,  through 
the  mediation  and  intcTcession  of  that  divine 
Redeemer.*  The  opulent,  whose  circumstan- 
ces enabled  them  either  to  erect  new  temples, 
or  to  repair  and  embellish  the  old,  were  consi- 
dered as  the  happiest  of  all  mortals,  and  as  the 
most  intimate  friends  of  the  Most  High;  whilst 
they,  whom  poverty  rendered  incapable  of  such 
pompous  acts  of  liberality,  contributed  to  the 
multiplication  of  religious  edifices  by  their  bo- 
dily labours,  cheerfully  performed  the  services 
in  which  beasts  of  burden  are  usually  employ- 
ed (such  as  carrying  stones  and  drawing  wa- 
gons,) and  expected  to  obtain  eternal  salvation 
by  these  voluntary  and  painful  efforts  of  mis- 
guided zeal. I  The  saints  had  a  greater  num- 
ber of  worshippers,  than  the  Supreme  Being 
and  the  Saviour  of  mankind;  nor  did  these 
superstitious  worshippers  trouble  their  heads 
about  that  knotty  question,  which  occasioned 
much  debate  and  many  laborious  disquisitions 
in  succeeding  times,  viz.  How  the  inhabitants 
of  heaven  came  to  the  knowledge  of  the  pray- 
ers and  supplications  that  were  addressed  to 
them  from  the  earth.'  This  question  was  pre- 
vented in  this  century  by  an  opinion,  which  the 
Christians  had  received  from  their  pagan  an- 
cestors, that  the  inhabitants  of  heaven  descend- 
ed often  from  above,  and  frequented  the  places 
in  which  they  had   formerly  taken  pleasure 


*  See  Guihert  de  Novisciito,  de  risnoiihiis,  (so 
were  relics  called)  Sanctonini,  in  his' Works  pub- 
lished by  d'Acheri,  p.  327,  where  he  attacks,  with 
judgment  and  dexterity,  the  superstition  of  these 
miserable  times. 

t  See  Haynion's  Treatise  concerning  this  custom, 
published  by  Mabillon,  nt  the  end  of  the  s-ixth  tome 
of  his  Annal.  Benedict.  Sec  also  those  Annals,  p. 
392. 


during  their  residence  upon  earth.*  To  finish 
the  horrid  portrait  of  superstition,  we  shall 
only  observe,  that  the  stupid  credulity  of  the 
people  in  this  century  went  so  far,  that  when 
any  persons,  either  through  the  plirenzy  of  a 
disordered  imagination,  or  with  an  intention 
of  deceiving,  publislied  the  dreams  or  visions, 
which  they  fancied  or  pretended  they  had  from 
above,  the  multitude  resorted  to  the  new  ora- 
cle, and  respected  its  decisions  as  the  com- 
mands of  God,  who  in  this  way  was  pleased, 
as  they  imagined,  to  communicate  comisel,  in- 
struction, and  the  knowledge  of  his  will  to 
men.  This  appears  (to  mention  no  other  ex- 
amples) from  the  extraordinary  reputation 
which  the  two  famous  prophetesses  Hildegard , 
abbess  of  Bingen,  and  Elizabeth  of  Schonauge, 
obtained  in  Germany. f 

III.  The  general  prevalence  of  ignorance 
and  superstition  was  dexterously,  yet  basely 
improved,  by  the  rulers  of  the  church,  to  fill 
their  coffers,  and  to  drain  the  purses  of  the  de- 
luded multitude:  indeed  each  rank  and  order 
of  the  clergy  liad  a  peculiar  method  of  fleec- 
ing the  people.  The  bishops,  when  they  want- 
ed money  for  their  private  pleasures,  or  for  the 
exigencies  of  the  church,  granted  to  their  flock 
the  power  of  pmchasing  the  remission  of  the 
penalties  imposed  upon  transgressors,  by  a  sum 
of  money,  which  was  to  be  applied  to  certain 
religious  purposes;  or,  in  other  words,  they 
published  indulgences,  which  became  an  inex- 
haustible source  of  opulence  to  the  episcopal 
orders,  and  enabled  them,  as  is  well  known,  to 
form  and  execute  the  most  difficult  schemes 
for  tlie  enlargement  of  their  authority,  and  to 
erect  a  multitude  of  sacred  edifices,  which 
augmented  considerably  the  external  pomp  and 
splendour  of  the  church.J  The  abbots  and 
monks,  who  were  not  qualified  to  grant  indul- 
gences, had  recourse  to  other  methods  of  en- 
riching their  convents.  They  carried  about 
the  country  the  carcases  and  relics  of  the 
saints  in  solemn  ])rocession,  and  permitted  the 
multitude  to  beiiold,  touch,  and  embrace,  at 
fixed  prices,  these  sacred  and  lucrative  remains. 
The  monastic  orders  often  gained  as  much  by 
this  raree-show,  as  the  bishops  did  by  their  in- 
dulgences. § 

IV.  When  the  Roman  pontiffs  cast  an  eye 

*  As  a  proof  that  this  assertion  is  not  without 
foundation,  we  shall  transcribe  the  following  re- 
markable passage  of  the  life  of  St.  Altnian,  bishop 
of  Padua,  as  it  stands  in  Seb.  Tengnagel's  Collect. 
Vet.  Monumentor.  p.  41.  "  Vos  licet,  sancti  Domini 
somno  vestro  requiescatis . .  .  haudtamen  crediderim 
spiritus  vesfros  deesse  locis  qua!  viventes  tanta  de 
votioue  constru.xistia  et  dile.xistis.  ("redo  vos  adesse 
cunctis  illic  degentibus,  astare  videlicet  orantibus, 
succurrere  laborantibus,  et  vota  singuloruin  in  con 
spectu  divina"  ma.jestatis  promovere." 

t  See  Mabillon,  Aiinales  Benedict,  toin.  vi.  p.  431 
.1-2;),  554. 

J  Stephanus  Ohazinensis  in  lialuzii  Miscellan.  torn 
iv.  p.  130.— Mabillon,  Annal.  Benedict,  tom.  vi.  p. 
535,  &c. 

§  We  find  in  the  records  of  this  century  innumera 
ble  examples  of  this  method  of  extorting  contribu 
lions  from  the  multitude.  See  the  Chronicon  Cen 
tulense  in  Dacherii  Spicilcgio  Veter.  Scriptor.  tom 
ii.  p.  351.— Vita  Stae.  Roinanie,  ibid.  p.  137.— Mabil 
Ion,  ,\nnal.  Benedict,  toin.  vi.  p.  332,  tU4.— Acta  Sane 
tor.  Mensis  Mali,  torn.  vii.  p.  533,  where  we  have  an 
account  of  a  long  journey  made  by  the  relics  of  St. 
Marculus.  Mabillon,  Acia  Sanctor.  Ord.  Benedict, 
torn  vi.  p.  51!),  520;  tom  ii   p.  732. 


Chap.  IU. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


821 


upon  the  immense  treasures  that  the  inferior 
rulers  of  the  church  were  accumulating  by  tlie 
Bale  of  indulgences,  they  thought  proper  to  li- 
mit the  power  of  tiie  bishops  in  rcmittinir  the 
penalties  imposed  upon  transgressors,  and  as- 
sumed, almost  entirely,  this  profitable  traliic 
to  themselves.  In  consequence  of  this  new 
measure,  the  court  of  Rome  became  the  gene- 
ral magazine  of  indulgences;  and  the  j)ontifis 
when  either  the  wants  of  the  church,  the  emp- 
tiness of  their  coft'crs,  or  the  daemon  of  ava- 
rice, prompted  them  to  look  out  for  new  sub- 
sidies, published  not  only  a  general,  but  also  a 
complete,  or  what  they  called  a  plenary  remis- 
sion of  the  temporal  pains  and  penalties,  an- 
nexed by  the  church  to  certain  transgressions. 
They  weni  still  farther;  and  not  only  remitted 
the  penalties,  which  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
laws  had  enacted  against  transgressors,  but  au- 
daciously usurped  the  authority  which  belongs 
to  God  alone,  and  impiously  pretended  to  abo- 
lish even  the  punishments  which  are  reserved 
in  a  future  state  for  the  workers  of  iniquity;  a 
step  which  the  bishops,  with  all  their  avarice 
and  presumption,  had  never  once  ventured  to 
take.* 

The  pontiffs  first  employed  this  pretended 
prerogative  in  promoting  the  holy  war,  and 
shed  abroad  their  indulgences,  though  with  a 
certain  degree  of  moderation,  in  order  to  en- 
courage the  European  princes  to  form  new  ex- 
peditions for  the  conquest  of  Palestine;  but,  in 
process  of  time,  the  charm  of  indulgence  was 
practised  upon  various  occasions  of  much  less 
consequence,  and  merely  with  a  view  to  base 
lucre. t  Their  introduction,  among  other  things, 
destroyed  the  credit  and  authority  of  the  an- 
cient canonical  and  ecclesiastical  discipline 
of  penance,  and  occasioned  the  removal  and 
suppression  of  the  penitentials,};  by  which  tlie 
reins  were  let  loose  to  every  kind  of  vice. 
Such  proceedings  stood  much  in  need  of  a 
plausible  defence;  but  this  was  impossible.  To 
vindicate  in  an  authoritative  manner  these 
scandalous  measures  of  the  pontiffs,  an  absurd 
and  even  monstrous  doctrine  was  now  invent- 
ed, which  was  modified  and  embellished  by 
St.  Thomas  in  the  succeeding  century,  and 
which  contained  among  others  the  following 
enormities:  "  That  there  actually  existed  an 
"  immense  treasure  of  merit,  composed  of  the 
"pious  deeds,  and  virtuous  actions,  which 
"  the  saints  had  performed  beyond  what  was 
"  necessary  for  their  own  salvation, §  and  which 
"  were  therefore  applicable  to  the  benefit  of 
"  others;  that  the  guardian  and  dispenser  of 
"  this  precious  treasure  was  the  Roman  pon- 
"  tiff;  and  that  consequently  he  was  empovver- 


*  Morinus,  de  administrationc  Sacramenti  Poeni 
tentiE,  lib.  x.  cap.  xx.  xxi.  x.\ii.  p.  71)8. — Rich.  Si- 
mon, Hiblioth.  Critique,  torn.  iii.  cap.  xxxiii.  p.  371. 
Mabillon,  Prsef.  ad  Acta  Sanctor.  Saec.  v.  Acta  Sane- 
tor.  Benedict,  p.  54,  not  to  sp^^^k  of  the  protestant 
writors,  whom  I  desipnrdly  puss  over 

t  Miiratori,  Antiq.  It.ilic.  inodii  .-Bvi,  torn.  v.  p.  701. 
Franc.  Pajri,  Hrevinr.  Rom.  Pontif.  torn.  ii.  p.  tiO.— 
Theod.  Ruinarti  Vita  Urbani  II.  p.  231,  torn.  iii.  Op. 
Post  hum. 

Qtj-  \  The  Penitential  was  a  book,  in  which  the 
degrees  and  kinds  of  penance,  that  were  annexed  to 
different  crimes,  were  registered. 

{j^  §  Thn.se   works  are  known  by  the  name  of 
Works  of  Supererogation. 
Vol.  I.— 41 


"  ed  to  assign,  to  such  as  he  deemed  proper  ob- 
"  jects,  a  portion  of  tiiis  inexliaustible  source 
"  of  merit,  suitable  to  their  respective  guilt, 
"  and  sufficient  to  deliver  them  from  the  pun- 
"  ishment  due  to  their  crimes."  It  is  a  most 
deplorable  mark  of  the  power  of  superstition, 
that  a  doctrine,  so  absurd  in  its  nature,  and  so 
pernicious  in  its  effects,  sliould  yet  be  retained 
and  defended  in  the  church  of  Rome.  * 

V.  Nothing  was  more  common  in  tliis  cen- 
tury than  expositors  and  interpreters  of  the 
sacred  writings;  but  nothing  was  so  rare,  as  to 
find,  in  that  class  of  authors,  the  qualifications 
that  are  essentially  required  in  a  good  com- 
mentator. Few  of  these  expositors  were  at- 
tentive to  search  after  the  true  signification  of 
the  words  employed  by  the  sacred  writers,  or 
to  investigate  the  precise  sense  in  which  they 
were  used;  and  these  few  were  destitute  of  the 
succoiu-s  which  such  researches  demand.  The 
Greek  and  Latin  commentators,  blinded  by 
their  enthusiastic  love  of  antiquity,  and  their 
implicit  veneration  for  the  doctors  of  the  early 
ages  of  the  churcii,  drew  from  their  writings, 
without  discernment  or  choice,  a  heap  of  pas- 
sages, which  they  were  pleased  to  consider  as 
illustrations  of  the  holy  scriptures.  Such  were 
the  commentaries  of  Euthymius  Zigabenus, 
an  eminent  expositor  among  the  Greeks,  upon 
tlie  Psalms,  the  Gospels  and  Epi.stles;  though 
it  must,  at  the  same  time,  be  acknowledged, 
that  this  writer  follows,  in  some  places,  the 
dictates  of  his  own  judgment,  and  gives,  upon 
certain  occasions,  proofs  of  penetration  and 
genius.  Among  the  Latins,  we  might  give 
several  examples  of  the  injudicious  manner  of 
expounding  the  divine  word  tliat  prevailed  in 
this  century,  such  as  the  Lucubrations  of  Peter 
Lombard,  Gilbert  de  la  Porree,  and  tlie  famous 
Abelard,  upon  the  Psalms  of  David,  and  the 
Epistles  of  St.  Paul.  Nor  do  tliose  Latin 
commentators  who  expounded  the  whole  of  the 
sacred  writings,  and  who  are  placed  at  the  head 
of  the  expositors  of  this  age,  (such  as  Gilbert, 
bishop  of  London,  surnamed  the  Universal,  on 
account  of  the  vast  extent  of  his  erudition,!  and 
Hervey,]:  a  most  studious  Benedictine  monk) 
deserve  a  higher  place  in  our  esteem,  than  the 
authors  before  mentioned.  The  writers  tliat 
merit  the  preference  among  the  Latins  are 
Rupert  of  Duytz,  and  Anselm  of  Laon;  the 
former  of  whom  expounded  several  books  of 
scripture,  and  the  latter  composed,  or  ratlier 
compiled,  a  glossary  upon  the  sacred  writings. 


{Jl3^  *  For  a  satisfactory  and  ample  account  of  the 
onormoiisdoctrineof  indulgences,  see  a  very  learned 
and  jiidicioiis  work,  entitled,  Lettres  sur  les  Jubiles, 
publit^hed  in  the  year  1751,  in  three  volumes,  8vo.  by 
the  Kev.  Mr.  Chais,  minister  of  the  French  churcli 
at  Ihe  Hiigiie,  on  occasion  of  tlie  universal  Jubilee 
relebrated  at  Rome  in  the  preceding  year,  by  the  or- 
der of  Itenedict  XIV.  In  the  second  volume  of  this 
excellent  work,  which  we  shall  have  frequent  occa- 
sion to  ci>nsult  in  the  course  of  this  history,  a  clear 
account  .-iud  a  satisfactory  refutation  of  the  doctrine 
may  be  found,  with  the  history  of  that  monstrous 
l>rartice  from  its  origin  to  Ihe  present  times. 

t  For  ail  account  of  this  prelate,  see  Lc  BcEuf, 
Memoires  concernant  lUistoire  dAuxerre,  loin.  ii. 
p.  486. 

t  An  ample  account  of  this  Icnrned  Benedictine  is 
to  be  found  in  Gabr.  Lirons  SingiiJarites  Ilistoriques 
et  Literaires,  torn.  iii.  p.  29.— See  also  Mabillon,  An- 
nalcs  Benedict,  torn.  vi.  p.  477.  719. 


322 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  IL 


As  to  those  doctors  who  were  not  carried  away 
by  an  enthusiastical  veneration  for  the  ancients, 
who  had  courage  enough  to  try  their  own  tal- 
ents, and  to  follow  the  dictates  of  their  own 
sagacity,  they  were  chargeable  with  defects  of 
another  kind;  for,  disregarding  and  overlooking 
the  beautiful  simplicity  of  divine  truth,  they 
were  perpetually  bent  on  the  search  of  all  sorts 
of  mysteries  in  the  sacred  writings,  and  were 
constantly  on  the  scent  after  some  hidden 
meaning  in  the  plainest  expressions  of  scrip- 
ture. The  Mystics  excelled  peculiarly  in  this 
manner  of  expounding;  and,  by  their  violent 
explications,  forced  the  word  of  God  into  a 
conformity  with  their  visionary  doctrines,  their 
enthusiastic  feelings,  and  the  system  of  disci- 
pline which  they  had  drawn  from  the  excur- 
sions of  their  irregular  fancies.  Nor  were  the 
commentators,  who  pretended  to  logic  and 
philosophy,  and  who,  in  effect,  had  applied 
themselves  to  these  profound  sciences,  free  from 
the  contagion  of  mysticism  in  their  explications 
of  scripture.  That  they  followed  the  example 
of  those  fanatics  may  be  seen  by  the  Allegori- 
cal Exposition  which  Hugh  of  St.  Victor  gave 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  by  the  Mysti- 
cal Ark  of  Richard  of  St.  Victor,  and  by  the 
Mystical  Commentaries  of  Guibert,  abbot  of 
Nogent,  on  Obadiah,  Hosea,  and  Amos;*  not 
to  mention  several  other  writers,  who  seem  to 
have  been  animated  by  the  same  spirit. 

VI.  The  most  eminent  teachers  of  theology 
resided  at  Paris,  which  city  was,  from  this 
time  forward,  frequented  by  students  of  divinity 
from  all  parts  of  Europe,  who  resorted  thither 
in  crowds,  to  receive  instruction  from  these 
celebrated  masters.  The  French  divines  were 
divided  into  different  sects.  The  first  of  these 
sects,  who  were  distinguished  by  the  title  of 
the  Ancient  Theologists,  explained  the  doc- 
trines of  religion,  in  a  plain  and  simple  man- 
ner, by  passages  drawn  from  the  holy  scrip- 
tures, from  the  decrees  of  councils,  and  the 
writings  of  the  ancient  doctors,  and  very  rarely 
made  use  of  the  succours  of  reason  or  philoso- 
phy in  their  theological  lectures.  In  this  class 
we  place  St.  Bernard,  Peter  sumanied  the 
Chanter,  Walter  of  St.  Victor,  and  other  theo- 
logians, who  declared  an  open  and  bitter  war 
against  the  philosophical  divines.  The  doctors, 
who  were  afterwards  known  by  the  name  of 
positive  and  sententiary  teachers  of  religion, 
were  not,  in  all  respects,  different  from  these 
now  mentioned.  Imitating  the  examples  of 
Anselm,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  Lanfranc, 
Hildebert,  and  other  doctors  of  the  preceding 
century,  they  taught  and  confirmed  their  sys- 
tem of  theology,  principally  by  collecting  the 
decisions  of  the  inspired  writers,  and  the  opin- 
ions of  the  ancients.  At  the  same  time  they 
were  far  from  rejecting  the  succoiu-s  of  reason, 
and  the  discussions  of  philosophy,  to  which 
tliey  more  especially  had  recourse,  when  diffi- 
culties wero  to  be  solved,  and  adversaries  to  be 
refuted,  but,  in  the  application  of  which,  all  did 
not  discover  the  same  degree  of  moderation 
and  prudence.  Hugh  of  St.  Victor  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  the  first  writer  of  this 


*  The  Prologus  in  Abdiam  was  published  by  Ma- 
billon,  in  his  Annales  Benedict,  torn.  vi.  p.  637. 


century,  who  taught  in  this  manner  the  doc- 
trines of  Christianity,  digested  into  a  regular 
system.  His  example  was  followed  by  manyj 
but  no  one  acquired  such  a  shining  reputation 
by  his  labours,  in  this  branch  of  sacred  erudi- 
tion, as  Peter,  bishop  of  Paris,  surnamed  Lom- 
bard from  the  country  which  gave  him  birth. 
Tiie  four  books  of  Sentences  of  this  eminent 
prelate,  which  appeared  in  the  year  1162,* 
were  not  only  received  with  general  applause, 
but  acquired  also  such  a  high  degree  of  au- 
thority, as  induced  the  most  learned  doctors 
in  all  places  to  employ  their  labours  in  illua- 
trating  and  expounding  them.  Scarcely  was 
there  any  divine  of  note  that  did  not  undertake 
this  popular  task,  except  Heiu'y  of  Ghent,  and 
a  few  others;t  so  that  Lombard,  who  was  com- 
monly called  Master  of  the  Sentences,  on  ac- 
comit  of  the  famous  work  now  mentioned,  be- 
came truly  a  classic  author  in  divinity.]; 

VII.  The  followers  of  Lombard  who  were 
called  Sententiarii,  though  their  manner  of 
teaching  was  defective  in  some  respects,  and 
not  altogether  exempt  from  vain  and  trivial 
questions,  were  always  attentive  to  avoid  en- 
tering too  far  into  the  subtilties  of  the  Dialec- 
ticians, nor  did  they  presmnptuously  attempt 
to  submit  the  divine  truths  of  the  Gospel  to  the 
uncertain  and  obscure  principles  of  a  refined 
and  intricate  logic,  which  was  rather  founded 
on  the  excursions  of  fancy  than  on  the  true 
nature  of  things.  They  had  for  contempora- 
ries another  set  of  theologians,  who  were  far 
from  imitating  their  moderation  and  pru- 
dence in  this  respect;  a  set  of  subtile  doctors, 
who  taught  the  plain  and  simple  truths  of 
Christianity,  in  the  obscure  terms,  and  with 
the  perplexing  distinctions  used  by  the  Dialec- 
ticians, and  explained,  or  rather  darkened  with 
their  imintelligible  jargon,  the  subhme  precepts 
of  that  wisdom  which  emanates  from  above. 
This  method  of  teaching  theology,  which  was 
afterwards  called  the  scholastic  system,  be- 
cause it  was  in  general  use  in  the  schools,  had 
for  its  author,  Peter  Abelard,  a  man  of  the 
most  subtile  genius,  whose  public  lectures  in 
philosophy  and  divinity  had  raised  him  to  the 
highest  summit  of  literary  renown,  and  who 
was  successively  canon  of  Paris,  and  monk 


*  Erpoldi  Lindenbrogii  Scriptores  Rerum  Septen- 
trionaliuni,  p.  250. 

t  A  list  of  the  commentators  who  laboured  in  ex- 
plaiuinjj  the  Sentences  of  Lombard,  is  given  by  An- 
ton. Possevinus,  in  his  Biblioth.  Selecta,  torn.  i.  lib, 
iii.  cap.  xiv.  p.  242. 

OlJ*  I  The  Book  of  Sentences,  which  rendered  the 
name  of  Peter  Lombard  so  illustrious,  was  a  compi- 
lation of  sentences  and  passages  drawn  from  the 
fathers,  whose  manifold  contradictions  this  eminent 
prelate  endeavoured  to  reconcile.  His  work  may  be 
considered  as  a  complete  body  of  divinity.  It  con- 
sists of  four  books,  each  of  which  is  subdivided  into 
various  chapters  and  sections.  In  the  first  he  treats 
of  the  Trinity,  and  the  Divine  Attributes;  in  the  so 
cond,  of  the  Creation  in  general,  of  the  Origin  of 
Angels,  the  Formation  and  Fall  of  Man,  of  Grace 
and  Free  Will,  of  Original  Sin  and  Actual  Trans- 
gression; ill  the  third,  of  the  Incarnation  and  Per- 
fections of  Jesus  Christ,  of  Faith,  Hope,  and  Charity, 
of  the  (Jifls  of  the  Spirit,  and  the  Commandments  of 
God.  The  Sacraments,  the  Resurrection,  the  Last 
Judgment,  and  the  State  of  the  Righteous  in  Hea- 
ven, are  the  subjects  treated  in  the  fourth  and  last 
book  of  this  celebrated  work,  which  was  the  wonder 
of  the  twelfth  century,  but  is  little  more  than  an  ob- 
ject of  contempt  in  ours. 


Chap.  HI. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


323 


and  abbot  of  Ruys.*  The  fame  he  acquired 
by  this  new  method  engaged  many  ambitious 
divines  to  adopt  it;  and,  in  a  short  space  of 
time,  tlie  followers  of  Abelard  multiplied  pro- 
digiously, not  only  in  France,  but  also  in  Eng- 
land and  Italy.  Thus  was  the  pure  and 
peaceable  wisdom  of  the  Gospel  perverted  into 
a  science  of  mere  sopliistry  and  chicane;  for 
these  subtile  doctors  never  explained  or  illus- 
trated any  subject,  but,  on  the  contrary,  dark- 
ened and  disfigured  the  plainest  expressions, 
and  the  most  evident  truths,  by  their  laboured 
and  useless  distinctions,  fatigued  both  them- 
selves and  others  with  unintelligible  solutions 
of  abstruse  and  frivolous  questions,  and, 
through  a  rage  for  disputing,  maintained 
with  equal  vehemence  and  ardour  the  opposite 
sides  of  the  most  serious  and  momentous 
questions.! 

VIII.  From  this  period,  therefore,  an  im- 
portant distinction  was  made  between  the 
Christian  doctors,  who  were  divided  into  two 
classes.  In  the  first  class  were  placed  those, 
who  were  called  by  the  various  names  of  bib- 
lici,  i.  e.  bible-doctors,  dogmatici,  and  positivi, 
i.  e.  didactic  divines,  and  also  veteres,  or  an- 
cients; and  in  the  second  were  ranged  the  scho- 
lastics, who  were  also  distinguished  by  the  titles 
of  Sententiarii,  after  the  Slaster  of  the  Sen- 
tences, and  Novi,  to  express  their  recent  ori- 
gin. The  former  expounded,  though  in  a 
wretched  manner,  the  sacred  writings  in  their 
public  schools,  illustrated  the  doctrines  of 
Christianity,  without  deriving  any  succours 
from  reason  or  philosophy,  and  confirmed  their 
opinions  by  the  united  testimonies  of  Scrip- 
ture and  'J'radition.  The  latter  expounded, 
instead  of  the  Bible,  the  famous  Book  of  Sen- 
tences; reduced,  under  the  province  of  their 
eubtile  philosopiiy,  whatever  the  (iospel  pro- 
posed as  an  object  of  faith,  or  a  rule  of  prac- 
tice; and  perplexed  and  obscured  its  divine 
doctrines  and  precepts  by  a  multitude  of  vain 
questions  and  idle  speculations. J  The  method 
of  the  scholastics  exhibited  a  pompous  aspect 
of  learning,  and  these  disputants  seemed  to 
surpass  their  adversaries  in  sagacity  and  genius; 
hence  they  e.xcited  the  admiration  of  tjje  studi- 
ous youth,  who  flocked  to  their  scliools  in  multi- 
tudes, while  the  biblici  or  doctors  of  the  sacred 
page,  as  they  were  also  called,  had  the  niorti- 
£cation  to  see  their  auditories  unfrequented, 
and  almost  deserted. §     The  scholastic  tlieo- 


*  Abelard  acknowledges  this  himself,  Epist.  i.  cap. 
ix.  p.  20,  Oper. — See  also  Laiiiiny,  de  Scholis  Caroli 
M.  p.  67,  cap.  Ii.\.  torn.  iv.  op.  part  i. 

t  Caea.  Egasse  de  Boulay,  Histor.  Acad.  Paris, 
lorn.  ii.  p.  201,  58:t.— Antim.  Wood,  Aniiquit.  Oxo- 
niens.  toni.  i.  p.  Sr*. — Launoy,  do  varia  Aristoteli.s 
Fortuna  in  Acad.  Paris,  cap.  iii.  p.  187,  Edit.  Els- 
wichii,  Vitem.  1720,  in  8v'o. 

1  Sen  Boulay,  Histor.  Acad.  Paris,  torn.  iii.  p.  657. 

§  The  Book  of  Sentences  seemed  to  be  at  this  time 
in  much  greater  repute  than  the  Holy  Scriptures; 
and  the  compilations  of  Peter  Lombard  were  pre- 
ferred to  the  doctrines  and  precepts  of  .losiis  Christ. 
This  appears  evident  from  the  follow  ini;  reiiiarkal)lc> 
passage  in  Roger  Bacon's  <Jp.  I\Iaj.  ad  ('iiininteiii 
IV.  Pontif.  Rom.  published  in  17:t3  at  Lonritm,  by 
Sara.  Jebb,  from  the  original  MS.  '•  Baccalaureus 
qui  legit  textum  (acriptnra;)  succumbit  lectori  sen- 
tentiarum,  et  ubique  in  omnibus  honoratur  et  prae- 
fertur:  nam  ille,  qui  legit  sententias,  habet  principa- 
lem  lioram  legendi  secundum  suam  voluntatem, 
babet  et  socium  ct  cameram  apud  religiosoi:  sod  qui 


logy  continued  in  high  repute  in  all  the  Euro- 
pean colleges  until  the  time  of  Luther. 

IX.  It  must,  however,  be  observed,  that 
those  metaphysical  divines  had  many  difficul- 
ties to  encoimter,  and  much  opposition  to 
overcome,  before  they  could  obtain  tliat  bound- 
less authority  in  the  European  schools,  which 
they  so  long  enjoyed.  They  were  attacked 
from  different  quarters;  on  the  one  hand,  by 
the  ancient  divines,  or  bible  doctors;  on  the 
other  by  the  mystics,  who  considered  true 
wisdom  and  knowledge  as  imattainable  by 
study  or  reasoning,  and  as  the  fruit  of  mere 
contemplation,  inward  feeling,  and  a  passive 
acquiescence  in  divine  influences.  Thus  that 
ancient  conflict  between  faith  and  reason,  that 
had  formerly  divided  the  Latin  doctors,  and 
had  been  for  many  years  hushed  in  silence, 
was  now  unhappily  revived,  and  produced 
various  tumults,  and  bitter  dissensions.  The 
patrons  of  the  ancient  theology,  who  attacked 
the  schoolmen,  were  Guibert,  abbot  of  Nogent,* 
Peter,  abbot  of  Moustier-la-Celle,t  Peter  the 
Chanter,!  and  principally  Walter  of  St.  Victor.§ 
The  mystics  also  sent  forth  into  the  field  of  con- 
troversy, upon  this  occasion,  their  ablest  and 
most  violent  champions,  such  as  Joachim  abbot 
of  Flori,  Richard  of  St.  Victor,  who  loaded 
with  invectives  the  scholastic  divines,  and 
more  especially  Lombard,  though  he  was,  un- 
doubtedly, the  most  candid  and  modest  doctor 
of  that  subtile  tribe.  These  dissensions  and 
contests,  whose  deplorable  effects  augmented 
from  day  to  day,  engaged  pope  Alexander  III. 
to  interpose  his  authority,  in  order  to  restore 
tranquillity  and  concord  in  the  church.  For 
this  purpose  he  convoked  a  solemn  and  nume- 
rous assembly  of  the  clergy  in  the  year  1164,|| 
in  whicii  the  licentious  rage  of  religious  dispu- 
tation was  condemned;  and  another  in  1179, 
in  which  some  particular  errors  of  Peter  Lom- 
bard were  pointed  out  and  censured.TT 

X.  But  of  all  the  adversaries  that  assailed 
tlie  scholastic  divines  in  this  century,  no  one 
was  so  formidable  as  the  famous  St.  Bernard, 
whose  zeal  was  ardent  beyond  all  expression, 
and  whose  influence  and  authority  were  equal 
to  his  zeal.     And,  accordingly,  we   find  this 


legit  Bibliam,  caret  his,  et  mendicat  horam  legendi 
secundum  quod  placet  lectori  sententiarum:  et  qui 
legit  Rummas,  disputat  ubique  et  pro  magistro  habe- 
tur;  reliquus  qui  textum  legit,  noii  potest  riisputare, 
sicut  fuit  hoc  anno  Bononiie,  et  in  multis  aliia  locis, 
quod  est  absurduni:  manifestum  est  igitur,  quod 
lextus  illius  facultatis  (sc.  Theologicae)  subjicitur  uni 
summte  magistrali."  Such  was  now  the  authority 
of  the  scholastic  theology,  as  appears  IVom  the  words 
of  Bacon,  who  lived  in  the  following  century,  and  in 
whose  writings  there  are  many  things  highly  worthy 
of  the  attention  of  the  curious. 

*  In  his  Tropologia  in  O.seam,  p.  203,  op. 

t  Opuscul.  p.  277.306.  edit.  Benedict. 

I  In  his  Verbum  Abbreviat.  cap.  iii.  p.  6,  7,  pub- 
lished at  Mons  in  the  year  163U,  in  4to.  by  George 
Galopin. 

§  In  his  Libri  IV.  contra  Guatuor  Francim  Laby- 
rinthos  et  novos  Hipreticos.  He  called  Abelard, 
Gilbert  de  la  Porreo,  Lombard,  and  Peter  of  Poic- 
tii'rs,  who  were  the  principal  scholastic  divines  of 
this  century,  the  four  Labyrinths  of  France.  For 
an  account  of  this  work,  which  is  yet  in  manuscript, 
see  Boulay,  Hist.  Acad.  Paris,  tom.  ii.  p.  619,  659. 

II  Ant.  Pagi,  Critic,  in  Baronium,  tom.  iv.  ad  A. 
11H4.  p.  614,  61.5. 

V  Matth.  Paris.  Histor.  Major,  p.  115.— Boulay, 
Histor.  Acad.  Paris,  wm.  ii.  p.  402. 


324 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


illustrious  abbot  combating  tlie  Dialecticians, 
not  only  in  his  writings  and  his  conversation, 
but  also  by  his  deeds;  arming  against  them 
synods  and  councils,  the  decrees  of  the  church, 
and  the  laws  of  tlie  state.  The  renowned 
Abelard,  who  was  as  much  superior  to  St. 
Bernard  in  sagacity  and  erudition,  as  lie  was 
his  inferior  in  credit  and  authority,  was  one 
of  the  first  who  felt,  by  a  bitter  experience,  the 
aversion  of  the  lordly  abbot  to  the  scholastic 
doctors:  for,  ia  the  year  1121,  he  was  called 
before  the  council  of  Soissons,  and  before  that 
of  Sens  in  1140;  inboth  of  which  assemblies  he 
was  accused  by  St.  Bernard  of  the  most  perni- 
cious errors,  and  was  finally  condemned  as  an 
egregious  heretic*  The  charge  brouglit  against 
tliis  subtile  and  learned  monk  was,  that  he  had 
notoriously  corrupted  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity,  blasphemed  against  the  majesty  of 
the  Holy  Gliost,  entertained  unworthy  and 
false  conceptions  of  the  person  and  offices  of 
Christ,  and  the  union  of  the  two  natures  in 
him;  denied  tlie  necessity  of  the  divine  grace 
to  render  us  virtuous;  and,  in  a  word,  by  his 
doctrines  struck  at  the  fundamental  principles 
of  all  religion.  It  must  be  confessed,  by  those 
who  are  acquainted  with  the  writings  of  Abe- 
lard, tliat  he  expressed  himself  in  a  very  singu- 
lar and  incongruous  manner  upon  several 
points  of  theology;!  and  this,  indeed,  is  one  of 
the  inconveniences  to  which  subtile  Refine- 
ments upon  mysterious  doctrines  frequently 
lead.  But  it  is  certain,  on  the  other  hand, 
that  St.  Bernard,  who  had  much  more  genius 
than  logic,  misunderstood  some  of  the  opin- 
ions of  Abelard,  and  wilfully  perverted  others: 
for  the  zeal  of  this  good  abbot  too  rarely  per- 
mitted him  to  consult  in  his  decisions  the  dic- 
tates of  impartial  equity;  and  hence  it  was,  that 
he  almost  always  applauded  beyond  measure, 
and  censured  witliout  mercy.J 

XI.  Abelard  was  not  the  only  scholastic  di- 
vine who  paid  dearly  for  his  metaphysical  re- 
finement upon  the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel, 
and  whose  logic  exposed  him  to  the  unrelent- 
ing fury  of  persecution;  Gilbert  de  la  Porree, 
bishop  of  Poictiers,  who  had  taught  theology 
and  philosophy  at  Paris,  and  in  other  places, 
with  the  highest  applause,  met  with  the  same 
fate.     Unfortunately  for  him,  Arnold  and  Ca- 


*  See  Bayle's  Dictionary,  at  the  article  Abelard. — 
Gervais,  Vie  il' Abelard  et  d'Hcloise. — Mabillon,  Au- 
nal.  Benedict,  torn.  vi.  p.  63,  84,  395. — Martenne, 
Tliesaur.  Anecdotor.  torn.  v.  p.  1139. 

ffij"  t  He  altirnied,  for  example,  among  other 
things  equally  unintelligible  and  extravagant,  that 
the  names,  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  were  im- 
proper terms,  and  were  only  used  to  e.vpress  the 
fulness  of  the  sovereign  good;  that  the  Father  was 
the  plenitude  of  power,  the  Son  a  certain  power,  and 
the  Holy  Ghost  no  power  at  all;  that  the  Holy  Ghost 
was  the  soul  of  the  world,  with  other  crude  fancies 
of  alike  nature,  mingled,  however,  with  bold  truths. 

X  See  Gervais,  Vie  d'Abelard,  tom.  ii.  p.  162, — 
Le  Clerc,  Biblioth.  Ancieniie  et  IModerne.  torn.  ix.  p. 
352. — Dionys.  Petav.  Dogmata  Theolog.  tom.  i.  lib.  v. 
cap.  vi.  p.  217,  as  also  the  works  of  Bernard,  passim. 
Abelard,  who,  notwithstanding  all  his  crude  no- 
tions, was  a  man  of  true  genius,  was  undoubtedly 
worthy  of  a  better  fate  tlian  that  which  fell  to  his 
lot,  and  of  a  more  enlightened  age  than  that  in 
which  he  lived.  After  passing  through  the  furnace 
of  persecution,  and  having  sutfered  afflictions  of  va- 
rious kinds,  of  which  he  has  transmitted  the  history 
to  posterity,  he  retired  to  the  monastery  of  Clugni, 
where  he  ended  his  days  in  the  year  1142. 


lo,  two  of  his  archdeacons,  who  had  been  edu- 
cated in  the  principles  of  the  ancient  theology, 
lieard  him  one  day  disputing,  with  more  sub- 
tilty  than  was  meet,  of  the  divine  nature. 
Alarmed  at  the  novelty  of  his  doctrine,  they 
brought  a  charge  of  blasphemy  against  him 
before  pope  Eugenius  III.  who  was  at  that 
time  in  France;  and,  to  give  weight  to  their 
accusation,  they  engaged  St.  Bernard  in  their 
cause.  The  zealous  abbot  treated  the  matter 
with  his  usual  vehemence,  and  opposed  Gil- 
bert with  the  utmost  severity  and  bitterness, 
first  in  the  council  of  Paris,  A.  D.  1147,  and 
afterwards  in  that  which  was  assembled  at 
Rlieims  in  the  following  year.  In  the  latter 
council  the  accused  bishop,  in  order  to  put  an 
end  to  the  dispute,  offered  to  submit  his  opi- 
nions to  the  judgment  of  the  assembly,  and  of 
the  Roman  pontiff,  by  whom  they  were  con- 
demned. The  errors  attributed  to  Gilbert  were 
the  fruits  of  an  excessive  subtilty,  and  of 
an  extravagant  passion  for  reducing  tlie  doc- 
trines of  Christianity  under  the  empire  of 
metaphysics  and  dialectics.  He  distinguished 
the  divine  essence  from  the  Deity,  the  proper- 
ties of  the  tliree  divine  persons  from  the  per- 
sons themselves,  not  in  reality,  but  by  abstrac- 
tion, in  statu  rationis,  as  the  metaphysicians 
speak;  and,  in  consequence  of  these  distinc- 
tions, he  denied  the  incarnation  of  the  divine 
nature.  To  these  he  added  other  opinions, 
derived  from  the  same  source,  which  were  ra- 
ther vain,  fanciful,  and  adapted  to  excite  sur- 
prise by  their  novelty,  than  glaringly  false,  or 
really  pernicious.  These  refined  notions  were 
far  above  the  comprehension  of  good  St.  Ber- 
nard, who  was  by  no  means  accustomed  to 
such  profoimd  disquisitions,  to  such  intricate 
researches.* 

XII.  Tiie  important  science  of  morality  was 
not  now  in  a  very  flourishing  state,  as  may  be 
easily  imagined  when  we  consider  the  genius 
and  spirit  of  that  philosophy,  which,  in  this 
century,  reduced  all  the  other  sciences  under 
its  dominion,  and  of  which  we  have  given 
some  account  in  the  preceding  sections.  The 
only  moral  writer  among  the  Greeks,  worthy 
of  mention,  is  Philip,  surnamed  the  Solitary, 
whoso  book,  entitled  Dioptra,  which  consists 
of  a  dialogue  between  the  body  and  the  soul, 
is  composed  with  judgment  and  elegance,  and 
contains  many  remarks  proper  to  nourish  pious 
and  virtuous  sentiments. 

The  Latin  moralists  of  this  age  may  be  di- 
vided into  two  classes,  the  scholastics  and  mya- 
tics.  The  former  discoursed  about  virtue,  as 
they  did  about  truth,  in  the  most  unfeeling 
jargon,  and  generally  subjoined  their  arid  sys- 
tem of  morals  to  what  they  called  their  didactic 
theology.  The  latter  treated  the  duties  of  mo- 
rality in  a  quite  different  manner;  their  lan- 
guage was  tender,  persuasive,  and  affecting, 
and  their  sentiments  were  often  beautiful  and 
sublime;  but  they  taught  in  a  confused  and  ir- 


*  See  Du  Boulay,  Hist.  Acad.  Paris,  tom.  ii.  p. 
223,  232.— Mabillon,  Annal.  Benedictin.  tom.  vi.  p. 
343.  415,  433.— Gallia  Christiana  Benedictin.  tom.  ii. 
p.  1175.— Matth.  Paris,  Histor.  Major,  p.  56.— Peta- 
vii  Dogmata  Theologica,  tom.  i.  lib.  i.  cap.  viii. — 
Longueval,  Histoire  de  I'Eglise  Gallicane,  tom.  ix. 
p.  147. 


Chap.  III. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


325 


regular  manner,  without  method  or  precision, 
and  frequently  mixed  tiie  dross  of"  Platonism 
with  the  pure  treasures  of  celestial  truth. 

We  miglit  also  plane  in  the  class  of  moral 
writers  the  greatest  part  of  the  commentators 
and  expositors  of  this  century,  who,  laying 
aside  all  attention  to  the  signification  of  the 
words  used  l)y  the  sacred  writere,  and  scarcely 
ever  attempting  to  illustrate  tiie  truths  which 
they  reveal,  or  the  events  which  they  relate, 
turned,  hy  forced  and  allegorical  explications, 
every  passage  of  S('ri])ture  to  practical  uses, 
and  drew  lessons  of  morality  from  every  quar- 
ter. We  could  produce  many  instances  of  this 
way  of  connnenting,  beside  Guibert's  Moral 
Observations  on  the  Book  of  Job,  the  Prophecy 
of  Amos,  and  the  Lamentations  of  Jeremiah. 

XIII.  Both  Greeks  and  Latins  were  seized 
with  that  enthusiastic  pas.sion  for  dialectical 
researches,  which  raged  in  this  century,  and 
were  thus  rendered  extremely  fond  of  captious 
questions  and  theological  contests;  and,  at  the 
same  time,  the  love  of  controversy  seduced 
them  from  the  paths  that  lead  to  truth,  and 
involved  them  in  labyrinths  of  uncertainty  and 
error.  The  discovery  of  truth  was  not,  in- 
deed, the  great  object  they  had  in  view;  their 
principal  aim  was  to  perplex  and  embarrass 
their  adversaries,  and  overwhelm  them  with 
an  enormous  heap  of  fine  spun  distinctions,  an 
impetuous  torrent  of  words  without  meaning, 
a  long  list  of  formidable  authorities,  and  a  spe- 
cious train  of  fallacious  consequences,  embel- 
lished with  railings  and  invectives.  The  prin- 
cipal polemic  writers  among  tiie  Greeks  were 
Constantinus  Harmenopulus,  and  Euthymius 
Zigabenus.  The  former  published  a  short  trea- 
tise de  Sectis  Hcereticm'uni,  i.  e.  concerning  the 
Sects  of  Heretics.  The  latter,  in  a  long  and 
laboured  work,  entitled  Panoplia,  attacked  all 
the  heresies  and  errors  that  troubled  the 
church;  but,  not  to  mention  the  extreme  le- 
vity and  creduUty  of  this  writer,  his  mode  of 
disputation  was  highly  defective,  and  all  his 
arguments,  according  to  the  wretched  method 
that  now  prevailed,  were  drawn  from  the 
writings  of  the  ancient  doctors,  whose  autho- 
rity supplied  the  i)lace  of  evidence.  Both  tiiese 
authors  were  sharply  censured  in  a  satirical 
poem  composed  by  Zonaras.  The  Latin  writ- 
ers were  also  employed  in  various  branches  of 
religious  controversy.  Honorius  of  Autun 
wrote  against  certain  heresies;  and  Abelard 
combated  them  all.  The  Jews,  vviiosc  credit 
was  now  extremely  low,  and  whose  circmu- 
stances  were  miserable  in  every  respect,  were 
refuted  by  Gilbert  de  Castilione,  Odo,  Peter 
Alfonsus,  Rupert  of  Duytz,  Peter  Mauritius, 
Richard  of  St.  Victor,  and  Peter  of  Blois,  ac- 
cording to  the  logic  of  the  times,  while  I^utliy- 
mius  and  several  other  divines  directed  their 
polemic  force  against  the  Saracens. 

XIV.  That  contest  between  the  Greeks  and 
Latins,  the  subject  of  which  has  been  already 
mentioned,  was  still  carried  on  by  both  parties 
with  the  greatest  obstinacy  and  vehemence. 
The  Grecian  champions  were  Euthymius,  Ni- 
cetas,  and  others  of  less  renown;  while  the 
cause  of  the  Latins  was  vigorously  maintained 
by  Anselm,  bishop  of  Havelberg,  and  Hugo 
Etherianus,  who  eminently  distinguished  them- 


selves by  their  erudition  in  this  famous  contro- 
versy.* Many  attempts  were  made,  both  at 
Rome  and  Constantinople,  to  reconcile  these 
difl'erences,  and  heal  these  divisions;  and  this 
union  was  solicited,  in  a  particular  manner,  by 
the  emperors  of  the  Comnene  family,  who  ex- 
pected to  draw  great  advantage  from  the  friend- 
ship and  alliance  of  the  Latins,  toward  the 
support  of  tlie  Grecian  empire,  which  was  at 
tliis  time  in  a  declining,  and  almost  in  a  des- 
perate condition.  But  as  the  Latins  aimed  at 
notliing  less  than  a  despotic  supremacy  over 
the  Greek  church,  and  as,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  Grecian  bishops  could  by  no  means  be  in- 
duced to  yield  an  implicit  obedience  to  the  Ro- 
man pontifi',  or  to  condemn  the  measures  and 
proceedings  of  their  ancestors,  the  negotia- 
tions, undertaken  for  the  restoration  of  peace, 
widened  the  breach  instead  of  healing  it;  and 
the  terms  proposed  on  both  sides,  but  especially 
by  the  Latins,  exasperated,  instead  of  calming, 
the  resentments  and  animosities  of  the  con- 
tending parties. 

XV.  Many  controversies  of  inferior  moment 
were  carried  on  among  the  Greeks,  who  were 
extremely  fond  of  disputing,  and  were  scarcely 
ever  without  debates  upon  religious  matters. 
We  shall  not  enter  into  a  circumstantial  narra- 
tion of  these  theological  contests,  which  would 
fatigue  rather  than  amuse  or  instruct;  but  shall 
confine  ourselves  to  a  brief  mention  of  those 
which  made  the  greatest  noise  in  the  empire. 
Under  the  reign  of  Emanuel  Comnenus,  whose 
extensive  learning  was  accompanied  with  an 
excessive  curiosity,  several  theological  contro- 
versies were  carried  on,  in  which  he  himself 
bore  a  principal  part,  and  which  fomented  such 
discords  and  animosities  among  a  people  al- 
ready exhausted  and  dejected  by  intestine  tu- 
mults, as  threatened  tJieir  destruction.  The 
first  question  tliat  exercised  the  metaphysical 
talent  of  this  over-curious  emperor  and  his  sub- 
tile doctors,  was  this: — in  what  sense  was  it, 
or  might  it  be,  affirmed  that  an  incarnate  God 
was  at  the  same  time  the  offerer  and  the  obla- 
tion? When  this  knotty  question  had  been 
long  debated,  and  the  emperor  had  maintain- 
ed, for  a  considerable  time,  that  solution  of 
it  which  was  contrary  to  the  opinion  generally 
received,  he  yielded  at  length,  and  embrac- 
ed tiie  popular  notion  of  that  unintelligible 
subject.  The  consequence  of  this  step  was, 
tliat  many  men  of  eminent  abilities  and  great 
credit,  who  had  differed  from  the  doctrine  of 
tlie  church  upon  this  article,  were  deprived  of 
their  honours  and  employments.!  What  the 
emperor's  opinion  of  this  matter  was,  wc  are 
not  satisfactorily  informed;  and  we  are  equally 
ignorant  of  the  sentiments  adopted  by  the 
church  in  this  question.  It  is  highly  probable 
that  Emanuel,  followed  by  certain  learned  doc- 
tors, differed  from  the  opinions  generally  re- 
ceived among  the  Greeks  concerning  the 
Fiord's  supper,  and  the  oblation  or  sacrifice  of 
Christ  in  that  holy  ordinance. 

XVI.  Some  years  after  this,  a  still  more 
warm  contest  arose  concerning  the  sense  of 
these  words  of  Christ,  John  xiv.  28.      '  For 


*  See  Leo  Allatius,  de  perpetua  Conneiisione  Ec- 
clesitc  Oriental,  et  Occident,  lib.  ii.  cap.  xi.  p.  644. 
t  Nicolas  Choniates,  Annal.  lib.  vii.  sect.  5. 


326 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  H. 


my  Father  is  greater  than  I,'  and  divided  the 
Greeks  into  the  most  bitter  and  deplorable  fac- 
tions. To  the  ancient  explications  of  that  im- 
portant passage  new  illustrations  were  now 
added;  and  the  emperor  himself,  who,  from  an 
indifferent  prince,  had  become  a  wi'etched  di- 
vine, published  an  exposition  of  that  remark- 
able text,  which  he  obtruded,  as  the  only  true 
sense  of  the  words,  upon  a  council  assembled 
for  that  purpose,  and  was  desirous  of  having 
received  as  a  rule  of  faith  by  all  the  Grecian 
clergy.  He  maintained  that  the  words  in 
question  related  to  the  flesh  that  was  hidden 
in  Christ,  and  that  was  passible,  i.  e.  subject 
to  suffering,*  and  not  only  ordered  this  deci- 
sion to  be  engraven  on  tables  of  stone  in  the 
principal  church  of  Constantinople,  but  also 
published  an  edict,  in  which  capital  punish- 
ments were  denounced  against  all  such  as 
should  presume  to  oppose  this  explication,  or 
teach  any  doctrine  repugnant  to  it.f  This 
edict,  however,  expired  with  the  emperor  by 
whom  it  was  issued;  and  Andronicus,  upon  his 
accession  to  the  imperial  throne,  prohibited  all 
those  contests  concerning  speculative  points 
of  theology,  that  arose  from  an  irregular  and 
wanton  curiosity,  and  suppressed,  in  a  more 
particular  manner,  all  inquiry  into  the  subject 
now  mentioned,  by  enacting  the  severest  pe- 
nalties against  such  as  should  in  any  way  con- 
tribute to  revive  tliis  dispute. | 

XVII.  The  same  theological  emperor  trou- 
bled the  church  with  another  controversy  con- 
cerning the  God  of  Mohammed.  The  Greek 
catechisms  pronounced  an  anathema  against 
the  Deity  worshipped  by  that  false  prophet, 
whom  they  represented  as  a  solid  and  spherical 
Being;^  for  so  they  translated  the  Arabian 
word  elsemcd,  which  is  applied  in  the  Koran  to 
the  Supreme  Being,  and  which  indeed  is  sus- 
ceptible of  that  sense,  though  it  also  signifies 
ete'r!rti.||  The  emperor  ordered  this  anathema 
to  be  effaced  in  the  catechism  of  the  Greek 
church,  on  account  of  the  high  offence  it  gave 
to  those  Mohammedans,  who  had  either  been 
already  converted  to  Christianity,  or  were  dis- 
posed to  embrace  that  divine  religion,  and  who 
were  extremely  shocked  at  such  an  insult  of- 
fered to  the  name  of  God,  with  whatever  re- 
strictions and  conditions  it  might  be  attended. 
The  Christian  doctors,  on  the  other  hand,  op- 
posed with  resolution  and  vehemence  this  im- 
perial order.  They  observed  that  the  anathe- 
ma, pronounced  in  the  catechism,  had  no  rela- 
tion to  the  nature  of  God  in  general,  or  to  the 
true  God  in  particular;  and  that,  on  the  con- 
trary, it  was  solely  directed  against  the  error 
of  Mohammed,  against  that  phantom  of  a  di- 
vinity which  he  had  imagined;  for  that  impos- 
tor pretended  that  the  Deity  could  neither  be 
engendered  nor  engender,  whereas  the  Christians 
adore  God  the  Father.  After  the  bitterest  dis- 
putes concerning  this  abstruse  subject,  and  va- 
rious efforts  to  reconcile  the  contending  par- 
ties, the  bishops  assembled  in  council  consent- 
ed, though  with  the  utmost  difficulty,  to  trans- 


t  Nicetas  Choniates,  Annal.  lib.  vii.  sect.  6,  p.  113. 
i  Nicetas  in  Andronico,  lib.  ii.  sect.  5,  p.  175. 

y  Reland,  ile  religione  Mohammedica,  lib.  ii.  sect, 
3,  p.  142. 


fer  the  imprecation  of  the  catechism  from  the 
God  of  Mohammed  to  the  pseudo-prophet  him- 
self, his  doctrine,  and  his  sect.* 

XVIII.  The  spirit  of  controversy  raged 
among  the  Latins,  as  well  as  among  the 
Greeks;  and  various  sentiments  concerning 
the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  supper  were  pro- 
pagated, not  only  in  the  schools,  but  also  in 
the  writings  of  the  learned;  for,  though  all  the 
doctors  of  the  church  were  now  exceedingly 
desirous  of  being  looked  upon  as  enemies  to 
the  system  of  Berenger,  yet  many  of  them,  and 
among  othersf  Rupert  of  Duytz,  differed  very 
little  from  the  sentiments  of  that  great  man; 
at  least  it  is  certain,  that  the  famous  contro- 
versy, which  had  arisen  in  the  church  concern- 
ing the  opinions  of  Berenger,  had  still  left  the 
manner  of  Christ's  presence  in  the  eucharist 
undetermined. 

Rupert  had  also  religious  contests  of  another 
nature  with  Anselm,  bishop  of  Laon,  William 
of  Champeaux,  and  their  disciples,  who  main- 
tained their  doctrine  when  they  were  no  more. 
The  divine  will  and  the  divine  omnipotence 
were  the  subjects  of  this  controversy;  and  the 
question  debated  was,  "  Whether  God  really 
"  willed,  and  actually  produced,  all  things  that 
"exist,  or  whether  there  are  certain  things 
"  whose  existence  he  merely  permits,  and  whose 
"  production,  instead  of  being  the  effect  of  his 
"  inill,  was  contrary  to  it.'"  The  affirmative 
of  the  latter  part  of  this  question  was  main- 
tained by  Piupert,  while  his  adversaries  affirm- 
ed that  all  things  were  the  effects,  not  only  of 
the  divine  power,  but  also  of  the  divine  will. 
This  learned  abbot  was  also  accused  of  having 
taught  that  the  angels  were  formed  out  ot 
darkness;  that  Christ  did  not  administer  his 
body  to  Judas,  in  the  last  supper;  and  several 
other  doctrines,!  contrary  to  the  received  opi- 
nions of  the  church. 

XIX.  These  and  other  controversies  of  a 
more  private  kind,  which  made  little  noise  in 
the  world,  were  succeeded,  about  the  year 
1140,  by  one  of  a  more  public  nature,  con- 
cerning what  was  called  the  Immaculate  Con- 
ception of  the  Virgin  Mary. ^  Certain  churches 
in  France  began,  about  that  time,  to  celebrate 
the  festival  consecrated  to  this  pretended  con- 
ception, which  the  English  had  observed  be- 
fore this  period  in  consequence  of  the  exhorta- 
tions of  Anselm,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  as 
some  authors  report.  The  church  of  Lyons 
was  one  of  the  first  that  adopted  this  new  festi- 
val, which  no  sooner  came  to  the  knowledge 
of  St.  Bernard,  than  he  severely  censured  the 
canons  on  account  of  this  innovation,  and  op- 
posed the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Virgin 
with  the  greatest  vigour,  as  it  supposed  her 
being  honoured  with  a  privilege  which  be- 
longed to  Christ  alone.  Upon  this  a  warm 
contest  arose;  some  siding  with  the  canons  of 
Lyons,  and  adopting  the  new  festival,  while 


*  Nicet.  Chnn.  Annales,  lib.  vii.  p.  113—116. 

f  Boulay,  Hist.  Acad.  Paris,  torn.  ii.  p.  30. 

I  See  the  Epistle  of  Mengoz,  published  by  Mar- 
tenne,  in  his  Thesaur.  Anecdotor.  torn.  i.  p.  290. — 
Jo.  Mabillon,  Annal.  Benedict,  torn.  vi.  p.  19, 43, 1G8, 
261. 

OfJ-  §  The  defenders  of  the  Immaculate  Conception 
maintained,  that  the  Virgin  Mary  was  conceived  in 
the  womb  of  her  mother  with  the  same  purity  that 
I  is  attributed  to  Christ's  conception  in  her  womb. 


Chap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


327 


others  adhered  to  the  sentiments  of  St.  Ber- 
nard.* The  controversy,  however,  notwith- 
standing the  zeal  of  the  contending  parties, 
was  carried  on,  during  this  century,  with  a 
certain  degree  of  decency  and  moderation. 
But,  in  subsequent  times,  when  the  Domini- 
cans were  estal)hshed  in  the  academy  of  Paris, 
the  contest  was  renewed  witii  tiie  greatest  ve- 
hemence, and  the  same  subject  was  debated, 
on  both  sides,  with  the  utmost  animosity  and 
contention  of  mind.  The  Dominicans  declar- 
ed for  St.  Bernard,  while  the  academy  pa- 
tronised the  canons  of  Lyons,  and  adopted  the 
new  festival. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Concerning  the  Rites  and  Ceremonies  used  in  the 
Church  during  this  Century. 

I.  The  rites  and  ceremonies  used  in  divine 
worship,  both  public  and  private,  were  now 
greatly  augmented  among  the  Greeks;  and  the 
same  superstitious  passion  for  the  introduction 
of  new  observances,  discovered  itself  in  all  the 
eastern  churches.  The  Grecian,  Nestorian, 
and  Jacobite  pontiffs,  who  were  in  any  degree 
remarkable  for  their  credit  or  ambition,  were 
desirous  of  transmitting  their  names  to  poste- 
rity by  the  invention  of  some  new  rite,  or  by 
the  introduction  of  some  striking  change  into 
the  method  of  worship  that  had  hitherto  pre- 
vailed. This  was,  indeed,  almost  the  only 
way  left  to  distinguish  themselves  in  an  age 
when,  a  due  sense  of  the  excellence  of  genuine 
religion  and  substantial  piety  being  almost 
totally  lost,  the  whole  care  and  attention  of  an 
ostentatious  clergy,  and  a  superstitious  multi- 
tude, were  employed  upon  the  round  of  exter- 
nal ceremonies  and  observances  substituted  in 
their  place.  Thus  some  attempted,  though  in 
vain,  to  render  their  names  immortal,  by  in- 
troducing a  new  method  of  reading  or  reciting 
the  prayers  of  the  churcli;  others  changed  the 
church  music;  some  tortured  their  inventions 
to  find  out  some  new  mark  of  veneration,  that 
might  be  offered  to  the  relics  and  images  of  the 
saints;  while  several  ecclesiastics  did  not  dis- 
dain to  employ  their  time,  with  the  most  seri- 
ous assiduity,  in  embellishing  the  garments  of 
the  clergy,  and  in  forming  the  motions  and 
postures  they  were  to  observe,  and  the  looks 
they  were  to  assume,  in  the  celebration  of  di- 
vine worship. 

II.  We  may  learn  from  the  book  de  Divinis 
Officiis,  composed  by  the  famous  Rupert,  or 
Robert,  of  Duytz,  what  were  tiie  rites  in  use 
among  the  Latins  during  this  century,  as  also 
the  reasons  on  whicli  they  were  founded.  Ac- 
cording to  the  plan  we  follow,  we  cannot  here 
enlarge  upon  tlio  additions  that  were  made  to 
the  doctrinal  part  of  religion.  We  sliall  there- 
fore only  obser\'e,  tiiat  the  cntinisiastic  vene- 
ration for  the  Virgin  Mary,  whicii  had  l>een 
hitherto  carried  to  such  an  excessive  height, 
increased  now  instead  of  diminishing,  since  her 
dignity  was  at  this  time  considerably  augment- 
ed by  the  new  fiction  or  invention  relating  to 

*  Sti.  Bernard!  Epistola  IT'!.— Boulay,  Hist.  Acad. 
Paris,  torn.  ii.  p.  135. — Mabillon,  Annal.  Bened.  torn. 
vi.  p.  327.— Dom.  Colonia,  Hist.  Lit.  de  la  Ville  de 
Lyon,  torn.  ii.  p.  233. 


her  immaculate  conception;  for,  though  St. 
Bernard  and  others  opposed  with  vigour  this 
chimerical  notion,  yet  their  efforts  were  coun- 
teracted by  the  superstitious  fury  of  the  de- 
luded multitude,  whose  judgment  prevailed 
over  the  counsels  of  the  wise;  so  that,  about 
the  year  1138,  there  was  a  solemn  festival  in- 
stituted in  honour  of  this  pretended  conception, 
though  we  neither  know  by  whose  authority 
it  was  established,  nor  in  what  place  it  was 
first  celebrated.* 

CHAPTER  V. 

Concerning  the  Divisions  and  Heresies  that  trou- 
bled the  Church  during  this  Century. 

I.  The  Greek  and  eastern  churches  were 
infested  with  fanatics  of  different  kinds,  who 
gave  them  much  trouble,  and  engaged  them 
in  the  most  warm  and  violent  contests.  Some 
of  these  fanatics  professed  to  believe  in  a  dou- 
ble trinity,  rejected  wedlock,  abstained  from 
flesh,  treated  with  the  utmost  contempt  the 
sacraments  of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  supper, 
as  also  all  the  various  branches  of  external 
worship;  placed  the  essence  of  religion  in  in- 
ternal prayer  alone,  and  maintained,  as  it  is 
said,  that  an  evil  being,  or  genius,  dwelt  in  the 
breast  of  every  mortal,  and  could  be  thence 
expelled  by  no  other  metliod  than  by  perpetual 
supplications  to  the  Supreme  Being.  The 
founder  of  this  enthusiastical  sect  is  said  to 
have  been  a  person  called  Lucopetrus.  His 
chief  disciple  was  named  Tychicus,  who  cor- 
rupted, by  false  and  fanatical  interpretations, 
several  books  of  the  sacred  writings,  and  par- 
ticularly the  Gospel  according  to  St.  Mat- 
thew. |  It  is  well  known,  that  enthusiasts  of 
this  kind,  who  were  rather  wrong  headed  than 
vicious,  lived  among  the  Greeks  and  Syrians, 
especially  among  the  monks,  for  many  ages 
before  this  period,  and  also  in  this  century. 
The  accounts,  indeed,  that  have  been  given 
of  them,  are  not  in  all  respects  to  be  depended 
upon:  and  there  arc  several  circumstances, 
which  render  it  extremely  probable,  that  many 
persons  of  eminent  piety,  and  zeal  for  genuine 
Cliristianity,  were  confounded  by  the  Greeks 
with  these  enthusiasts,  and  ranked  in  the  list  of 
heretics,  merely  on  account  of  their  opposing 
the  vicious  practices  and  tlie  insolent  tyranny 
of  the  priesthood,  and  their  treating  with  deri- 
sion that  motley  spectacle  of  superstition  which 
was  supported  by  public  authority.  In  Greece, 
and  in  all  the  eastern  provinces,  these  fanatics 
were  distinguished  by  the  general  and  invidi- 
ous appellation  of  Massalians  or  Euchites,l  as 


*  Mabillon.  .Annal.  Benedict,  torn.  vi.  p.  o27,  412.— 
Gallia  ChriFtiana,  torn.  i.  p.  1108. 

t  Kuthvniii  Triumph,  de  Secta  Massalianoriim,  in 
Jac.  Tollii  Insignibus  Itiiioris  Italic!,  p.  106 — 125. 

(ttj-  I  Masfalians  and  Euchitcs  aro  di>noininations 
that  signify  the  same  Hiinff,  and  denote,  one  in  the 
Hebrew,  and  the  other  in  the  Greek  lanenajie,  per- 
sons  ichoprny.  A  sect,  under  thisdeiioniination,  arose 
lurinj;  the  reign  of  the  emperor  Constanlius.  about 
the  year  3G1,  founded  by  certain  monks  of  Mesopo- 
tamia, who  dedicated  thiTji.'^ilves  wholly  to  prayer, 
and  held  many  of  the  dorirines  attrihulcd  by  Mo- 
sheim  to  the  Massalians  ol  the  Iwelftli  renlury.  See 
August,  de  Hcprcs.  cap.  Ivii.  and  'I'hiod.  H.-Bret.  Fab. 
lib.  iv.  Epiphanius  speaks  of  another  sort  of  Mas- 
alians  still  more  ancient,  who  were  mere  Gentiles, 
acknowledged  several  gods,  yet  adored  only  one 


S28 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


the  Latins  comprehended  all  the  adversaries 
of  the  Roman  pontiff  under  the  general  terms 
of  Waldenses  and  Mbigenses.  It  is,  however 
necessary  to  observe,  that  the  names  above- 
mentioned  were  very  vague  and  ambiguous  in 
the  way  they  were  applied  by  the  Greeks  and 
the  Orientals,  who  made  use  of  them  to  cha- 
racterize, without  distinction,  all  such  as  com- 
plained of  the  multitude  of  useless  ceremonies, 
and  of  the  vices  of  the  clergy,  without  any  re- 
gard to  the  difference  that  existed  between 
Buch  persons  in  point  of  principles  and  morals. 
In  short,  the  righteous  and  the  profligate,  the 
wise  and  the  foolish,  were  equally  compre- 
hended under  the  name  of  Massalians,  when- 
ever they  opposed  the  raging  superstition  of 
the  times,  or  considered  true  and  genuine  piety 
as  the  essence  of  the  Christian  character. 

II.  From  the  sect  now  mentioned,  that  of 
the  Bogomiles  is  said  to  have  proceeded,  whose 
founder  Basilius,  a  monk  by  profession,  was 
committed  to  the  flames  at  Constantinople, 
under  the  reign  of  Alexius  Conmenus,  after 
all  attempts  to  make  him  renomice  his  errors 
had  proved  ineffectual.  By  the  accounts  we 
have  of  this  unhappy  man,  and  of  the  errors  he 
taught,  it  appears  sufficiently  evident,  that  his 
doctrine  resembled,  in  a  striking  mamier,  the 
religious  system  of  the  ancient  Gnostics  and 
Manichasans;  though,  at  tlie  same  time,  the 
Greeks  may  have  falsified  his  tenets  in  some 
respects.  Basilius  maintained,  that  the  world 
and  all  animal  bodies  were  formed,  not  by  the 
Deity,  but  by  an  evil  demon,  who  had  been 
cast  down  fVom  heaven  by  the  Supreme  Being; 
whence  he  concludea,  that  the  body  was  no 
more  than  the  prison  of  the  immortal  spirit, 
and  that  it  was,  therefore,  to  be  enervated  by 
fasting,  contemplation,  and  other  exercises, 
that  so  the  soul  might  be  gradually  restored  to 
its  primitive  liberty;  for  this  purpose  also  wed- 
lock was  to  be  avoided,  with  many  other  cir- 
cumstances which  we  have  of"ten  had  occasion 
to  explain  and  repeat  in  the  course  of  this  his- 
tory. It  was  in  consequence  of  the  same  prin- 
ciples, that  this  unfortunate  enthusiast  denied 
the  reality  of  Christ's  body  (which,  like  the 
Gnostics  and  Manichseans,  he  considered  only 
as  a  phantom,)  rejected  the  law  of  Moses,  and 
maintained  that  the  body,  upon  its  separation 
by  death,  returned  to  the  malignant  mass  of 
matter,  without  either  the  prospect  or  possi- 
bility of  a  future  resurrection  to  life  and  feli- 
city. We  have  so  many  examples  of  fanatics 
of  this  kind  in  the  records  of  ancient  times, 
and  also  in  the  history  of  this  century,  that  it 
is  by  no  means  to  be  wondered,  that  some  "one 
of  them,  more  enterprising  than  the  rest,  should 
found  a  sect  among  the  Greeks.  The  name 
of  this  sect  was  taken  from  the  divine  mercy, 
which  its  members  are  said  to  have  incessantly 
implored;  for  the  word  bogomilus,  in  the  Mcesian 
language,  signifies  calling  out  for  mercy  from 
above.* 


whom  they  called  Almighty,  and  had  oratories  in 
which  they  assembled  to  pr.iy  and  sing  hymns.  This 
resemblance  between  the  Massalians  and  the  Es- 
senes,  induced  Scaliger  to  think  that  Epiphanius 
confounded  the  former  with  the  latter. 

*  See  the  Alexias  of  Anna  Comnena,  lib.  xv.  p. 
384,  edit.  Venet. — Zonarae  Annales,  lib.  xviii.  p.  33G. 
—Jo.  Christ.  Wolf  Historia  Bogomilorum,  published 


III.  The  Latin  sects  were  yet  more  nume- 
rous than  those  of  tlie  Greeks;  and  this  Avill 
not  appear  at  all  surprising  to  such  as  consider 
the  state  of  religion  in  the  greatest  part  of  the 
European  provinces.  As  the  prevalence  of 
superstition,  the  vices  of  the  clergy,  the  luxury 
and  indolence  of  the  pontiffs  and  bishops,  the 
encouragement  of  impiety  by  the  traffic  of  in- 
dulgences, increased  from  day  to  day,  several 
pious,  though  weak  men,  who  had  the  true  re- 
ligion of  Christ  at  heart,  easily  perceived  that 
it  was  in  a  most  declining  and  miserable  state, 
and  therefore  attempted  a  reformation  in  the 
church,  in  order  to  restore  Christianity  to  its 
primitive  purity  and  lustre.  But  the  know- 
ledge of  these  good  men  did  not  equal  their 
zeal;  nor  were  their  abilities  in  any  proportion 
to  the  grandeur  of  their  undertakings.  The 
greater  part  of  them  were  destitute  both  of 
learning  and  judgment,  and,  being  involved 
in  the  general  ignorance  of  the  times,  very 
imperfectly  understood  the  holy  scriptures, 
whence  Christianity  was  derived,  and  by  which 
alone  the  abuses  that  had  been  mingled  with 
it  could  be  reformed.  In  a  word,  few  of  these 
well-meaning  Christians  were  equal  to  an  at- 
tempt so  difficult  and  arduous  as  an  imiversal 
reformation;  and  the  consequence  of  this  was, 
that  while  they  avoided  the  reigning  abuses, 
they  fell  into  others  that  were  as  little  consis- 
tent with  the  genius  of  true  religion,  and  carried 
the  spirit  of  censure  and  reformation  to  such 
an  excessive  length,  that  it  degenerated  often 
into  the  various  extravagances  of  enthusiasm, 
and  engendered  a  nmnber  of  new  sects,  that 
became  a  new  dishonour  to  the  Ciiristian 
cause. 

IV.  Among  the  sects  that  troubled  the 
Latin  church  during  this  century,  the  principal 
place  is  due  to  the  Cathari  or  Catharists,  whom 
we  have  already  had  occasion  to  mention.* 
This  numerous  faction,  leaving  their  first  resi- 
dence, which  was  in  Bulgaria,  spread  them- 
selves throughout  almost  all  the  European 
provinces,  where  they  occasioned  much  tumult 
and  disorder;  but  their  fate  was  unliappy;  for, 
wherever  they  were  foimd,  they  were  put  to 
death  with  the  most  unrelenting  cruelty.j 
Their  religion  resembled  the  doctrine  of  the 
Manichajans  and  Gnostics,  on  which  account 
they  commonly  received  the  denomination 
of  the  former,  though  they  differed  in  many 
respects  from  the  genuine  and  primitive  Mani- 
chteans.  They  all  indeed  agreed  in  the  fol- 
lowing points  of  doctrine,  viz.  That  matter 
was  the  source  of  all  evil;  that  the  creator  of 
this  world  was  a  being  distinct  from  the  Su- 
preme Deity;  that  Christ  was  neither  clothed 
with  a  real  body,  nor  could  be  properly  said 
to  have  been  born,  or  to  have  seen  death;  that 
human  bodies  were  the  production  of  the  evil 


at  Wittenbore,  in  1712.— Sam.  Andrefe  Diss,  de 
l?o2omilis  in  Jo.  Voigtii  Bibliotheca  Historic  Hsere- 
siologicae,  torn.  i.  part  ii.  p.  liJl.  Chr.  Aug.  Heumanni 
Dissertat.  de  Bogomilis. 

*  See  Cent.  III.  Part  II.  Ch.  V.  sect,  xviii.;  but 
principally,  for  the  Catharists  here  mentioned,  see 
Cent.  XI.  Part  II.  Ch.  V.  sect.  .i. 

t  See  the  account  given  of  this  unhappy  and  per- 
secuted sect  by  Charles  Plessis  d'Argentre,  in  his 
Collectio  Judiciorum  de  novis  Erroribus,  torn.  i.  in 
which,  however,  several  circumstances  are  omitted. 


Chap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


829 


principle,  and  were  extinguished  without  the 
prospect  of  a  new  life;  and  that  baptism  and 
the  Lord's  Supper  were  useless  institutions, 
destitute  of  all  efficacy  and  power.  They  ex- 
horted all  who  embraced  their  doctrine  to  a 
rigorous  abstinence  from  animal  food,  wine, 
and  wedlock,  and  recommended  to  tiieni  in 
the  most  j)athetic  terms  the  most  severe  acts 
of  austerity  and  mortification.  Tiiey  more- 
over treated  witli  tlie  utmost  contempt  all  the 
books  of  the  Old  Testament,  but  expressed  a 
high  degree  of  veneration  for  the  New,  par- 
ticularly for  the  four  Gospels;  and,  to  pass 
over  many  other  peculiarities  in  tlieir  doctrine, 
they  maintained,  that  human  souls,  endued 
with  reason,  were  shut  up  by  an  unliappy  fate 
in  the  dungeons  of  mortal  bodies,  from  which 
they  could  only  be  delivered  by  fasting,  mor- 
tification, and  continence  of  every  kind.* 

V.  These  principles  and  tenets,  tliough  they 
were  adopted  and  professed  by  the  whole  sect, 
were  variously  interpreted  and  modified  by  dif- 
ferent doctors.  Hence  the  Catharists  were 
divided  into  various  sects,  which,  however, 
on  account  of  the  general  persecution  in  which 
they  were  involved,  treated  each  other  with 
candour  and  forbearance,  disputed  witli  mode- 
ration, and  were  thus  careful  not  to  augment 
tlieir  common  calamity  by  intestine  feuds  and 
animosities.  Out  of  these  factions  arose  two 
leading  and  principal  sects  of  the  Catharists, 
which  were  distinguished  from  the  rest  by  the 
number  of  their  respective  followers,  and  the 
importance  of  their  ditferences.  The  one,  bor- 
rowing hints  from  the  Manichoean  system, 
maintained  the  doctrine  of  two  eternal  Beings, 
from  whom  all  things  are  derived,  the  God  of 
light,  who  was  also  tlie  father  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  the  principle  of  darkness,  whom  they  con- 
sidered as  tlie  author  of  tlie  material  world. 
The  other  believed  in  one  eternal  principle, 
the  father  of  Christ,  and  the  Supreme  God, 
by  whom  also  they  held  that  the  first  matter 
was  created;  but  they  added  to  tliis,  that  the 
evil  being,  after  his  rebellion  against  God  and 
his  fall  from  heaven,  arranged  this  original 
matter  according  to  his  fancy,  and  divided  it 
into  four  elements,  for  the  production  of  this 
visible  vi'orld.  The  former  maintained,  that 
Clirist,  clothed  with  the  celestial  body,  de- 
scended into  the  womb  of  the  Virgin,  and  de- 
rived no  part  of  his  substance  from  her;  while 
tlie  latter  taught,  that  he  first  assumed  a  real 
body  in  the  womb  of  Mary,  though  not  from 
her.f  The  sect  which  held  the  doctrine  of  two 
principles,  derived  the  name  of  Albanenses 
from  the  place  where  their  spiritual  ruler  re- 
sided; and  this  sect  was  subdivided  into  two,  of 
which  one  took  tlie  name  of  Balazinansa, 
bishop  of  Verona,  and  the  other  that  of  John 


*  Besi(l«  the  works  which  will  be  foon  nicutioneil, 
see  the  Disputatio  inter  Catholicuiii  et  Patoiiiiiiin, 
published  by  Martenne,  in  his  T/icsaur.  jlnecclotor. 
torn.  V.  p.  1703,  as  also  Bonacursi  Mauilestatio 
Hicrcsis  Catharorum,  in  d'Acheri'a  Spicileg,  torn.  i. 
p.  208. 

t  See  Bern.  IVIoneta,  Siimma  adversuF  Calharos  ct 
VaUlenses,  published  at  Rome  in  the  year  1743,  by 
Thorn.  August.  Riccini,  who  prefixed  to  it  a  disscr- 
tation  concerning  the  Cathari,  that  ia  by  no  means 
worthy  of  the  highest  encomiums.  Moncta  was  no 
mean  writer  for  the  time  in  which  he  lived.  See 
lib.  i.  p.  2et  .">.  lib  ii.  p.  247,  &.C. 
Vol.  I.— 42 


de  Lugio,  bishop  of  Bergamo.  The  sect  which 
adhered  to  the  doctrine  of  one  eternal  princi- 
ple was  also  subdivided  into  the  congregation  of 
Baioli,  the  capital  town  of  the  provmce,  and 
that  of  Concoregio,  or  Concorozzo.  The  Albi- 
genses,  who  were  settled  in  France,  belonged 
to  the  church  or  congregation  of  Baioli.* 

VI.  In  the  internal  constitution  of  the 
church  tliat  was  founded  by  this  sect,  there 
were  many  rules  and  principles  of  a  singular 
nature,  wJiich  we  pass  over  in  silence,  as  they 
would  oblige  us  to  enter  into  a  detail  incon- 
sistent witli  our  intended  brevity.  The  govern- 
ment of  this  church  was  administered  by 
bishops;  and  each  of  these  had  two  vicars,  of 
whom  one  was  called  the  elder  son,  and  the 
other  the  younger,  while  the  rest  of  the  clergy 
and  doctors  were  comprehended  under  the 
general  denomination  of  deacons.f  The  vene- 
ration, which  the  people  had  for  the  clergy  in 
general,  and  more  especially  for  the  bishops 
and  their  spiritual  sons,  was  carried  to  a 
height  that  almost  exceeds  credibility.  The 
discipline  observed  by  this  sect  was  so  exces- 
sively rigid  and  austere,  that  it  was  practica- 
ble only  by  a  certain  number  of  robust  and  de- 
termined fanatics.  But  that  such  as  were  not 
able  to  midergo  this  discipline  might  not,  on 
that  account,  be  lost  to  the  cause,  it  was 
thought  necessary,  in  imitation  of  the  ancient 
Manicheeans,  to  divide  this  sect  into  two  class- 
es, one  of  wliicli  was  distinguished  by  the  title 
of  the  consolati  (comforted,)  while  the  other 
received  only  the  denomination  of  confederates. 
The  former  gave  themselves  out  for  persons  of 
consummate  wisdom  and  extraordinary  piety, 
lived  in  perpetual  celibacy,  and  led  a  life  of 
the  severest  mortification  and  abstinence, 
without  allowing  themselves  the  enjoyment  of 
any  worldly  comfort.  The  latter,  if  we  except^ 
a  few  particular  rules  which  they  observed, 
lived  like  the  rest  of  mankind,  but  at  the  same 
time  were  obliged  by  a  solemn  agreement  they 
had  made  with  the  church,  and  which,  in 
Italian,  they  called  la  convenenza,  to  enter  be- 
fore their  death,  in  their  last  moments,  if  not 
sooner,  into  the  class  of  the  comforted,  and  to 
receive  the  consolametitiun,  or  form  of  inaugu- 
ration, by  which  they  were  introduced  into 
that  fanatical  order.J; 

VII.  A  much  more  rational  sect  wz'j  that 
which  was  founded  about  the  year  1110  in 
Languedoc  and  Provence,  by  Peter  de  Bruys, 


*  Rainori  Sachnni  Summa  de  Catharis  et  Leonis. 
tis,  in  Martenno's  Thesaur.  Anccdot.  torn.  v.  p. 
171)1,  17t)8. — Peregrinus  Priscianus  in  Muratorii 
Anliq.  Ital.  medii  iGvi,  tom.  v.  p.  93.  who  c.ihibits, 
in  a  sort  of  table,  these  different  sects,  but  errone- 
ously places  the  Albigenses,  who  were  a  branch  of 
the  Baiolenses,  in  tlie  place  of  the  Albanenses;  this, 
piThaps.  may  be  an  error  of  the  press.  Tiie  opinions 
of  these  Baiolenses  or  Bagnolenses,  may  be  seen  in 
the  Code.x  Iiiquisitionis  Tolosana,  which  Liniborch 
published  with  his  History  of  the  Inquisition.  Tho 
account,  however,  which  wc  have  in  this  history 
(Book  i.  eh.  viii.)  of  the  opinions  of  the  Albigenses, 
is  by  no  means  accurate.  A  great  variety  of  causes 
have  contributed  to  involve  in  darkness  and  per- 
plexity the  distinctive  characters  of  these  different 
sects,  whose  respective  systems  we  cannot  enlarge 
upon  at  present. 

t  See  Sachoni  Summa  de  Catharis,  p.  1766. 

I  For  a  farther  account  of  this  sect,  see  the  writers 
mentioned  befbrf,  and  particularly  the  Codex  Inqui. 
sitioni*  Toloeanie. 


330 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


who  made  the  most  laudable  attempts  to  re- 
form the  abuses  and  to  remove  the  sujiersti- 
tionsthat  disfigured  the  beautiful  simplicity  of 
the  Gospel;  but,  after  having  engaged  in  his 
cause  a  great  number  of  followers,  during  a 
laborious  ministry  of  twenty  years,  he  was 
burned  at  St.  Giles',  in  the  year  1130,  by  an 
enraged  populace,  instigated  by  the  clergy, 
whose  traffic  was  in  danger  from  the  enter- 
prising spirit  of  this  reformer.  The  whole  sys- 
tem of  doctrine,  which  this  unhappy  martyr, 
whose  zeal  was  not  without  a  considerable 
mixture  of  fanaticism,  taught  to  the  Pelrobnis- 
sians,  his  disciples,  is  not  known;  it  is  however 
certain,  that  the  five  following  tenets  made  a 
part  of  his  system:  1.  That  no  persons  were  to 
be  baptized  before  they  had  the  fiill  use  of 
their  reason;  2.  that  it  was  an  idle  superstition 
to  build  churches  for  the  service  of  God,  who 
vpill  accept  a  sincere  worship  wherever  it  is  of- 
fered; and  that  therefore  such  churches  as  had 
already  been  erected  were  to  be  destroyed;  3. 
that  the  crucifixes,  as  instruments  of  supersti- 
tion, deserved  the  same  fate;  4.  that  the  real 
body  and  blood  of  Christ  were  not  exhibited  in 
the  eucharist,  but  were  merely  represented  in 
that  holy  ordinance  by  figures  and  symbols;  6. 
and,  lastly,  that  the  oblations,  prayers,  and 
good  works  of  the  living,  could  in  no  respect 
be  advantageous  to  the  dead.* 

VIII.  This  innovator  was  succeeded  by 
another,  who  was  an  Italian  by  birth,  and 
whose  name  was  Henry,  tlie  founder  and  pa- 
rent of  the  sect  called  Henricians.  It  was,  no 
doubt,  a  rare  thing  to  see  a  person,  who  was 
at  the  same  time  monk  and  hermit,  un- 
dertaking to  reform  the  superstitions  of  the 
times;  yet  such  was  the  case  of  Henry,  who, 
leaving  Lausanne,  a  city  in  Switzerland,  ti-a- 
velled  to  Mans,  and  being  banished  thence,  re- 
moved successively  to  Poictiers,  Bourdeaux, 
and  the  neighbouring  places,  and  at  length  to 
Toulouse  in  the  year  1147,  exercising  his  min- 
isterial function  with  the  utmost  applause 
from  the  people,  and  declaiming  with  vehe- 
mence and  fervour  against  the  vices  of  the 
clergy,  and  the  superstitions  they  had  intro- 
duced into  the  Clrristian  church.  At  Toulouse 
he  was  warmly  opposed  by  St.  Bernard,  by 
whose  influence  ho  was  overpowered,  notwith- 
standing his  popularity,  and  obliged  to  save 
himself  by  flight.  But  being  seized  by  a  pre- 
late in  his  retreat,  he  was  carried  before  pope 
Eugenius  III.,  who  presided  in  person  at  a 
council  then  assembled  at  Rheirns,  and  who, 
in  consequence  of  the  accusations  brought 
against  Henry,  committed  him,  in  the  year 
1148,  to  a  close  prison,  where  he  soon  ended 
his  days.f  We  have  no  satisfactory  account 
of  the  doctrines  of  this  reformer.  We  merely 
know  that  he  rejected  the  baptism  of  infants, 
censured  with  severity  the  corrupt  and  licen- 


*  See  Petri  Venerab.  Lib.  contra  Petrobrussianos 
in  Bibliotheca  Cluniensi,  p.  1117.— Mabillon,  Annal. 
Benedict,  torn.  iv.  p.  34ri.— Basnage,  Histoiro  des 
Egliscs  Rpformees,  period  iv.  p.  140. 

t  Gesta  Episcopofum  Ccnomanens.  in  Mabillon, 
Analect.  veter.  JEvi,  p.  315. — Gauftidi  Epistola  in 
lib.  vi.  Vita  Sti.  Bernardi,  torn.  ii.  Op.  Bernard,  p. 
1207— Mattli.  Paris,  Histor.  M^j.  p.  71.— Mabillon, 
Prsf  ad  Opera  Bernardi,  sect  vi  el  Annal.  Benedict 
torn,  vi  p.  318,  120,  4J4. 


tious  manners  of  the  clergy,  treated  the  festi- 
vals and  ceremonies  of  the  church  with  the  ut- 
most contempt,  and  held  clandestine  assem- 
blies, in  which  he  explained  and  inculcated  the 
novelties  he  taught.  Several  writers  affirm, 
that  he  was  the  disciple  of  Peter  de  Bruys;  but 
I  cannot  see  upon  what  evidence  or  authority 
this  assertion  is  grounded.* 

IX.  While  the  Henricians  were  propagating 
their  doctrines  in  France,  an  illiterate  man, 
called  Tanquelin,  or  Tanquelm,  arose  in  Bra- 
bant about  the  year  1115,  excited  the  most 
deplorable  commotions  at  Antwerp,  and  drew 
after  him  a  most  numerous  sect.  If  the  ac- 
cotmts  given  of  this  heresiarch  by  his  adver- 
saries may  be  at  all  depended  upon,  he  must 
either  have  been  a  monstrous  impostor,  or  an 
outrageous  madman.  For  he  walked  in  public 
with  the  greatest  solemnity,  pretended  to  be 
God,  or,  at  least,  the  Son  of  God,  ordered 
daughters  to  be  ravished  in  presence  of  their 
mothers,  and  committed  himself  the  greatest 
disorders.  Such  are  the  enormities  that  are 
attributed  to  Tanquelm;  but  they  are  absolute- 
ly incredible,  and  cannot  be  true.f  What 
seems  most  worthy  of  credit  in  this  matter  is, 
that  this  new  teaclier  had  imbibed  the  opinions 
and  spirit  of  the  Mystics;  that  he  treated  with 
contempt  the  external  worship  of  God,  the  sa- 
crament of  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  the  rite  of 
baptism;  and  held  clandestine  assemblies  to 
propagate  more  eflectually  his  visionary  no- 
tions. But  as,  beside  all  this,  he  inveighed 
against  the  clergy,  like  the  other  heretics  al- 
ready mentioned,  and  declaimed  against  their 
vices  with  vehemence  and  intrepidity,  it  is 
probable  that  these  blasphemies  were  falsely 
charged  upon  him  by  a  vindictive  priesthood. 
Be  that  as  it  may,  the  fate  of  Tanquelm  was 
unhappy;  for  he  was  assassinated  by  an  eccle- 
siastic in  a  cruel  manner.  His  sect,  however, 
did  not  perish  with  him,  but  acquired  strength 
and  vigour  under  the  ministry  of  his  disciples, 
until  it  was  at  length  extinguished  by  the  fa- 
mous St.  Norbert,  the  founder  of  the  order  of 
Prfemonstratenses,  or  Premontres.J 

X.  In  Italy,  Arnold  of  Brescia,  a  disciple 
of  Abelard,  and  a  man  of  extensive  erudition 
and  remarkable  austerity,  but  of  a  tm-bulent 
and  impetuous  spirit,  excited  new  troubles  and 
commotions  both  in  church  and  state.  He 
was,  indeed,  condemned  in  the  Lateran  coun- 
cil, A.  D.  1139,  by  Iimocent  II.,  and  obliged 
to  retire  into  Switzerland;  but,  upon  the  death 
of  that  pontiff",  he  returned  into  Italy,  and 
raised  at  Rome,  during  the  pontificate  of  Eu- 


*  That  Henry  was  the  disciple  of  Peter  de  Bruys  ia 
not  at  all  probable;  since,  not  to  insist  upon  other 
reasons,  the  latter  could  not  bear  the  sight  of  a  cross, 
and  in  all  likelihood  owed  his  death  to  the  multitude 
of  crucifixes  which  he  had  committed  to  the  flames; 
whereas  the  former,  when  he  entered  into  any  city, 
appeared  with  a  cross  in  his  hand,  which  he  bore  as 
a  standard,  to  attract  the  veneration  of  the  people. 
See  Mabillon,  Analecta,  p.  316. 

t  Epistola  Trajectens.  Ecclesiae  ad  Fredericum 
Episcopuni  de  Tanchelmo,  in  Seb.  Tengnagelii  Col- 
lectione  Veterum  S'lonumentor.  p.  368. — Boulay, 
Histor.  Acad.  Paris,  torn.  ii.  p.  98. — Argentre,  Col- 
lectio  Judicior.  de  novis  fjrroribus,  torn.  i.  p.  10. 

t  Louis  Hugo,  Vie  de  S.  Norbert,  liv.  ii.  p.  126.— 
rhrys.  Vander  Sterre  Vita  S.  Norberti,  cap.  xxxvl.  p. 
164.  et  Polye.  de  Hertogh,  ad  illam  Annotationes,  p. 
387. 


Chap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


331 


genius  ill.  several  tumults  and  seditions  among 
the  people,  who  changed,  hy  his  instigalioii, 
the  government  of  the  city,  and  insulted  the 
persons  of  the  clergy  in  the  most  disorderly 
manner.  He  fell  however  at  last  a  victim  to 
the  vengeance  of  his  enemies;  for,  after  vari- 
ous turns  of  fortune,  lie  was  seized  in  the  year 
1155,  by  a  prefect  of  the  city,  by  whom  he  was 
crucified,  and  afterwards  burned  to  ashes.  This 
unhappy  man  seems  not  to  have  adopted  any 
doctrines  inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of  true 
religion;  and  the  principles  upon  which  he 
acted  were  chiefly  reprehensible  from  their  be- 
ing carried  too  far,  applied  witliout  discern- 
ment or  discretion,  and  executed  with  a  de- 
gree of  vehemence  which  was  both  imprudent 
and  criminal.  Having  perceived  the  discords 
and  animosities,  the  calamities  and  disorders 
that  sprang  from  the  overgrown  opulence  of 
the  pontiffs  and  bishops,  he  was  persuaded 
that  the  interests  of  the  church  and  the  happi- 
ness of  nations  in  general  required,  that  the 
clergy  should  be  divested  of  all  their  worldly 
possessions,  of  all  their  temporal  rights  and 
prerogatives.  He,  therefore,  publicly  main- 
tained, that  the  treasures  and  revenues  of 
popes,  bishops,  and  monasteries,  ought  to  be 
resigned  and  transferred  to  the  supreme  rulers 
of  each  state,  and  that  nothing  was  to  be  left 
to  the  ministers  of  the  gospel  but  a  spiritual 
authority  and  a  subsistence  drawn  from  tithes, 
and  from  the  voluntary  oblations  and  contribu- 
tions of  the  people.*  This  violent  reformer, 
in  whose  character  and  manners  there  were 
several  points  worthy  of  esteem,  drew  after 
him  a  great  number  of  disciples,  who  derived 
from  him  the  denomination  of  Arnoldists,  and, 
in  succeeding  times,  evinced  the  spirit  and  in- 
trepidity of  their  leader,  as  often  as  any  oppor- 
tunities of  reforming  the  church  seemed  to  be 
offered  to  their  zeal. 

XI.  Of  all  the  sects  that  arose  in  this  cen- 
tury, not  one  was  more  distinguished  by  the 
reputation  it  acquired,  by  the  multitude  of  its 
votaries,  and  the  testimony  which  its  bitterest 
enemies  bore  to  the  probity  and  innocence  of 
its  members,  than  that  of  the  Waldenses,  so 
called  from  their  parent  and  founder  Peter 
Waldus.  This  sect  was  known  by  different 
denominations.  From  the  place  where  it  first 
appeared,  its  members  were  called  Tlie  poor 
men  of  Lyons,]  or  Lyonists,  and,  from  the 
wooden  shoes  which  its  doctors  wore,  and  a 
certain  mark  that  was  imprinted  upon  these 


*See  Otlo  Frisinfj.  de  Gestis  Frcdorici  I.  lib.  ii. 
cap.  XX. — S.  Uornardus,  Epist.  IM,  19G,  torn.  i.  p. 
187. — Boiilay,  Histor.  Acad.  Paris,  torn.  ii.  p.  157. — 
Muratori,  Droits  de  TEinpire  siir  I'Etnt  Ecclosias- 
tique,  p.  137. — Henr.  de  IJunaii,  Vita  Frederici  I.  p. 
41. — ChaiitTeped,  Nouveau  Diction.  Hist.  Crit.  torn. 
i.  p.  4S2. 

t  They  wore  called  Lconists  from  Lr.ona,  tlie  an- 
cient name  of  Lyons,  where  their  sect  took  its  rise. 
The  more  eminent  persons  of  that  sect  manifi'sttd 
their  progress  toward  perfection  by  the  simplicity 
and  meanness  of  their  external  appearance.  Hence, 
among  other  things,  they  wore  wooden  shoes,  which 
in- the  French  lanKuagB  are  termed  salwts,  and  liad 
imprinted  npon  these  shoes  the  sign  of  the  cro.'-s,  lo 
distinc'ii^'i  themselves  from  other  Christians;  and  it 
was  on  these  acconnts  that  Ihey  ncqnired  the  derio 
mination  o{ sabbatnli  and  iiisahbalati.  See  Dii  Fresne, 
Glossarium  Latin,  mcdii  ^vi,  vi.  voce  Salibalati. 
Nicol.  Eumerici  Dircctoriuin  luquisitorum,  Part  III. 
N.  112,  &c 


shoes,  they  were  called  Insabbalati,  or  SahbU' 
tali*  The  origin  of  this  famous  sect  was  as 
follows:  Peter,  an  opulent  merchant  of  Lyons, 
surnamed  Valdmsis,  or  Validisius,  from  Vaux, 
or  Waldum,  a  town  in  the  marquisate  of  Ly- 
ons, being  extremely  zealous  for  the  advance- 
ment of  true  piety  and  Christian  knowledge, 
employed  a  certain  priest, f  about  the  year 
1160,  in  translating  from  Latin  into  French 
the  Four  Gospels,  with  other  books  of  Holy 
Scriptin-e,  and  tiie  most  remarkable  sentences 
of  the  ancient  aoctors,  which  were  so  highly 
esteemed  in  this  century.  But  no  sooner  had 
he  perused  these  sacred  books  with  a  proper 
degree  of  attention,  than  he  perceived  that  the 
religion,  which  was  now  taught  in  the  Roman 
church,  differed  totally  from  that  which  was 
originally  inculcated  by  Christ  and  his  apos- 
tles. Shocked  at  this  glaring  contradiction 
between  the  doctrines  of  the  pontiffs  and  the 
truths  of  the  Gospel,  and  animated  with  a 
pious  zeal  for  promoting  his  own  salvation, 
and  tliat  of  others,  he  abandoned  his  mercan- 
tile vocation,  distributed  his  riches  among  the 
poor,J  and  forming  an  association  with  other 
pious  men,  who  had  adopted  his  sentiments 
and  his  turn  of  devotion,  he  began,  in  the  year 
1 180,  to  assimie  the  quality  of  a  public  teacher, 
and  to  instruct  the  multitude  in  the  doctrines 
and  precepts  of  Christianity.  The  archbishop 
of  Lyons,  and  the  other  rulers  of  the  church 
in  that  province,  opposed,  with  vigour,  this 
new  doctor  in  the  exercise  of  his  ministry.  But 
tlieir  opposition  was  unsuccessful;  for  the  purity 
and  simplicity  of  that  religion  which  these 
good  men  taught,  the  spotless  innocence  that 
shone  forth  in  their  lives  and  actions,  and  the 
noble  contempt  of  riches  and  honours  mani- 
fested in  the  whole  of  their  conduct  and  con- 
versation, appeared  so  engaging  to  all  such 
as  had  any  sense  of  true  piety,  that  the  num- 
ber of  their  disciples  and  followers  increased 
from  day  to  day.§     They  accordingly  fonned 


*  See  Steph.  de  Borbone,  de  septem  donis  Spiritus 
Sancti,  in  Echard  and  Uuetif,  Bibliotheca  Scriptor. 
Dominicanor.  torn.  i.  p.  l!l'2.— Anonym.  Tractatiodo 
Ila^resi  Pauperum  de  Lugduno,  in  Martenue's  Tlie- 
saur.  Anecdotor.  torn.  v.  p.  1777. 

t  This  priest  was  called  Stephanus  de  Evisa. 

i  It  was  on  this  account  that  the  Waldenses  were 
calli'd  Pauvrcs  de  Lyons,  or  Poor  Men  of  Lyons. 

§  Certain  writers  give  different  accounts  of  the 
oriv'in  of  the  Waldenses,  and  suppose  they  were  so 
called  from  the  valleys  in  which  they  had  resided  for 
many  ages  before  the  birth  of  Peter  Waldus.  But 
these  writers  have  no  authority  to  support  this  as- 
sertion;  and,  besides  this,  they  are  amply  refuted  by 
the  best  historians.  I  do  not  mean  to  deny,  that 
there  were  in  the  valleys  of  Piedmont,  long  before 
this  period,  a  set  of  men  who  diflered  widely  from 
the  opinions  adopted  and  inculcated  by  the  church 
of  Rome,  and  whose  doctrine  resembled,  in  many 
respects,  that  of  the  Waldenses;  all  that  I  maintain 
is,  that  these  inhabitants  of  the  valleys  above-men- 
tioned are  to  bu  carefully  distinguished  from  the 
Waldenses,  who,  according  to  the  unanimou.s  voice 
of  history,  were  originally  inhabitants  of  Lyons, 
and  derived  their  name  from  Peter  Waldus,  their 
founder  and  chief  (py-  We  may  venture  to  affirm 
the  contrary,  with  the  learned  Beza  and  other  writ- 
ers of  note;  for  it  seems  evident  from  the  best  re- 
cords, that  Valdua  derived  his  name  from  Uie  true 
Valden.ses  of  Piedmont,  whose  doctrine  he  adopted, 
an<l  who  were  known  by  the  names  of  Vaudois  and 
Valdenses,  before  he  or  liis  immediate  followers  ex- 
isted. If  the  Valdenses  had  derived  I  heir  name  from 
any  eminent  teacher,  it  would  probably  have  been 
from  Valdo,  who  was  remarkable  for  tlio  purity  of 


332 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


religious  assemblies,  first  in  France,  and  af- 
terwards in  Lombardy,  whence  they  propa- 
gated their  sect  through  the  otlier  provinces 
of  Europe  with  incredible  rapidity,  and  with 
such  invincible  fortitude,  that  neither  fire  nor 
sword,  nor  the  most  cruel  inventions  of  mer- 
ciless persecution,  could  damp  their  zeal,  or 
entirely  ruin  tlieir  cause.* 

XII.  The  attempts  of  Peter  Waldus  and  his 
followers  vi'cre  neither  employed  nor  intended 
to  introduce  new  doctrines  into  the  church, 
nor  to  propose  new  articles  of  faith  to  Chris- 
tians. All  they  aimed  at  was,  to  reduce  the 
form  of  ecclesiastical  government,  and  the 
lives  and  manners  both  of  the  clergy  and  peo- 
ple, to  that  amiable  simplicity,  and  that  primi- 
tive sanctity,  which  had  characterised  the 
apostolic  ages,  and  which  appear  so  strongly 
recommended  in  the  precepts  and  injunctions 
of  the  divine  author  of  our  holy  religion.  In 
consequence  of  this  design,  they  complained 
that  the  Roman  church  had  degenerated,  un- 
der Constantine  the  Great,  from  its  primitive 
purity  and  sanctity.  They  denied  the  supre- 
macy of  the  Roman  pontiff^,  and  maintained 
that  the  rulers  and  ministers  of  the  church 
were  obliged,  by  their  vocation,  to  imitate  the 
poverty  of  the  apostles,  and  to  procure  for 
themselves  a  subsistence  by  the  work  of  their 
hands.  They  considered  every  Christian,  as 
in  a  certain  measure  qualified  and  authorized 


his  doctrine  in  the  IXth  century,  and  was  the  con- 
temporary and  chief  counsellor  of  Berengariiis.  But 
the  truth  is,  that  they  derive  their  name  from  their 
valleys  in  Piedmont,  which  in  their  language  are  called 
faux;  hence  Vaudois,  their  true  name;  hence  Peter, 
or  (as  others  call  him)  John  of  Lyons,  was  called  in 
Latin,  Valdus,  because  he  had  adopted  their  doc- 
trine; and  hence  the  term  Valdenses  and  JValdcnses, 
used  by  those  who  write  in  English  or  Latin,  in  the 
place  of  Vaiidois.  The  bloody  inquisitor  Reinerus 
Saeco,  who  exerted  such  a  furious  zeal  for  the  de- 
struction of  the  Waldenses,  lived  but  about  80  years 
after  Valdus  of  Lyons,  and  must  therefore  be  sup- 
posed to  have  known  whether  he  w'as  the  real 
founder  of  the  Valdcnses  or  Leonists;  and  yet  it  is 
remarkable  that  he  speaks  of  the  Leonists  (mention- 
ed by  Dr.  Mosheim  in  this  section,  as  synonymous 
with  Waldenses)  as  a  sect  that  had  flourished  above 
500  years,  and  even  mentions  authors  of  note,  who 
make  their  antiquity  remount  to  the  apostolic  age. 
See  the  account  given  of  Sacco's  book  by  the  Jesuit 
Gretser,  in  the  Bibliotheca  Patrum.  I  know  not 
upon  what  principle  Dr.  Mosheim  maintains,  that 
the  inhabitants  of  the  valleys  of  Piedmont  are  to  be 
carefully  distinguished  from  the  Waldenses;  and  I 
am  persuaded,  that  whoever  will  be  at  the  pains  to 
read  attentively  the  2d,  25th,  26th,  and  27th  chapters 
of  the  first  book  of  Leger's  Histoire  Generale  des 
Eglisea  Vaudoises,  will  iind  this  distinction  entirely 
groundless. — When  the  Papists  ask  us,  where  our 
religion  was  before  LiUher,  we  generally  answer,  in 
the  Bible;  and  we  answer  well.  But  to  gratify  their 
taste  for  tradition  and  human  authority,  we  may  add 
to  this  answer,  and  in  the  valleys  of  Piedmont. 

*  See  the  following  ancient  writers,  who  have 
given  accounts  of  the  sect  in  question;  namely,  Sa- 
choni  Summa  contra  Valdenses  — Monetfe  Summa 
contra  Catharos  et  Valdcnses,  published  by  Riccini. — 
Tr.  de  Hffiresi  Pauperum  de  Lugduno,  published  by 
Martenne,  in  his  Thesaur.  Anecdot.  tom.  v.  p. 
1777.— Pilichdorfius  contra  Valdenses,  t.  xxv.  B. 
Max.  Patr.— Add  to  these  authors,  Jo.  Paul  Perrin, 
Histoire  des  Vandois.  published  at  Geneva  in  1619. — 
Jo.  Leger,  Histoire  Generale  des  Eglises  Vaudoises, 
liv.  i.  ch.  xlv.  p.  156.— Usher,  de  snccessione  Ecclesi- 
arum  Occidentis,  cap.  viii.  p.  209.— Jac.  Basnagc, 
Histoire  des  Eglises  Reformees,  tom.  i.  period  iv.  p. 
389.— Thom.  August.  Riccini,  Disscrtat.  de  Valden- 
Bibus,  prefixed  to  his  edition  of  the  Summa  Monette, 
p.  36. — Boulay,  Histor.  Acad.  Paris,  tom.  ii.  p.  292. 


to  instruct,  exhort,  and  confirm  the  brethren 
in  their  Christian  course,  and  demanded  the 
restoration  of  the  ancient  penitential  discipline 
of  the  church,  i.  e.  the  expiation  of  transgres- 
sions by  prayer,  fasting,  and  alms,  which  the 
new-invented  doctrine  of  indulgences  had 
nearly  abolished.  They  at  the  same  time  af- 
firmed, that  every  pious  Christian  was  qualified 
and  entitled  to  prescribe  to  penitents  the  kind 
and  degree  of  satisfaction  or  expiation  that 
their  transgressions  required;  that  confession 
made  to  a  priest  was  by  no  means  necessary, 
since  the  humble  offender  might  acknowledge 
his  sins  and  testify  his  repentance  to  any  true 
believer,  and  might  expect  from  such  the  coun- 
sels and  admonitions  that  his  case  and  circum- 
stances demanded.  They  maintained,  that  the 
power  of  delivering  sinners  from  the  guilt  and 
punishment  of  their  offences  belonged  to  God 
alone;  and  that  indulgences,  in  consequence, 
were  the  criminal  inventions  of  sordid  avarice. 
They  looked  upon  the  prayers,  and  other  ce- 
remonies that  were  instituted  in  behalf  of  the 
dead,  as  vain,  useless,  and  absiu-d,  and  denied 
the  existence  of  departed  souls  in  an  interme- 
diate state  of  purification,  affirming,  that  they 
were  immediately,  upon  their  separation  from 
the  body,  received  into  heaven,  or  sent  down 
to  hell.  These  and  other  tenets  of  a  like  na- 
ture composed  the  system  of  doctrine  propa- 
gated by  the  Waldenses.  Their  rules  of  prac- 
tice were  extremely  austere;  for  they  adopted, 
as  the  model  of  their  moral  discipline,  the  ser- 
mon of  Christ  on  the  mount,  which  they  in- 
terpreted and  explained  in  the  most  rigorous 
and  literal  manner,  and  consequently  prohi- 
bited and  condemned  in  their  society  all  wars, 
and  suits  of  law,  all  attempts  toward  the  ac- 
quisition of  wealth,  the  infliction  of  capital 
punishments,  self-defence  against  unjust  vio- 
lence, and  oaths  of  all  kinds.* 

XIII.  The  government  of  the  church  was 
committed,  by  the  Waldenses,  to  bishops,! 
presbyters,  and  deacons;  for  they  acknowledg- 
ed that  these  three  orders  were  instituted  by 
Christ  himself.  But  they  deemed  it  absolutely 
necessary,  that  all  these  orders  should  resemble 
exactly  the  apostles  of  the  divine  Saviour,  and 
be,  like  them,  illiterate,  poor,  destitute  of  all 
worldly  possessions,  and  fiirnished  with  some 
laborious  trade  or  vocation,  in  order  to  gain  by 
constant  industry  their  daily  subsistence.J  The 
laity  were  divided  into  two  classes;  one  of 
which  contained  the  ■perfect,  and  the  other  the 
imperfect   Christians.     The   former  spontane- 


*  See  the  Codex  Inquisitionis  Tolosanae,  published 
by  Limborch,  as  also  the  Summa  Monetae  contra 
Waldenses,  and  the  other  writers  of  the  Waldensian 
history.  Though  these  writers  are  not  all  equally 
accurate,  nor  perfectly  agreed  about  the  number  of 
doctrines  that  entered  into  the  system  of  this  sect, 
yet  they  are  nearly  unanimous  in  acknowledging 
the  sincei"o  piety  and  exemplary  conduct  of  the  Wal- 
denses, and  show  plainly  enough  that  their  intention 
was  not  to  oppose  the  doctrines  which  were  univer- 
sally received  among  Christians,  but  only  to  revive 
the  piety  and  manners  of  the  primitive  tunes,  and  to 
combat  the  vices  of  the  clergy,  and  the  abuses  that 
had  been  introduced  into  the  worship  and  discipline 
of  the  church. 

t  The  bishops  were  also  called  majorales  or  elders. 

I  The  greatest  part  of  the  Waldenses  gained  their 
livelihood  by  weaving:  hence  the  whole  sect,  in  some 
places,  were  called  the  sect  af  weavers. 


Chap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


333 


ously  divested  themselves  of  all  worldly  pos- 
sessions, manifested  their  extreme  poverty  in 
the  wretchedness  of  their  ai)parel,  and  ema- 
ciated their  bodies  by  frequent  fasting.  Tlic 
latter  were  less  austere,  and  approached  the 
method  of  living  generally  received,  though 
they  abstained,  like  the  graver  sort  of  anabap- 
tists in  later  times,  from  all  appearance  of 
pomp  and  luxury.  It  is,  however,  to  be  ob- 
served, that  the  VValdonses  were  not  witliout 
their  intestine  divisions.  Such  as  resided  in 
Italy  differed  considerably  in  their  opinions 
from  those  who  dwelt  in  France  and  the  otlier 
European  countries.  Tlie  former  considered 
the  church  of  Jlome  as  the  church  of  Christ, 
though  much  corrupted  and  sadly  disfigured; 
they  also  acknowledged  the  validity  of  its 
seven  sacraments,  and  solemnly  declared  that 
they  would  ever  continue  in  communion  with 
it,  provided  that  they  might  be  allowed  to  live 
as  they  thought  proper,  without  molestation 
or  restraint.  The  latter  affirmed,  on  the  con- 
trary, that  the  church  of  Rome  had  apostatized 
from  Christ,  was  deprived  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and  was,  in  reality,  the  ivhore  of  Babylon  men- 
tioned in  the  Revelations  of  St.  John.* 

XIV.  Beside  these  famous  sects,  which  made 
a  great  noise  in  the  world,  and  drew  after 
them  multitudes  from  the  bosom  of  a  corrupt 
and  superstitious  church,  there  were  religious 
factions  of  less  importance,  which  arose  in 
Italy,  and  more  especially  in  France,  though 
they  seem  to  have  expired  soon  after  their 
birth. t  In  Lombardy,  whicii  was  the  principal 
residence  of  the  Italian  heretics,  there  sprang 
up  a  singular  sect,  known  (for  what  reason  1 
cannot  tell)  by  the  denomination  of  Pasagi- 
niaiis,  and  also  by  that  of  the  circumcised. 
Like  the  other  sects  already  mentioned,  they 
had  the  utmost  aversion  to  the  dominion  and 
discipline  of  the  cliurcli  of  Rome;  but  they 
were,  at  the  same  time,  distinguislied  by  two 
religious  tenets,  which  were  peculiar  to  them- 
selves. The  first  was  a  notion,  that  tJie  ob- 
servance of  the  law  of  Moses,  in  every  thing 
except  the  offering  of  sacrifices,  was  obligatory 
upon  Christians;  in  consequence  of  whicli  they 
circumcised  their  followers,  abstained  from 
those  meats,  tlie  use  of  which  was  prohibited 
under  the  Mosaic  ceconomy,  and  celebrated  the 
Jewish  sabbath.  The  second  tenet  that  distin- 
guished this  sect  was  advanced  in  opposition 
to  the  doctrine  of  three  persons  in  the  divine 
nature;  for  the  Pasaginians  maintained  tliat 
Christ  was  no  more  than  the  first  and  purest 
creature  of  God;  nor  will  their  adoption  of  this 
opinion  seem  very  surprising,  if  we  consider  the 
prodigious  number  of  Arians  that  were  scat- 
tered throughout  Italy  long  before  this  period.]; 


*  Moneta;  Sumiiia  contra  Catharng  tt  Valdenses, 
p.  406,  &,c.  Tlu'y  seem  to  have  been  also  divided  in 
tlieir  sentiments  conrerniiiK  tin?  pos.sessinn  of  world- 
ly ponds,  as  appears  t'rnni  tlie  accounts  of  Stephauus 
de  Borbone,  upiid  Kcliardi  Script.  Doiuinjcan.  toni.  i. 
This  writer  divides  the  VValdenses  into  two  classes, 
the  poor  men  of  Lyons,  and  tlie  poor  men  of  Lom- 
bardy. The  former  rejected  and  prohibited  all  sorts 
of  possessions;  the  latter  looki'd  upon  worldly  pos- 
sessions as  lawful.  This  distinction  is  confirmed  by 
several  passages  of  other  ancient  authors. 

t  For  an  account  of  these  ob.scnrc  sects,  see  Ste- 
phauus de  Borbone,  cpud  Echardi  Script.  Dominican, 
torn.  i. 

t  See  F.  Bonacursi  Manifestatio  heeresis  Catharo- 


XV.  A  sect  of  fanatics,  called  Caputiati, 
from  a  singular  kind  of  cap  that  was  the  badge 
of  tlieir  faction,  infested  the  province  of  Bur- 
gundy, the  diocese  of  Auxerre,  and  several 
other  parts  of  France,  in  all  which  places  they 
excited  much  disturbance  among  the  people. 
They  wore  upon  their  caps  a  leaden  image  of 
the  Virgin  Mary;  and  they  declared  publicly, 
that  their  purpose  was  to  level  all  distinctions, 
to  alDrogate  magistracy,  to  remove  all  subordi- 
nation among  mankind,  and  to  restore  that 
primitive  liberty,  that  natural  equality,  which 
were  the  inestimable  privileges  of  the  first 
mortals.  Hugo,  bishop  of  Auxerre,  attacked 
these  disturbers  of  human  society  in  the  pro- 
per manner,  employing  against  them  the  force 
of  anus,  instead  of  arguments.* 

The  sect  of  the  apostolics,  whom  St.  Ber- 
nard opposed  with  such  bitterness  and  fury, 
and  who  were  so  called,  as  that  zealous  abbot 
himself  acknowledged,  because  they  professed 
to  exhibit,  in  their  lives  and  manners,  the  pie- 
ty and  virtues  of  the  holy  apostles,  were  very 
different  from  the  audacious  heretics  now  men- 
tioned. They  were  a  clownish  set  of  men,  of 
the  lowest  birth,  who  gained  their  subsistence 
by  bodily  labour;  yet,  as  soon  as  they  formed 
themselves  into  a  sect,  they  drew  after  them  a 
multitude  of  adherents  of  all  ranks  and  orders. 
Their  religious  doctrine,  as  St.  Bernard  con- 
fesses, was  free  from  error,  and  their  lives  and 
manners  were  irreproachable  and  exemplary: 
but  they  were  reprehensible  on  account  of  the 
following  pecularities:  1 .  They  held  it  milaw- 
ful  to  take  an  oath;  2.  They  suffered  their 
hair  and  their  beards  to  grow  to  an  enormous 
lengtli,  so  that  their  aspect  was  inexpressibly 
extravagant  and  savage;  3.  They  preferred  ce- 
libacy to  wedlock,  and  called  themselves  the 
chaste  brethren  and  sisters;  notwithstanding 
which,  4.  Each  man  had  a  spiritual  sister  with 
him,  after  the  manner  of  the  apostles,  with 
whom  he  lived  in  a  domestic  relation,  lying  in 
the  same  chamber  with  her,  though  not  in  the 
same  bed.f 

XVI.  In  the  council  assembled  at  Rheims,  in 
the  year  1 148,  in  which  pope  Eugenius  III.  pre- 
sided, a  gentleman  of  the  province  of  Bretagne, 
whose  name  was  Eon,  and  whose  brain  was 
undoubtedly  disordered,  was  condemned  for 
pretending  to  be  the  Son  of  God.  Having 
heard,  in  the  form  that  was  used  for  exorcising 
malignant  spirits,  these  words  pronounced,  per 
Euin,  qui  venturus  est  judicare  vivos  et  mortuos, 
he  concluded,  from  the  resemblance  between 
the  word  Eum  and  his  name,  that  he  was  the 
person  who  was  to  come  and  judge  both  the 
quick  and  the  dead.  This  poor  man  should 
rather  have  been  delivered  over  to  tlie  physi- 
cians than  placed  m  the  list  of  heretics.  He 
ended  his  days  in  a  miserable  prison,  and  lef\ 
a  considerable  number  of  followers  and  adhe- 
rents, whom  persecution  and  death  in  the  most 
dreadful  forms  could  not  persuade  to  abandon 


rum.  in  d'Acheri's  Spicileg.  Vetcr.  Scriptor.  torn.  i. 
p.  211.  Gerard.  Bergamensis  contra  Catharos  el 
Pasacios,  in  Lud.  Anton.  Muratorii  Antiq.  Ital. 
medii  a;vi,  torn.  v.  p.  151. 

*  Jaques  Le  Bccijf,  Mcmoires  sur  I'llistoire  d'Aui- 
erre,  tom.  i.  p.  317. 

t  Sti.  Bernardi  Serm.  Ixv.  in  Canticum,  tom.  »T. 
op.  p.  1495,  edit.  Mabillon. 


334 


EXTERNAL  fflSTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


PartL 


his  cause,  or  to  renounce  an  absurdity,  which 
one  would  think  could  never  have  gained  cre- 
dit, but  in  a  receptacle  of  lunatics.*    This  re- 

*  Matth.  Paris,  Historia  Major,  p.  68.— Guil.  Neu- 
brigensis,  Historia  Rerum  Anglicarum,  lib.  i.  p,  50.— 
Boulay,  Historia  Acad.  Paris,  torn.  ii.  p.  241. 


markable  example  is  sufficient  to  show,  not 
only  the  astonishing  credulity  of  the  stupid 
multitude,  but  also  how  far  even  the  rtilers 
of  the  church  were  destitute  of  judgment, 
and  unacquainted  with  true  and  genuine  re- 
ligion. 


THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY. 


PART  I. 


THE  EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  L 

Concerning  the  prosperous  Events  that  happened 

to  the  Church  during  this  Century. 

I.  Though  the  successors  of  Genghiz-Khan, 
the  powerful  emperor  of  the  Tartars,  or  rather 
of  the  Mogols,  had  carried  their  victorious 
arms  through  a  great  part  of  Asia,  and,  having 
reduced  China,  India,  and  Persia,  under  their 
yoke,  had  involved  in  many  calamities  and  suf- 
ferings the  Christian  assemblies  which  were  es- 
tablished in  those  vanquished  lands,*  yet  we 
learn  from  the  best  accounts,  and  the  most  re- 
spectable authorities,  that  in  CMna,  and  in  the 
northern  parts  of  Asia,  the  Nestorians  conti- 
nued to  have  a  flourishing  church,  and  a  great 
number  of  adherents.  The  emperors  of  the 
Tartars  and  Mogols  had  no  great  aversion  to 
the  Christian  religion.  It  even  appears  from 
authentic  records,  that  several  kings  and  gran- 
dees of  those  nations  had  either  been  instruct- 
ed in  the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel  by  their  an- 
cestors, or  were  converted  to  Christianity  by 
the  ministry  and  exliortations  of  the  Nestori- 
ans.f  But  the  religion  of  Mohammed,  which 
was  so  calculated  to  flatter  the  passions  of  men, 
gradually  infected  these  noble  converts,  op- 
posed with  success  the  progress  of  the  Gospel, 
and  at  length  so  effectually  triumphed  over  it, 
that  not  the  least  remains  of  Christianity  were 
to  be  perceived  in  the  courts  of  those  eastern 
princes. 

IL  The  Tartars  having  made  an  incursion 
into  Europe,  in  the  year  1241,  and  having  laid 
waste,  with  the  most  uiu-elenting  and  savage 
barbarity,  Hungary,  Poland,  Silesia,  and  the 
adjacent  countries,  the  Roman  pontifl's  thought 
it  incumbent  upon  them  to  endeavour  to  calm 
the  fury,  and  soften  the  ferocity,  of  these  new 
and  formidable  enemies.  For  this  purpose,  in 
1245,  Innocent  IV.  sent  an  embassy  to  the 
Tartars,  which  consisted  of  Dominican  and 

*  Gregor.  Abulfaraj.  Historia  Dynastiar.  p.  281, 
edit.  Pocock. 

t  See  Marc.  Paul.  Venet.  de  Regionibus  Oriental, 
lib.  i.  c.  iv.  lib.  ii.  c.  vi. — Haytho  the  Armenian's  His- 
tor.  Oriental  cap.  xix.  p.  3.5,  cap.  xxiii.  p.  39,  cap. 
sxiv. — Jos.  Sim.  Assemani  Bibliotli.  Orient.  Vatic. 
torn.  iii.  part  ii.  See  particularly  the  Ecclesiastical 
History  of  the  Tartars,  published  in  Latin  at  Helm- 
stadt,  in  1741,  under  my  auspices  and  inspection. 


'  Franciscan  friars.*  In  1274,  Abaca,  the  em- 
peror of  that  fierce  nation,  sent  ambassadors 
to  the  coimcil  of  Lyons,  which  was  holden  im- 
der  the  pontificate  of  Gregory  X.f  About 
four  years  after  this,  pope  Nicolas  III.  paid  the 
same  compliment  to  Coblai,  emperor  of  the 
whole  Tartar  nation,  to  whom  he  sent  a  so- 
lemn embassy  of  Franciscan  monks,  with  a 
view  to  render  that  prince  propitious  to  the 
Christian  cause.  The  last  expedition  of  this 
kind  that  we  shall  mention  at  present,  was  that 
of  Johannes  a  Monte  Corvino,  who,  in  1289, 
was  sent  with  other  ecclesiastics  to  the  same 
emperor,  by  Nicolas  IV.,  and  who  carried  let- 
ters to  the  Nestorians  from  that  zealous  pon- 
tiff". This  mission  was  far  from  being  use- 
less, since  those  spiritual  ambassadors  convert- 
ed many  of  the  Tartars  to  Christianity,  en- 
gaged considerable  numbers  of  the  Nestorians 
to  adopt  the  doctrine  and  discipline  of  the 
church  of  Rome,  and  erected  churches  in  va- 
rious parts  of  Tartary  and  China.  In  order 
to  accelerate  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel 
among  these  darkened  nations,  Johannes  a 
Monte  Corvino  translated  the  New  Testament 
and  the  Psalms  of  David  into  the  language  of 
the  Tartars.J 

ni.  The  Roman  pontifis  employed  their 
most  zealous  and  assiduous  efforts  in  the  sup- 
port of  the  Christian  cause  in  Palestine,  which 
was  now  in  a  most  declining,  or  rather  in  a 
desperate  state.  They  had  learned,  by  a  de- 
lightful experience,  how  much  these  Asiatic 
wars,  imdertaken  from  a  principle,  or  at  least 
carried  on  luider  a  pretext  of  religion,  had  con- 
tributed to  fill  their  coffers,  augment  their  au- 
thority, and  cover  them  with  glory;  and  there- 
fore they  had  nothing  more  at  heart  than  the 
renewal  and  prolongation  of  these  sacred  expe- 


i 


*  See  Wadding,  Annal.  Minor,  torn.  iii.  p.  116, 149, 
179,  256. 

t  Wadding,  torn.  iv.  p.  35.  tom.  v.  p.  128.  See  par- 
ticularly an  accurate  and  ample  account  of  the  ne- 
gotiations between  the  pontiffs  and  the  Tartars,  in 
the  Historia  Ecclesiastica  Tartarorum,  already  men- 
tioned. 

I  Odor.  Raynaldus,  Annal.  Ecclesiastic,  torn.  xiv. 
ad  annum  1278,  sect.  17,  and  ad  annum  1289,  sect. 
59.— Pierre  Bergeron,  Traite  des  Tartares,  chap.  xi. 
See  also  the  writers  mentioned  in  the  Historia  Ec- 
clesiastica Tartarorum. 


Chap.  I. 


PROSPEROUS  EVENTS. 


335 


ditions.*  Innocent  III.,  therefore,  sounded 
the  charge;  but  tlie  greatest  part  of  tlie  Euro- 
pean princes  and  nations  were  deaf  to  the 
voice  of  tlie  holy  trumpet.  At  length,  how- 
ever, after  many  unsuccessful  attempts  in  dif- 
ferent countries,  a  body  of  French  nobles  en- 
tered into  an  alliance  with  the  republic  of 
Venice,  and  set  sail  for  the  east  with  an  army 
tliat  was  far  from  being  formidable.  The  event 
of  this  new  expedition  was  by  no  means  an- 
swerable to  the  expectations  of  the  pontiff. 
The  French  and  Venetians,  instead  of  steer- 
ing their  course  toward  Palestine,  sailed  di- 
rectly for  Ganstantinople,  and,  in  1203,  took 
that  imperial  city  by  storm,  with  a  design  of 
restoring  to  the  tlirone  Isaac  Angel  us,  who 
implored  their  succour  against  the  violence  of 
his  brother  Alexius,  the  usurper  of  the  empire. 
In  the  following  year  a  dreadful  sedition  was 
raised  at  Constantinople,  in  which  the  empe- 
ror Isaac  was  put  to  death,  and  his  son,  the 
young  Alexius,  was  strangled  by  Alexius 
Ducas,  the  ringleader  of  this  furious  faction. f 
The  account  of  this  atrocity  no  sooner  came  to 
the  ears  of  the  chiefs  of  the  crusade,  than  they 
made  themselves  masters  of  Constantinople 
for  the  second  time,  dethroned  and  drove  from 
the  city  the  tyrant  Dueas,  and  elected  Baldwin, 
count  of  Flanders,  emperor  of  the  Greeks. 
Tliis  proceeding  was  a  source  of  new  divisions; 
for,  about  two  years  after  this,  the  Greeks  re- 
solved to  set  up,  in  opposition  to  this  Latin 
emperor,  one  of  their  own  nation,  and  elected, 
for  that  purpose,  Theodore  Lascaris,  who  chose 
Nice  in  Bithynia  for  the  place  of  his  imperial 
residence.  From  this  period  until  the  year 
1261,  two  emperors  reigned  over  the  Greeks; 
one  of  their  own  nation,  who  resided  at  Nice; 
and  the  other  of  Latin  or  French  extraction, 
who  lived  at  Constantinople,  the  ancient  me- 
tropolis of  the  empire.  But,  in  the  year  1261, 
the  face  of  things  was  changed  by  the  Grecian 
emperor,  Michael  Palseologus,  who,  by  the 
valour  and  stratagems  of  his  general,  Cassar 
Alexius,  became  master  of  Constantmople,  and 
forced  the  Latin  emperor  to  abandon  that  city, 
and  save  himself  by  flight  into  Italy.  Thus  fell 
the  empire  of  the  Franks  at  Constantinople, 
after  a  duration  of  fifty-seven  years.J 

IV.  Another  sacred  expedition  was  under- 
taken in  1217,  under  the  pontificate  of  Hono- 
rius  III.,  by  the  confederate  arms  of  Italy  and 
Germany.  The  allied  army  was  commanded 
in  chief  by  Andrew,  king  of  Hmigary,  who 
was  joined  by  Leopold,  duke  of  Austria,  Louis 


♦  Tl.is  is  remarked  by  the  writers  of  the  twelfth 
century,  who  soon  perceived  the  avaricious  and 
despotic  views  of  the  pontiffs,  in  the  encouragement 
they  gave  to  the  crusades.  See  Matth.  Paris,  Hist. 
Major. 

ij(7-  t  The  learned  authors  of  the  Universal  Histo- 
ry call  this  ringleader,  by  mistake,  John  Ducas. 

t  See,  for  a  full  account  of  this  empire,  Du  Fresne, 
HistoirederEmpirede Constantinople  sous  lesEmpc- 
reiirs  Francois;  in  the  former  part  of  which  we  find 
the  Histoire  de  la  Conquete  de  la  Villo  de  Constan- 
tinople par  lea  Francois,  written  by  Godfrey  de 
Villc-Harduin,  one  of  the  French  chiefs  concerned 
in  the  expedition.  This  work  makes  a  pari  of  the 
Byzantine  history.  See  also  Claude  Fonteiiny,  His- 
toire de  I'Eglise  Gallicane,  torn.  x.  Guntheri  Monachi 
Histor.  captffi  a  Latinis  Constantinopoleos,  in  Henr. 
Canisii  Lort.  Antiq,  torn,  iv.— Innocentii  HI.  Epis- 
tol.  a  Baluzie  edit. 


of  Bavaria,  and  several  other  princes.  After 
the  lapse  of  a  few  months,  Andrew  returned 
into  Europe.  The  rerhaining  chiefs  carried  on 
the  war  with  vigour,  and,  in  1220,  made  them- 
selves masters  of  Damietta,  the  strongest  city 
in  Egypt;  but  their  prosperity  was  of  a  short 
duration;  for,  in  the  following  year,  their  fleet 
was  totally  ruined  by  that  of  the  Saracens, 
their  provisions  were  cut  off,  and  their  army 
reduced  to  the  greatest  difficulties.  This  irre- 
parable loss,  being  followed  by  that  of  Dami- 
etta, blasted  all  their  hopes,  and  removed  the 
flattering  prospects  which  their  successful  be- 
ginnings had  presented  to  their  expectations.* 
V.  The  legates  and  missionaries  of  the  court 
of  Rome  still  continued  to  animate  the  lan- 
guishing zeal  of  the  European  princes  in  be- 
half of  the  Christian  cause  in  Palestine,  and  to 
revive  the  spirit  of  crusading,  which  so  many 
calamities  and  disasters  had  almost  totally  ex- 
tinguished. At  length,  in  consequence  of 
their  lively  remonstrances,  a  new  army  was 
raised,  and  a  new  expedition  undertaken, 
which  excited  great  expectations,  and  drew  the 
attention  of  Europe  so  much  the  more,  as  it 
was  generally  believed  that  this  army  was  to 
be  commanded  by  the  emperor  Frederic  II. 
That  prince  had,  indeed,  obliged  himself  by  a 
solemn  promise,  made  to  the  Roman  pontiff, 
to  undertake  the  direction  of  this  enterprise; 
and  what  added  a  new  degree  of  force  to  this 
engagement,  and  seemed  to  render  the  viola- 
tion of  it  impossible,  was  the  marriage  that  he 
had  contracted,  in  1223,  with  Jolanda,  daugh- 
ter of  John,  cotmt  of  Brienne,  and  king  of 
Jerusalem;  by  which  alliance  that  kingdom 
was  to  be  added  to  his  European  dominions. 
Notwithstanding  these  inducements,  he  post- 
poned his  voyage  under  various  pretences,  and 
did  not  set  out  until  the  year  1228,  when, 
after  having  been  excommimicated  on  account 
of  his  delay,  by  the  incensed  pontiff  Gregory 
IX, t  he  followed  with  a  small  train  of  atten- 
dants the  troops,  who  expected,  with  the  most 
anxious  impatience,  his  arrival  in  Palestine. 
No  sooner  did  he  land  in  that  disputed  king- 
dom, than,  instead  of  carrying  on  the  war  with 
vigour,  he  turned  all  his  thoughts  toward  peace, 
and,  without  consulting  the  other  princes  and 
chiefs  of  the  crusade,  concluded,  in  1229,  a 
treaty  of  peace,  or  rather  a  truce  of  ten  years, 
with  Malec-al-Camel,  sultan  of  Egypt.  The 
principal  article  of  this  treaty  was,  that  Fred- 
eric should  be  put  in  possession  of  the  city 
and  kingdom  of  Jerusalem.  This  condition 
was  immediately  executed;  and  tlie  emperor, 


*  See  Jac.  de  Vitriaco,  Histor.  Oriental,  et  Mari- 
nas Sanutus,  Secret,  fidel.  Crucis  inter  Bongarsianoa 
de  sacris  bellis  Scriptores,'seu  Gesta  Dei  per  Francos. 

Q(^  t  This  papal  excommunication,  which  was 
drawn  up  in  the  most  outrageous  and  indecent  lan- 
guage, was  so  far  from  e.\citing  Frederic  to  accele- 
rate his  departure  for  Palestine,  that  it  produced  no 
eltl'Ct  upon  him  at  all,  and  was,  on  the  contrary,  re- 
ceived with  the  utmost  contempt.  He  defended 
himself  by  his  ambassador  at  Rome,  and  showed  that 
the  reasons  of  his  delay  were  solid  and  just,  and  not 
mere  pretexts,  as  the  pnpo  had  pretended.  At  the 
same  time,  he  wrote  a  remarkable  letter  to  Henry 
III.  king  of  England,  in  whirh  lie  complained  of  the 
insatiable  avarice,  the  boundless  ambition,  the  per- 
fidious and  hypocritical  proceedings  of  the  Roman 
pontifls.  See  Fleury,  Histoire  Ecclesiastique,  liv. 
Ixxix.  torn.  xvi. 


336 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  I. 


entering  the  city  with  great  pomp,  accompanied 
by  a  numerous  train,  placed  the  crown  upon 
his  head  with  his  own  liands;  and,  having  thus 
settled  affairs  in  Palestine,  he  retimied  with- 
out delay  into  Italy,  to  appease  the  discords 
and  commotions  which  the  vindictive  and  am- 
bitious pontiff  had  excited  in  his  absence. 
Notwithstanding  all  the  reproaches  that  were 
cast  upon  the  emperor  by  the  pope  and  his 
creatures,  this  expedition  was,  in  reality,  the 
most  successful  of  any  that  had  been  under- 
taken against  the  infidels.* 

VI.  The  expeditions  that  followed  this  were 
less  important,  and  also  less  successful.  In  IS.SS, 
Tlieobald  VI., f  comit  of  Champagne  and  king 
of  Navarre,  set  out  from  Marseilles  for  the 
Holy  Land,  accompanied  by  several  French 
and  German  prmces,  as  did  also,  in  the  follow- 
ing year,  Richard,  earl  of  Cornwall,  brother  to 
Henry  III.,  king  of  England.  The  issue  of 
these  two  expeditions  by  no  means  correspond- 
ed with  the  preparations  wliich  were  made  to 
render  them  successful.  The  former  failed 
through  tlie  influence  of  the  emperor's|  am- 
bassadors in  Palestine,  who  renewed  the  truce 
with  the  Moslems;  while  on  the  other  hand,  a 
considerable  body  of  Christians  were  defeated 
at  Gaza,  and  such  as  escaped  the  carnage  re- 
turned into  Europe.  This  fatal  event  was 
principally  occasioned  by  the  discord  that 
reigned  between  the  templars  and  the  knights 
of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem.  Hence  it  came  to 
pass,  that  the  arrival  of  Richard,  which  had 
been  industriously  retarded  by  Gregory,  and 
which  had  revived,  in  some  degree,  the  hopes 
of  the  vanquished,  was  ineffectual  to  repair 
their  losses;  and  all  that  this  prince  could  do,  was 
to  enter,  with  the  consent  of  the  allies,  into  a 
truce,  upon  as  good  conditions  as  the  declining 
state  of  their  affairs  would  admit.  This  truce 
was  accordingly  concluded  with  the  sultan  of 
Egypt  in  1241;  after  which  Richard  immedi- 
ately set  sail  for  Europe.  § 

VII.  The  affairs  of  the  Christians  in  the  east 
daily  declined.  Intestine  discords  and  ill-con 
ducted  expeditions  had  reduced  them  almost 
to  extremities,  when  Louis  IX.,  king  of  France, 
who  was  canonised  after  his  death,  and  is  still 
worshipped  with  the  utmost  devotion, attempted 
their  restoration.  It  was  in  consequence  of  a 
vow,  which  this  prince  had  made  in  the  year 
1248,  when  he  was  seized  with  a  dangerous 
illness,  that  he  undertook  this  arduous  task; 
and,  in  the  execution  of  it,  he  set  sail  for 


*  See  the  writers  who  have  composed  the  history 
of  the  holy  wars,  and  of  the  life  and  exploits  of 
Frederic  II.  See  also  Mura tori's  Annales  ItaliK, 
and  the  various  authors  of  the  Germanic  History. 

(K^  t  Dr-  Mosheim  calls  him,  by  a  mistake,  Theo- 
bald v.,  unless  we  attribute  this  fault  to  an  error 
of  the  press. 

0^  I  This  was  Frederic  11.  who  had  a  great  party 
in  Palestine,  and  did  not  act  in  concert  with  the 
clerpy  and  the  creatures  of  his  bitter  enemy,  Greco- 
ry  IX.;  from  which  division  the  Christian  cause  suf- 
fered much. 

§  AH  these  circumstances  are  accurately  related 
and  illustrated  by  the  learned  George  Clirist.  Ge- 
baureus,  in  his  Historia  Ricurdi  Imperatoris,  lib.  i, 
r-  34.— It  appears,  however,  by  the  Epistols  Petri  de 
Vineis,  that  Richard  was  created,  by  Frederic,  his 
lord  lieutenant  of  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem;  and 
this  furnishes  a  probable  reason  why  Gregory  used 
all  possible  means  to  retard  Richard's  voyage." 


Egypt  with  a  formidable  army  and  a  numerous 
fleet,  from  a  notion  that  the  conquest  of  this 
province  would  enable  him  to  carry  on  the 
war  in  Syria  and  Palestine  with  greater  facility 
and  success.  The  first  attempts  of  the  zealous 
monarch  were  crowned  with  victory;  for  Da- 
mietta,  that  famous  Egyptian  city,  yielded  to 
his  arms;  but  the  smiling  prospect  was  soon 
changed,  and  the  progress  of  the  war  presented 
one  uniform  scene  of  calamity  and  desolation. 
Tlie  united  horrors  of  famine  and  pestilence 
overwhelmed  the  royal  army,  whose  provisions 
were  cut  off  by  the  Mohammedans,  in  1250; 
Robert,  earl  of  Artois,  the  king's  brother, 
having  surprised  the  Saracen  anny,  and, 
through  an  excess  of  valour,  pursued  them  too 
far,  was  slain  in  the  engagement;  and,  a  few 
days  after,  Louis,  two  of  his  brothers,*  and  the 
greatest  part  of  his  army,  were  made  prisoners 
in  a  bloody  action,  after  a  bold  and  obstinate 
resistance.  This  valiant  monarch,  who  was 
endowed  with  true  greatness  of  mind,  and  who 
was  extremely  pious,  though  after  the  maimer 
that  prevailed  in  this  age  of  superstition  and 
darkness,  was  ransomed  at  an  immense  price;t 
and,  after  having  spent  about  foiu:  years  in 
Palestine,  returned  into  France,  in  1254,  with 
a  handful  of  men,|  the  miserable  remains  of  his 
formidable  army. 

VIII.  No  calamities  could  deject  the  courage 
or  damp  the  invincible  spirit  of  Louis;  nor  did 
he  look  upon  his  vow  as  fulfilled  by  what  he 
had  already  done  in  Palestine.  He  therefore 
resolved  upon  a  new  e.xpedition,  fitted  out  a 
formidable  fleet,  with  which  he  set  sail  for 
Africa,  accompanied  by  a  splendid  train  of 
princes  and  nobles,  and  proposed  to  begin  in 
that  part  of  the  world  his  operations  against 
the  infidels,  that  he  might  either  convert  them 
to  the  Christian  faith,  or  draw  from  their  trea- 
sures the  means  of  carrying  on  more  effectually 
the  war  in  Asia.  Immediately  after  his  arrival 
upon  the  African  coast,  he  made  himself  mas- 
ter of  the  fort  of  Carthage;  but  this  success 
was  soon  followed  by  a  fatal  change  in  his  af- 
fairs. A  pestilential  disease  broke  out  in  the 
fleet,  in  the  harbour  of  Tunis,  carried  off  the 
greatest  part  of  the  army,  and  seized,  at 
length,  the  monarch  himself,  who  fell  a  victim 
to  its  rage,  on  the    25th   of  August,  12'70.§ 


(JlJ"  *  Alphonsus,  earl  of  Poictiers,  and  Charles, 
earl  of  Anjou. 

(t(J-  t  The  ransom,  which,  together  with  the  resto- 
ration of  Damietta,  the  king  was  obliged  to  pay  for 
his  liberty,  was  800,000  gold  bezants,  and  not  80,000, 
as  Collier  erroneously  reckons.  This  sum,  which 
was  equal  then  to  500,000  livres  of  French  money, 
would,  in  our  days,  amount  to  tlie  value  of  4,000,000 
of  livres,  that  is,  to  about  170,000/.  sterling. 

J  Of  2,800  illustrious  knights,  who  set  out  with 
Louis  from  France,  there  remained  about  100  when 
he  sailed  from  Palestine.  See  Joinville's  Hist,  de  S. 
Louis. 

§  Among  the  various  histories  that  deserve  to  be 
consulted  for  a  more  ample  account  of  this  last  cru- 
sade, the  principal  place  is  due  to  the  Histoire  de  S. 
Louis  IX.  du  nom,  Roy  de  France,  ecrite  par  Jean 
Sr.  de  Joinville,  enrichie  de  nouvelles  Dissertations 
et  Observations  Historiques,  par  Charles  du  Fresne, 
Paris,  1088.  See  also  Filleau  de  la  Chaise,  Histoire 
de  S.  Louis,  Paris,  1C88,  2  vols.  8vo.— Menconis 
Chronicon,  in  Ant.  Matthsi  Analect.  veteris  ivi, 
torn,  iii.— Luc.  Wadding,  Annales  Minorum,  torn.  iv. 
— Boulay,  Hist.  Acad.  Paris,  torn,  iii.— Pierre  Claude 
Fontenay,  Histoire  de  I'figljse  Gallicane,  torn.  xi. 


Chap.  II. 


CALAMITOUS  EVENTS. 


3.;7 


Louis  was  the  last  of  the  European  princes 
that  embarked  in  the  holy  war;  the  dangers 
and  ditliculties,  the  calamities  and  disorders, 
and  the  enormous  expenses  that  accompanied 
each  crusade,  disirusted  the  most  zealous,  and 
discouraged  tlie  most  intrepid  j)romoters  of 
these  fanatical  expeditions.  In  consequence 
of  this,  the  Latin  empire  in  the  east  declined 
apace,  notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  the  Ro- 
man pontiffs  to  maintain  and  support  it;  and 
in  the  year  1291,  after  the  taking  of  Ptolemais 
jy  the  Mohammedans,  it  was  entirely  over- 
thrown.* It  is  natural  to  inquire  into  the  true 
causes  that  contributed  to  this  unhappy  revo- 
lution in  Palestine;  and  these  causes  are  evi- 
dent. We  must  not  seek  for  them  eitlier  in 
the  councils  or  in  the  valour  of  the  infidels, 
but  in  the  dissensions  that  reigned  in  the 
Christian  armies,  in  the  profligate  lives  of  those 
who  called  themselves  the  champions  of  the 
cross,  and  in  the  ignorance,  obstinacy,  ava- 
rice, and  insolence,  of  the  pope's  legates. 

IX.  Christianity  had  not  yet  tamed  the  fe- 
rocity, or  conquered  the  pagan  superstitions 
and  prejudices,  that  still  prevailed  in  some  of 
the  western  provinces.  Among  others,  the 
Prussians,  a  fierce  and  savage  nation,  retained 
tiie  idolatrous  worship  of  tiieir  ancestors  with 
the  most  obstinate  perseverance;  nor  did  the 
arguments  and  exhortations  employed  by  the 
ecclesiastics,  who  were  sent  from  time  to  time 
to  convert  them,  produce  the  least  effect  upon 
their  stubborn  and  intractable  spirits.  The 
brutish  firnmess  of  tliese  Pagans  induced  Con- 
rad, duke  of  Masovia,  to  have  recourse  to 
more  forcible  methods  than  reason  and  argu- 
ment, in  order  to  effect  their  conversion.  For 
this  purpose,  he  addressed  himself,  in  the  year 
1230,  to  the  knights  of  the  Teutonic  order  of 
St.  Mary,  (wlio,  after  their  expulsion  from  Pa- 
lestine, had  settled  at  Venice,)  and  engaged 
them,  by  pompons  promises,  to  imderlake  the 
conquest  and  conversion  of  the  Prussians.  The 
knights  accordingly  arrived  in  Prussia,  mider 
the  command  of  Herman  de  Saltza,  and,  after 
a  most  cruel  and  obstinate  war  of  fifty  years 
with  that  resolute  people,  obliged  them  to  ac- 
knowledge the  sovereignty  of  the  Teutonic  or- 
der, and  to  embrace  the  Christian  faith. f  After 
having  established  Christianity,  and  fixed  their 
own  dominion  in  Prussia,  these  booted  apostles 
made  several  incursions  into  the  neighbouring 
countries,  and  particularly  into  Lithuania, 
where  tlicy  pillaged,  burned,  mass;icred,  and 
ruined  all  before  them,  until  they  forced  the 
inhabitants  of  that  miserable  province  to  pro- 
fess a  feigned  submission  to  the  Gospel,  or 
rather  to  the  furious  and  unrelenting  missiona- 
ries, by  whom  it  was  propagated  in  a  manner 
so  contrary  to  its  divine  maxims,  and  to  the 
benevolent  spirit  of  its  celestial  author. J 


♦  Ant.  Matlliici  An.ilcct.T  vcteris  a:vi,  torn,  v.— 
J.ir.  l>hirili  Scriptur.  Doininiran.  lorn,  i.— Imola  in 
Dantpm.  in  Miiratorij  Aiitiq.  IlalictEniediiacvi,  tom.i. 

t  See  Miiltliaii  Aiialccta  vut.  a;vi,  toin.  iii.  p.  ]8. 
tnm-  V.  p.  684 — tiS'.i. — ("hronicon  Prussian,  by  Peter  of 
Diiisburg.— Hartknock's  History  of  the  Priis.-;ian 
Church,  writtpii  in  the  German  langiiase,  book  i. 
chap,  i.,  and  Aiitiqaitale.s  Prussiae,  Diss.  xiv. — Uahi- 
zii  Miscellanea,  torn.  vii. — Wadding's  Annalcs  Mi- 
nor, torn,  iv.— Histoire  do  Pologne  p,Tr  Solignac, 
torn.  ii. 

t  Beside  the  authors  menlioned  m  the  preceding 
Vol.  I.— 43 


X.  In  Spain  the  cause  of  the  Gospel  gained 
ground.  The  kings  of  Castile,  Leon,  Navarre, 
and  Arragon,  waged  perpetual  war  with  the 
Saracen  princes,  who  held  still  under  their  do- 
minion the  kingdoms  of  Valencia,  Granada, 
and  Murcia,  together  with  the  province  of 
Andalusia;  and  this  war  was  carried  on  with 
such  success,  that  the  Saracen  dominion  de- 
clined apace,  and  was  daily  reduced  within 
narrower  bounds,  while  the  limits  of  the  church 
were  extended  on  every  side.  The  princes 
who  chiefly  contributed  to  this  happy  revolu- 
tion were  Ferdinand,  king  of  Leon  and  Cas- 
tile, who,  after  his  deatii,  obtained  a  place  in 
the  kalendar,  his  father  Alpiiotiso  IX.,  king 
of  Leon,  and  James  I.,  of  Arragon.*  The  last, 
more  especially,  distinguiscd  himself  eminently 
by  his  fervent  zeal  for  the  advancement  of 
Christianity;  for  no  sooner  had  he  made  him- 
self nraster  of  Valencia,  in  the  year  1236,  than 
he  employed,  with  the  greatest  pains  and  as- 
siduity, every  possible  method  of  converting  to 
the  faith  his  Arabian  subjects,  whose  expulsion 
would  have  been  an  irreparable  loss  to  his 
kingdom.  For  this  purpose  he  ordered  the 
Dominicans,  of  whose  ministry  he  principally 
made  use  in  this  salutary  work,  to  learn  the 
Arabic  tongue;  and  he  founded  public  schools 
at  Majorca  and  Barcelona,  in  which  a  consi- 
derable number  of  youths  were  educated  in  a 
manner  that  might  enable  them  to  preach  the 
Gospel  in  that  language.  When  these  pious 
efforts  were  found  to  be  inefl'ectual,  pope  Cle- 
ment IV.  exliorted  the  king  to  drive  the  Mo- 
hammedans out  of  Spain.  The  obsequious 
prince  attempted  to  follow  the  counsel  of  the 
inconsiderate  pontift';  in  the  execution  of  which, 
however,  he  met  with  great  difficulty,  from  the 
opposition  of  the  Spanish  nobles  on  one  hand, 
and  from  the  obstinacy  of  the  Moors  on  the 
other. t 

CHAPTER  II. 

Concerning  the  Calamitous  Events  that  happened 

to  the  Church  during  this  Century. 

I.  The  accounts  we  have  already  given  of 
the  Tartarian  conqttests,  and  of  the  unhappy 
issue  of  the  crusades,  will  be  sufficient  to  sug- 
gest a  lively  idea  of  the  melancholy  condition 
to  which  the  Christians  were  reduced  in  Asia; 
and,  if  the  Saracens  had  been  infected  with  the 
s;ime  odious  spirit  of  persecution  that  possessed 
the  crusaids,  there  would  not  perhaps  have  re- 
mained a  single  ('hristian  in  that  part  of  the 
world.  Rut,  though  these  infidels  were  charge- 
able with  various  crimes,  and  had  frequently 
treated  the  Christians  in  a  rigorous  and  injuri- 
ous manner,  they  looked  with  horror  upon 
those  scenes  of  persecution,  which  the  Latins 
exliibited  as  the  exploits  of  heroic  piety,  and 
considered  it  as  the  highest  and  most  atrocious 
mark  of  injustice  and  cruelty,  to  forte  uniiappy 
n»en,  by  fire  and  sword,  to  ai)andoii  tlieir  reli- 
gious principles,  or  to  put  thent  to  death 
merely  because  they  refused  to  change  their 


note,  see  Ludwig'e  Rehquiu-  Maimscriptoruin  omni* 
;evi,  torn.  i. 

*  See  Job  Ferreras.  History  of  Spain,  vol.  iv. 

t  See  Geddcp'  History  of  the  E.vpulsinn  of  the  Mo- 
rcscoes,  in  his  Miscellaneous  Tracts,  vol.  i. 


338 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  I 


opinions.  After  the  destruction  of  the  king- 
dom of  Jerusalem,  many  of  tlie  Latins  remain- 
ed still  in  Syria,  and,  retiring  into  the  dark 
and  solitary  recesses  of  mounC  Libanus,  lived 
there  in  a  savage  manner,  and  lost,  by  degrees, 
all  sense  of  religion  and  humanity,  as  appears 
from  the  conduct  and  ciiaracters  of  their  de- 
scendants, who  still  inhabit  the  same  unculti- 
vated wilds,  and  who  seem  almost  entirely 
destitute  of  all  knowledge  of  God  and  religion.* 
n.  The  Latin  writers  of  this  age  complain 
in  many  places  of  the  growth  of  infidelity,  of 
daring  and  licentious  writers,  some  of  whom 
publicly  attacked  the  doctrines  of  Christianity, 
while  others  went  so  far  as  atheistically  to  call 
in  question  the  perfections  and  govenunent  of 
tlie  Supreme  Being.  These  complaints,  how- 
ever they  might  have  been  exaggerated  in 
some  respects,  were  yet  far  from  being  entirely 
destitute  of  fomidation;  and  the  superstition 
of  the  age  was  too  naturally  adapted  to  create 
a  number  of  infidels  and  libertines,  among  men 
who  had  more  capacity  than  judgment,  more 
wit  than  solidity.  Persons  of  this  character, 
when  they  fixed  their  attention  only  upon  that 
absurd  system  of  religion,  which  the  Roman 
pontiffs  and  their  dependants  exhibited  as  the 
true  religion  of  Christ,  and  maintained  by  the 
odious  influence  of  bloody  persecution,  were, 
for  want  of  the  means  of  being  better  instruct- 
ed, unhappily  induced  to  consider  the  Christian 
religion  as  a  fable,  invented  and  proi)agatcd  by 
greedy  and  ambitious  priests,  in  order  to  fill 
their  coffers,  and  to  render  their  autliority  re- 
i^pectable.  The  philosophy  of  Aristotle,  which 
flourished  in  all  the  European  schools,  and  was 
looked  upon  as  the  very  essence  of  right  rea- 
son, contributed  much  to  supi)ort  this  delusion, 
and  to  nourish  a  proud  and  presumptuous  spi- 
rit of  infidelity.  This  quibbling  and  intricate 
philosophy  led  many  to  reject  some  of  the 
most  evident  and  important  doctrines  both  of 
natural  and  revealed  religion,  such  as  the  doc- 
trine of  a  divine  providence  governing  the  uni- 
verse, the  immortality  of  the  soul,  the  scriptu- 
ral accomit  of  the  origin  of  the  world,  and 
various  points  of  less  moment.  Not  only  were 
these  doctrines  rejected,  but  the  most  perni- 
cious errors  were  industriously  propagated  in 
opposition  to  Uiem,  by  a  set  of  Aristotelians, 
who  were  extremely  active  in  gaining  prose- 
lytes to  their  impious  jargon.j 


*  A  certain  tribe  called  Dorusi,  or  Drusi,  who  inha- 
bit Ihe  recesses  of  the  mounts  Liban  and  AntiLi- 
baii,  pretend  to  a  descent  from  the  ancient  Franks, 
who  were  once  masters  of  Palestine.  This  deriva 
tion  is,  indeed,  doubtful.  It  is  however  certain,  that 
there  still  remain  in  tlicsc  coutitries  descendants  of 
those  whom  the  holy  war  led  from  Europe  into  Pa- 
lestine, Ihoush  they  do  very  little  honour  to  their 
ancestors,  and  have  nothing  of  Christians  but  the 

name.  „  ,  „ 

t  See  Sti.  Thoms  Summa  contra  Gcntes,  and  Ber- 
nard! Mouctse  Sunima  contra  Catharos  ct  Walden- 
ses.  The  latter  writer,  in  the  work  now  mentioned, 
combats,  with  great  spirit,  those  enemies  of  Chris- 
tianity who  appeared  in  his  time.  In  tlie  fourth 
chapter  of  the  tifth  book,  p.  41f>,  he  disputes,  in  an 
ample  and  copious  manner,  against  those  who  af- 
firmed, that  the  soul  perished  with  the  body;  refutes, 
in  the' eleventh  chapter,  p.  477,  those  Aristotelian 
philosophers,  who  held,  that  the  world  had  existed 
fVom  all  eternity,  and  would  never  have  an  end; 
nnd,  in  the  fifteenth  chapter,  p.  554,  he  attacks 
those,  who,  despising  the  authority  of  the  sacred 
writings,  deny  the  existence  of  human  libeily,  and 


111.  If  the  accusations  brought  against  Fre 
deric  II.  by  pope  Gregory  IX.  deserve  any  cre- 
dit, that  prince  may  be  ranked  among  the  most 
inveterate  and  malignant  enemies  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  since  he  was  charged  by  the 
pontiff  with  having  said,  that  the  world  had 
been  deceived  by  three  impostors,  Moses, 
Christ,  .and  Mohammed.*  Tliis  charge  was 
answered  by  a  solemn  and  public  profession  of 
his  faith,  which  the  emperor  addressed  to  all 
the  kings  and  princes  of  Europe,  to  whom  also 
had  been  addressed  tiie  accusation  brought 
against  him.  The  cliarge,  however,  was  foimd- 
ed  upon  the  testimony  of  Plenry  Raspon,  land- 
grave of  Thuringia,  who  declared  that  he  had 
heard  the  emperor  pronounce  the  abominable 
blasphemy  above  mentioned. f  It  is,  after  all, 
difficult  to  decide  with  sufficient  evidence  upon 
this  point.  Frederic,  who  was  extremely  pas- 
sionate and  imprudent,  may,  perhaps,  in  a  fit 
of  rage,  have  suffered  some  such  expression  as 
this  to  escape  his  reflection;  and  this  is  ren- 
dered probable  by  the  company  he  frequented, 
and  the  number  of  learned  Aristotelians  who 
were  always  about  liis  person,  and  might  sug- 
gest matter  enough  lor  such  impious  expres- 
sions, as  that  now  under  consideration.  It  was 
this  aftair  that  gave  occasion,  in  after-times,  to 
the  invention  of  that  fabulous  account, +  which 
supposes  the  detestable  book  concernmg  the 
three  impostors  to  have  been  composed  by  the 
emperor  himself,  or  by  Peter  de  Vineis,  a  native 
of  Capua,  a  man  of  great  credit  and  authority, 
whom  that  prince§  had  chosen  for  his  prime 
minister,  and  in  whom  he  placed  the  highest 
confidence. 


niaiutaiu,  that  all  things,  and  even  the  crimes  of  the 
wicked,  are  the  effects  of  an  absolute  and  irresistible 
necessity.  Add  to  these  authors,  Tenipier's  Indicu- 
lus  Errorum,  qui  a  nonnullis  Magistris  Lutetiae  pulv- 
lice  privatinique  docebantur.  Anno  l'J77,  in  Biblio- 
tlioca  Patruni  Maxima,  torn.  xxv.  p.  233;  as  also 
Boulay's  Hist.  Acad.  Paris,  loin.  iii.  p.  433,  and  Ge- 
rard du  Bois'  Hist.  Eccles.  Paris,  torn.  ii.  p.  501.  The 
tenets  of  these  doctors  will,  no  doubt,  appear  of  a 
surprising  nature;  for  they  taught,  "that  there  was 
only  one  intellect  among  all  the  human  race;  that 
all  tilings  were  subject  to  absolute  fate  or  necessity; 
that  the  universe  was  not  governed  by  a  divine  pro- 
vidence; that  the  world  was  eternal  and  the  soul 
mortal;"  and  they  maintained  these  and  the  like 
monstrous  errors,  by  arguments  drawn  from  the 
philosophy  of  Aristotle.  But,  at  the  same  time,  to 
avoid  the  just  resentment  of  the  people,  they  held 
up,  as  a  buckler  against  their  adversaries,  that  most 
dangerous  and  pernicious  distinction  between  theo- 
logical and  philosophical  truth,  which  has  been  since 
used,  with  tlie  most  cunning  and  bad  faith,  by  the 
more  recent  Aristotelians  of  the  fifteenth  and  six- 
teenth centuries.  "  Tliese  things,"  say  they,  ^as  we 
learn  from  Tempier,  who  was  bishop  of  Paris,)  "  are 
true  in  philosopliy,  but  not  according  to  the  catholic 
faith."  Vera  sunt  hsc  secundum  philosophiam,  non 
secundum  fidem  catholicam. 

*  Matthew  Paris,  Historia  Major,  p.  408,  459.— 
Petr.  de  Vineis  Epistolar.  lib.  i. 

t  Herm.  Gigantis  Flores  Teniporum,  p.  126. — Chr. 
Fred.  Ayrmann,  Sylloge  Anecdotor.  torn.  •.  p.  639. 

f  See  Casim.  Oudini  Comment,  de  Scriptor.  Eccle- 
siasticis,  tom.  iii.  p.  66. — Alb.  Henr.  de  Sallengre, 
Memoircs  d'Histoire  et  de  Literature,  torn.  i.  part  i. 
p.  386. 

(i(p-  §  The  book  entitled  Liber  de  iii.  Impostoribus, 
sive  Tractatus  de  Vanitate  Religionum,  is  really  a 
book  which  had  no  existence  at  the  time  that  the 
most  noise  was  made  about  it,  and  was  spoken  of  by 
multitudes  before  it  had  been  seen  by  any  one  per- 
son. Its  supposed  existence  was  probably  owing  to 
an  impious  saying  of  Simon  Tournay,  doctor  of  di 
vinity  in  the  university  of  Paris  in  the  thirteenth 


PART  II 


THE  INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Concerniiig  tlie  slate  of  Learning  and  Philosophy 
(hiring  Um  Century. 

I.  The  Greeks,  amidst  the  dreadful  calami- 
ties, discords,  and  revolutions,  that  distracted 
and  perplexed  their  nnhap|iy  country,  had  nei- 
ther that  spirit,  nor  that  leisure,  which  arc  ne- 
cessary for  the  cultiu-e  of  the  arts  and  sciences. 
Yet,  under  all  these  disadvantages,  tlicy  retain- 
ed a  certain  portion  of  their  former  spirit,  and 
did  not  entirely  abandon  the  cause  of  learning 
and  philosophy,  as  appears  from  the  writers 
that  arose  among  them  during  this  century. 
Their  best  historians  were  Nicetas  Choniates, 
Georgius  Acrojjolita,  Gregorius  Pachymeres, 
and  Joel,  whose  Chronology  is  yet  extant.  We 
learn  from  the  writings  of  Gregory  Pachymeres, 
and  Nicephorus  Blcnnnida,  that  the  Peripate- 
tic philosophy  was  not  without  its  admirers 
among  the  Greeks,  though  the  Platonic  was 
most  in  vogue.  Tiie  greatest  part  of  the  Gre- 
cian philosophers,  following  the  example  of 
the  later  Platonists,  whose  works  were  the 
subject  of  their  constant  meditation,  were  in- 
clined to  reduce  the  wisdom  of  Plato  and  the 
subtilties  of  the  Stagirite  into  one  system,  and 
to  reconcile,  as  well  as  they  could,  their  jarring 
principles.  It  is  not  necessary  to  exhibit  a 
list  of  those  authors,  who  wrote  the  lives  and 
discourses  of  the  saints,  or  distinguished  tliem- 
selves  in  the  controversy  with  the  Latin  church, 
or  of  those  who  employed  their  learned  labours 
in  illustrating  the  canon  law  of  the  Greeks. 
The  principal  Syrian  writer,  which  this  ccn- 

century,  wliich  amotnils  to  this:  "That  the  Jews 
were  seduced  out  of  their  senses  by  Moses,  the 
Christians  hy  Jesus,  and  tlio  Gentilea  by  Moliain- 
ined."  'J'his,  or  some  expressions  of  a  similar  kind, 
were  imputed  to  the  emperor  Frederic,  and  other 
persona,  perhaps  without  any  real  fouiid.ilion;  and 
Ihe  imac;inary  book  to  which  they  have  piven  rise, 
has  been  attributeil  by  dilierent  authors  to  Frederic, 
to  hi.s  chancellor  Pester  de  Vineis,  to  Alphonso,  king 
of  Castile,  to  Boccace,  Po^'fjio,  the  Aretins,  IVunpo- 
nace,  Machiavcl,  Erasmus,  Ocliinus,  Servetus,  Jla- 
belais,  Giordano  Brinio,  Campanella,  and  many 
others.  In  a  word,  the  book  vvas  long  spoken  of  be- 
fore any  such  work  i^xisted;  hut  the  rumour  that  was 
spread  abroail  encour;ii;e(l  some  prolligale  traders  in 
licentiousness  to  rnuipnse.  or  rather  compile,  a  bun- 
dle of  miserable  rhapsnilies,  under  the  famous  title 
of  the  Three  luiposl<]rs,  in  order  to  impose  upon  such 
as  are  fond  of  these  prelended  raritiiis.  Accordinyly, 
the  Spaccio  della  |{estia  Trioniphanle  of  Giordano 
Bruno,  and  a  wretched  piece  of  impiety  called  the 
Spirit  of  Spinoza,  were  the  groundwork  of  mate- 
rials from  which  these  hireling  compilers,  by  modi- 
fying some  passages,  and  adding  others,  drew  the 
book  which  now  passes  under  the  name  of  the  Three 
Impostors,  of  which  I  have  seen  two  copies  in  ma- 
nuscript, but  no  printed  edit  ion.  See  La  Monnoye's 
Dissertation  sur  le  Livre  des  Trois  Imposteurs,  pub- 
lished at  Amsterdam  in  171.5,  at  the  end  of  the  fourth 
volume  of  the  Menagiana.  See  also  an  answer  to 
this  Pissertation,  which  was  impudently  exposed  to 
the  public  eye,  in  JTlti,  from  the  press  of  Scheurleer 
at  the  II.Tgue,  and  which  contains  a  fabulous  story 
of  the  oripin  of  the  book  in  question.  Whoever  is 
desiroUH  of  a  more  ample  and  a  very  curious  account 
of  this  m.Ttter.  will  find  it  in  Ihe  late  Prosper  Mar- 
chand's  Dictionaire  Historique,  vol.  ii.  at  the  article 
Imposteurs. 


tury  produced,  vvas  Gregory  Abul-Faraj,  pri- 
mate of  the  Jacobites,  a  man  of  true  geniu.8 
and  ujiivcrsal  learning,  wlio  was  a  judicious 
divine,  an  eminent  historian,  and  a  good  phi- 
losopher." George  Elmacin,  who  composed 
the  history  of  the  Saracens,  vvas  also  a  writer 
of  no  mean  reputation. 

11.  Tiie  sciences  carried  a  fairer  aspect  in 
the  western  world,  where  every  branch  of  eru- 
dition was  cultivated  with  assiduity  and  zeal, 
and,  in  consequence,  flourished  with  increas- 
ing vigour.  The  European  princes  had  learn-, 
od,  by  a  happy  experience,  how  much  learning 
and  the  arts  contribute  to  the  grandeur  and 
happiness  of  a  nation;  and  thereibre  they  in- 
vited into  their  dominions  learned  men  from 
all  parts  of  the  world,  nourished  the  arts  in 
their  bosoms,  excited  the  youth  to  the  love  of 
letters,  by  crowning  their  progress  with  the 
most  noble  rewards,  and  encouraged  every  ef- 
fort of  genius,  by  conferring,  upon  such  as  ex- 
celled, the  most  honorable  distinctions.  Among 
these  patrons  and  protectors  of  learning,  the 
emperor,  Frederic  11.  and  Alphonso  X.  king  of 
Leon  and  Castile  (two  princes  as  much  distin- 
guished by  their  own  learning,  as  by  the  en- 
couragement they  granted  to  men  of  genius,) 
acquired  the  highest  renown,  and  rendered 
their  names  immortal.  The  former  founded 
the  academy  of  Naples,  had  the  works  of  Aris- 
totle translated  into  Latin,  assembled  about 
his  person  all  the  learned  men  whom  he  could 
engage  by  his  munificence  to  repair  to  his 
court,  and  gave  other  undoubted  proofs  of  his 
zeal  for  the  advancement  of  the  arts  and  sci- 
ences.! The  latter  obtained  an  illustrious  and 
permanent  renown  by  several  learned  produc- 


*  See  Baylc's  Dictionary,  at  the  article  Abulpha- 
rage;  as  also  Jos.  Simon.  Assemani  Bibliotheca  Ori- 
entalis,  Vatican,  torn.  ii.  caput  xlii.  p.  iJ4-}. 

{(i7-  Abulpharagius,  or  Abul-Faraj,  was  a  native 
of  Malatia,  a  city  in  Armenia,  near  the  source  of 
the  river  Euphrates,  and  acquired  a  vast  reputation 
in  tin;  east,  on  account  of  his  extensive  erudition, 
lie  composed  an  Abridgment  of  Universal  History, 
from  the  beginning  of  the  world  to  his  own  times, 
which  he  divided  into  t,en  parts  or  dynasties.  The 
first  comprehends  the  history  of  the  ancient  patri- 
archs from  Adam  to  Moses.  The  second,  that  of 
Joshua  and  the  other  judges  of  Israel.  The  third, 
fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth,  contain  the  history  of  the 
kings  of  Israel,  of  the  (;hnldean  princes,  of  the  Per- 
sian Magi,  and  of  the  Grecian  monarchs.  The  se- 
venth relates  to  the  Roman  history;  the  eighth  to 
that  of  the  Greek  emperors  of  Constantinople.  In 
the  ninth  he  treats  of  the  Arabian  princes;  and  in 
the  tenth  of  the  Moguls.  He  is  more  to  be  depended 
upon  in  his  history  of  the  Saracens  and  Tartars,  than 
in  his  accounts  of  other  nations.  The  learned  Dr. 
Edward  Pocock  translated  this  work  into  Latin,  and 
published  his  translation  in  IGfi.'M,  with  a  supple- 
ment, which  carri(!s  on  the  history  of  the  oriental 
princes,  where  Abul-Faraj  left  it.  The  same  learn- 
ed translator  had  obliged  the  public,  in  1650,  with  an 
abridi'ment  of  the  ninth  dynasty,  tinder  the  follow- 
ing title:  "Specimen  Historiie  Arabum,  sive  Grego- 
rii  Abulfuragii  Malatiensis  de  Origine  et  Moribus 
Arabum  succincta  Narralio." 

t  Boiilay,  Hist.  Acad.  Paris,  torn.  iii.  p.  115.  Gi- 
annone,  Historia  di  Napoli,  toin.  ii.  p.  4i'7.  Add  to 
these  the  observations  of  Jo.  Alb.  Fabricius,  Bibli- 
oth.  Latin,  mcdii  JE\i,  torn.  ii.  p.  618. 


340 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II, 


tions,  but  more  especially  by  his  famous  As- 
tronomical tables.*  In  consequence  then  of 
the  protection  that  was  given  to  the  sciences 
in  this  century,  academies  were  erected  almost 
in  every  city;  peculiar  privileges  of  various 
kinds  were  crranted  to  the  youtli  that  frequented 
them;  and  these  learned  societies  acquired,  at 
length,  the  form  of  political  bodies;  that  is  to 
say,  they  were  invested  with  a  certain  juris- 
diction, and  were  governed  by  their  own  laws 
and  statutes. 

III.  In  the  public  schools  or  academies  that 
were  founded  at  Padua,  Modena,  Naples,  Ca- 
pua, Toulouse,  Salamanca,  Lyons,  and  Co- 
logne, the  whole  circle  of  science  was  not 
taught,  as  in  our  times.  The  application  of 
the  youth,  and  the  labours  of  their  instructors, 
were  limited  to  certain  branches  of  learning; 
and  thus  the  course  of  academical  education 
remained  imperfect.  The  academy  of  Paris, 
which  surpassed  all  the  rest,  both  with  respect 
to  the  number  and  abilities  of  its  professors, 
and  the  multitude  of  students  by  whom  it  was 
frequented,  was  the  first  learned  society  which 
extended  tlie  sphere  of  education,  received  all 
the  sciences  into  its  bosom,  and  appointed  mas- 
ters for  every  branch  of  erudition.  Hence  it 
was  distinguished,  before  any  other  academy, 
with  the  title  of  an  university,  to  denote  its 
embracing  the  whole  body  of  science;  and,  in 
process  of  time,  otlier  schools  of  learning  were 
ambitious  of  forming  tliemselves  upon  the  same 
model,  and  of  being  honoured  with  the  same 
title.  In  this  famous  university,  the  doctors 
were  divided  into  four  colleges  or  classes,  ac- 
cording to  Die  branches  of  learning  they  pro- 
fessed; and  these  classes  were  called,  in  after- 
times,  faculties.  In  each  of  these  faculties,  a 
doctor  was  chosen  by  the  suflrages  of  his  col- 
leagues, to  preside  during  a  fixed  period  in  the 
society;  and  the  title  of  dean  was  given  to 
those  who  successively  filled  that  eminent  of- 
fice.^ The  head  of  the  university,  whose  in- 
spection and  jurisdiction  extended  to  all  bran- 
ches of  that  learned  body,  was  dignified  with 
the  name  of  cliancellor;  and  tiiat  high  and  ho- 
nourable place  was  filled  by  the  bisliop  of  Paris, 
to  whom  an  assistant  was  afterwards  joined, 
who  shared  the  administration  witli  him,  and 
was  invested  with  an  extensive  authority.| 
The  college  set  apart  for  the  study  of  divinity 
was  first  erected  and  endowed,  in  tlie  year 
1250,  by  an  opulent  and  pious  man,  whose 
name  was  Robert  de  Sorboime,  (a  particular 
friend  and  favourite  of  St.  Louis,)  whose  name 
was  adopted,  and  is  still  retained  by  that  theo- 
logical society. § 


»  Nic.  Aiitonii  TJibliotlieca  vetus  Hispan.  lib.  viii. 
c.  V.  p.  -m.  Jo.  (le  I'^iTfcras,  HistoircirEspagno,  toin. 
iv.  p.  .147.  ,     , 

t  This  arraiigpmcnt  was  executoii  about  tne  year 
12G0.  Si-e  Du  Hi)iilay,  Ilistor.  Acad.  Paris,  torn.  iii. 
p.  .5.57,  51)4.  ...  .      J      ■ 

t  S,p  Hcrni.  Cnnnnpii  Antiquitatcs  AcanemicE. 
a  work,  lionx-vir,  siisccptiMi-  of  consirterahle  im- 
provi'iiiiMits.  The  iinpiirtaiit  wnrk  iiiantioned  in 
the  precedinsr  imti',  and  which  is  divided  into  six  vo- 
lumes, dps<^rves  Id  he  principally  consulted  in  this 
point  as  wi-ll  as  in  ;ill  others  that  relate  to  the  his 
tory  and  trovernment  of  the  university  of  Paris;  add 
to  this,  ("laud.  Ileiueran  Liber  dp  Acadeniia  Parisi 
cnsi,  qualisprinio  fiiil  in  insula  etepiscoporuni  scho 
Us,  Lutt.t.  Ili;:7,  in  -llu. 

§  See  Du  Boulay,  llisl.   .\cad.  Pans    lorn    lu.  p 


IV.  Such  as  were  desirous  of  being  chosen 
professors  in  any  of  the  faculties  or  colleges  of 
this  university,  were  obliged  to  submit  to  a  long 
and  tedious  course  of  probation,  and  to  suffer 
the  strictest  examinations,  and  to  give,  during 
several  years,  undoubted  proofs  of  their  learn- 
ing and  capacity,  before  they  were  received 
in  the  character  of  public  teachers.  This 
severe  discipline  was  called  the  academical 
course;  and  it  was  wisely  designed  to  prevent 
the  number  of  professors  from  multiplying  be- 
yond measure,  and  also  to  prevent  such  as 
were  destitute  of  erudition  and  abilities  from 
assuming  an  office,  which  was  justly  looked 
upon  as  of  high  importance.  They  who  had 
satisfied  all  the  demands  of  this  academical  law, 
and  had  gone  through  the  fonnidable  trial 
with  applause,  were  solemnly  invested  with 
the  dignity  of  professors,  and  were  saluted 
masters  with  a  certain  round  of  ceremonies, 
that  were  used  in  the  societies  of  illiterate 
tradesmen,  when  their  company  was  aug- 
mented by  a  new  candidate.  This  vulgar 
custom  had  been  introduced,  in  the  preceding 
century,  by  the  professors  of  law  in  the  aca- 
demy of  Bologna;  and,  in  this  century,  it  was? 
transmitted  to  that  of  Paris,  where  it  was  first 
practised  by  the  divinity-colleges,  and  after- 
wards by  the  professors  of  physic  and  of  the 
liberal  arts.  In  this  account  of  the  trial  and 
installation  of  the  professors  of  Paris,  we  may 
perceive  the  origin  of  what  wo  now  call  aca- 
demical degrees,  which,  like  all  other  human 
institutions,  have  miserably  degenerated  from 
the  wise  ends  for  which  they  were  at  first  ap- 
pointed, and  grow  more  insignificant  from  day 
to  day.* 

V.  These  public  institutions,  consecrated  to 
the  advancement  of  learning,  were  attended 
with  remarkable  success;  but  that  branch  of  eru- 
dition, which  we  call  humanity  or  polite  litera- 
ture, derived  less  advantage  from  them  than 
the  other  sciences.  The  industrious  youth 
either  applied  themselves  entirely  to  the  study 
of  the  civil  and  canon  laws,  which  was  a 
sure  patli  to  preferment,  or  employed  their  la- 
bours in  philosophical  researches,  in  order  to 
the  attainment  of  a  shining  reputation,  and  of 
the  applause  that  was  lavished  upon  such  as 
were  endowed  with  a  subtile  and  metaphysi- 
cal genius.  Hence  arose  the  bitter  complaints 
of  the  pontiffs  and  other  bishops,  of  the  neglect 
and  decline  of  the  liberal  arts  and  sciences; 
and  hence  also  the  zealous,  but  unsuccessful 
efforts  they  used  to  turn  the  youth  from  juris- 
prudence and  pliilosophy,  to  the  study  of  hu- 
manity and  philology.!  Notwitlistanding  all 
this,  the  thirteenth  century  produced  several 
writers,  wiio  were  very  far  from  being  con- 
tent pti  l)lc  ,sucha^_^illiam_^i^ 
2-S.i.~Uu  Fifsiii;'s  Annotaliiuis  upon  the  Life  of  St. 
Louis,  written  by  Joinville,  p.  30. 

*  Beside  the  writers  above  mentioned,  sec  Jo.  Chr. 
Uterus,  de  Gradibus  Academicis.— Just.  Hen.  Boh- 
nier,'  Prn'f.  ad  Jus  Canonicum,  p.  14.— Ant.  Wood, 
Antiquit.  Oxoniens.  toni.  i.  p.  24.— Boulay,  Histor. 
Acad.  Paris,  torn.  ii.  p.  25(1,08:2,  &c. 

t  Boulay,  Hist.  Acad.  Paris,  torn.  iii.  p.  2G5,  where 
there  is  an  epistle  of  Innocent  III.,  who  seems  to 
take  this  matter  seriously  to  heart.— Ant.  Wood, 
Antiq.  Oxon.  torn.  i.  p  124.— Imola  in  Danteni,  m 
Muratori's  Antiquit.  Ital.  medii  /lilvi,  torn.  i.  p  1262 

t  See  Hist,  de  P Acad,  des  Inscript  el  des  Pclle» 
Lettrcs,  t.  xvi  p.  255. 


Chap.  I. 


LEARNING  AND  PHILOSOPHY. 


341 


Mapes,*  Matthew  of  Vendosiiic,  Ahiin  tie 
risle,!  Guntherus,  James  of  Vitii,  and  seve- 
ral others,  who  wrote  witli  ease,  and  were  not 
allog'cther  destitute  of  cleg-ancc.  Anion^r  tlic 
liistorians,  the  first  place  is  due  to  Matthew 
Paris,  a  writer  of  the  hiffjiest  merit,  hotli  in 
point  of  knowledwc  and  prudence,  to  whom 
we  may  add  Rodcric  Ximencs,  Rigord,J;  Vin- 
cent of  Bcauvais,  Robert  of  St.  Marino, § 
Alartinus,  a  native  of  Poland,  Gervasc  of  Til- 
bury, ||  Conrad  of  Lichtcnau,  and  William 
Naii^ius,  whose  names  are  worthy  of  being 
preserved  from  oblivion.  The  writers  who  have 
laboured  to  transmit  to  posterity  the  lives  ar.d 
exploits  of  the  saints,  liavc  rather  related  the 
superstitions  and  miseries  of  the  times,  than 
the  actions  of  those  holy  men.  Among  these 
biographers,  James  of  Vitri,  mentioned  above, 
makes  the  greatest  figure;  he  also  composed  a 
History  of  the  Lombards,  that  is  full  of  in- 
sipid and  trifling  stories.lT 

VI.  Roger  Bacon,**  John  Balbi,  and  Robert 
■Cajjito,  with  other  learned  men,  whose  num- 
ber, however,  was  inconsiderable,  applied  them- 
selves to  the  study  of  Greek  literature.  The 
Hebrew  language  and  theology  were  much  less 
cultivated;  though  it  appears  that  Bacon  and 
Capito,  already  mentioned,  and  Raymojid 
Martin,  author  of  an  excellent  treatise,  en- 
titled, Pugio  Fidei  Christianic,  or,  The  Dagger 
of  the  Ciiristian  Faith,  were  extremely  wcill 
versed  in  tliat  species  of  erudition.  Many  of 
the  Spaniards,  and  more  jiarticularly  the  Do- 
minican friars,  made  themselves  masters  of  the 
Arabian  learning  and  language,  as  the  kings 
of  Spain  had  charged  the  latter  with  the  in- 
struction and  cxtnversion  of  the  Jews  and  Sara- 
cens who  resided  in  their  dominions. |f  As  to 
the  Latin  gninnnarians,  the  best  of  them  were 
extremely  barbarous  and  insipid,  and  equally 
destitute  of  taste  and  knowledffe.     To  be  con- 


*  Jo.  Wolff,  LiictioHCs  lyiemorabil.  tuiii.  i.  i).  4;i0. 

t  Called  in  Latin,  Allinus  ab  Insulis. 

}  Soe  the  Ilistoirc  de  I'Acadeniie  des  Inscriplioiis 
et  des  BeJIes  Lettres,  loin.  xvi.  p.  243,  wliicli  also 
gives  an  ample  account  of  William  of  Nangis,  page 
iiil'i. 

§  See  Le  Bwuf,  Mcmoire.s  pour  I'Hi.^toire  d'Anx- 
(•rrc,  torn.  ii.  p.  49(1,  where  there  is  al.so  a  learned  ac- 
fount  of  Vincent  of  Ueauvais,  p.  404. 

Q(J=  II  Gervasc  of  Tilliiiry  wa.s  nephew  to  Henry 
II.,  king  of  England,  and  was  in  high  credit  with 
the  emperor  Otlio  IV.,  to  whom  he  dedicated  a  de 
Kcription  of  the  world  and  a  Chronicle,  both  cif  wliiih 
lie  had  himself  composed.  lie  wrote  also  a  History 
of  England,  and  one  of  the  Holy  Land,  with  several 
treatises  tipon  different  subjects. 

V  See  Schelhornii  Amcenitates,  Literariae,  lorn.  .\i. 
p.  324. 

(Xr"  **  This  illustrious  Franci.scan,  in  point  of  ge- 
nius and  universal  learning,  was  one  of  the  great- 
est ornaments  of  the  British  natiim,  and,  in  general, 
of  the  republic  of  letters.  Tlie  ast<uiishing  di.scove- 
ries  he  made  in  astronomy,  chemistry,  optics,  and 
m.-itliematics,  made  liitn  pass  for  a  magician  in  the 
igncir.'iiU  and  siipirslitinns  times  in  wliirli  he  lived, 
while  hisprnfoiind  knowledge  in  philosophy,  theolo- 
gy, and  the  Greek  and  Urieiital  languages,  pmcurrd 
him,  with  more  justice,  the  title  of  tin-  iiihiiirah/c 
or  trnnderfttl  doctor.  Ainons;  other  iliscoveries,  lie  is 
said  to  have  made  that  of  tlH'  coniposifioii  .-iiid  luicc 
of  gunpowder,  whiili  he  drsrrilics  cip.uly  in  one  of 
his-letters;  and  he  proposed  iiiiich  the  same  currer 
tion  of  Ihi-  ciili'udar,  wliich  was  <'xecut(^d  ahout  ;tlMI 
years  after  by  Grei.'(iry  111.  He  composeil  an  extra 
ordinary  niiinber  (d"  books,  of  which  a  list  may  be 
seen  in  the  (Jeneral  Dictionary. 

tt  See  Rich.  Simon's  Lettres  (^lu)isiep.  torn.  iii.  p. 
112,  and  Nic.  Antonii  Bibliothcca  vetus  Hispanica. 


viiiced  of  this,  we  iiavc  only  to  cast  an  eye 
upon  the  productions  of  Alexander  de  Villa 
Dei,  who  was  looked  upon  as  the  most  emi- 
nent of  them  all,  and  whose  works  were  read 
in  almost  all  the  schools  from  this  period  until 
the  sixteenth  century.  This  pedantic  Fran- 
ciscan composed,  in  the  year  1240,  what  he 
called  a  Doctriiialc,  in  Leonine  verse,  full  of 
the  most  wretched  quibbles,  and  in  which  the 
rules  of  grammar  and  criticism  are  delivered 
witii  the  greatest  confasion  and  obscurity,  or, 
rather,  are  covered  with  impenetrable  dark- 
ness. 

VII.  The  various  systems  of  philosophy  that 
were  in  vogue  before  this  century,  lost  their 
credit  by  degrees,  and  submitted  to  the  trium- 
phant doctrine  of  Aristotle,  which  erected  a 
new  and  despotic  empire  in  the  republic  of 
letters,  and  reduced  the  whole  ideal  world 
under  its  lordly  dominion.  Several  of  the 
works  of  this  philosopher,  and  more  especially 
his  metaphysical  productions,  had  been,  so 
early  as  the  beginning  of  this  century,  trans- 
lated into  Latin  at  Paris,  and  were  from  that 
time  exjilaincd  to  the  youth  in  the  public 
schools.*  But  when  it  appeared,  that  Almericf 
had  drawn  from  these  books  his  erroneous  sen- 
timents concerning  the  divine  nature,  they 
were  prohibited  and  condemned  as  pernicious 
and  pestilential,  by  a  pubhc  decree  of  the 
council  of  Sons,  in  the  year  1209.|  The  logic 
of  Aristotle,  however,  recovered  its  credit  some 
years  after  this,  and  was  publicly  taught  in  the 
university  of  Paris  in  the  year  1216;  but  the 
natural  philosophy  and  metaphysics  of  tha^ 
great  man  were  still  under  the  sentence  of 
condemnation.^  It  was  reserved  for  the  em- 
peror Frederic  II.  to  restore  the  Stagirite  to 
his  former  glory,  which  this  prince  cU'ected  by 
employing  a  nmiiber  of  learned  men,  whom 


*  Franc.  Patricii  Uiscussiones  Peripatetics;,  torn, 
i.  lib.  xi.  p.  14.5.  Jo.  Launoiiis  de  varia  Aristof. 
fortiina  in  Acad.  Parisiensi,  cap.  i.  p.  127,  ed.  KIs- 
wich.  It  is  commonly  reported,  that  the  books  ui' 
Aristotli!  here  mentioned,  were  translated  from 
Arabic  into  Latin.  But  we  are  told  positively,  that 
these  books  were  brought  from  Constantinople,  and 
translated  from  Greek  into  Latin.  See  Rigord's 
work  de  pestis  Philippi  regis  Franc,  ad  avnitm  1209, 
in  Aiidr.  Chcsnii  Scrip.  Hist.  Franc,  p.  Hit. 

(t;^t  Almeiic,  or  Ainauri,  does  not  seem  to  have 
entertained  any  enormous  errors.  He  held,  that 
every  Christian  was  obliged  to  believe  himself  a 
member  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  att.ached,  perhaps, 
some  extravagant  and  fanatical  ideas  to  that  opin- 
ion; but  his  t'olloxvers  fell  into  more  pernicious  no- 
tions, and  adoptid  the  most  odious  tenets,  maintain 
ing,  that  the  power  of  the  F.itlnr  continued  no  lon- 
ger than  the  Mosaic  disp<!nsatioii;  that  t lie  einpi  -e  of 
the  Son  extended  only  to  the  tliirteeiitli  century; 
and  that  then  the  reign  of  the  Holy  (ihost  com 
menced,  when  all  sacraments  and  external  worship 
were  to  be  abolished,  and  the  salvation  of  Christiana 
was  to  be  accomplished  merely  by  internal  acts  of 
illiiminaliiig  grace.  Their  morals  al.so  were  as  infa 
moiis  as  their  doctrine  was  absurd;  and,  under  the 
name  of  charity,  they  comprehenrled  and  committed 
till,' most  criminal  acts  of  impurity  and  licentious- 
ness. 

il?'  t  Of-  IWosIieim  has  fallen  here  into  two  slight 
mistakes.  It  was  at  Paris,  and  not  at  Sens,  and  in 
thi;  year  1210,  and  not  ]2(tn,  that  the  metaphysical 
books  of  Aristotle  were  condemned  to  the  tiaines. 
'J'lie  works  quoted  here  by  onr  author,  are  those  of 
Laiinoy,  de  varia  Aristotelis  fortiina  in  Acad.  Paris, 
rap.  iv.  p.  \9'),  and  Syllabus  rationiim  quibus  Uutnn- 
di  causa  defenditnr,  tom.  i.  op. 

§  Nat.  Alexander,  Select.  Histor.  Fcclesi.nst.  Capi- 
ta, loin.  viii.  cap.  iii.  sect.  7.  page  7li. 


342 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


he  liad  cliosen  with  the  grealest  attention  and 
care,*  and  who  were  piolouudly  versed  in  the 
knowledge  of  the  langiiag-es,  to  traiislatc  into 
Latin,  from  the  Greek  and  Arabic,  certain 
books  of  Aristotle,  and  of  other  ancient  sages. 
This  translation,  which  was  recommended,  in 
a  particular  manner,  to  the  academy  of  Bo 
logna  by  the  learned  emperor,  raised  the  credit 
of  Aristotle  to  the  greatest  Jieight,  and  gave 
him  an  irresistible  and  despotic  authority  in  all 
the  European  schools.  This  authority  was 
still  farther  augmented  by  tlic  translations 
which  were  mode  of  some  of  tlie  books  of  the 
Grecian  sage  l)y  several  Latin  interpreters, 
such  as  Michael  Scot,  Philip  of  Tripoli,  Wil- 
liam Fleming,  and  others;  though  these  men 
were  quite  unequal  lo  the  taslc  they  undertook, 
and  had  neither  such  knowledge  of  the  lan- 
guages, nor  such  an  acquaintance  with  phi- 
losophy, as  were  necessary  to  the  successful 
execution  of  such  a  difficult  enteriDrise.f 

VIII.  The  Aristotelian  philosophy  received 
the  very  last  addition  that  could  be  made  to 
its  autliority  and  lustre,  when  the  Dominican 
and  Franciscan  friars  adopted  its  tenets,  taught 
it  in  their  schools,  and  illustrated  it  in  their 
writings.  These  two  mendicant  orders  were 
looked  upon  as  the  chief  depositories  of  all 
learning,  both  human  and  divine;  and  were 
followed,  witii  the  utmost  eagerness  and  as- 
siduity, by  all  such  as  were  ambitious  of  being 
distinguished  from  the  multitude  by  superior 
knowledge.  Alexander  Hales,  an  English 
Franciscan,  who  taught  philosophy  at  Paris, 
and  acquired,  by  the  strength  of  his  metaphysi- 
cal genius,  the  title  of  the  Irrefragable  Doctor,  J 
and  Albert  the  Great,  a  German  of  the  Do- 
minican order,  and  bishop  of  Ratisbon,  a  man 
of  great  abilities,  and  an  universal  dictator  at 
this  time,§  were  the  first  eminent  writers  wlio 
Jllustrated,  in  their  learned  productions,  the 
Aristotelian  system.  But  it  was  the  disciple 
of  Albert,  Thomas  Aquinas,  the  Angelic  Doc- 
tor, and  the  great  luminary  of  the  scholastic 
world,  that  contributed  most  to  tiie  glory  of 
the  Sta^nritc,!!  by  inculcating,  illustrating,  and 


*  Petr.deVineis,  Epist.lib.  iii.op.  Ixvii.p.  501!.  This 
epistle  is  adilressed  "ad  magistros  et  schol.ires  Bo- 
noniPiises;"  i.  e.  "  to  the  masters  and  scholars  of  the 
academy  of  Bologna;"  hut  it  is  more  than  probable, 
lli.Tt  the  emperor  sent  letters  npon  this  occasion  to 
llie  other  Enropean  sell  mis.  It  is  a  common  opin- 
ion, that  this  learned  prince  iiad  all  the  works  of 
Aristotle,  that  were  then  extant,  translated  into 
L.itin  abont  the  year  12iJ0;  but  this  cannot  be  de- 
duced from  the  letter  above  mentioned,  or  from  any 
other  sufficient  testimony  that  we  know  of. 

t  See  Wood's  account  of  the  interpreters  of  Aris- 
totle, in  liis  Antiipiitat.  Oxou.  loin.  i.  p.  ll'J;  as  also 
.lebb's  preface  to  the  ( (pus  Majns  of  the  famous  Ro- 
ger Bacon,  publislKnl  at  London  in  folio,  in  the  year 
173.1.  Wo  shall  yive  here  the  opinion  which  Bacon 
had  of  the  translators  of  Aristotle,  in  the  worrls  of 
that  !;reat  man,  who  expresses  his  contempt  of  these 
wrctchi'il  interpreters  in  the  followinir  manner:  "  S'i 
halierein  poteslatem  supra  libros  Arisiotelis,  (Latine 
conversos,)  ego  facerem  omnes  cremari,  quia  non  est 
nisi  temporis  amissio  studere  in  illis,  et  causa  erro- 
ris  et  multiplicalio  ignorantiic,  ultra  id  quod  valet 
cxplicari." 

J  See  Wadding's  Annales  Minoruni,  tom.  iii.  p. 
233.  Du  Boulay,  Histor.  Acad.  I'aris.  tom.  iii.  p.  20U, 
673. 

§  Jo.  Alh.  Fabricii  Biblioth.  Latina  medii  jEvi, 
tom.  i.  p.  113. 

11  The  Dominicans  maintain,  that  this  Angelic 
Doctor  was  the  disciple  of  Albert   the  Great,  and 


enforcing  his  doctrines,  both  in  his  lectures  and 
in  his  writings;  and  principally  by  engaging 
one  of  his  learned  colleagues  to  give,  under 
his  inspection,  a  new  translation  of  the  works 
of  the  Grecian  sage,  which  far  surpassed  the 
former  version  in  exactness,  perspicuity,  and 
elegance.*  By  these  means  the  philosophy 
of  Aristotle,  notwithstanding  the  hostile  elforts 
of  several  divines,  and  even  of  the  Roman 
pontiffs  themselves,  wiio  beheld  its  progress 
with  an  unfriendly  eye,  triumphed  in  all  the 
Latin  schools,  and  absorbed  all  the  other  systems 
that  had  flourished  before  this  literary  revo- 
lution. 

IX.  There  were,  however,  at  this  time  in 
Europe  several  persons  of  superior  genius  and 
penetration,  who,  notwithstanding  their  re- 
spect for  Aristotle,  considered  the  method  of 
treating  philosophy,  which  his  writings  had  in- 
troduced, as  dry,  inelegant,  and  fit  only  to 
confine  and  damp  the  efforts  of  the  mind  in 
the  pursuit  of  truth;  and  who,  consequently, 
were  desirous  of  enlarging  the  sphere  of  sci- 
ence by  new  researches  and  discoveries.!  At 
the  head  of  these  noble  adventiu-ers  we  may 
justly  place  Roger  Bacon,  a  Franciscan  friar 
of  the  English  nation,  known  by  the  appella- 
tion of  the  admirable  doctor,  who  was  renowned 
on  account  of  his  most  important  discoveries, 
and  who,  in  natural  philosophy,  mathematics, 
chemistry,  the  mechanic  arts,  and  the  learned 
languages,  soared  far  beyond  the  genius  of  the 
times.J    With  him  we  may  associate  Arnold 


their  opinion  seems  to  be  founded  in  truth.  See  An- 
toine  Touron,  Vie  de  St.  Thomas,  p.  99.  The  Fran- 
ciscans, however,  maintain  as  obstinately,  that  Al 
exander  Hales  was  the  master  of  Thomas.  See 
Wadding's  Annales  Minoruni,  tom.  iii.  p.  133. 

*  It  has  been  believed  by  many,  that  William  de 
Moerbeka,  a  native  of  Flanders,  of  the  Dominican 
order,  and  archbishop  of  Corinth,  was  tlie  author 
of  the  new  Latin  translation  of  the  works  of  Aris 
totli!,  which  was  carried  on  and  finished  under  the 
auspicious  inspection  of  Tho^ias  Aquinas.  See  J. 
Ilch.ad,  Scriiitorcs  Dominican,  tom.  i.  p.  388,  469 
•Jasim.  Oudinus,  Comni.  de  Scriptor.  Eccles.  torn.  iii. 
p.  468.  Jo.  Franc.  Foppens,  Bibliotheca  Belgica, 
tom.  i.  p.  410.  Others,  however,  suppose,  though  in- 
deed with  less  evidence,  that  this  translation  was 
composed  by  Henry  Kosbcin,  who  was  also  a  Domi 
iiican. 

t  Bacon's  contempt  of  the  learning  that  was  in 
vogue  in  his  time  may  be  seen  in  the  following  pas- 
sage, quoted  by  Jebb,  in  his  preface  to  the  Opus 
I\IaJus  of  that  great  man:  "  Nuuquani  fuit  tanta  ap- 
parentia  sapientia',  nee  tantuiii  exercitium  studii  in 
tot  facultatibus,  in  tot  regionibus,  siciit  jam  a  quad- 
raginta  annis:  ubiqueenimdoctoressuntdispersi. . . . 
in  omni  civitate,  et  in  omni  castro,  et  in  omni  bur- 
go,  praecipue  per  duos  ordines  studentes  (he  means 
the  Franciscans  and  Dominicans,  who  were  almost 
the  only  religious  orders  that  distingui.shed  them- 
selves by  an  application  to  study)  quod  non  accidit, 
nisi  a  quadraginta  annis  nut  circiter,  cum  tamen 
nunquam  fuit  tanta  ignorantia,  tantus  error  .  .  . 
Vulgus  studenliuin  languet  et  asininat  circa  mala 
translata  (by  these  wretched  versions  he  understands 
the  works  of  Aristotle,  which  were  most  miserably 
translated  by  ignorant  bunglers)  et  tempus  et  stu- 
dium  amittit  in  omnibus  et  expensas.  Apparentia 
quidem  sola  tenet  eos,  et  non  curant  quid  sciant,  sed 
quid  videantur  scire  coram  multitudjne  insensata." 
Thus,  according  to  Bacon,  in  the  midst  of  the  most 
specious  appearance  of  science,  the  greatest  igno- 
rance and  the  grossest  errors  reigned  almost  univer- 
sally. 

}  That  Bacon  deserves  this  high  rank  in  the 
learned  world  appears  evidently  from  bis  book  enti 
tied  Opus  M.ijus,  which  was  dedicated  to  pope  Cle 
ment  IV.,  and  which  Jebb  published  at  London  iii 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


of  Villa  Nova,  wliosc  place  of  nativity  is  fixed 
by  some  in  France,  by  otliers  in  Spain,  and 
who  acquired  a  sliining  reputation  by  his 
knowledge  in  chemistry,  poetry,  pliilowopliy, 
languages,  and  physic;*  as  also  I'eter  d'Aliano, 
a  physician  of  Padua,  who  was  surnained  the 
Reconciler,  from  a  book  wliicli  he  Vvrote  in  the 
hope  of  terminating  the  dissensions  and  con- 
tests that  reigned  among  the  philosopliers  and 
physicians,!  and  wlio  was  profoundly  versed 
in  the  sciences  of  philosophy,  astronomy, 
physic,  and  mathematics. J.  It  must,  however, 
be  observed,  to  tlie  eternal  dishonour  of  the 
age,  that  the  only  fruits  which  these  great  men 
derived  irom  tiieir  learned  labours,  and  their 
noble,  as  well  as  successful  efforts  fur  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  arts  and  sciences,  were  the 
furious  clamours  of  an  enraged  and  supersti- 
tious multitude,  who  looked  upon  tliem  as  he- 
retics and  magiyicans,  and  thirsted  so  eagerly 
after  their  blood,  that  they  escaped  with  dith- 
eulty  the  hands  of  the  public  executioner. 
Bacon  was  confmed  many  years  in  a  comfort- 
less prison;  and  the  other  two  were,  after 
their  death,  brought  before  the  tribunal  of  the 
inquisition,  and  declared  worthy  of  being  com- 
mitted to  the  tlames  for  tlie  novelties  they  had 
introduced  into  the  republic  of  letters. 

X.  The  state  of  theology,  and  the  method 
of  teaching  and  representing  the  doctrines  of 
Christianity  that  now  prevailed,  sliall  be  men- 
tioned in  their  place.  The  civil  and  canon 
laws  held  the  lirst  rank  in  the  circle  of  tlie 
sciences,  and  were  studied  with  peculiar  zeal 
and  application  by  almost  all  who  were  am- 
bitious of  literary  glory.  But  these  sciences, 
notwithstanding  the  assiduity  with  which  they 
were  cultivated,  were  far  from  being  then 
brought  to  any  tolerable  degree  of  perfection. 
They  were  distigured  by  the  jargon  that  reigned 
in  the  schools,  and  were  corrupted  and  render- 
ed intricate  by  a  multitude  of  trivial  commen- 
taries that  were  intended  to  illustrate  and  ex- 
plain them.  Some  employed  their  labours  in 
collecting  the  letters  of  the  Roman  pontiffs, 
which  are  conuiionly  known  under  the  title 
of  Decretals,^  and  which  were  deemed  a  very 
important  branch  of  ecclesiastical  law.  Rai- 
niond  of  Pennafort,  a  native  of  Barcelona,  was 
the  most  famous  of  all  these  compilers,  and  ac- 
quired a  considerable  reputation  by  his  collec- 


17.13,  from  a  manuscript  that  still  exists  in  llic  inii- 
versity  ofD'it'iii,  fiirithiiig  it  with  a  Icariu^d  prelacy 
and  a  considiirable  niimhfr  of  Judicious  obsc.'rvations. 
The  other  works  of  Biicon,  which  are  very  nunic- 
rous,  lie  for  the  most  part  concealed  in  the  libraries 
of  the  curious.  For  a  farther  account  of  this  emineni 
man,  see  Wood's  Antiq.  Oxon.  toin.  i.  p.  i:t(i. — 
Wadding,  Annul.  Minor,  t.  iv.  p.  Itil,  t.  v.  p.  51. — 
Thom.  Gale,  ad  Janiblichum  de  Mysteriis  iEgyptior. 
p.  25.5.— General  Hist,  and  Crit.  Dictionary. 

*  See  Nic.  Antonii  Biblioth.  vetus  ilispan.  torn.  ii. 
lib.  ix.  c.  i.— I'iurre  Joseph,  d'Arnaud  Vie  do  Villi'- 
neuve,  Aix,  J711K — Niceron,  Memoires  dos  Ilonjnies 
illuatres,  torn,  xxxiv.— Nicol.  Kymerici  Directoriuin 
Ini|uisitorum,  pae.  28J.  where,  among  other  thinys, 
we  have  an  account  of  his  errors. 

tThi.s  book  was  entitled.  Conciliator  Differentia- 
rum  Philosophorum  et  Medicorum. 

t  There  is  a  very  accurate  account  of  this  philoso- 
pher given  by  J(di.  Maria  Mn/.zuchelli,  Notizic;  rito 
riche  e  Critiche  intorno  alia  Vita  di  Pieiro  d'Ahano, 
in  AngPli  CalogcriE  Opus.  Scicntilici  c  Philologici,  I. 
xiii. 

§  Sco  Bonlay,  Hist.  Acad.  Taria.  lora.  iii. 


343 

tion  of  the  Decretals  in  five  books,  which  he 
undertook  at  tho  desire  of  Gregory  IX.,  and 
which  has  been  since  lionoiu-ed  with  the  name 
of  that  pontiff,  who  ordered  it  to  be  added  to 
tho  Decretals  of  Gratian,  and  to  be  read  in  all 
the  Euro])ean  colleges.*  Toward  the  conclu- 
sion of  this  century,  Boniface  VIII.  caused  a 
new  collection  to  be  made,  wliieh  was  entitled, 
The  Sixth  Book  of  Decretals,  because  it  was 
added  to  the  five  already  mentioned. 

CHAPTER  II. 

CMicerning  the  Doctors  and  Ministers  of  the 

Church,  and  its  Form  of  Govemmeiit,  during 

this  Centunj. 

I.  Both  the  Greek  and  Latin  writers,  pro- 
voked beyond  measure  by  the  flagitious  lives 
of  their  spiritual  rulers  and  instructors,  com- 
plain loudly  of  their  licentious  manners,  and 
load  them  with  the  severest  reproaches;  nor 
will  these  complaints  and  reproaches  appear 
excessive  to  such  as  are  acquaintinl  with  the 
history  of  this  corrupt  and  superstitious  age.f 
Several  eminent  men  attempted  to  stem  this 
torrent  of  licentiousness,  which  from  the  heads 
of  the  church  had  carried  its  pernicious  streams 
through  all  the  memliers;  but  their  power  and 
influence  were  unequal  to  such  a  ditRcult  and 
arduous  enterprise.  The  Greciiui  emperors 
were  prevented  from  executing  any  project  of 
this  kind  by  tlic  infelicity  of  the  times,  and  the 
various  calamitii's  and  tunmlts,  whicli  not  only 
reigned  in  their  dominions,  but  even  shook 
their  thrones,  wiiile  tho  power  and  opulence 
of  the  Roman  pontiffs,  and  the  superstition  of 
the  age,  prevented  the  Latins  from  accom- 
I)lisliing,  or  even  attempting,  a  reformation 
in  the  churcji. 

U.  In  the  liistory  of  the  popes,  we  meet  with 
a  lively  and  liorrible  picture  of  the  compli- 
cated crimes  that  dishonoured  the  ministers 
of  the  church,  who  were  peculiarly  required, 
by  their  sacred  office,  to  exhibit  to  the  world 
distinguished  models  of  piety  and  virtue.  Such 
members  of  the  sacerdotal  order  as  were  ad- 
vanced to  places  of  authority  in  the  church, 
behaved  rather  like  tyrants  "than  rulers,  and 
showed  manifestly,  in  all  their  conduct,  that 
they  aimed  at  an  absolute  and  unlimited  do- 
minion. The  popes,  more  esi)eciany,  incul- 
cated this  pernicious  ma.\im,  "  That  the  bishop 
of  Rome  is  the  sui)remc  lord  of  the  miiverec, 
and  that  neither  princes  nor  bishops,  civil 
governors  nor  ecclesiastical  rulers,  have  iiny 
lawful  power  in  churcli  or  state,  but  wliat  they 
derive  from  him."  Tiiis  extravairaiit  maxim, 
which  was  considered  as  the  sum  and  substance 
of  papal  jurisprudence,  tho  pontiftis  obstinately 
maintained,  and  left  no  means  unemployed, 
that  perfidy  or  violence  could  suggest,  to  give 
it  the  force  of  an  univensil  law.     It  wfis  in 


■t  (.'er.  u  Mae.>itriclit,  Historia  juris  I^clesiaslici, 
ect.  H53.— Jo.  Chilllet.  de  Juris  ulrlu..ique  Architec- 
ti.^,  cap.  vi.— Echard  et  Uuetif,  Scriptor.  Dominican, 
t.  i.— Acta  Sanctor.  Antwerp,  t.  i.  Januarii  ad  d.  vii, 

t  Sec  the  remarkable  letter  of  pope  Gregory  IX.  to 
the  archbishop  of  liourjjes,  whicli  was  written  in 
1227,  with  a  design  to  reprove  and  reform  the  vices 
which  had  infected  all  llie  various  orders  of  the 
clergy,  and  which  is  published  by  Dion.  Saminarllia- 
nus,  ill  his  Gallia  riiristi.nna.  toui  ii  in  Append.— 
See  also  Du  Fic»iic,  .Vnnoial.  in  Vilam  LudoviciSti 


344 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


consequence  of  this  arrogant  pretension,  tliat 
they  not  only  claimed  the  right  of  disposing 
of  ecclesiastical  benefices,  as  they  are  com- 
monly called,  but  also  of  conferring  civil  do- 
minion, and  of  dethroning  kings  and  emperors, 
according  to  their  good  pleasure.  It  is  true, 
this  maxim  was  far  from  being  universally 
adopted;  many  placed  the  authority  of  councils 
above  tiiat  of  the  pdlitifFs,  and  such  of  the 
European  kings  and  princes  as  were  not  in- 
gloriously  blinded  and  enslaved  by  the  super- 
stition of  the  times,  asserted  their  rights  with 
dignity  and  success,  excluded  the  pontifTs  from 
all  concern  in  their  civil  transactions,  and  even 
reserved  to  themselves  the  supremacy  over  the 
churches  that  were  establislied  in  their  domin- 
ions.* In  thus  opposing  the  haughty  preten- 
sions of  the  lordly  pontiffs,  it  was,  indeed,  ne- 
cessary to  proceed  with  mildness,  caution,  and 
prudence,  on  account  of  the  influence  which 
those  spiritual  tyrants  had  usurped  over  the 
minds  of  the  people,  and  the  power  they  had 
of  alarming  princes,  by  exciting  their  subjects 
to  rebellion. 

III.  In  order  to  establish  their  authority, 
both  in  civil  and  ecclesiastical  matters,  upon 
the  firmest  foundations,  the  Roman  pontitls 
assumed  to  themselves  the  power  of  disposing 
of  the  various  ollices  of  the  church,  whether 
of  a  lugher  or  more  subordinate  nature,  and 
of  creating  bishops,  abbots,  and  canons,  accord- 
ing to  their  fancy.  Thus  we  see  the  heads  of 
the  church,  who  formerly  disputed  with  such 
ardour  against  the  emperors  in  favour  of  the 
free  election  of  bishops  and  abbots,  overturn- 
ing now  all  the  laws  that  related  to  the  elec- 
tion of  these  spiritual  rulers,  reserving  for 
themselves  the  revenues  of  the  richest  benefi- 
ces, conferring  vacant  places  upon  their  clients 
and  their  creatures,  and  often  deposing  bishops 
who  had  been  duly  and  lawfully  elected,  and 
substituting  others  for  them  with  a  high  hand-j 
The  hypocritical  pretexts  for  all  these  arbitrary 
proceedings  were  an  ardent  zeal  for  the  wel- 
fare of  the  church,  and  an  anxious  concern, 
lest  devouring  heretics  should  get  a  footing 
among  the  flock  of  Christ. J  The  first  pontiff 
who  usurped  such  an  extravagant  extent  of 
authority,  was  Innocent  III.,  whose  example 
was  followed  by  Ilonorius  III.,  Gregory  IX., 
and  several  of  their  successors.  But  it  was 
keenly  opposed  by  the  bishops,  who  had  hith- 
erto enjoyed  the  privilege  of  nominating  to  the 
smaller  benefices,  and  still  more  effectually  by 
the  kings  of  England  and  France,  who  em- 
ployed the  force  of  warm  remonstrances  and 
vigorous  edicts  to  stop  the  progress  of  this  new 
jurisprudence. §     Louis   IX.   king  of  France, 

*  As  a  specuneii  of  this,  the  rearttr  may  piTusi^  fhc 
letters  of  Innocent  III.  and  the  emperor  Otho  IV., 
which  have  been  collected  by  the  learned  Georce 
Christ.  Gebaucr,  in  his  history  of  the  enii>eror  Rich- 
ard, written  in  German.  Other  princes,  and  more 
especially  the  kinps  of  England  and  France,  dis- 
played, in  the  defence  of  their  rights  and  privileges, 
the  same  zeal  that  animated  Otho. 

t  Many  examples  of  this  may  be  taken  from  the 
history  of  this  century.  Sec  Steph.  Baluzii  Miscellan. 
toni.  vii. — Gallia  Christiana  tom.  i.  Append. — Wad- 
ding, Aiinal.  Minor,  in  Diplomat.— Wood,  Antiquit. 
Oxon.  tom.  i. 

t  See  the  Epistle  of  Innocent  IV.  in  Bahiz  Mi< 
cellan.  torn   vii. 

5  Boulav,  (listor.  Acad,  ratis,  tom.  iii.  iv. 


now  the  tutelar  saint  of  that  nation,  distin- 
guished himself  by  his  noble  opposition  to  these 
papal  encroachments.  In  1268,  before  he  set 
out  for  the  Holy  Land,  he  secured  the  rights 
of  tjie  Galilean  church  against  the  insidious 
attempts  of  the  popes,  by  that  famous  edict, 
known  in  France  by  the  name  of  the  prag- 
matic sanction.*  This  resolute  and  prudent 
measure  rendered  the  pontiffs  more  cautious 
and  slow  in  their  proceedings,  but  did  not  de- 
ter them  from  the  prosecution  of  their  purpose. 
For  Boniface  VIII.  maintained,  in  the  most 
express  and  impudent  terms,  that  the  univer- 
sal church  was  under  the  dominion  of  tho 
pontiffs,  and  that  princes  and  lay  patrons, 
councils  and  chapters,  had  no  more  power  in 
spiritual  things,  than  what  they  derived  from 
Christ's  vicar  upon  earth. 

IV.  The  legates,  whom  the  pontiffs  sent  in- 
to the  provinces,  to  represent  their  persons, 
and  execute  their  orders,  imitated  perfectly 
the  avarice  and  insolence  of  their  masters. 
They  violated  the  privileges  of  the  chapters; 
disposed  of  the  smaller,  and  sometimes  of  the 
more  important  ecclesiastical  benefices,  in  fa- 
vour of  such  as  had  gained  them  by  bribes, 
or  the  like  considerations;!  extorted  money 
from  the  people,  by  the  vilest  and  most  iniqui- 
tous means;  seduced  the  unwary  by  forged  let- 
ters and  other  stratagems  of  that  nature;  ex- 
cited timmlts  among  the  multitude,  and  were, 
themselves,  the  ringleaders  of  the  most  furious 
and  rebellious  factions;  carried  on,  in  the  most 
scandalous  manner,  the  impious  traffic  of  relics 
and  indulgences,  and  dislinguished  themselves 
by  several  acts  of  profligacy  still  more  heinous 
than  the  practices  now  mentioned.  Hence  we 
find  the  writers  of  this  age  complaining  unani- 
mously of  the  flagitious  conduct  and  the  enor- 
mous crimes  of  the  pope's  legates.];  We  even  see 
pope  Alexander  IV.  enacting,  in  1256,  a  severe 
law  against  the  avarice  and  frauds  of  these  cor- 
rupt ministers, §  which,  however,  they  easily 
evaded,  by  their  friends  and  their  credit  at  the 
court  of  Rome. 

V.  From  tho  ninth  century  to  this  period, 
the  wealth  and  revenues  of  the  pontiffs  had 
not  received  any  considerable  augmentation; 
but  at  this  time  they  were  vastly  increased 
under  Innocent  III.,  and  Nicolas  III.,  partly 
by  the  events  of  war,  and  partly  by  the  muni- 
ficence of  kings  and  emperors.  Innocent,  as 
soon  as  he  was  seated  in  the  papal  chair,  re- 
duced under  his  jurisdiction  the  pra;fect  of 
Rome,  who  had  hitherto  been  considered  as 
subject  to  the  emperor,  to  whom  he  had  taken 
an  oath  of  allegiance  in  entering  upon  his  of- 
fice. He  also  seized  the  territories  of  Ancona, 
Spoleto,  and  Assisi,  the  town  of  Montebello, 
and  various  cities  and  fortresses  which  had,  ac- 
cording to  him,  been  unjustly  alienated  from 


*  Boulay,  tom.  iii. 

t  Sou  Baluzii  Miscellanea,  tom.  vii. 

J  See  that  judicious  and  e.\cellent  writer  Matth. 
Paris,  in  his  Historia  Major,  p.  313,  316,  540,  and 
particularly  p.  637,  where  we  find  the  following  re- 
markable words:  "  Semper  solent  legati,  et  onincs 
nuncii  pa  pales,  regna  quie  ingrediuntur  depauperare 
vel  aliquo  modo  perturbare."  See  also  Boulay,  Hist 
Acad.  Paris,  ton)  iii   p.  65!) 

§  This  edict  is  published  by  Lami,  in  his  Delirie 
Eiuditorum,  torn.  ii.  page  300. 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH-GOVKRNMENT,  &c.. 


345 


the  patrimony  of  St.  Puler.*  On  the  otlicr 
han<l,  Frederic  II.,  wlio  was  extremely  desirous 
tliat  the  pope  should  espouse  his  quarrel  with 
Ot.ho  IV.,  loaded  tiic  Roman  see  witli  the 
richest  marks  of  his  munificence  and  libe- 
rality, and  not  only  made  a  noble  present  in 
valualde  lands  to  tlio  po[ic's  brother, |  jjut  also 
permitted  Richard,  count  of  Fundi,  to  bc- 
queatli  all  his  possessions  to  the  Roman  sce,| 
and  confirmed  tlio  immense  donation  that  had 
formerly  been  made  to  it  by  the  opulent  Ma- 
tilda. Such  was  the  progress  tliat  Innocent 
111.  made,  during  his  pontificate,  in  augmcnt- 
iutr  the  s])lcndour  and  wealth  of  the  church. 
Nicolas  111.  followed  his  example  with  the 
warmest  emulation,  and,  in  1278,  gave  a  re- 
markable pix)of  of  liis  arrogance  and  obstinacy, 
in  refusing  to  crown  the  emperor  Rodolphus 
I.  before  he  had  acknowledged  and  confirmed, 
by  a  solenm  treaty,  all  the  pretensions  of  the 
Roman  see,  of  which,  if  some  were  plausible, 
many  were  altogether  groundless,  or,  at  least, 
extremely  dubious.  This  agreement,  to  which 
all  the  Italian  princes  subject  to  the  emperor 
were  obliged  to  accede,  was  no  sooner  con- 
cluded, than  Nicolas  reduced  under  his  tem- 
poral dominion  several  territories  in  Italy,  that 
liad  formerly  been  annexed  to  the  imperial 
crown,  particularly  Romania  and  Bologna. 
It  wa.s  therefore  under  these  two  pontiffs  that 
the  sec  of  Rome  arrived,  partly  by  force,  and 
partly  by  artifice,  at  that  high  degree  of  gran- 
deur and  opulence,  which  it  yet  maintains  in 
our  times. § 

VI.  Iimocent  III.,  who  remained  at  the 
head  of  the  church  until  the  year  1216,  fol- 
lowed the  steps  of  Gregory  VII.,  and  not  only 
usurped  the  despotic  government  of  the  church, 
but  also  claimed  the  empire  of  tiie  world,  and 
entertained  tlie  extravagant  idea  of  subjecting 
all  the  kings  and  princes  of  the  earth  to  his 
lordly  sceptre.  He  was  a  man  of  learning  and 
application;  but  his  cruelty,  avarice,  and  arro- 
gance,||  clouded  the  lustre  of  any  good  quali- 
ties which  his  panegyrists  have  thought  pro- 
per to  attribute  to  him.  In  Asia  and  Europe, 
ho  disposed  of  crowns  and  sceptres  with  the 
most  wanton  ambition.  In  Asia,  he  gave  a 
king  to  the  Armenians:  in  Europe,  he  usurped 
the  same  exorbitant  j)rivili-gc  in  1 204,  and  con- 
ferred the  regal  dignity  upon  Primislaus,  duke 
of  Bohemia. 11  The  same  year,  he  sent  to  Jo- 
hannicius,  duke  of  Bulgaria  and  Wallachia  an 
extraordinary  legate,  who,  in  the  name  of  the 
pontiff,  invested  that  prince  with  the  ensigns 
and  honours  of  royalty,  while,  with  his  own 
hand,  he  crowned  Peter  II.,  of  Arragon,  who 


*  See  Franr.  P.ifi.  Brcviar.  Romanor.  Ponlif.  toin. 
III.  p.  nil. — Miiralori,  Anlir|.  Ilal.  toiii.  i.  p.  3'J8. 

t  'I'liis  brolhir  <>{'  tin;  ponlifl'  was  railed  liicliard. 
See,  for  an  accDunt  of  lhi.s  transaction,  Muratori's 
fifth  volume,  p.  (),52. 

I  Otior.  Xtaynaldus,  Continual.  Annal.  Baronii,  ad 
annum  I'2I2. 

§  Raynaldus  ad  annum  1278.  The  papal  prrandeur 
and  opulence,  however,  were  seriously  impaired  by 
the  fury  of  the  French  revolution,  and,  although  the 
success  of  the  allied  powers  replaced  the  pontill'  on 
his  throne,  his  power  is  now  at  a  low  ebb. — Edit. 

II  See  Matth.  Paris.  Hist.  Maj. 

{)(J-  TI  Other  historians  affirm,  that  the  emperor 
Philip  was  the  potcntatf  who  cpuf'-rred  the  royal 
dignity  upon  Primislaus,  in  orrtei  to  strengthen  his 
paitv  against  Otho. 
Vol.  I.— 44 


had  rendered  his  dominions  subject  and  tri- 
butary to  the  cluirch,  and  saluted  liim  psblicly 
at  Rome,  with  the  title  of  king.**  Wo  omit 
many  other  examples  of  this  phrenetic  preten- 
sion to  universal  empire,  which  might  bo  pro- 
duced from  the  letters  of  tiiis  arrogant  pontiff, 
and  many  other  acts  of  despotism,  which  Eu- 
rope beheld  with  asloiiisliment,  but  also,  t»  its 
eternal  reproach,  with  the  ignominious  silence 
of  a  pa.ssive  obedience. 

VII.  The  ambition  of  tiiis  pope  was  not  sa- 
tisfied with  the  distribution  and  government 
of  these  petty  kingdoms.  He  extended  his 
views  farther,  and  resolved  to  render  the  power 
and  majesty  of  the  Roman  see  formidable  to 
tlie  greatest  European  kings,  and  even  to  the 
haughty  emperors  themselves.  When  the  em- 
pire of  Germany  was  disputed,  about  tlie  com- 
inenceinent  of  tliis  century,  between  Philip, 
duke  of  Suabia,  and  Otho  IV.  third  son  or 
Henry  the  Lion,  ho  espoused  at  first  the  cause 
of  Otho,  thundered  out  his  excommmiieations 
against  Philip,  and  on  the  death  of  the  latter 
(whicii  happened  in  1 209,)  placed  the  imperial 
diadem  upon  the  head  of  his  adversary.  But, 
as  Otho  was  by  no  means  disposed  to  submit 
to  this  pontiff's  nod,  or  to  satisfy  to  the  full  his 
ambitious  desires,  lie  incurred  his  lordly  indig- 
nation; and  Innocent,  declaring  him,  by  a  so- 
lemn e.vcomniunication,  imworthy  of  the  em- 
pire, raised  in  his  pi. ice  Frederic  II.  his  pupil, 
the  son  of  Henry  \'l.  and  king  of  tlie  two  Si- 
cilies, to  the  imperial  tiirone,  in  12I2.f  The. 
same  pontiff  excommunicated  Philip  Augustus, 
king  of  France,  for  having  dissolved  his  marri- 
age with  Ingelburga,  a  jirincess  of  Denmark, 
and  espousad  another  in  her  place;  nor  did  he 
cease  to  pursue  this  monarch  with  his  anathe- 
mas, until  he  engaged  him  to  receive  the  di- 
vorced ([ueen,  and  to  restore  her  to  her  lost 
dignity. j 

VIII.  But  of  all  the  European  princes,  none 
felt,  in  so  dishonourable  and  severe  a  manner, 
(he  despotic  fury  of  this  insolent  pontiff,  as 
John,  surnanied  Sans-Terrc,  or  Lackland,  king 
of  England.  This  prince  vigorously  opposed 
the  measures  of  limoceiil,  who  had  ordered 
tiie  monks  of  Caulerbury  to  choose  Stepher* 
Eangton  (a  Roman  cardinal  of  English  de- 
scent) archbishop  of  tliat  nee,  notwithstanding 
the  election  of  John  de  Grey  to  that  high  dig- 
nity, which  had  been  regularly  made  by  the 
convent,  and  had  been  confirmed  by  royal  au- 
thority.§  The  pope  after  having  consecrated 
fjangton  at  Viterbo,  wrote  a  soothing  letter  in 
his  favour  to  the  king,  accompanied  with  lour 


*  Miirat,  Ant.  Ital.  medii  JEvi,  t.  vi.  J.deFerrcras, 
Hist.  d'Espagiie,  t.  iv. 

t  All  this  is  amply  illustrated  in  the  Orig.  Gael- 
phio:e,  tom.  iii.  lib.  vii. 

{  Boulay,  Histor.  Acad.  Pari.s.  torn,  iii.— Daniel, 
Histoire  de  la  France,  tom.  iii. — Gerard du  Bois,  His- 
lor.  Eccles.  Paris,  tom.  ii. 

(i(j-  §  Dr.  Mosheira  passes  lightly  over  this  rupture 
between  king  John  and  Innocent  III.  mciitioniiip  in 
a  few  linos  the  interdict  under  which  England  was 
laid  by  that  pontilf,  the  exroinmuijicaiion  of  the 
king's  person,  and  the  impious  act  by  which  the  En» 
glish  were  declared  to  be  ab..iolved  from  their  alle. 
giance.  The  translator,  however,  thought  this  event 
of  too  great  importance  to  bo  treated  with  such  bre- 
vity, and  has,  therefore,  taken  the  liberty  to  enlarge 
lon.sidcrably  this  cichth  section,  which  contains  only 
twelve  lines  in  the  original. 


346 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH 


Fart  II. 


rings,  and  a  mystical  comment  upon  the  pre- 
cious Btonea  with  which  tlioy  were  enriched. 
But  Uiis  present  was  not  Kufficient  to  avert  the 
just  indignation  of  Iho  oftendod  monarch,  and 
he  sent  troops  to  drive  out  of  the  kingdom  the 
monks  of  Canterbury,  who  liad  been  engaged 
by  the  pope's  menaces  to  receive  Langton  as 
their  arclibisliop.  He  also  declared  to  the  pon- 
tiff, that,  if  lie  jKirsislad  in  imposing  a  prelate 
upon  the  sec  of  Canterbury,  in  opposition  to 
a  rei''ular  election  already  made,  the  conse- 
quences of  such  ])resumptuous  obstinacy  would, 
in  the  issue,  prove  fatal  to  the  papal  authority 
in  England.  Innocent  was  so  tar  from  being 
terrilicd  by  this  menacing  remonstrance,  that, 
in  120S,  ho  sent  orders  to  the  bishops  of  Lon- 
don, Worcester,  and  Ely,  to  lay  the  kingdom 
under  an  interdict,  in  case  of  tlie  monarch's 
refusal  to  yield,  and  to  receive  Langton.  John, 
alarmed  at  this  terrible  menace,  and  imwilling 
to  break  entirely  with  the  pope,  declared  his 
readiness  to  confii'm  the  election  made  at 
Rome;  but  hi  the  act  that  was  drawn  up  for 
this  purpose,  he  wisely  inserted  a  clause  to 
prevent  any  interpretation  of  this  cornjiliance, 
that  might  be  prejudicial  to  his  rights,  dignity, 
and  prerogative.  This  exception  was  rejected, 
and  the  interdict  was  proclaimed.  A  stop  was 
immediately  put  to  divine  service;  the  cliurclics 
were  sliut  in  every  parish;  all  the  sacraments 
were  suspended  except  that  of  bai)tism;  the 
dead  were  buried  in  the  highways  without  the 
usual  rites  or  any  funeral  solemnity.  But, 
notwithstanding  tliis  interdict,  the  Cistertian 
order  continued  to  perform  divine  service;  and 
several  learned  and  respectable  divines,  among 
whom  were  tlie  bishops  of  Winchester  and 
Norwich,  protested  against  the  injustice  of  the 
pope's  proceedings. 

The  interdict  not  producing  the  clTects  that 
were  expected  from  it,  the  pontilf  proceeded  to 
a  still  farther  degree  of  severity  and  presumj)- 
tion,  and  denouncetl  a  sentence  of  excommu- 
nication against  the  person  of  the  English  mo- 
narch. This  sentence,  which  was  issued  in 
1209,  was  followed  about  two  years  after  by  a 
bull,  absolving  all  his  subjects  from  their  oath 
of  allegiance,  and  ordering  all  persons  to  avoid 
him,  on  pain  of  excommunication.  But  it  was 
in  1212,  that  Innocent  carried  his  impious  ty- 
ranny to  the  most  enormous  length,  when,  as- 
sembling a  council  of  cardinals  and  prelates, 
he  deposed  John,  declared  the  throne  of  En- 
gland vacant,  and  authorized  Philip  Augustus, 
king  of  France,  to  execute  this  .sentence,  un- 
dertake the  concjucst  of  England,  and  unite 
that  kingdom  to  liis  dominions  for  ever.  He, 
at  the  same  time,  published  another  bull,  ex- 
horting all  Christian  princes  to  contribute 
whatever  was  in  their  power  to  the  success  of 
this  expedition,  and  promising,  to  such  as 
would  assist  I'liilip  in  this  grand  enterprise,  the 
same  indulgences  that  were  granted  to  those 
who  carried  arms  against  the  infidels  in  Pales- 
lino.  The  French  monarch  entered  into  the 
views  of  the  pontiff,  and  made  immense  pre- 
parations for  tlie  invasion  of  England.  John, 
on  the  other  hand,  assembled  hif  forces,  and 
was  putting  himself  in  a  posture  of  defence, 
when  Pandulf,  tlie  ])opo'3  legate,  arrived  at 
Dover,  and  proposed  a  conlfiience  m  order  to 


prevent  the  approaching  rupture,  and  to  avert 
tiie  storm.  This  artful  legate  terrified  the 
king,  who  met  him  at  that  town,  with  an  ex- 
aggerated account  of  the  armament  of  Philip 
on  the  one  h;uKl,  and  of  the  disaffection  of  the 
English  on  the  other;  and  persuaded  him  that 
there  was  no  possible  way  left  of  saving  his 
dominions  from  tiic  formidable  arms  ol  the 
French  king,  but  that  of  putting  them  under 
tlie  protection  of  the  Roman  see.  John,  find- 
ing iiimself  in  such  a  perplexing  situation,  and 
full  of  diffidence  both  in  tlie  nobles  of  his  court 
and  in  the  ofhccrs  of  his  army,  complied  with 
this  dishonourable  proposal,  did  homage  to  In- 
nocent, resigned  his  crown  to  the  legate,  and 
then  received  it  as  a  present  from  the  see  of 
Rome,  to  which  he  rendered  his  kingdoms  tri- 
butary, and  swore  fealty  as  a  vassal  and  feuda- 
tory.* In  the  act  by  which  he  resigned,  thus 
scandalously,  his  kingdoms  to  the  papal  juris- 
diction, he  declared  that  he  had  neither  been 
compelled  to  this  measure  by  fear  nor  by  force; 
but  that  it  was  his  own  volmitary  deed,  per- 
formed by  the  advice,  and  with  the  consent, 
of  the  barons  of  his  kingdom.  He  obliged  him- 
self and  his  heirs  to  pay  an  amiual  sum  of  se- 
ven hundred  marks  for  England,  and  three  hun- 
dred for  Ireland,  in  acknowledgment  of  the 
jwpe's  supremacy  and  jurisdiction;  and  con- 
sented that  he  or  such  of  his  successors  as 
should  refiise  to  pay  the  submission  now  stipu- 
lated, to  the  see  of  Rome,^  should  forfeit  all 
right  to  the  British  crown.f  "  This  shameful 
ceremony  was  performed  (says  a  modern  his- 
torian];) on  Ascension-day,  in  the  house  of  the 
Templars  at  Dover,  in  the  midst  of  a  great 
concourse  of  people,  who  beheld  it  with  confu- 
sion and  indignation.  John,  in  doing  homage 
to  the  pope,  presented  a  sum  of  money  to  his 
representative,  which  the  proud  legate  tram- 
pled under  his  feet,  as  a  mark  of  the  king's 
depcndance.  Every  spectator  glowed  with  re- 
sentment, and  the  archbishop  of  Dublin  esr 
claiined  aloud  against  snich  intolerable  inso- 
lence. Pandulf,  not  satisfied  with  this  morti- 
fying act  of  sui>eriority,  kept  the  crown  and 
sceptre  five  whole  days,  and  then  restored 
them  as  a  special  favour  of  the  Roman  see. 
John  was  despised  before  this  extraordinary 
resignation;  but  now  he  was  looked  upon  as  a 
contemptible  wretch,  unworthy  to  sit  upon  a 
throne,  while  he  himself  seemed  altogetlier  in- 
sensible of  his  disgrace." 

IX.  Innocent  111.  wassucceeded  in  the  pon- 
tificate by  Cencio  Savclli,  who,  assuming  the 
title  of  Honorius  III.,  ruled  the  church  above 
ten  years,  and  whose  government,  though  not 
signalized  by  such  audacious  exploits  as  those 
of  his  predecessor,  disclosed  an  ardent  zeal  for 
niamtaining  the  pretensions,  and  supporting 
the  despotism,  of  the  Roman  see.  It  was  in 
consequence  of  this  zeal  that  the  new  pontilf 
opposed  the  measures,  and  drew  upon  himself 
the  indignation  of  Frederic  II.  that  magnani- 

*  For  a  full  .iccount  of  tliis  shameful  ceremony, 
see  Mattlicw  Paris,  Historia  Major;  Boulay's  Hist. 
Acad.  Paris,  torn.  iii.  and  Rapin's  Ilistoire  d'Angle- 
ttrre,  torn.  ii. 

{0-  \  Cadcl  a  jure  rcgni,  is  tUe  expression  used  in 
llie  charier  of  rrsifrnaiion,  which  may  be  seen  a& 
Itnt'ih  in  the  Ilistoria  Major  of  Matthew  Faris. 

i  Dr.  SmoUet. 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


347 


mous  prinre,  on  wliose  head  he  himselT  liad 
placed,  in  1220,  tho  imperial  crown.  Tliis 
spirited  prince,  following  tho  steps  of  his>  illus- 
trious grandfather,  had  formed  the  resohitiou 
of  confirming'  tho  authority,  and  extending  tlie 
jurisdiction  of  the  emperors  in  Italy,  of  de- 
pressing the  small  states  of  Lomhardy,  and  re- 
ducing to  narrower  limits  the  immense  credit 
and  opulence  of  the  [lontilfs  and  hishops;  and 
it  was  with  a  view  to  tho  execution  of  these 
grand  projects,  that  he  deferred  the  execution 
of  the  soienm  vow,  hy  which  he  had  engaged 
himself  to  lead  a  formidable  army  against  tho 
infidels  of  Palestine.  The  pontitf,  on  the  other 
hand,  urged  with  imjtortunity  the  emperor's 
departure;  encouraged, animated,  and  strength- 
ened, by  secret  succours,  tho  Italian  states  that 
opposed  his  pretensions;  and  resisted  the  pro- 
gress of  his  power  hy  all  tiie  obstacles  wiiich 
the  most  fertile  invention  could  suggest.  These 
contests,  however,  had  not  yet  brought  on  an 
open  rupture. 

X.  In  1227,  Hugolin,  bishop  of  Ostia,  wliose 
advanced  age  had  not  e.xtinguished  the  fire  of 
his  ambition,  or  diminished  the  firmness  and 
obstinacy  of  his  spirit,  was  raised  to  the  ponti- 
ficate, assumed  the  title  of  Gregory  IX.,  and 
kindled  the  feuds  and  dissensions,  that  had  al- 
ready secretly  subsisted  between  the  church 
and  the  empire,  into  an  open  and  violent  flame. 
No  sooner  was  he  placed  in  the  papal  chair, 
than,  in  defiance  of  justice  and  order,  ho  ex- 
communicated the  emperor  for  delaying  his 
expedition  against  the  Saracens  to  another 
year,  though  the  postponement  manifestly 
arose  from  a  fit  of  sickness,  which  seized  that 
prince  when  he  was  ready  to  embark  for  Pa- 
lestine. In  1228,  Frederic  at  last  set  out,  and 
arrived  in  the  Holy  Land;  but,  instead  of  car- 
rying on  tho  war  with  vigour,  as  we  have  al- 
ready had  occasion  to  observe,  he  entered  into 
a  truce  witli  Saladin,  and  contented  himself 
with  the  recovery  of  Jern.salem.  The  pretend- 
ed vicar  of  Christ,  forgetting  (or  rather  unwil- 
ling to  persuade  himself)  that  his  master's 
"  kingdom  was  not  of  tiiis  world,"  made  war 
upon  tiio  emperor  in  Apulia  during  his  ab- 
sence,* and  used  his  utmost  efibrls  to  arm 
against  him  all  the  European  powers.  Frede- 
ric, having  received  information  of  these  per- 
fidious and  violent  proceedings,  returned  into 
Europe,  in  1229,  defeated  the  papal  army,  re- 
took the  places  he  had  lost  in  Sicily  and  in 
Italy,  and,  in  the  succeeding  year,  made  his 
peace  with  the  pontitf,  from  whom  he  received 
a  public  and  solemn  absolution.  This  peace, 
however,  was  not  of  long  duration;  f)r  the  em- 
peror could  not  tamely  bear  the  insolent  pro- 
ceedings and  the  imperious  temper  of  Gregory. 
He  therefore  broke  all  measures  with  that 
headstrong  pontifi',  distressed  the  states  of 
Lombardy  that  were  in  alliance  with  tho  see 
of  Koine,  seized  the  island  of  Sardinia,  (which 
Gregory  regarded  as  a  part  of  his  spiritual  pa- 
trimony,) and  erected  it  into  a  kingdom  for 
his  son  Entius.     The.se,  with  otlier  steps  that 


QU- *  TJnclpr  thp  fuftile  roi(,Mi  of  Henry  HI.  tJie 
pope  drew  iiniiieiise  sums  oiil  i>t"  HiikI^ikI  for  llie  sup 
port  of  this  impious  war,  and  carrieil  liis  audorious 
avarice  .^o  far,  as  to  demaml  a  fifili  pnrt  of  the  cc 
clesiastical  revenues  of  llie  whole  knigdoiu. 


were  equally  jirovoUing  to  (he  pope's  avarice 
and  ambition,  drew  the  thunder  of  the  Vatican 
anew  upon  tho  emperor's  head.  Frederic  was 
publicly  excommunicated  in  1239,  with  all  the 
circumstances  of  severity  that  vindictive  rage 
could  invent,  and  was  charged  with  the  most 
flagitious  crimes,  and  tlie  most  impious  blag- 
pliomies,  by  tlio  exnsjieratcd  pontilf,  who  sent 
a  copy  of  this  terrililo  accusation  to  all  the 
courts  of  Europe.  The  emperor,  on  the  Other 
hand,  defended  his  injured  reputation  by  so- 
lenni  declarations  in  writing,  while,  by  his  vic- 
torious arms,  he  avenged  himself  of  his  adver- 
saries, maintained  his  ground,  and  retluced  the 
pontilf  to  the  greatest  difliculties.  To  extri- 
cate himself  from  tliese  perplexities,  the  latter 
convened,  in  1240,  a  general  council  at  Rome, 
with  a  view  of  deposing  Frederic  by  the  una- 
nimous suflragcs  of  the  carrlinals  and  prelates 
who  were  to  compose  that  assembly.  Uut  the 
emperor  disconcerted  that  audacious  project 
by  defeating,  in  1241,  a  Genoese  fleet,  on 
board  of  which  the  greatest  part  of  these  pre- 
lates were  embarked,  and  by  seizing,  with  all 
their  treasures,  the  reverend  fathers,  who  were 
all  committed  to  close  confinement.  This  dis- 
ajt-pointment,  attended  with  others  which  gave 
an  unhappy  turn  to  his  affairs,  and  blasted  his 
most  promising  expectations,  dejected  and  con- 
sumed the  despairing  pontifl',  and  apparently 
contributed  to  the  conclusion  of  his  days,  which 
happened  soon  after  tliis  remarkable  eveot.* 

XI.  Geortry,  bishop  of  Milan,  who  succeed- 
ed Gregory  IX.,  under  tlie  title  of  Celcstine 
[V.,  died  before  his  consecration,  and  after  a 
vacancy  of  twenty  montiis,  the  apostolic  chair 
was  filled  by  Sinibald,  one  of  the  counts  of 
Fieschi,  who  was  raised  to  the  ponfificato  in 
1243,  assumed  tho  denomination  of  Innocent 
IV.,  and  yielded  to  none  of  his  predecessors  in 
arrogance  and  fury.f  His  elevation,  however, 
offercd  at  first  a  prospect  of  peace,  as  he  had 
formerly  been  attached  to  the  interests  of  the 
emperor;  and  accordingly  the  conferences  were 
opened,  and  a  reconciliation  was  proposed; 
l)ut  the  terms  offercd  by  the  new  pope  were 
too  imperious  and  extravagant,  not  to  be  re- 
jected with  indignation.}  Henco  it  was  that 
Innocent,  not  thinking  himeelf  safe  in  any  ])art 
of  Italy,  set  out  from  Genoa,  the  place  of  his 
birth,  for  Lyons,  in  1244,  and  assembling  there 
a  council  in  the  following  year,  dejiosed  Fre- 
deric, in  presence  of  its  members,  though  not 
with  their  approbation,  and  declared  the  imp&- 


*  Beside  tlio  original  and  authentic  writers  col 
lected  by  Muratori,  in  Ills  Srriptorea  rcrum  Italioa 
rum,  and  the  (>orman  and  Italian  historians,  tew  or 
none  of  whom  are  absolutely  free  from  partiality  in 
their  nroountfl  of  these  unhappy  contests  helween 
till'  empire  and  the  papacy,  see  I'etrus  de  Vineis, 
lOpistol.  lib.  i.  and  Matthew  i'aris,  in  his  llistoria 
Major.  Add  to  these  Raynaldi  Annal.— Muratori, 
Annal.  ItaliiC,  toni.  vii.  et  Antiquit.  Italic,  mcdii 
Alvi,  tom.  iv.  p.  li'iS,  .517.  It  must,  however,  bo  ob- 
sei-ved,  that  this  tirnnch  of  history  stands  yet  in  need 
of  farther  illustration. 

t  See  the  Hist.  Maj.  of  Matlliew  Paris,  ad  annum 
12.5.1. 

OlT"  t  These  preliminary  conditions  were,  1st, 
That  the  emperor  should  pive  up  entirely  to  the 
church  the  inlieritnncc!  which  was  left  to  it  liy  Matil- 
da; and,  2dly,  That  lie  would  oblige  himself  to  sub- 
mit to  whatever  terms  tlie  pop«!  stiould  think  fit  to 
propose,  as  conditions  of  peace. 


348 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


rial  throne  vacant.*  This  unjust  and  insolent 
decree  was  regarded  witli  such  veneration,  and 
looked  upon  as  so  weighty  by  the  German 
princes,  seduced  and  blinded  by  the  supersti- 
tion of  tbe  times,  that  they  proceeded  instantly 
to  a  new  election,  and  raised  first,  Henry,  land- 
grave of  Thuringia,  and,  after  his  death,  Wil- 
liam, count  of  Holland,  to  the  head  of  the  em- 
pire. •  Frederic,  whose  firm  and  heroic  spirit 
supported  without  dejection  these  cruel  vicis- 
situdes, continued  to  carry  on  the  war  in  Italy, 
until  a  violent  dysentery  put  an  end  to  his  lile, 
on  the  13th  of  December,  1250.  On  the  death 
of  his  formidable  and  magnanimous  adversary. 
Innocent  returned  into  Italy,!  hoping  now  to 
eojoy  with  security  tiie  fruits  of  his  amiiition. 
It  was  principally  from  this  period,  that  the 
two  famous  factions,  called  Guelphs  and  Gui- 
beUines,  of  which  the  latter  espoused  the  cause 
of  tlie  emperors,  and  the  former  that  of  the 
pontiffs,  involved  all  the  Italian  states  in  the 
most  calamitous  dissensions,  though  their  ori- 
gin is  much  earlier  than  this  century. j; 

XII.  Raynald,  count  of  Segni  and  bishop  of 
Ostia,  was  raised  to  the  pontificate  afler  the 
death  of  Innocent,  in  the  year  1254,  and  is 
distinguished  in  the  list  of  the  popes  by  the 
name  of  Alexander  IV.  During  the  six  years 
and  five  months  that  he  governed  the  see  of 
Rome,  his  time  was  less  employed  in  civil  af- 
fairs, than  in  regulating  the  internal  state  of 
the  church,  if  we  except  the  measures  he  took 
for  the  destruction  of  Conradin,  grandson  of 
Frederic  II.  and  for  composing  the  tumults 
that  had  so  long  prevailed  in  Italy.  The  men- 
dicant friars,  in  particular,  and  among  them 
the  Dominicans  and  Franciscans,  were  much 
favoured  by  this  pontiff,  and  received  several 
marks  of  his  peculiar  bounty. 

He  was  succeeded  in  tlie  Roman  see,  A.  D. 
1261,  by  Urban  IV.  a  native  of  Troyes,  of  ob- 
scure birth,  who,  before  his  elevation  to  the 
pontificate,  was  patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  and 
after  that  period  was  more  distinguished  by  his 
institution  of  tlie  Festival  of  the  Body  of 
Christ,  tlian  Ijy  any  other  circumstance  in  the 
course  of  his  roign.  He  had,  indeed,  formed 
several  important  projects;  but  their  execution 
was  prevented  by  liis  death,  which  happened  in 
1261,  after  a  short  reign  of  three  years.  His 
successor,  Guy  Fulcodi,  or  Clement  IV.  a  na- 
tive of  France,  and  l)ishop  of  Sabino  who  was 
raised  to  the  see  of  Rome  in  1265,  did  not  e^i- 
joy  much  longer  that  high  dignity.  His  name, 
however,  makes  a  greater  figure  in  histoiy, 
and  was  rendered  fainoiLs  in  many  respects, 
and  more  especially  by  his  conferring  of  tlie 
kingdom  of  Nnples  ujjon  Cliarlcs  of  Anjou, 
brother  to  Irfiuis  IX.  king  of  France.  The 
consequences  of  this  donation,  and  the  melan- 
choly fate  of  C/onradiii,  the  last  descendant  of 
Frederic  IT.,  (who,  after  an  unfortunate  battle 
fought  against  Charles,  was  publicly  beheaded 
by  the  barbarous  victor,  if  not  by  the  counsel, 


*  Tliis  assembly  is  placoil  in  the  list  vi'  wcumcriical 
or  general  councils;  Imt  it  is  not  acknovvleUgcd  as 
such  by  llio  Gallicaii  clmrcli. 

t  Uesiile  llio  writers  alre.idy  mentioned,  see  Nicol. 
de  Curbio,  Vit.  fnnocenlii  IV.  in  Baluzii  ivri?cellan. 
toin.  vii. 

t  See  Minat  Diss.  deGiielpli  ''t  Oiiihel  ni  his  Ant. 
Ital  med-  ..Ev   I   iv. 


yet  certainly  with  the  consent,  of  the  Roman 
pontiff,)  are  well  known  to  such  as  have  the 
smallest  acquaintance  with  tlie  history  of  these 
imhappy  times. 

XIII.  Upon  the  death  of  Clement  IV.,* 
there  arose  warm  and  vehement  contests  among 
the  cardinals  concerning  the  election  of  a  new 
pontiff.  These  debates,  which  kept  the  Ro- 
man sec  vacant  during  the  space  of  almost 
tlu-ee  years,  were  at  length  terminated  in  fa 
vour  of  Theobald,  a  native  of  Placentia,  and 
archbishop  of  Liege,  who  was  raised  to  the 
pontificate  in  1271,  and  assumed  the  title  of 
Gregory  X.f  This  devout  ecclesiastic  was  in  the 
Holy  Land  when  he  received  the  news  of  his 
election;  and,  as  he  had  been  an  eye-witness 
of  the  miserable  condition  of  the  Christians  in 
tiiat  country,  he  had  notliing  so  much  at  heart, 
as  the  desire  of  contributing  to  their  relief. 
Hence  it  was,  that,  immediately  after  his  con- 
secration, he  summoned  a  council  at  Lyons,  in 
1274,  in  which  the  relief  and  maintenance  of 
the  Christians  in  Palestine,  and  the  re-union 
of  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches,  were  the 
two  points  that  were  to  come  principally  un- 
der deliberation.  This  assembly  is  acknow- 
ledged as  the  fourteenth  general  council,  and 
is  rendered  particularly  remarkable  by  the  new 
regulations  that  were  introduced  into  the  man- 
ner of  electing  the  Roman  pontiff",  and  more 
especially  by  the  famous  law,  which  is  still  in 
force,  and  by  which  it  was  enacted,  that  the 
cardinal  electors  should  be  shut  up  in  the  con- 
clave during  the  vacancy  of  the  pontificate. 
With  respect  to  the  character  and  sentiments 
of  the  new  pope  we  shall  only  observe,  that, 
though  he  seemed  to  be  actuated  by  a  milder 
spirit  titan  many  of  his  predecessors,  he  incul- 
cated, without  the  least  hesitation,  tlie  odious 
maxim  of  Gregory  VII.,  which  declared  the 
bishop  of  Rome  lord  of  the  world,  and,  in  a 
more  particular  manner,  of  tlie  Roman  em- 
pire. It  was  in  consequence  of  this  presump- 
tuous .system,  that,  in  1271,  he  wrote  an  impe- 
perious  and  threatening  letter  to  the  German 
princes;  in  which,  deaf  to  the  pretensions  and 
remonstrances  of  Alphonso,  king  of  Castile,}; 
he  ordered  them  to  elect  an  emperor  without 
delay,  assuring  them,  that,  if  they  did  not  do 
it  immediately,  he  would  do  it  for  them.  This 
letter  produced  the  intended  effect;  an  electo- 
ral diet  was  assembled  at  Franckfort,  and  Ro- 
dolphus,  count  of  Hapsburg,  was  raised  to  the 
imperial  tlu'one. 

XIV.  Gregory  X.  was  succeeded,  in  1276, 
by  Peter  of  Tarentaise,  of  the  Dominican  or- 
der, and  bishop  of  Ostia,  who  assumed  the 
name  of  Innocent  V.,  and  died  about  four 
montlis  after  his  election.  Ottoboni,  a  native 
of  Genoa,  and  cardinal  of  St.  Adrian,  was 
chosen  in  liis  place,  took  the  title  of  Adrian 

*  Which  happiMind  in  November,  1208. 

t  For  records  of  this  election,  see  Wadding,  Annal. 
Minor,  t.  iv.  p.  330. 

(ig-  t  Alphonso,  king  of  Castile,  had  I>een  elected 
empiifor  in  l'2.5t),  by  the  archbishop  of  Treves,  the 
duki!  of  Saxony,  the  margrave  of  Krandenburg,  and 
the  king  of  Bohemia,  in  opimsition  to  Richard,  earl 
of  Cornwall,  who  was  at  the  same  time  raised  to 
the  same  dignity. by  Ibc  archbishops  of  Meniz  and 
C(dogne,  the  count  .Palatine  of  the  Rhine,  and  tfie 
iliike  of  Bavaria. 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHUR(  H  COVERNMENT,  &c. 


349 


V.,*  and,  .after  liaving"  rulnd  tlie  clmrcii  diiriiitj 
live  weeks,  was  succeeded  by  Peter  .fiilian,  l>i- 
sliop  ofTtisculum,  wlio  enjoyed  tliat  liiii;li  dig- 
nity about  eiglit  months,  ;ind  is  distino-uislied 
in  tlie  papal  list  by  tlie  name  of  Jolni  XXI.f 
The  see  of  Rome  continued  vacant  fur  about 
six  montlis  after  the  death  of  liio  last-mention- 
ed pontitf,  but  was  at  leugtji  filled,  in  Novem- 
ber, 1277,  by  JoJm  Caietan,  of  the  family  of 
Ursini,  cardinal  of  St.  Nicolas,  wliose  name 
he  adopted  for  his  papal  title.  This  famous 
pontiff  (as  has  been  already  observed)  aug- 
mented greatly  both  the  opulence  and  autho- 
rity of  the  bishops  of  Rome,  and  had  formed 
vast  projects,  which  his  undaunted  courage 
and  liis  remarkable  activity  would  have  ena- 
bled liim,  in  all  probability,  to  execute  with  suc- 
cess, had  not  death  Wasted  his  hopes,  and  di.-^- 
conccrted  his  ambitious  scliemes. 

XV.  He  was  succeeded,  in  128],  about  six 
months  after  liis  departure  from  this  li(b,  by 
Simon  de  Brie,  who  adopted  the  name  of  Mnr- 
tin  IV.,  and  was  not  inferior  to  Nicolas  111.  in 
ambition,  arrogance,  and  constancy  of  mind,  of 
which  he  gave  several  proofs  duiung  his  pontifi- 
cate. Michael  Palaeologus,  the  Grecian  empe- 
ror, was  one  of  tlie  first  princes  whom  this  auda- 
cious priest  solemnly  excommunicated;  and  the 
pretext  was,  that  he  had  broken  the  peace  con- 
cluded between  the  Greek  and  Latin  Churches, 
at  the  council  of  Lyons.  J  The  same  insult  was 
committed  against  Peter,  king  of  Arragon, 
whom  Martin  not  only  excluded  from  the  bo- 
som of  the  church,  but  also  deposed  from  his 
throne,  on  account  of  his  atlniujit  upon  Sicily, 
and  made  a  grant  of  his  kingdom,  fiefs,  and 
possessions,  to  Charles,  son  of  Philip  the  I5old,§ 
king  of  France,  it  was  during  the  execution 
of  such  daring  enterprises  as  these,  and  while 
he  was  meditating  still  greater  things  for  the 
glory  of  the  Roman  hierarchy,  that  a  sudden 
death,  in  liST),  obliged  him  to  leave  his  schemes 
unfmished.  They  were,  however,  prosecuted 
with  great  spirit  by  his  successor,  James  Sa- 
velli,  who  chose  the  denomination  of  Mono- 
rius  IV.,  but  was  also  stopped  short  in  the 
midst  of  his  career,  in  1287,  having  ruled  the 
church  only  two  years.  Jerome  d'Ascoli,  bi- 
shop of  Palestrina,  who  was  raised  to  the  pontifi- 
cate in  1288,  and  is  known  by  the  denomination 
of  Nicolas  IV.,  distinguished"  himself,  diu'ing 
the  four  years  that  he  remained  at  tlio  head 
of  the  church,  by  his  assiduous  a[)plication  both 
to  ecclesiastical  and  political  allairs.  Some- 
times we  see  the  disputes  of  sovereign  powers 
left  to  his  arbitration,  and  t(>rminated  by  his 
•decision;  at  other  times,  we  find  liim  maintain- 
ing the  pretensions  and  privileges  of  the  church 
with  the  most  resolute  zeal  and  the  most  ob- 
stinate perseverance;  and  occasionally  we  s(>c 
Jiini  employing,  with  the  utmost  assiduity, 
every  probable  method  of  propagating  the  G(j.s- 

(pj-  *  W<;  rcrtil,  in  tin;  Latin,  Adrian  VI.,  wliich 
is  morn  probably  an  error  of  Ihu  press,  tllan  a  fudll 
of  Ihi;  .'luthor. 

{pj-  t  I"  Ilio  nriiiinal,  I)r.  MoslKum  observes,  lliat 
thoso  thrpH  siiccrssors  of  Gri'j;(>ry  were;  cbi-li.Ml  mid 
carried  otr  by  death  in  lJ7i>;  but  hfro  he  has  fallen 
iiito  a  slight  mistake;  for  John  XXI.  died  on  I  In-  Kith 
of  May,  1-277. 

[  This  ronncil  had  been  liolden  under  the  pontifi 
cate  of  CieRory  .\ 

§  Philippp  le  Harili,  as  he  is  railed  by  the  Prenrh. 


pel  among  the  Tartars  and  other  eastern  na- 
tions. But  tiie  object,  which,  of  all  others, 
occupied  most  the  thoughts  of  this  vigilant  and 
zenJous  pontifl",  was  the  desperate  state  of  the 
('liristians  in  Palestine,  who  were  now  reduced 
to  an  extremity  of  mi.sery  and  weakness.  His 
laborious  ollbrts  wore  therefore  employed  for 
tiie  restoration  of  their  former  grandeur;  they 
were  however  emj)loyed  in  vain;  and  his  death, 
which  hap|)ene(l  in  1292,  disconcerted  all  the 
projects  he  b.ad  formed  for  that  purpose. 

XVI.  The  death  of  this  pontiff  was  follow- 
crl  by  a  vacancy  of  two  years  in  the  see  of 
Rome,  in  consequence  of  the  disputes  which 
arose  among  the  cardinals  about  the  election 
f)f  a  new  pope.  These  disputes  were  at  length 
terminated,  and  the  contending  parties  united 
their  suffrages  in  fivour  of  Peter,  surnamed 
l)e  Murrone,  from  a  mountain  where  he  iiad  hi- 
therto lived  in  the  deepest  solitude,  and  with 
the  utmost  austerity,  'i'lns  venerable  old  man, 
who  was  in  high  renown  on  account  of  the  re- 
markable sanctity  of  his  lifc  and  conversation, 
was  raised  to  the  pontificate,  in  1294,  and  as- 
sumed the  name  of  Celestine  V.  But  the  aus- 
terity of  his  manners,  being  a  tacit  reproach 
upon  the  corruption  of  the  Roman  court,  and 
more  especially  upon  the  luxury  of  the  cardi- 
nals, rendered  him  extremely  disagreeable  to  a 
degenerate  and  licentious  clergy;  and  this  dis- 
like was  so  heightened  by  the  whole  course  of 
his  administration,  (which  showed  that  he  had 
more  at  heart  the  reformation  and  purity  of 
the  church,  than  the  increase  of  its  opulence 
and  the  propagation  of  its  authority,)  that  he 
was  almost  universally  considered  as  unworthy 
of  the  pontificate.  Hence  it  was,  th.at  several 
of  tho  cardinals,  and  particularly  Benedict 
Caietan,  advised  him  to  abdicate  the  papacy, 
wliich  he  had  ar(;eptod  with  such  reluctance; 
and  they  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  their  ad- 
vice followed  with  the  utmost  docility.  The 
good  man  resigned  his  dignity  in  the  fourth 
month  after  his  election,  and  died  in  1296,  in 
the  castle  of  Fumone,  where  his  tyrannic  and 
suspicious  successor  kept  him  in  caj)tivity,  that 
he  might  not  be  engaged,  by  the  solicitations 
of  his  friends,  to  attempt  the  recovery  of  his 
abdicated  honours.  His  memory  was  precious 
to  the  virtuous  part  of  the  church,  and  he  was 
elevated  to  the  rank  of  a  saint  by  Clement  V. 
It  was  from  him  that  the  branch  of  the  Bene- 
dictine order,  called  Celcstincs,  yet  subsisting 
in  France  and  Italy,  derived  Its  origin.* 

XVII.  Bent^dict  Caietan,  who  had  persuad- 
ed tho  good  pontiff  now  mentioned  to  resign 
his  place,  succeeded  him  in  it,  in  1294,  with 
the  name  of  Boniface  VIII.  We  may  say, 
with  truth,  of  this  unworthy  prelate,  that  he 
was  born  to  be  a  jilagiie  both  to  church  and 
state,  a  disturber  of  the  repose  of  nations,  and 
that  his  attempts  to  extend  and  confirm  the 
despotism  of  the  Roman  pontiffs,  were  car- 
ried to  a  length  that  ajiproached  to  phrensy. 
As  soon  as  ho  entered  upon  his  new  dignity, 
he  claimed  a  supreme  and  irresistible  domin- 
ion over  all  the  powers  of  the  earth,  both  spi- 
ritual and  temporal,  terrified  kingtloms  and 
empires  with  tho  thunder  of  his  bulls,  called 
princes  and  sovereign  states  before  his  tribunal 

'   llelyot,  Hisloiro  lie'' Ordres   lorn   vi.  p    1,-U 


350 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II, 


to  decide  Uieir  quarrels,  anfrmented  the  papal 
jurisprudence  with  a  new  body  of  laws,  enti- 
tled the  Sixth  Bonk  of  the  Decretals,  declared 
war  against  the  illiistrions  flimily  of  Colonna, 
who  disputed  his  title  to  the  pontificate;*  in  a 
word,  exhibited  to  the  church,  and  to  Europe, 
a  lively  image  of  the  tyrannical  administra- 
tion of  Gregory  Vl(.,  whom  he  perhaps  sur- 
passed in  arrogance. t  Tliis  was  tlie  pontitV 
who,  in  1300,  instituted  the  famous  jubilee, 
whicli,  since  that  time,  has  been  regularly  ce- 
lebrated in  the  Roman  chiu'ch  at  fixed  periods. 
But  the  consideration  of  this  institution,  which 
was  so  favourable  to  the  progress  of  licentious- 
ness and  corruption,  as  also  the  otlier  exploits 
of  Boniface,  and  his  deplorable  end,  belong  to 
the  history  of  the  following  century. J 

XVIII.  In  the  Laterau  council  that  was 
holden  in  1215,  a  decree  had  passed,  by  the 
advice  of  Innocent  III.,  to  prevent  the  intro- 
duction of  new  religions,  by  whicli  were  meant 
new  monastic  institutions.  This  decree,  how- 
ever, seemed  to  be  very  little  respected,  cither 
by  that  pontifl'  or  his  successors,  since  several 
religious  orders,  hitherto  unknown  in  the  Chris- 
tian world,  were  not  only  tolerated,  but  were 
distinguished  by  peculiar  marks  of  approba- 
tion and  favour,  and  enriched  with  various  pri- 
vileges and  prerogatives.  Nor  will  this  tacit 
abrogation  of  the  decree  of  Innocent  appear 
at  all  surprising  to  such  as  consider  the  state 
of  the  cliurch  in  tins  century;  for,  not  to  men- 
tion many  enormities  tiiat  contributed  to  the 
suspension  of  this  decree,  we  shall  only  ol)- 
serve,  that  the  enemies  of  Ciiristianity,  and 
the  heretical  sects,  iiicreased  dail}'  every  where; 
and,  on  the  otlier  hand,  the  secular  clergy 
were  more  attentive  to  their  worldly  advanta- 
ges than  to  the  interests  of  the  church,  and 
spent  in  mirth  and  jollity  the  opulence  with 
which  the  piety  of  tlieir  ancestors  had  enrich- 
ed that  sacred  body.  The  monastic  orders 
also  had  almost  all  degenerated  from  their  pri- 
mitive sanctity,  and,  exhibiting  the  most  of- 
fensive examples  of  licentiousness  and  vice  to 
public  view,  rendered  by  their  flagitious  lives 
the  cause  of"  heresy  triumphant,  instead  of  re- 
tarding its  progress.  All  these  things  being 
considered,  it  was  tliouglit  necessary  to  encour- 
age the  establishment  of  new  monastic  socie- 
ties, who,  by  the  sanctity  of  their  manners, 
might  attract  the  esteem  and  veneration  of  the 
people,  and  diminisii  the  indignation  which 
the  tyranny  and  ambition  of  tlie  pontiffs  had 
so  generally  excited;  and  who,  by  their  dili- 
gence and  address,  their  discourses  and  their 
arguments,  their  power  and  arms,  when  these 
violent  means  were  required,  might  discover, 


OU"  *  The  rc:iKons  wliirli  thi\v  allrge  for  disputiiii; 
the  till<;  of  Boniface  to  tlie  ponlilicatc  were,  tliat  the 
re.sij,'nation  of  Celesticu'  was  not  canonical,  and  that 
it  was  brought  ahout  by  frandnlenl  nieanri. 

t  There  is  a  history  of  this  pontitf  written  liy  Jo. 
Rubens,  a  Benedictine  monk,  whose  work,  wtiicli  is 
entitled  Bonifucius  VIM.  e  Faniilia  Caietanoruni 
principuni  Ronianus  pontifex,  was  piiblislied  at  Rome 
in  the  year  1051. 

t  In  this  account  of  the  popes,  I  have  chiefly  fol- 
lowed Daniel  Papebtoch,  Francis  Pagi,  and  Nuratori, 
in  his  Annales  itali.-e,  consulting  at  the  same  time 
the  original  sources  collected  by  the  last  mentioned 
authorin  his  Rerum  Italicanim  Scriptores. 


persectite,  convert  and  vanquish,  the  growing 
tribe  of  heretics. 

XIX.  Of  the  religious  societies  that  aro.se  in 
this  century,  some  are  now  entirely  suppressed, 
while  othera  continue  to  flourish,  and  are  in 
high  repute.  Among  the  former  we  may  reck- 
on the  Ihimiliati,  (a  title  expressive  of  great 
humility  and  self-abasement,)  whose  origin 
may  bo  traced  to  a  much  earlier  period  than 
the  present  century,  though  their  order  was 
confirmed  and  new-modelled  by  Innocent  III., 
wiio  subjected  it  to  the  rule  of  St.  Benedict. 
These  humble  monks  became  so  shockingly 
licentious  in  process  of  time,  that,  in  1671, 
pope  Pius  V.  was  obliged  to  dissolve  their  soci- 
ety.* Wo  may  also  place,  in  the  list  of  sup- 
pressed fraternities,  the  Jacobins,  who  wore 
erected  into  a  religious  order  by  Innocent  III.,t 
and  who,  in  this  very  century,  not  long  after  the 
council  of  Lyons,  were  deprived  of  their  char- 
ter; and  also  the  Valli-Scholares,  or  Scholars 
of  the  Valley,  so  called  from  their  being  insti- 
tuted by  the  scholarcs,  i.  e.  the  four  professors 
of  divinity  in  tiie  university  of  Paris,  and  from 
a  deep  vale  in  the  province  of  Champagne,  in 
which  they  assembled  and  fixed  their  residence 
in  1231. 1  This  society,  whose  foundation  was 
laid  about  the  commencement  of  this  century, 
was  formerly  governed  by  the  rule  of  St.  Au- 
gustin,  but  is  now  incorporated  into  the  order 
of  the  Regular  Canons  of  St.  Genevieve.  To 
the  same  class  we  inay  refer  the  order  of  the 
blessed  Virgin  Mary,  the  mother  of  Christ, 
which  had  its  commencement  in  12CC,  and 
was  suppressed  in  1274;^  the  Knights  of  Faith 
and  (Jharity,  who  undertook  to  dispei-se  the 
bands  of  robijers  that  infested  the  public  roads 
in  France,  and  who  were  favoured  with  the 
peculiar  protection  and  approbation  of  Gre- 
gory IX;||  the  Hermits  of  St.  William,  duke 
of  Aquitaine;^  not  to  mention  tlie  Brethren 
of  the  Sack,  the  Bethlemites,  and  some  orders 
of  inferior  note,  that  started  up  in  this  centu- 
ry, which,  of  all  others,  was  the  most  remark- 
able for  the  number  and  variety  of  monastic 
establishments,  that  date  their  origin  from  it.** 

XX.  Among  the  convents  that  were  founded 
in  this  century,  and  still  subsist,  the  principal 
place  is  due  to  that  of  the  Servites,  i.  e.  the 
Servants  of  the  blessed  Virgin,  whose  order 
was  first  instituted,  A.  D.  1233,  in  Tuscany, 
by  seven  Florentine  merchants,  and  afterwards 
made  a  great  progress  under  the  government 
of  Philip  Benizi,  its  chief.  This  order,  though 
subjected  to  the  rule  of  St.  Augustin,  was 
erected   in  conunemoration  of  the  most  holy 


*  Helyot  His.  des  Ord.  t.  vi.  p.  1.52 

t  Mat.  Paris.  His.  Maj.  p.  101. 

t  Bonlay,  Hist.  Acad.  Paris,  totii.  iii.  p.  15.— Acta 
Sanct.  Mens.  Febrnar.  torn.  ii.  p.  4H2. 

§  Dion.  Sanimarthani  Gallia  Christiana,  torn.  i.  p 
C53. 

11  Gallia  Christ,  torn.  i.  Append,  p.  105.— Martenne, 
Voyage  Liter,  de  deux  Benedictins,  torn.  ii. 

U  .lo.  Bolandi  de  ordine  Ereniitar.  S.  Gulielmi  Com 
in  actis  SS.  Februar.  toin.  ii.  p.  472. 

**  Matth.  Paris,  Hist.  Major,  p.  815,  edit.  Watts, 
where,  speaking  of  the  prodigious  number  of  con- 
vents, founded  in  England  during  this  century,  he 
expresselh  himself  thus:  "Tot  jam  apparuerunt  or- 
dines  in  Anglia,  ut  ordinum  confusio  videretur  inor- 
dinate." 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &.c. 


351 


widowhood  of  the  blessed  Virgin;  for  which 
reason  its  monks  wear  a  black  iiabit,*  and  ob- 
serve Beveral  rules  iniknowii  to  other  monaste- 
ries. Tiie  protlii;ious  number  ol'  C'Inistians, 
that  were  made  prisoners  by  tiie  Mohamme- 
dans in  I'alestine,  gnxa  rise,  toward  tlie  con- 
chision  of  the  12tli  century,  to  tlio  iiistitulion 
of  tiie  order  named  the  Fraternity  of  tiie  'J'ri- 
nity,  wliich,  in  tlie  Iblkiwin;^  aye,  received  a 
still  greater  degree  of  stabilily,  initier  the  j»oii- 
tilicate  of  I  ionorius  HI.  and  also  of  ('lenient  IV. 
The  founders  of  this  institution  were  John  do 
Rlatlia  and  Felix  de  Valois,  two  pious  men 
who  led  an  austere  and  solitary  life  at  ("er- 
froy,  in  the  diocese  of  Meanx.  The  monks  of 
this  society  arc  called  the  Brethren  of  the  Holy 
Trinity,  because  all  their  churches  are  solemnly 
dedicated  to  that  profound  mystery;  they  arc 
also  styled  Mathuriiis,  from  having  a  monas- 
tery at  Paris,  erected  in  a  place  where  is  a 
chapel  eonscciiitcd  to  St.  Mathnrin,  and  bre- 
thren of  the  Redemption  of  Captives,!  because 
the  grand  design  of  their  institution  was  to 
find  out  means  for  restoring  liberty  to  the 
Christian  captives  in  the  Holy  Land,  in  wiiicli 
chariUible  work  they  were  obliged  to  employ 
a  third  part  of  their  revenue.  Their  manner 
of  life  was,  at  first,  extremely  abstemious  and 
austere;  but  its  austerity  has  been  from  time 
to  time  considerably  mitigated  by  the  indul- 
gence and  lenity  of  the  pontitrs.| 

XXI.  The  religious  society  that  surpassed 
all  the  rest  in  purity  of  manners,  extent  of 
fame,  number  of  privileges,  and  multitude  of 
members,  was  that  of  the  Mendicant  or  beg- 
ging friars,  whose  order  was  first  esUiblislicd  in 
this  century,  and  who,  by  the  tenour  of  tiicir 
institution,  were  to  remain  entirely  destitute 
of  all  fixed  revenues  and  possessions.  The  pre- 
sent state  and  circumstances  of  the  church 
rendered  the  establisliinent  of  such  an  order 
absolutely  necessary.  Tlie  monastic  orders, 
who  wallowed  in  opulence,  were,  by  the  cor- 
rupting influence  of  their  ample  pos.sessions, 
lulled  in  a  luxurious  indolence.  They  lost 
sight  of  all  their  religious  obligations,  trampled 
upon  the  authority  of  their  superiors,  sulTered 

*  Hcsiile  Ihc  ordinary  ^vriu•r^^  (if  moua.slic  hi.slury, 
see  Paiili  Florciitiiii  Uialog.  de  Orifjiiie  Urdiiiis  iScV- 
vormii.  in  ijaniii  Dclic.  Eruditoriiin,  loin.  i.  ]>.  J — 48. 

(il^  T  Hr()ii<;lilon  and  Bonie  older  writers  make  a 
distinction  between  the  Order  of  the  Kedeniption  of 
Captives,  and  llie  Fraternity  of  llie  liiily  Trinity. 
They  allese,  that  the  latter  order  was  m.-ititulcd  at 
Rome  by  St.  Philip  Neri,  in  1548,  ahont  350  year.-^  ;if- 
ter  the  first  establishment  of  the  former;  and  that 
the  monks  who  composed  it,  were  obliged  by  their 
vow  to  take  care  of  the  pilgrims  who  resorted  from 
all  parts  of  the  world  to  Kome,  to  visit  the  tombs  of 
St.  I'eter  and  St.  Paul. 

t  Beside  Hclyot  and  the  other  writers  of  inona.«lit 
history,  see  Touissaint  de  Plcssis,  Hist,  de  I'Kglise 
de  Meati.v,  torn.  i.  p.  172,  and  5<i6.  Boulay,  liist. 
Acad.  Paris,  torn.  ii.  p.  52.3.  Ant.  Wood,  Anti(|. 
Oxon.  tom.  i.  p.  i;}3.  In  the  ancient  records,  this  so 
cicty  is  fre(inently  styled  tlic  Order  of  Asses,  on  ac- 
count of  the  prohibition  of  the  use  of  horses,  wliich 
made  a  part  of  their  rule,  and  wliich  obliged  the 
mendicant  monks  to  ride  upon  asses.  See  Car.  du 
Fresne's  Notes  upon  Joinville's  Life  of  St.  Louis,  p. 
81.  But  at  pre.sent,  through  the  indulgence  of  the 
Roman  pontia's,  tlu^y  are  pirmitted  to  make  use  of 
horses  when  tliey  find  them  necessary.  An  order  of 
the  same  kind  was  instituted  in  Spain,  in  1228.  by 
Paul  Nolasco,  under  the  title  of  the  Order  of  St. 
Mary,  for  the  Redemption  of  Cnptivrs.  Sec  the  Acta 
Sanctorum.  Januat.  tom  li.  p.  980. 


heresy  to  trrumph  unrestrained,  and  the  secta- 
ries to  Ibrm  various  usscniblies;  in  short,  Uiey 
were  incapable  of  promoting  the  true  interests 
of  the  church,  and  iibandoncd  themselves, 
without  either  slhiine  or  remorse,  to  all  sorts 
of  crimes.  On  the  other  hand,  the  enemies 
of  the  church,  the  sects  which  had  left  its  com- 
mimioii,  I'oUowed  certain  austere  rules  of  life 
and  conduct,  wiiicji  Ibrnied  u  stroiro;  contrast 
between  them  and  (he  religious  orders,  and 
contributed  to  render  tiie  licentiousness  of  the 
latter  still  more  ofiiansive  and  shocking  to  the 
people.  These  sects  maintained,  that  volunta- 
ry [loverty  was  the  leading  and  essential  qua- 
lity in  a  servant  of  Christ;  obliged  their  doc- 
tors to  imitate  the  simplicity  of  the  apostles; 
reproached  the  church  with  its  overgrown  opu- 
lence, and  tlie  vices  and  corruptions  of  the 
clergy,  that  flowed  thence  as  from  their  natu- 
ral source;  and,  Ijy  their  commendation  of  po- 
verty and  coiitem[(t  of  riches,  ac<juired  a  high 
degree  of  respect,  and  gained  a  prodigious 
ascendancy  over  the  minds  of  the  multitude. 
All  tliis  rendered  it  absolutely  necessary  to  in- 
troduce into  the  church  a  set  of  men,  who,  by 
the  austerity  of  tlieir  manners,  Uieir  contempt 
of  riches,  and  the  external  gravity  and  sanctity 
of  their  conduct  and  maxims,  might  resemble 
those  doctors  who  had  gained  such  reputation 
to  the  heretical  sects,  and  who  might  rise  so 
fir  above  the  allurements  of  worldly  profit  and 
pleasure,  as  not  to  be  seduced,  by  the  promises 
or  threats  of  kings  and  princes,  from  the  per- 
formance oi'thc  duties  which  they  owed  to  the 
church,  or  from  persevering  in  tlieir  subordi- 
nation to  the  Roman  pontilfs.  Innocent  HI. 
was  the  first  of  the  popes  who  perceived  the 
necessity  of  instituting  such  an  order;  and  ac- 
cordingly he  treated  such  moiuistic  societies  as 
made  a  profession  of  jioverty,  with  the  most 
distinguishing  marks  of  his  protection  and  fa- 
vour. These  associations  were  also  encouraged 
and  patronised  by  the  succeeding  ponlitfs, 
when  experience  had  demonstrated  their  pub- 
lic and  extensive  utility.  But  when  it  became 
generally  known,  that  they  had  such  a  pecu- 
liar place  in  the  esteem  and  protection  of  the 
rulers  of  the  chiu'ch,  their  number  grew  to 
such  an  enormous  and  unwieldy  multitude, 
and  swarmed  so  prodigiously  in  all  the  Euro- 
pean provinces,  that  tlioy  became  a  burthen, 
not  only  to  the  people,  but  to  the  church  itself. 
XXII.  The  great  inconvenience  that  arose 
from  the  excessive  multiplication  of  the  mea- 
dicant  orders,  was  remedied  by  Gregory  X., 
in  1272,  in  a  general  council  which  he  assem- 
bled at  Lyons;  for  here  all  the  religious  orders, 
tiiat  had  sprung  up  after  tlie  council  holden  at 
Rome  in  12 15,  under  the  pontificate  of  InnO' 
cent  HI.,  were  sup[)ressed,  and  the?  "extrava- 
gant multitude  of  mendicants,"  as  Gregory 
called  them,  were  reduced  to  a  smaller  num- 
ber, and  confined  to  the  four  following  socie- 
ties, or  denominations,  viz.  the  Uoininicans, 
the  Franciscans,  tlie  Carmelites,  and  tlie  Her- 
mits of  St.  Augustin.*     The  Carmelite  order, 


*CoMCil.  J^iigd.  II.  A.  1271,  Can.  x.xiii.  in  Jo.  Har- 
duiiii  Conciliis,  imii.  vii.  p.  715.  "  Iniportuna  peten- 
tium  iiiiiiatio  F{(liL'iiiiiiiiii  (so  were  tlie  religious  or- 
ders cnlitledjimilti[iU(aiionein  e.ilorsit,  veruinetiam 
aiinuoriim  prir-MiiiptH":;,T  trmeritan  diversoriim  ordi- 
num,  piceLipuc  mcndicaniium  .    cfTisnatam  multi- 


352 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


whicli  had  been  instituted  in  Palestine  during 
tlie  precedinor  century,  was,  in  this,  trans- 
planted into  Europe,  and,  in  1'22G,  waslavour- 
ed  by  pope  Honorius  III.  with  a  place  among 
the  monastic  societies,  which  enjoyed  the  pro- 
tection and  approbation  of  the  cluirch.  I'he 
Hermits  of  St.  Augustin  had  for  their  founder 
Alexander  IV.,*  wlio,  observing'  tliat  the  her- 
mits were  divided  into  several  societies,  some 
of  which  f  jllovved  tlio  maxims  of  the  famous 
William,  others  the  rule  of  St.  Augustin,  while 
others  again  were  distinguished  by  diflerent 
denominations,  formed  the  judicious  project 
of  uniting  them  all  into  one  religious  order,  and 
subjecting  them  to  the  same  rule  of  discipline, 
even  that  whicli  bears  the  name  of  St.  Au- 
gustin. This  project  was  put  in  execution 
in  the  year  1256. 

XXI il.  As  the  pontiffs  allowed  to  tliesc  four 
Mendicant  orders  the  liberty  of  travelling 
wherever  they  thought  proper,  of  conversing 
with  persons  of  all  ranks,  of  instructing  the 
youth  and  the  multitude  wherever  they  went; 
and  as  these  monks  exhibited,  in  tJieir  out- 
ward appearance  and  manner  of  life,  more 
striking  marks  of  gravity  and  holiness,  than 
were  observable  in  the  other  monastic  so- 
cieties,— they  arose  as  it  were  at  once  to  the 
very  sunnnit  of  fame,  and  were  regarded  with 
the  utmost  esteem  and  veneration  in  all  the 
counti'ies  of  Europe.  The  enthusiastic  attach- 
ment to  these  sanctimonious  beggars  went  so 
fkr,  that,  as  we  learn  from  the  most  authentic 
records,  several  cities  were  divided,  or  can- 
toned out,  into  four  parts,  with  a  view  to  these 
four  orders;  the  lirst  part  was  assigned  to  the 
Dominicans,  the  second  to  the  Franciscans,  the 
third  to  the  Carmelites,  and  the  iourth  to  tlie 
Augustinians.  The  people  were  imwilling  to 
receive  the  sacraments  from  any  other  hands 
than  those  of  the  Mendicants,  to  whose 
cimrches  they  crowded  to  pcrfonn  their  devo- 
tions, while  living,  and  were  extremely  desi- 
rous to  deposit  there  also  their  remains  after 
dcatli;  all  which  occasioned  grievous  com- 
plaints among  the  ordinary  priests,  who,  being 
entrusted  with  the  ciu'e  of  souls,  considered 
themselves  as  the  spiritual  guides  of  the  multi- 
tude. Nor  did  the  influence  and  credit  of  the 
Mendicants  end  here;  for  we  find  in  the  history 
of  this  and  of  the  succeeding  ages,  that  they 
were  employed,  not  only  in  spiritual  concerns, 
but  also  in  temporal  and  political  aifairs  of  the 
greatest  consequence,  in  composing  the  difl'or- 
enccs  of  princes,  concluding  treaties  of  peace, 
concerting  alliances,  presiding  in  cabinet-coun- 
cils, governing  courts,  levying  taxes,  and  in 
other  occupations,  not  inerely  remote  from, 
but  absolutely  inconsistent  with,  the  monastic 
character  and  profession. 

XXIV.  We  must  not  however  imagine,  that 
all  the  Mendicant  friars  attained  the  same  de- 
gree of  reputation  and  authority;  for  the 
power  of  the  Dominicans  and  Franciscans 
surpassed  greatly  that  of  the  other  two  orders, 
and   rendered   them   remarkably  conspicuous 


tudinem   adinvenit  .  .  .  Hinc   nrdines   Mendicantes 
post  dirtinn  concilium  {i.  e.  the  Lateran  council  of 
1215)  adniventos  .       perpetua:  prohibitioni  subjici 
iniis." 
*  This  edict  of  pope  Alexandei  IV'.  is  to  be  found 


in  the  eyes  of  the  world.     During  three  cen- 
turies, these  two  fraternities  governed,  with  an 
almost    universal    and    absolute   sway,    both 
state  and  churcli,  filled  tlie  highest  posts  eccle- 
siastical and  civil,  taught  in  the  imivorsities 
and  cimrches  with  an  authority  before  which  all 
o{)position  was  silent,  and  maintained  the  pre- 
tended majesty  and  prerogatives  of  the  Roman 
pontitts  against  kings,  princes,  bishops,  and  here- 
tics, with  incredible  ardour  and  equal  success. 
The  Dominicans  and  Franciscans  were,  before 
the  Reformation,  what  the  Jesuits  became  after 
tliat  happy  and  glorious  event, — the  very  soul 
of  the  hierarchy,  the  engines  of  the  state,  the 
secret  springs  of  all  the  motions  of  both,  and 
the  authors  or  directors  of  every  great  and  im- 
portant event  both  in  the  religious  and  politi- 
cal world.     Dominic,  a  Spaniard  by  birth,  a 
native  of  Calaroga,  descendant  of  the  illustri- 
ous house  of  Guzman,  and  regular  canon  of 
Osma,  a  man  of  a  fiery  and  impetuous  temper, 
and  veliernently  exasiierated  by  the  commo- 
tions and  contests  which  the  heretics  of  differ- 
ent denominations  had  excited  in  the  church, 
set  out  for  France  with  a  few  companions,  in 
order  to  combat  the  sectaries  who  had  multi- 
plied in  that  kingdom.     This  enterprise  he  ex- 
ecuted with  the  greatest  vigour,  and,  we  may 
add,  fiu-y,  attacking  the  Albigenses  and  the 
other  enemies  of  the  churcli  with  the  power 
of  eloquence,  the  force  of  arms,  the  subtlety 
of  controversial  vv'ritings,  and  the  terrors  of  the 
inquisition,  which  owed  its  form  to  this  violent 
and  sanguinary  priest.     Passing   thence  into 
Italy,  he  was  honoured  by  the  Roman  pontiffs 
Iimocent  III.  and  Honorius  III.  with  the  most 
distinguislied  marks  of  tlieir  protection  and  fa- 
vour; and,  after  many  labours  in  the  cause  of 
the  churcli,  obtained  from  them  the  privilege 
of  erecting  a  new  fraternity,  whose  principal 
objects  were  the  extirpation  of  error  and  the 
destruction  of  heretics.     The  fii'st  rule  which 
he  adopted  for  this  society  was  that  of  the 
Canons  of  St.  Augustin,  to  which  he  added 
several  austere  precepts  and  observances.    But 
he  afterwards  changed  the  discipline  of  the 
canons  for  that  of  the  monks;  and,  holding  a 
chapter  of  the  order  at  Bologna  in  1220,  he 
obliged  the  bretliren  to  take  a  vow  of  absolute 
jioverty,  and  to  abandon  all  their  revenues  and 
possessions.     He  did  not  live  long  enough  to 
see  the  consequences  of  this  reformation;  for 
he   died  in  the  following  year  at  Bologna.* 
His  monks  were,  at  first,  distinguished  by  the 
denomination  o^ itreaching  friars,  because  pub- 
lic instruction  was  tlie  main  end  of  their  insti- 
tution; but,  in  honour  of  him,  they  were  after- 
wards called  Dominicans. t     [§;^  Just  before 


i 
i 


ill  the  Bullai'iuiii  Iloiiiaiiuni,  torn.  i.  p.  110. — See  also 
Act.i  Siiiictor.  Mens.  Feb.  toni.  ii.  p.  472. 

*  See  Jac.  Echard  and  liuelif  in  Scriptoribus  Ord 
Dominic,  toiii.  i.  p.  81.— Acta  Sanctor.  April,  torn 
iii.  p.  Sl'i. — Nicol.  Jansenii  Vita  S.  Dominiei.  Add 
to  these  the  loiig  list  of  writers  mentioned  by  Fabri- 
ciiis,  in  his  Bibliotheca  Lat.  nied.  jEvi,  torn.  ii.  p. 
137,  and  also  Antonii  Bremondi  Bullarium  Ordinis 
Doniinicani. 

t  The  Dominicans  are  called  Fratres  Majores  in 
several  of  the  ancient  records:  see  Ant.  Matthsei 
Analecta  vet.  JEvi.  t.  ii.  p.  172.  This  appellation, 
however,  by  which  the  Dominicans  were  set  in  op- 
position to  the  Franciscans,  who  called  themselves 
Fratres  Mtnorcs,  was  rather  a  term  of  derision  than 
a  real  name.— In    Fiance    the   Dominicans   were 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


353 


his  death,  Dominic  sent  Gilbert  de  Fresnoy 
with  twelve  of  the  brethren  into  England, 
where  they  founded  their  first  monastery  at 
Oxford,  in  1221,  and,  soon  after,  another  at 
London.  In  12T6,  the  mayor  and  aldermen 
of  London  gave  them  two  whole  streets  near 
the  river  Thames,  where  they  erected  a  very 
comjTiodious  convent,  wiience  that  place  still 
bears  the  name  of  Black-Friars;  for  so  the  Do- 
minicans were  called  in  England.] 

XXV.  Francis,  the  founder  of  the  celebrated 
order  that  bears  his  name,  was  the  son  of  a 
merchant  of  Assisi,  in  the  province  of  Umbria, 
and  led,  in  his  youth,  a  most  debauched  and 
dissolute  life.  Upon  his  recovery  from  a 
severe  fit  of  sickness,  which  was  the  conse- 
quence and  punishment  of  his  licentious  con- 
duct, he  changed  his  method  of  living,  and,  as 
extremes  are  natural  to  men  of  warm  imagi- 
nations, fell  into  an  extravagant  kind  of  de- 
votion, that  looked  less  like  religion  than 
alienation  of  mind.  Some  time  after  this,* 
he  happened  to  be  in  a  church,  where  he  heard 
that  passage  of  the  Scripture  repeated,  in 
which  Christ  addresses  his  apostles  in  tlie  fol- 
lowing rrvanner:  "  Provide  neither  gold,  nor 
silver,  nor  brass  in  your  purses,  nor  scrip  for 
your  journey,  neither  two  coats,  neither  shoes, 
nor  yet  staves;  for  the  workman  is  worthy  of 
his  meat."!  This  produced  a  powerful  effect 
upon  his  mind,  made  him  consider  a  voluntary 
and  absolute  poverty  as  the  essence  of  the 
Gospel  and  the  soul  of  religion,  and  prescribe 
this  poverty  as  a  sacred  rule  both  to  himself 
and  to  the  few  who  followed  him.  Such  was 
the  commencement  of  the  famous  Franciscan 
order,  whose  chief  was  undoubtedly  a  pious 
and  well-meaning  man,  though  grossly  igno- 
rant, and  manifestly  weakened  in  liis  intellect 
by  the  disorder  from  which  he  had  recently  re- 
covered. Nevertheless  the  new  society,  which 
appeared  to  Innocent  III.  extremely  adapted 
to  the  present  ^tate  of  the  church,  and  proper 
to  restore  its  declining  credit,  was  solemnly 
approved  and  confirmed  by  Ilonorius  III.,  in 
1223,  and  had  already  made  a  considerable 
progress  when  its  devout  founder,  in  1226,  was 
called  from  this  life.  Francis,  through  an  ex- 
cessive humility,  would  not  sufter  the  monks 
of  his  order  to  be  called  Fratrcx,  i.  e.  brethren 
or  friars,  but  Frateixidi,  i.  e.  little  brethren  or 
friars-minors, j;  by  which  denomination  they 
continue  to  he  distinguished. §  [^^  The  I'ran- 


calloil  Jarnhin.s,  from  the  Run  do  s<t.  Jaques,  where 
their  first  convent  was  erected  at  Paris. 

*  In  1-21(8.  t  Matthew  x.  9,  10. 

\  They  were  called  Fratricclli  by  the  Italians, 
Frcrcs  Mineurs  by  the  French,  and  Fralres  Minores 
by  the  l.atin  writers. 

§  Ronaventnra  wrote  a  life  of  St.  Francis,  which 
has  p«ssed  through  several  editions.  Hut  the  most 
ample  and  circumstantial  accounts  of  this  extraor- 
dinary man  are  t'iven  by  Luke  Wadding,  in  the  first 
volume  of  his  Annal.  Ord.  Min.  a  work  which  con- 
tains a  complete  history  of  the  Franciscan  order, 
confirmed  by  a  preat  number  of  authentic  records, 
and  the  best  edition  of  which  is  that  published  at 
Rome  in  1731,  and  the  foUowin;;  years,  in  eighteen 
volumes  in  folio,  by  Joseph  Maria  Fonseca  ah  F.bora. 
II  is  to  the  same  VVaddiug  that  we  are  obliged  for 
the  Oposcula  Sti.  Francisci,  and  the  Bibliotheca  Or- 
dinis  Minorum.  the  former  of  which  appeared  at 
Antwerp  in  1()23,  and  the  latter  at  Rome  in  ItiSO. 
The  other  writers,  who  have  given  accounts  of  the 
Franciscan  order,  are  mentioned  by  Jo.  Alb.  Fabn 
Vol.  I.— 45 


ciscans  came  into  England  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  III.,  and  their  first  establishment  was  at 
Canterbury.] 

XXVI.  These  two  orders  restored  the  church  ^- 
from  that  declining  condition  in  which  it  had 
been  languishing  for  many  years,  by  the  zeal 
and  activity  with  which  t!iey  set  themselves  to 
discover  and  extirpate  lieretics,  to  undertake 
various  negotiations  and  embassies  for  the  in- 
terest of  tlie  hierarchy,  and  to  confirm  the  wa- 
vering multitude  in  an  implicit  obedience  to 
the  Roman  pontiffs.  These  spiritual  rulers, 
on  the  other  liand,  sensible  of  their  obligations 
to  the  new  monks,  which,  no  doubt,  were  very 
great,  not  only  engaged  tliem  in  the  most  im- 
portant atlairs,  and  raised  them  to  the  most 
eminent  stations  in  the  church,  but  also  accu- 
mulated upon  them  employments  and  privi- 
leges, whicli,  if  tliey  enriched  them  on  the  one 
hand,  could  not  iail  to  render  them  odious  on 
the  other,*  and  to  excite  the  envy  and  com- 
plaints of  otjier  ecclesiastics.  Such  (among 
many  other  extraordinary  prerogatives)  was 
the  permission  they  received  from  the  pontiffs, 
of  preaching  to  tlie  multitude,  hearing  confes- 
sions, and  pronouncing  nbsolulion,  without  any 
license  from  the  bishops,  and  even  without 
consulting  them;  to  which  we  may  add  the 
treasure  of  ample  and  extensive  iiididgcnces, 
whose  distribution  was  committed  by  the  popes 
to  the  Franciscans,  as  a  means  of  subsistence, 
and  a  rich  indemnification  for  their  voluntary 
j)overty.j  These  acts  of  liberality  and  marks 
of  protection,  lavished  upon  the  Dominican 
and  Franciscan  friars  with  such  an  ill-judged 
profusion,  as  they  overturned  the  ancient  dis- 
cipline of  the  church,  and  were  a  manifest  en- 
croachment upon  the  rights  of  the  first  and 
second  orders  of  tlie  T3cclesiastical  rulers,  pro- 
duced the  most  unhappy  and  bitter  dissensions 
between  the  Mendicant  orders  and  the  bishops 
And  these  dissensions,  extending  their  conta- 
gious influence  beyond  the  limits  of  the  church, 
excited  in  all  the   Euroj)can  provinces,  and 

cins,  in  his  Bililiotlioca  Lat.  medii  JEvi,  torn.  ii.  p. 
573. 

*  The  popes  were  so  iiifatiiated  with  the  Francis- 
cans, that  those  wlioin  Ihey  could  not  employ  more 
honourably  in  thrir  civil  negotiations  or  domestic 
aliairs,  they  m;iile  their  publicans,  beadles,  &c.  See, 
fur  a  confirmation  of  this,  the  following  passages  in 
llic  llistor.  Major  of  Matthew  Paris  '  Fratres  Mi- 
uores  et  Prajdicatores  (s.iys  he)  invitos,  lit  credi- 
mus,  jam  suos  fecit  dominus  pajia,  non  sine  ordinis 
eorum  Itesione  et  scandalo,  teloniarios  et  bedcllos,' 
p.  (VM. — '  Non  cessavit  papa  pecuniam  aggregare, 
faciens  de  Fratribus  PrEcdicatoribus,  et  Minoribiis, 
etiain  invitis,  non  jam  piscatoribus  hominum,  sed 
nuinmorum,'  p.  ti3!l. — '  Erant  Minores  et  PriEiiica- 
tores  magnatum  consiliatores  et  nuntii,  etiam  domi- 
ni  pap;B  secretarii;  nimis  in  hoc  gratiam  sibi  secula- 
rem  comparantes;'  ad  an.  123(),  p.  3.34. — '  Facti  sunt 
eo  tempore  Priedicatores  et  Minores  regum  consilia- 
rii  et  nuntii  s|ieciiiles.  ut  sicut  quondam  mollibiia 
induti  in  riomihus  rcL'Uin  erant,  ita  tunc  (|ni  vilibus 
vrsticliantnr  in  doniihus.  cameris,  et  palatiis  essent 
principum:'  ad  an.  |-j;i'.i.  p.  4(i5. 

t  Sc>e  Halu/.ii  iMij^ridlan.  torn.  iv.  p.  400,  torn.  vli. 
p.  31li!. — It  is  well  known,  that  no  relicious  order 
had  the  distribution  of  so  many  and  such  ample  in- 
dulgences as  the  Franciscans.  Nor  could  these  good 
friars  live  and  multiply  as  they  did,  without  some 
source  of  profit,  since,  by  their  institution,  they  were 
to  he  destitute  of  revenues  and  possessions  of  every 
kind.  I{  was  therefore  in  the  place  of  fixed  revenues, 
that  such  lucrative  indulgences  were  put  into  their 
hands. 


354 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


even  in  the  city  of  Rome,*  under  the  very  eyes 
of  the  pontiffs,  the  most  dreadful  disturbances 
and  tumults.  The  measures  taken  by  the 
popes  to  appease  tliese  tumults  were  various, 
but  ineffectual,  because  tlieir  principal  view 
was  to  support  the  cause  of  their  faithful  ser- 
vants and  creatures,  the  Mendicant  friars,  and 
to  maintain  tlieni  in  the  possession  of  their 
honours  and  advantages. f 

XXVII.  Among  all  the  controversies  which 
were  maintained  by  the  Mendicants,  whether 
against  the  bishops,  abbots,  schools,  or  other 
religious  orders,  that  was  the  most  famous 
wlhcli  arose  in  122S,  between  the  Dominicans 
and  tlie  university  of  Paris,  and  was  prolonged, 
with  various  success,  until  the  year  1269.  The 
Dominicans  claimed,  as  their  uoques-tionablc 
right,  two  theological  classes  in  that  celebrated 
university:  one  of  these  had  been  taken  from 
them,  and  an  academical  law  had  passed,  im- 
porting that  no  religious  order  should  have 
what  the  Dominicans  demanded.  Tiie  latter, 
however,  persisted  obstinately  in  reclaiming 
the  professorship  they  had  lost;  while  tlie  doc- 
tors of  the  university,  perceiving  tho  restless 
and  contentious  spirit  that  animated  their  ef- 
forts, excluded  them  from  their  society,  and 
formed  themselves  into  a  separate  body.  This 
measure  was  considered  as  a  declaration  of 
war;  and,  accordingly,  the  most  vehement 
commotions  arose  between  the  contending  par- 
ties. The  debate  was  brought  before  the  tri- 
bunal of  the  Roman  pontiff,  in  l-o.'j;  and  the 
decision,  as  might  have  been  expected,  was  in 
favour  of  the  monks.  Alexander  IV.  ordered 
the  university  of  Paris  not  only  to  restore  the 
Dominicans  to  their  former  place  in  tliat  learn- 
ed society,  but  moreover  to  make  a  grant  to 
them  of  as  many  classes  or  professorships  as 
they  should  think  proper  to  demand.  This 
unjust  and  despotic  sentence  was  opposed  by 
the  university  with  the  utmost  vigour;  and 
thus  the  contest  was  renewed  with  double  fury. 
But  the  magistrates  of  Paris  were,  at  length, 
so  terrified  and  overwhelmed  with  the  thun- 
dering edicts  and  fonnidable  mandates  of  the 
exasperated  pontiff,  that,  in  1259,  they  yielded 
to  superior  force,  and  satisfied  tlie  demands 
not  only  of  the  Dominican,  but  also  of  the 
Franciscan  order,  in  obedience  to  the  pope, 
and  to  the  extent  of  his  commands.!  Hence 
arose  that  secret  enmity  and  silent  ill-will, 
which  prevailed  so  long  between  the  univer- 
sity and  the  Mendicant  orders,  especially  the 
Dominicans. 


*  Baluzii  Miscellan.  tnm.  vii.  p.  441. 

t  See  Jo.  Laiinoii  Explicata  Ecclesis  Traditio 
circa  Canonem,  Omiiis  utriusque  Sexiis,  torn.  i.  part 
i.  op.  p.  247.— Rich.  Simon,  Critique  de  la  Bihlio- 
theque  des  Auteurs  Ecclesiastiques,  par  M.  Du-Pin, 
torn.  i.  p.  326. — L'Enfaiit,  Histoire  du  C'oucile  de 
Pise,  torn.  i.  p.  310,  toni.  ii  p.  8. — Echardi  Scriptores 
Dominican!,  tom.  i.  p.  404.  The  circumstances  of 
these  haming  contests  are  mentioned  by  all  the 
writers,  both  of  this  and  the  following  centuries. 

X  See  CfBs.  Egass.  du  Boulay,  Histor.  Acad.  Paris, 
tom.  iii-  138,240,  &c. — Jo.  Cordesii,  or  (to  mention 
him  by  the  name  he  assumed)  Jo.  Alitophili  Prjef. 
Histor.  et  Aijologetica  ad  Opera  Giilielmi  de  S. 
Amore— Antoine  Touroii,  Vie  de  S.  Thomas,  p. 
i;j4.— Wadding,  Annal.  Minor,  tom.  iii.  p  247,  366. 
tom.  iv.  p.  14,  52,  106,  263.— Malth.  Pari.s,  Histor. 
Ma.jor.adan.  1228.— NangisChronicon,  apudd'Ache 
ni  Spicilegium,  tom.  iii.  p.  38. 


XXVIII.  In  this  famous  debate  none  pleaded 
the  cause  of  the  university  with  greater  spirit, 
or  asserted  its  rights  with  greater  zeal  and  ac- 
tivity, than  Guillamne  de  St.  Amour,  doctor  of 
the  Sorbonne,  a  man  of  true  genius,  worthy  to 
have  lived  in  better  times,  and  capable  of 
adorning  a  more  enlightened  age.  This  vigor- 
ous and  able  champion  attacked  the  whole 
Mendicant  tribe  in  various  treatises  with  the 
greatest  vehemence,  and  more  especially  in  a 
book  "  concerning  the  perils  of  the  latter 
times."  He  boldly  maintained,  that  their  dis- 
cipline was  in  direct  opposition  to  the  precepts 
of  the  Gospel;  and  that,  in  confirming  ajid 
approving  it,  the  popes  had  been  guilty  of  te- 
merity, and  tho  church  was  become  chargeable 
with  error.  What  gave  occasion  to  the  re- 
markable title  of  this  celebrated  work,  was  the 
author's  being  entirely  persuadetl  that  the  pro- 
phecy of  St.  Paul,  relating  to  the  "  perilous 
times  that  v/cre  to  come  in  the  last  days,"* 
was  fulfilled  in  tlie  establishment  of  the  Men- 
dicant friars.  This  notion  St.  Amour  main- 
tained in  the  warmest  matmer,  and  proved  it, 
principally  from  the  book  called  the  Everlast- 
ing Gospel,  which  was  publicly  explained  by 
the  Dominicans  and  Franciscans,  and  of  which 
we  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  more  fully 
hereafter.  The  fury  and  resentment  of  the 
Mendicants  were  therefore  kindled  in  a  pecu- 
liar manner  against  this  formidable  adversary, 
whom  they  persecuted  without  interruption, 
until,  in  1266,  the  pope  ordered  his  book  to  be 
publicly  burned,  and  banislied  its  author  out 
of  France,  lest  he  should  excite  the  Sorbonne 
to  renew  their  opposition  to  these  spiritual 
beggars.  St.  Amour  submitted  to  the  p>apal 
edict,  and  retired  into  his  native  province  of 
Franche-Comte;  but,  under  the  pontificate  of 
Clement  IV.,  he  returned  to  Paris,  where  he 
illustrated  the  tenets  of  his  famous  book  in  a 
more  extensive  work,  and  died  esteemed  and 
regretted  by  all,  except  tho  Mendicants.'^ 

XXIX.  While  the  pontiffs  accumulated  upon 
the  Mendicants  the  most  honourable  distinc- 
tions, and  the  most  valuable  privileges  which 
they  had  to  bestow,  they  exposed  them  still 
more  and  more  to  the  envy  and  hatred  of  the 
rest  of  the  clergy;  and  this  hatred  was  consi- 
derably increased  by  the  audacious  arrogance 
that  discovered  itself  every  where  in  the  con- 


*  2  Timothy,  iii.  1. 

t  The  doctors  of  the  university  of  Paris  profess 
still  a  high  respect  for  the  memory  of  St.  Amour,  es- 
teem his  book,  and  deny  obstinately  that  he  was 
ever  placed  in  the  list  of  heretics.  The  Dominicans, 
on  the  contrary,  consider  liim  as  a  heretic  of  the  first 
magnitude,  if  we  may  use  that  e.xpression.  Such  of 
his  works  as  could  be  found  were  published  in  1632, 
at  Paris,  (though  the  title  bears  Conslantia:,)  by  Cor- 
desius,  who  has  introduced  them  by  a  long  and  learn- 
ed preface,  in  which  he  defends  the  reputation  and 
ortiiodo.xy  of  St.  Amour  in  a  triumphant  manner. 
Tltis  learned  editor,  to  avoid  the  resentment  and 
fury  of  the  Mendicants,  concealed  his  real  name,  and 
assumed  that  of  Jo.  Alitophilus.  This  did  not,  how- 
ever, save  his  book  from  the  vengeance  of  these  fri- 
ars, who  obtained  from  Louis  XIII.  in  1633,  an  edict 
for  its  suppression,  which  Touron,  a  Dominican 
friar,  has  publislied  in  his  Vie  de.  St.  Thomas. — For  a. 
farther  account  of  the  life  of  this  famous  doctor,  see 
Wadding,  Annal.  Minor,  tom.  iii.  p.  366. — Boulay, 
Hist.  Acad.  Paris  torn.  iii.  p.  266.  -Nat.  Alex.  Hist. 
Eccles.  Scfc.  XIII.  cap.  iii.  art.  vii.  p.  95. — Rich.  Si- 
mon, Critique  de  la  Biblioth.  Eccles.  de  M.  Du  Pin, 
t.  i.  p.  345. 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


S55 


duct  of  these  supercilious  orders.  They  had  tlie 
presumptiou  to  declare  puhliply,  that  they  had 
a  divine  impulse  and  ronimission  to  illustrate 
and  maintain  the  religion  of  Jesus;  they  treat- 
ed with  the  utmost  insolence  and  contempt  all 
ranks  and  orders  of  the  priesthood;  they  af- 
firmed, without  a  blush,  that  the  true  method 
of  obtaining  salvation  was  revealed  to  them 
alone,  proclaimed  with  ostentation  the  superior 
efficacy  and  virtue  of  their  indulgences,  and 
vaunted,  beyond  measure,  their  interests  at 
the  Court  of  Heaven,  and  their  familiar  con- 
nexions with  the  Supreme  Beinjr,  the  Virgin 
Mary,  and  the  saints  in  glory.  Ry  these  im- 
pious wiles,  they  so  deluded  and  captivated 
the  miserable  and  blinded  multitude,  that  they 
would  not  entrust  any  others  but  the  Mendicants 
with  the  care  of  their  souls,  their  spiritual  and 
eternal  concerns.*  We  may  give,  as  a  speci- 
men of  these  notorious  frauds,  the  ridiculous 
fable,  which  the  Carmelites  impose  upon  the 
credulous,  relating  to  Simon  Stockius,  the  ge- 
neral of  their  order,  who  died  about  the  begin- 
ning of  this  century.  To  this  ecclesiastic,  they 
tell  us  that  the  Virgin  Mary  appeared,  and 
gave  him  a  solemn  promise,  that  the  souls  of 
such  as  left  the  world  with  the  Carmelite 
cloak  or  scapulary  upou  their  shoulders,  should 
be  infallibly  preserved  from  eternal  damna- 
tion.! And  here  let  it  be  observed  to  the  as- 
tonishment of  all,  in  whom  the  power  of  su- 
perstition has  not  extinguislicd  the  plainest 
dictates  of  common  sense,  that  this  ridiculous 
and  impious  fiction  found  patrons  and  defend- 
ers even  among  the  pontiffs.  J 

XXX.  It  is  however  certain,  that  the  Men- 
dicant orders,  though  tliey  were  considered  as 
the  main  pillars  of  the  hierarchy,  and  the  prin- 
cipal supports  of  the  papal  authority,  involved 
the  pontiffs,  after  the  death  of  Dominic  and 
Francis,  in  many  perplexities  and  troubles, 
which  were  no  sooner  dispelled,  than  they 
were  unhappily  renewed;  and  thus  the  church 
was  often  reduced  to  a  state  of  innninent  dan- 
ger. These  tunmlts  and  perplexities  began 
with  the  contests  between  the  Dominicans  and 
Franciscans  about  pre-eminence,  in  which 
these  humble  monks  mutually  indulged  them- 
selves in  the  bitterest  invectives  and  the  se- 
verest accusations  both  in  their  writings  and 
their  discourses,  and  opposed  each  other's  in- 
terests with  all  tlie  fury  of  disajipointed  ambi- 
tion. Many  schemes  were  formed,  and  vari- 
ous measures  were  employed,  for  terminating 
these  scandalous  dissensions;  but  the  root  of 
the  evil  still  remained,  and  the  flame  was  ra- 
ther covered  than  extinguished. §  Beside  this, 
the  Franciscans  were  early  divided  among 
themselves,  and  split  into  several  factions, 
which  gathered  strength  and  consistence  from 


*  See  Matth.  Pari.s,  ad  an.  124H,  Histnr.  Maj. 

■f  See  Jo.  Launoii  lAh.  de  Viso  Stockii,  oper.  torn. 
ji.  part  ii.  p.  379. — Acta  Saiictor.  torn.  iii.  Mensis 
Mail  ad  diem  xvi. — Theoph.  Rainaudi  Scapulare  Ma- 
rianum,  loin.  vii.  op.  p.  til4. 

■  t  Benedict  XIV.,  notwitli.ttandinff  Iiis  pretended 
freedom  from  superstition  and  priestly  fraud,  deipned 
to  appear  among  the  supporters  of  this  gross  fiction, 
though  he  defended  it  with  his  usii.-i)  air  of  jK-udence 
and  timidity,  in  his  book  de  Festis  B.  Maii;n  Virg. 
lib.  ii.  cap.  vi.  p.  472,  t.  x.  op.  edit.  Rom. 

§  See  the  Alcoran  des  CordcUers,  tom.i.  p.  2.')fi, 21)6, 
&c.  Luc.  Wadding,  Annales  Minor,  tom.  iii.  p.  380. 


day  to  day,  and  not  only  disturbed  the  tran- 
quillity of  the  church,  but  struck  at  the  su- 
preme jurisdiction  and  prerogatives  of  the  Ro- 
man pontiffs.  And  whoei'er  considers  with  at- 
tention the  serias  of  events  that  happened  in  i_x^^ 
the  Latin  church  from  this  remarkable  period, 
will  be  fully  convinced  that  the  Mendicant 
orders  (whether  through  imprudence  or  de- 
sign we  shall  not  determine)  gave  some  very 
severe  blows  to  the  authority  of  the  church  of 
Rome,  and  excited  in  the  minds  of  the  people 
those  ardent  desires  of  a  reformation,  which 
produced,  in  after-times,  such  substantial  and 
such  glorious  ellects. 

XXXI.  The  occasion  of  these  intestine  di- 
visions among  the  Franciscans,  was  a  dispute 
about  the  precise  meaning  of  their  rule.  Their 
founder  and  chief  had  made  absolute  poverty 
one  of  their  indispensable  obligations.  The  re- 
ligious orders  before  his  time  were  so  consti- 
tuted, that,  though  no  single  monk  had  any 
personal  property,  the  whole  community,  con- 
sidered as  one  collective  lx)dy,  had  possessions 
and  revenues,  from  which  every  member  drew 
the  means  of  his  subsistence.  But  the  austere 
chief  of  the  Franciscans  absolutely  prohibited 
both  separate  and  collective  property  to  the 
monks  of  his  order,  not  permitting  either  the 
individual  or  the  community  to  possess  funds, 
revenues,  or  any  worldly  goods.*  This  injunc- 
tion appeared  so  severe  to  several  of  the  friars- 
minors,  that  they  took  the  liberty  to  dispense 
with  it  as  soon  as  their  founder  was  dead;  and 
in  this  they  were  seconded  by  pope  Gregory 
IX.,  who,  in  1231,  published  an  interpretation 
of  this  rule,  which  considerably  mitigated  its 
excessive  rigour. 1  But  this  mitigation  was  far 
from  being  agreeable  to  all  the  Franciscans;  it 
siiocked  the  austere  monks  of  that  order,  those 
particularly  v^^ho  were  called  the  SpiritunlSyl 
whose  melancholy  temper  rendered  them  fond 
of  every  thing  harsh  and  gloomy,  and  whose 
fanatical  spirit  hurried  them  always  into  ex- 
tremes. Hence  aro.se  a  warm  debate,  which 
Innocent  IV.  decided,  in  1245,  in  favour  of 
those  who  were  inclined  to  mitigate  the  se- 
verity of  the  rule  in  question.  By  his  decree 
it  was  enacted,  that  the  Franciscan  friars 
should  be  permitted  to  possess  certain  places, 
habitations,  chattels,  books,  &c.  and  to  make 
use  of  them,  but  that  the  property  of  all  these 
tilings  should  reside  in  St.  Peter  or  the  Roman 
church;  so  that  without  the  pope's  consent 
they  might  neither  be  sold,  bartered,  nor 
transferred,  imder  any  pretext  whatever.  This 
edict  was  considered  by  the  gloomy  part  of  the 
order  as  a  most  pernicious  depravation  of  their 
holy  rule,  and  was,  consequently,  opposed  and 
rejected   by  them  with  indignation.     Hence 


*  The  words  of  the  rule  itself  relating  to  this  point 
are  as  follow:  "Fratres  sibi  nihil  approprieiit,  nee 
doinum,  nee  locum,  nee  aliqiiam  rem  sed,  sicut  per- 
egrini  et  adveniB  in  hoc  sieculo,  in  paiipertate  el  hu- 
niililate  famulantes  Domino,  vadant  pro  eleemosyna 
confidenler  .  '.  .  .  («.  e.  let  them  be  .sturdy  beggarfl) 
.  .  .  .  Hxc  est  ilia  celsitiido  nitissima;  paupertalis 
qiiic  voa  carissinios  meos  fratres  haredes  et  regcB 
regni  coelorum  iiistituit." 

t  The  bull  was  published  by  Emmanuel  Rodericin 
his  Col  led  io  I'ri  vilegior  u  ni  regulariuni  Mendicant  iura, 
et  non  Mendicantium,  tom.  i. 

J  Liic.  Wadding,  Annal.  Minor,  tom.  iii.  p.  99: 
Ihey  were  also  called  Zcjatorcs,  and  Ctesarians  from 
their  chief  t'Rsarlus. 


356 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


many  of  these  spiritiud  malcontents  retired  into 
the  woods  and  deserts,  wliile  others  were  ap- 
prehended by  Grescentius,  the  general  of  the 
society,  and  sent  into  exile.* 

XXXII.  A  chang'e,  however,  arose  in  their 
favour,  in  1247,  when  John  of  Parma  was 
chosen  general  of  the  order.  This  famous  eccle- 
siastic, who  was  zealously  attached  to  the  sen- 
timents of  the  spiritual  members,  recalled  them 
from  their  exile,  and  inculcated  upon  all  his 
monks  a  strict  and  unliniited  obedience  to  the 
very  letter  of  the  rule  that  had  been  drawn  up 
by  St.  Francis. t  By  this  reform,  he  brought 
back  the  order  to  its  primitive  state;  and  the 
only  reward  he  obtained  for  his  zealous  la- 
bours, was  to  be  accused  as  a  rebellious  here- 
tic at  the  tribunal  of  pope  Alexander  IV.,  in 
consequence  of  which  he  was  obliged  to  resign 
his  post.  He  had  also  the  mortification  to  see  the 
monks  who  adhered  to  his  sentiments  thrown 
into  prison,  which  unhappy  lot  he  himself  es- 
caped with  great  difficulty. +  His  successor, 
the  famous  Bonavcntura,  who  was  one  of  the 
most  eminent  scholastic  divines  of  this  centu- 
ry, proposed  steering  a  middle  course  between 
the  contending  factions,  having  nothing  so 
much  at  heart  as  to  prevent  an  open  schism. 
Nevertheless,  the  measures  he  took  to  recon- 
cile the  jarring  parties,  and  to  maintain  a 
spirit  of  union  in  the  order,  were  not  attended 
with  the  degree  of  success  which  he  expected 
from  them;  nor  were  they  sufficient  to  hinder 
the  less  austere  part  of  the  Franciscans  from 
soliciting  and  obtaining,  in  1257,  from  Alexan- 
der IV.  a  solemn  renewal  of  the  mild  interpre- 
tation wliicli  Innocent  IV.  had  given  of  the 
rule  of  their  founder.§  On  the  other  hand, 
those  who  adhered  to  the  sentiments  of  John 
of  Parma  maintained  their  cause  with  such 
success,  that,  in  an  assembly  of  the  order  holden 
in  1260,  the  explication  of  Innocent  was  abro- 
gated and  annulled,  especially  in  those  points 
wherein  it  diH'ered  from  that  which  had  been 
formerly  given  by  Gregory  IX. |) 

XXXllI.  This  disjjute  concerning  the  true 
sense  of  the  rule  of  St.  Francis  was  followed 
by  another  of  eijual  moment,  which  produced 
new  and  unhappy  divisions  among  the  monks 
of  that  order.  About  the  commencement  of 
this  century,  there  were  handed  about  in  Italy 
several  pretended  prophecies  of  the  famous 
Joachim,  abbot  of  Sora  in  Calabria,11  whom 
the  multitude  revered  as  a  person  divinely  in- 
spired, and  equal  to  the  most  illustrious  pro- 


*  Liic.  Waiklin^,  Aimal.  Minor,  toin.  iii.  iv. 

t  liUO.  Waililiiii;,  Auiwil.  Minor,  torn.  iii. 

i  Wiidiliiis,  loin.  iv. 

§  Tliis  flict  of  .Mi'xaiider  IV.  is  piiblislied  l)y 
Wadiliii!.',  Anrial.  Miii.  t.  iv.  among  tlic  Kccoids. 

II  Till'  inti'r(iri-laiioM  ol'(Vi-t'Koiy  iiiitiL'ali'<l  llie  rule 
of  St.  Francis;  but  lh:i1  of  Innoivnt  went  iniicli  far- 
ther, and  soenied  to  df'stroy  its  fnndainrntal  princi- 
pl>s.  Sc'f  Waddi'12,  Amialcs  Minor,  torn.  iv.  The 
Jamenfable  divisions  that  rciuncd  ainonif  the  monks 
of  this  I'amoiis  ordrr,  are  desoribeil,  in  an  accurate 
and  lively  niinner,  by  Honaventiira  himself,  in  a 
letter,  which  is  extaiU  in  the  work  now  cited. 

Oty- IT  The  resenibiance  bi'tvveen  the  words  Sora 
and  Flora,  has  probably  led  Dr.  Mosheini  hen;  into  a 
sliffht  mistake.  Sora  is  not  in  Calabria,  bnl  in  the 
provinc.'  of  (^apna.  It  must  therefore  have  been 
Flora.  Ih.Tt  on  r;iithor  intended  to  write,  as  Spanheim, 
Fleury,  and  other  ecclesiastical  historians,  have 
ilone. 


phets  of  ancient  times.  The  greatest  part  of 
these  predictions  were  contained  in  a  work  en- 
titled the  Everlasting  Gospel,  which  was  also 
usually  called  the  Book  of  Joachim.*  This 
Joachim,  (whether  a  real  or  fictitious  person 
we  shall  not  pretend  to  determine,)  among 
many  other  future  events,  foretold  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  church  of  Rome,  whose  corruptions 
he  censured  with  the  greatest  severity,  and  the 
promulgation  of  a  new  and  more  perfect  Gos- 
pel in  the  age  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  by  a  set  of 
poor  and  austere  ministers,  whom  God  was  to 
raise  up  and  employ  for  that  purpose.  For  he 
divided  the  world  into  three  ages,  with  refer- 
ence to  the  three  dispensations  of  religion. 
The  two  imperfect  ages, — namely,  the  age  a([^ 
the  Old  Testament,  which  was  that  of  the 
Father,  and  the  age  of  the  New,  which  was 
under  the  administration  of  the  Son, — had  ac- 
cording to  the  predictions  of  this  fanatic,  al- 
ready expired,  and  the  third  age,  that  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  had  commenced.  The  Spiritual, 
i.  e.  the  austere  Franciscans,  who  were,  for 
the  most  part,  well-meaning  but  wrong-headed 
enthusiasts,  not  only  swallowed  down,  with 
the  most  voracious  and  implicit  credulity,  the 
prophecies  and  doctrines  which  were  attributed 
to  Joachim,  but  applied  those  predictions  to 
themselves,  and  to  tlie  rule  of  discipline  estab- 
lished by  their  holy  founder  St.  Francis;|  for 
they  maintained,  that  he  delivered  to  mankind 
the  true  Gospel,  and  that  he  was  the  angel 
whom  St.  Jolm  saw  flying  in  the  midst  of 
heaven.  J 

XXXIV.  When  the  intestine  divisions  among 
the  Franciscans  were  at  the  greatest  height, 
one  of  the  Spiritual  friars,  wliose  name  was 


*  The  Merlin  of  the  English,  the  Malichi  of  the 
Irish,  and  Nostradamus  of  the  French,  those  pre- 
tended soothsayers,  who,  under  the  illusory  or  feigned 
persuasion  of  a  divine  impulse,  san^  in  uncouth 
verse  the  future  revolutions  of  church  and  state, 
are  just  what  we  may  suppose  the  Joachim  of  the 
Italians  to  have  been.  Many  predictions  of  thia 
latter  were  formerly  handed  about,  and  are  still  to 
be  seen:  they  have  passe<l  through  various  editions, 
and  have  been  illustrated  by  the  lucubrations  of 
several  commentators.  It  is  not  to  be  doubted  that 
Joachim  was  the  author  of  some  predictions,  and 
tliat  he,  in  a  particular  manner,  foretold  the  refor- 
mation of  the  church,  of  which  he  might  easily  see 
the  ab.solute  necessity.  It  is  however  certain  that  the 
greatest  part  of  the  predictions  and  writings,  which 
wi're  formerly  attributed  to  him,  were  composed  by 
others;  and  this  we  may  affirm  even  of  the  Everlast- 
ing Gospel,  the  work  undoubtedly  of  some  obscure, 
silly,  and  visionary  author,  who  thought  proper  to 
adorn  his  ri'veries  wiUi  the  celebrated  name  of  Joa- 
chim, in  order  to  gain  them  credit,  and  to  render 
them  more  agreeable  to  the  multitude.  The  title  of 
this  senseless  production  is  taken  from  Revelations, 
.\iv.  (),  and  it  contained  three  books;  the  first  was 
entitled,  Liher  Concordiip.  Veritatiif,  i.  e.  the  Book  of 
the  Harmony  of  Truth;  the  second,  Jlporalijpsiss  JSTova, 
or  the  New  Revelation;  and  the  third,  Psalleritim 
decern  Clionlnnun,  i.  e.  the  Ten-stringed  Harp.  This 
account  was  taken  from  a  manuscript  of  that  work 
in  the  library  of  the  Sorbonne,  by  Jac.  Echard,  who 
has  published  it  in  his  Scriptores  Dominican,  torn.  i. 

t  This  is  acknowledged  even  by  Wadding,  not- 
withstanding his  partiality  in  favour  of  the  spiritual 
or  austere  Franciscans.  See  his  Annal.  Minor, 
torn.  iv.  p.  3 — G. 

X  Revel,  xiv.  6.  '  ^nd  I  saw  another  angel  fly  in  the 
midst  of  heaven,  hainng  the  Rrerlaating  Oospel  to 
preach  unto  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth.'  See  on  thia 
nbjecl  Baliizii  Miscellan.  torn,  i  p  i'21,  235.— Echardi 
Scriptor.  Dominic,  toiu.  i.  p.  202.— Code.x  Inquisit 
TolosansE  a  Limborchio  edit.  p.  30J, 


Chap.  IT. 


DOCTORS,  CPIURCPI  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


357 


frerard,  undertook  the  explication  of  the 
Everlasting  Gospel  asorihed  to  .Toachim,  in  a 
book  wliicii  appeared,  in  l-'oO,  under  the  title 
of  introduction  to  the  Everlasting  Gospel.*  In 

*  As  tlie  accounts  given  of  tliis  book,  liy  ancient 
and  nioilein  writers,  are  not  sufliciently  nccnrate,  it 
may  not  be  improper  to  oft"erhere  some  observations 
that  may  correct  their  mistakes.  1.  They  almtjst 
all  confound  tlie  Everlasting  Gospel,  or  the  Gospel 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  (for  so  it  is  also  called,  as  we  are 
told  by  Guil.  de  St.  Amour,  in  his  book  de  I'ericulis 
noviss.  Tenipornm,)  with  the  Introduction  to  the 
Everlastinj;  (iospel.  But  these  two  productions  must 
l)e  carefully  distinguished  from  each  other.  The 
Kverlasting  Gospel  was  attributed  lo  the  abbot  Joa- 
chim, and  it  consisted  of  three  books,  as  has  been  al- 
ready observed.  But  the  Introduction  to  this  Gospel 
Was  the  work  of  a  Franci.scan  monk,  who  e.vplained 
the  obscure  predictions  of  the  pretended  Gospel,  and 
applied  tlirni  to  his  order.  The  Everlasting  Gospel 
was  neither  ciunplained  of  by  the  university  of 
I'aris,  nor  condemned  by  the  Roman  pontiff,  Alex- 
ainler  IV.;  but  the  Introduction  was  complained  of, 
condemned,  and  burned,  as  appears  evidently  from 
the  letters  of  the  above  mentioned  pontift'  which  are 
lo  be  seen  in  Boulay's  Histor.  Academ.  Paris,  torn. 
iii.  p.  292.  The  former  consisted,  as  productions  of 
that  nature  generally  do,  of  ambiguous  predictions 
and  intricate  riddles,  and  was  consequently  despised 
or  neglected;  but  the  latter  was  dangerous  in  many 
respects.  2.  It  is  farther  to  be  observed,  that  the 
ancient  writers  are  not  agreed  concerning  the  author 
of  this  Introduction.  They  are  unanimous  in  at- 
tributing it  to  one  of  the  mendicant  friars;  but  the 
votaries  of  St.  Francis  maintain,  that  the  author  was 
a  Dominican,  wliile  the  Dominican  party  affirm  as 
obstinately,  that  he  was  a  Franciscan.  The  great- 
est part  of  the  learned,  however,  are  of  opinion,  that 
the  author  of  the  infamous  work  in  question  was 
.lohn  of  Parma,  general  of  the  Franciscans,  who  is 
known  to  have  been  most  warmly  attached  to  the 
spiritual  faction  of  that  order,  and  to  have  main- 
tained the  sentiment.^  of  the  abbot  Joachim  with  an 
p.xcessive  zeal.  See  Wadding,  (Annal.  Minor,  torn, 
iv.)  who  etuleavours  to  defend  him  against  this  ac- 
cusation, though  without  succe.ss.  (See  also  the  Acta 
Sanctorum,  tom.  iii.  Marti i,  p.  157;  for  John  of  Parma, 
though  he  preferred  the  Gospel  of  St.  Francis  to  that 
of  Christ,  has,  neverthi'lcss,  nlifained  a  place  among 
the  saints.)  The  le.irmd  Kcliard  is  of  a  different 
opinion,  and  has  proved,  (in  his  i^criptor.  Dominican, 
loni.  i.  p.  202,)  from  the  curious  manuscripts  yet  pre- 
served in  the  Sorbonne,  relating  to  the  Everlasting 
Gos|)el,  that  Gerard,  a  Franciscan  friar,  was  the 
author  of  tin;  infamous  Introduction  to  that  book. 
ThisG(,'rard.  indeed,  was  the  intimate  friend  and  com- 
panion to  John  of  Parma,  and  not  only  maintained, 
with  th(!  greatest  obstinacy,  the  cause  of  the  Kpirif- 
Hills,  but  also  embraced  all  th(!  sentiments  that  u  ere 
attribute<l  to  the  abbot  Joachim,  with  such  an  anient 
zeal,  that  he  chose  to  remain  18  years  in  prison, 
rather  than  to  ;ihainlon  them.  See  Wadding,  tom.  4. 
Those  Franciscans  who  were  called  ohsernantcn,  i.e. 
vigilant,  from  their  professing  a  more  rigid  obser- 
vance of  the  rule  <if  their  founder  than  was  prnclised 
liy  the  rest  of  their  order,  place  (lerard  among  the 
saints  of  the  first  rank,  and  impudently  iiffuni. 
that  he  was  not  only  endowed  with  the  gift  of 
prophecy,  but  also  with  the  power  of  working 
miracles.  See  Wadding,  tom.  iii.  p.  213.  It  is  to  be 
observed,  3dly,  That  whoever  may  have  been  the 
writer  of  this  detestable  book,  the  whole  mendicant 
order,  in  the  judgment  of  the  greatest  part  of  the 
historians  of  this  age,  shared  th(;  guilt  of  its  compo- 
sition and  publication,  more  especially  llii'  Domini 
cans  and  Franciscans,  who  arc;  supposed  to  have 
fallen  upon  this  iuqiious  method  <if  deluding  the 
multitude  into  a  high  noticm  of  tliiir  sanctity,  in 
order  to  establish  their  dominion,  and  lo  e.xteinl 
their  authority  beyond  all  bounds.  This  opinion, 
however,  is  ill-founded,  notwilhstanding  the  num- 
bers by  which  it  has  been  ailepti'd.  The  Fran- 
ciscans alom?  are  chargeable  \xitli  the  guilt  of 
this  horrid  production,  as  appears  most  evidently 
from  the  fragments  of  the  bonk  itsilf,  which  yi'l  re- 
main: but  we  are  obliged  in  justice  to  observe  farther, 
that  this  guilt  does  not  lie  upon  all  the  Franciscans, 
but  only  on  the  spiritual  faction.  Perhaps  we  might 
go  still  farther,  and  allege,  th.it  the  charge  ought  not 


this  book,  the  fanatical  monk,  amongr  other 
enormities,  as  insipid  as  impious,  ineulcated 
the  follovvinjr  detestable  doctrine:  "  That  St. 
f>ancis,  who  was  the  angel  mentioned  in  the 
Revelations  xiv.  6,  had  promulgated  to  the 
world  the  true  and  everlasting  gospel  of  God; 
tliat  the  gospel  of  Christ  was  to  be  abrogated 
in  the  year  1 260,  and  to  give  place  to  this  new 
and  everlasting  gospel,  which  was  to  be  substi- 
tuted in  its  room;  and  that  the  ministers  of 
this  great  reformation  were  to  be  humble  and 
bare-footed  friars,  destitute  of  all  worldly 
emoluments."*  When  this  strange  book  was 
published  at  Paris  in  1254,  it  e.xcited  in  the 
doctors  of  the  church,  and  indeed  in  all  good 
men,  the  most  lively  feelings  of  horror  and  in- 
dignation against  the  mendicant  friars,  who 
had  already,  by  other  parts  of  their  conduct, 
incurred  the  displeasure  of  the  public.  This 
general  ferment  engaged  pope  Alexander  IV., 
though  much  against  his  will,  to  order  the 
suppression  of  this  absurd  book  in  1265;  he, 
however,  took  care  to  have  this  order  executed 
with  the  greatest  possible  mildness,  lest  it 
should  hurt  the  reputation  of  the  mendicants, 
and  open  the  eyes  of  the  superstitious  multi- 
tude. But  the  doctors  of  the  university  of 
Paris,  not  being  satisfied  with  these  gentle  and 
timorous  proceedings,  repeated  without  inter- 
ruption their  accusation  and  complaints,  until 
the  extravagant  and  obnoxious  production  was 
publicly  committed  to  the  flames.f 

XXXV.  The  intestine  flame  of  discord, 
which  had  raged  among  the  Franciscans,  and 
was  smothered,  though  not  extinguished,  by 
the  prudent  management  of  Bonaventura, 
broke  out  anew  with  redoubled  fury  after  the 
death  of  that  pacific  doctor.  Those  Franciscan 
monks  who  were  fond  of  opulence  and  ease, 
renewed  their  complaints  against  the  rule  of 
their  founder  as  unreasonable  and  unjust,  de- 


to  be  extended  even  to  all  theniembersof  this  faction, 
but  to  such  alone  as  jilaced  an  idle  and  enthusiastic 
confidence  in  Joachim,  and  gave  credit  to  all  his  pre- 
tended prophecies.  Tluse  observations  are  neces- 
sary to  the  true  understanding  of  what  lias  been 
said  concerning  the  Everlasting  Gospel  by  the  fol- 
low ing  learned  men:  Jo.  Andr.  Schmidius,  Dissertat. 
Ilelrnst.  1700. — Usserius,  de  Successione  Kcclcsiar. 
Orrii/ent.  c.  ix.  sect.  20. — Boulay,  Hist.  Acad.  Paris. 
tom.  iii.  p.  2'.t2. — Natal.  Alexander,  Histor.  Eccle.s. 
sa-c.  XIII.  artic.  iv. — Wadding,  Annal.  Minor,  tom. 
iv.— lIpoTi  the  whole  it  may  be  affirmed,  that  the 
book  under  consideration  is  not,  as  the  greatest  part 
of  the  learned  have  imagined,  a  monument  of  the 
arrogance  of  the  mendicant  orders  in  general,  but 
rather  a  proof  of  the  impious  fanaticism  and  extrava- 
gance of  a  small  number  of  Franciscans. 

*  See  Guil.  de  St.  Amour  de  I'ericulis  noviss.  Tern- 
por.  who  observes  thai  the  book  under  ccmsideration 
was  not  indeed  publisheil  before  the  year  12.54,  but 
that  the  opinicms  contained  in  it  had  ;in  earlier  ori- 
gin, and  were  propagated  even  in  the  year  1200. 
Several  of  the  ancient  writers  have  given  large  ex- 
tracts from  this  infamous  book.  See  Herm.  Corneri 
Chronicon,  in  Eccardi  Corpore  Histor.  meilii  .(1^'vi, 
torn.  Li.  p.  a50.— Chronicon  Egmondnntim,  in  Ant. 
Matlha'i  Analectis  veteris  JEvi,  tom.  ii.  p.  517. — 
Hicobaldusapud  EccariliCorp.  torn  p.  i.  1215  —But  be- 
tween these  extracts  th<'re  is  a  great  difference, 
which  seems  to  have  arisen  from  this,  that  some 
drew  their  citations  from  the  Everlasting  Gospel  of 
Joachim,  while  others  drew  theirs  from  the  Introduc- 
tion of  Gerard,  not  sntriciently  distinguishing  one 
work  from  the  other. 

I  See  Boulay,  Hist.  Acad.  Paris,  torn.  iii.  p.  299.— 
Jordani  Clironicon  in  Muratorii  Anliq.  Ital.  loin.  iv. 
p.  9i)8, 


358 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


mantling  what  it  was  absolutely  beyond  the 
power  of  man  to  pertorm.  Tlieir  complaints, 
however,  were  without  effect;  and  their 
schemes  were  disconcerted  by  pope  Nicolas 
III.,  who  leaned  to  the  side  of  the  austere 
Franciscans,  and  who,  in  1279,  published  that 
famous  constitution  which  confirmed  the  rule 
of  St.  Francis,  and  contained  an  accurate  and 
elaborate  explication  of  the  maxims  it  recom- 
mended, and  the  duties  it  prescribed.*  By  this 
edict  he  renewed  that  part  of  the  rule,  which 
prohibited  all  kinds  of  property  among  the 
Franciscans,  every  tiling  that  bore  the  least 
resemblance  to  a  legal  possession,  or  a  fixed  do- 
main; but  he  granted  to  them,  at  the  same 
time,  the  use  of  things  necessary,  such  as 
houses,  books,  and  other  conveniences  of  that 
nature,  the  property  of  which,  in  conformity 
with  tiie  appointment  of  Innocent  IV.,  was  to 
reside  in  the  church  of  Rome.  Nor  did  the 
provident  pontiff  stop  here;  but  prohibited, 
under  the  severest  penalties,  all  private  expli- 
cations of  this  new  law,  lest  they  should  ex- 
cite disputes,  and  furnish  new  matter  of  con- 
tention; and  reserved  the  power  of  interpreting 
it  to  himself  and  his  successors  alone,  j 

XXXVI.  However  disposed  Nicolas  was  to 
satisfy  tlie  spiritual  and  austere  part  of  the 
Franciscan  order,  which  had  now  become  nu- 
merous both  in  Italy  and  France,  and  particu- 
larly in  the  province  of  Narbonne,  the  consti- 
tution above  mentioned  was  far  from  producing 
that  effect.  The  monks  of  that  gloomy  fac- 
tion, who  resided  in  Italy,  received  tlie  papal 
edict  with  a  sullen  and  discontented  silence. 
Their  brethren  in  France,  and  more  especially 
in  tlie  southern  parts  of  that  kingdom,  where 
the  inhabitants  are  of  a  warm  and  sanguine 
complexion,  testified,  in  an  open  and  tumul- 
tuous manner,  the  disapprobation  of  this  new 
constitution;  and  having  at  their  head  a  famous 
Franciscan,  whose  name  was  Pierre  Jean 
d'Olive,  they  excited  new  dissensions  and  trou- 
bles in  the  order.J  Pierre  was  a  native  of 
Serignan  in  Languedoc,  who  had  acquired  a 
shining  reputation  by  his  writings,  and  whose 
eminent  sanctity  and  learning  drew  after  him 
a  great  number  of  followers;  nor  is  it  to  be  de- 
nied, that  there  were  many  important  truths 
and  wise  maxims  in  the  in.structions  he  deli- 
vered. One  of  the  great  objects  of  which  he 
never  lost  sight  in  his  writings,  was  the  corrup- 
tion of  the  church  of  Home,  which  he  censured 
with  extraordinary  freedom  and  severity,  in  a 
work  entitled  Postiila,  or  a  Commentary  on 
the  Revelations,  affirming  boldly,  that  this 
church  was  represented  by  the  '  whore  of 
Babylon,   the  mother  of  harlots,'  whom    St. 


*  Some  alliriii,  tliat  this  constitution  was  issued 
by  Nicolas  IV'.;  but  their  opinion  is  rtfuted  by  Wad- 
ding, in  his  Annal.  Min.  torn.  v. 

t  Tliis  constitution  is  yet  extant  in  the  Jus. 
Canon,  lib.  vi.  Decretal.  Tit.  xii.  c.  iii  p.  1028.  edit. 
Bohm.  and  is  vulgarly  called  the  Constitution  Eiiit, 
from  its  bo<;innins  with  that  word. 

\  In  some  ancient  records,  this  ring-leader  is 
called  Petrus  liiterrensis,  i.  e.  Peter  of  Beziers,  be- 
cause he  resideil  for  a  long  time  in  the  convent  of 
Beziers,  where  he  performed  the  functions  of  a  pub- 
lic teacher.  By  others,  he  is  tiamed  Petrus  rie  Ser- 
ignano,  from  tlie  place  of  his  nativity.  This  remark 
is  so  much  the  more  necessary,  as  some  authors  have 
taken  these  three  denominations  for  three  distinct 
persona 


John  beheld  sitting  upon  a  scarlet-coloured 
beast,  full  of  names  of  blasphemy,  having  seven 
heads,  and  ten  horns.*  It  is  however  to  be 
observed,  that  this  severe  censor  of  a  corrupt 
church,  was  himself  a  most  superstitious  fa- 
natic in  several  respects,  having  imbibed  the 
greatest  part  of  those  monstrous  opinions, 
which  the  Spirituals  pretended  to  have  received 
from  the  abbot  Joachim;  to  which  he  added  an 
impious  and  extravagant  veneration  for  St. 
Francis,  whom  he  considered  as  entirely  trans- 
formed into  the  person  of  Christ,  j  In  the  de- 
bate concerning  the  sense  of  the  rule  of  this 
famous  chief,  he  seemed  to  adhere  to  neither 
of  tlie  contending  parties;  for  he  allowed  to  his 
followers  the  bare  use  of  the  necessaries  of 
life;  and  being  called  upon,  at  different  times, 
by  the  authority  of  his  superiors,  to  declare 
his  sentiments  upon  this  head,  he  professed  his 
assent  to  the  interpretation  that  had  been  given 
of  the  rule  in  question  by  Nicolas  III.  He 
leaned,  nevertheless,  to  the  side  of  those  aus- 
tere and  spiritual  Franciscans,  who  not  only 
opposed  the  introduction  of  property  among 
the  individuals  of  the  order,  but  also  maintain- 
ed, that  the  whole  community,  considered  col- 
lectively, was  likewise  to  be  excluded  from 
possessions  of  every  kind.  Great  was  his  zeal 
for  these  gloomy  Franciscans,  and  he  defended 
their  cause  with  warmth;J  hence  he  is  looked 
upon  as  the  chief  of  that  faction,  which  disputed 
so  often,  and  so  vehemently,  with  the  Roman 
pontiffs,  in  favour  of  the  renunciation  of  pro- 
perty, in  consequence  of  the  institution  of  St. 
Francis.  § 

XXXVII.  The  credit  and  authority  of  Pierre 
d'Olive,  whom  the  multitude  considered,  not 
only  as  a  man  of  unblemished  sanctity,  but 
also  as  a  prophet  sent  from  above,  added  new 
force  and  vigour  to  the  Spirituals,  and  encour- 
aged them  to  renew  the  combat  with  redou- 
bled fury.  But  the  prudence  of  the  heads  of 
the  order  prevented,  for  some  time,  the  perni- 
cious effects  of  these  violent  efforts,  and  so 
over-ruled  the  impetuous  motions  of  this  en- 
thusiastic faction,  that  a  sort  of  equality  was 
preserved  between  the  contending  parties. — 
But  the  promotion  of  Matthew  of  Aqua  Spar- 
ta, who  was  elected  general  of  the  order  in 
12S7,  put  an  end  to  these  prudential  measures, 
and  changed  entirely  the  face  of  affairs.    This 


*  Revelations,  xvii.  3,  5. 

t  Totum  Christo  configuratura.  See  the  Litera 
Magjstrorum,  de  Postiila  Fratris  P.  Joh.  Olivi,  in 
Baluzii  IMiscellan.  torn.  i.  p. 213.— Wadding,  Annales 
Minor,  tom.  v.  p.  51. 

I  The  real  sentiments  of  Pierre  d'Olive  will  be  best 
discovered  in  the  last  discourse  he  pronounced,  which 
is  yet  e.xtant  in  Boulay's  Histor.  Acad.  Paris,  torn, 
iii.  p.  535,  and  in  Wadding's  Annal.  Min.  t.  v.  p.  378. 

§  For  an  account  of  this  famous  friar,  see  not 
only  the  common  monastic  historians,  such  as  Ray 
naldus,  Alexander,  and  Oudinus,  but  also  the  follow- 
ing: Baluzii  Miscel.  tom.  i.  p.  213.  and  his  Vit.  Pontif, 
Avenion.  tom.  ii.  p.  752.  Car.  Plessis  d'Argentre, 
CoUectio  Judiciorum  de  novis  .Ecclesise  Erroribus, 
tom.  i.  p.  22G. — Wadding,  Annal.  Minor,  tom.  v.  p. 
52,  108,  121,  HO,  23(i,  and  more  especially,  p.  378, 
where  he  makes  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  justify 
this  enthusiast. — Boulay,  Hist.  Acad.  Paris,  tom.  iii. 
p.  53.5. — Hchelhornii  Amoenitates  Literaris,  tom.  ix. 
p.  678.  Histoire  Generale  de  Languedoc,  par  Ips 
Moines  Benedictins,  tom.  iv.  p.  91,  179,  182.  The 
bones  of  Pierre  d'Olive  were  taken  up  by  the  order 
of  pope  John  XXII.  and  burned  publicly  with  his 
writings,  in  the  year  1325. 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNl^lENT,  &c. 


359 


new  chief  suffered  the  anciont  disciphno  of 
the  Franciscans  to  dwindle  away  to  nothing, 
indulged  his  monks  in  abandoning  even  tiie 
very  appearance  of  poverty,  and  thus  drew 
upon  himself  not  only  the  indignation  and  rage 
of  the  austere  part  of  the  spiritual  Francis- 
cans, but  also  the  disap  probation  of  the  more 
moderate  members  of  that  party.  Hence 
arose  various  tumults  and  seditions,  first  in 
the  marquisate  of  Ancona,  and  afterwards  in 
France,  which  tlie  now  general  endeavoured  to 
supi)ress  by  imprisonment,  exile,  and  corporal 
punishments;  but,  finding  all  these  means  in- 
effectual, he  resigned  his  place  in  1289.*  His 
succes.sor,  Raymond  Goffredi,  employed  his  ut- 
most efforts  to  appease  these  troubles.  For 
this  purpose  he  recalled  the  banished  friars,  setat 
liberty  those  who  had  been  thrown  into  prison, 
and  put  out  of  tlie  way  several  of  the  austere 
Franciscans,  who  had  been  the  principal  en- 
couragers  of  those  unhappy  divisions,  by  send- 
ing them  into  Armenia  in  the  character  of 
missionaries.  But  the  disorder  was  too  far  gone 
to  be  easily  remedied.  The  more  moderate 
Franciscans,  who  had  a  relish  for  the  sweets 
of  property  and  opulence,  accused  the  new  ge- 
neral of  a  partial  attachment  to  the  Spirituals, 
whom  he  treated  with  peculiar  affection  and 
respect,  and  therefore  employed  their  whole 
credit  to  procure  his  dismission  from  otKce, 
which,  with  much  difficulty,  they  at  length  ef- 
fected, under  the  pontificate  of  Boniface  VHI. 
On  the  otiicr  hand,  the  more  rigid  part  of  the 
spiritual  faction  renounced  all  fellowship,  even 
with  such  of  their  own  party  as  discovered  a 
pacific  and  reconciling  spirit;  and,  forming 
themselves  into  a  separate  body,  protested  puli- 
licly  against  the  interpretation  which  Nicolas 
HI.  had  given  of  the  rule  of  St.  Francis. 
Thus,  from  the  year  1290,  the  affairs  of  the 
Franciscans  carried  a  dismal  aspect,  and  por- 
tended nothing  but  seditions  and  schisms  in  an 
order  which  had  been  so  famous  for  its  pre- 
tended disinterestedness  and  humility. j 

XXXVIU.  In  the  year  1-294,  a  certain  num- 
ber of  Italian  Franciscans,  of  the  sj)iritual  par- 
ty, addressed  themselves  to  Celestin  V.  for  per- 
mission to  form  a  separate  order,  in  which  they 
might  not  only  profess,  but  also  observe,  in  the 
strictest  manner,  that  austere  rule  of  absolute 
poverty,  which  St.  PVancis  had  prescribed  to 
his  followers.  The  good  pontiff,  who,  before 
his  elevation  to  the  supremacy  of  the  church, 
had  led  a  solitary  and  austere  life,J  and  was 
fond  of  every  thing  that  looked  like  mortifica- 
tion and  self-denial,  granted  with  the  utmost 
facility  the  request  of  these  friars,  and  placed, 
at  the  head  of  the  new  order,  a  monk,  whose 


*  VVaddinj;,  Annalos  Mill.  tuin.  v.  p.  21(1,  235. 

t  Idem  opii?,  t.  V.  p.  J08,  121,  110,  anil  more  espe- 
cially p.  2M,  2:w. 

(H^  t  TIlis  iwpe,  whose  namf!  was  Pntcr  Miieron, 
had  retired  very  young  to  a  solitary  inoiintain,  in  or- 
der to  devote  himself  entirely  to  prayer  and  niortiti- 
cation.  The  fame  of  his  piety  brouRht  many  to  see 
him  from  a  principle  of  curiosity,  several  of  whom 
renounced  the  world,  and  became  the  companions  of 
his  solitude.  With  these  he  formed  a  kind  of  com- 
munity, in  1254,  which  was  approved  by  Urban  IV. 
in  12()4,  and  erected  into  a  distinct  order,  called  the 
Hermits  of  St.  Dainien.  On  his  assumption  of  the 
pontifical  name  of  Oleslin  V.,  his  order,  which  must 
not  be  confounded  with  the  new  Franciscan  Cclcslin 
Hermits,  took  the  title  of  Celestins. 


name  was  Liberatus,  and  who  was  one  of  the 
greatest  sell-tormentors  of  all  the  monastic 
tribe.*  Soon  after  this,  Celestin,  finding  him- 
eelf  unfit  for  the  duties  of  his  high  and  impor- 
tant office,  resigned  the  pontificate,  in  which 
he  was  succeeded  by  Boniface  VIII.  who  an- 
nulled all  the  acts  of  his  jiredeccssor,  and  sup- 
pressed, among  other  institutions,  the  new  or- 
der, which  had  assumed  the  title  of  the  Celes- 
tin  Hermits  of  St.  Francis.^  This  di^race  was, 
as  it  were,  the  .-signal  which  drew  upon  them 
the  most  furious  attacks  of  their  enemies.  The 
worldly-minded  Franciscans  persecuted  tliein 
with  the  most  unrelenting  bitterness,  accused 
thein  of  various  crimes,  and  even  cast  upon 
them  the  odious  reproach  of  Manichcism, 
Hence  many  of  these  unhappy  fanatics  retired 
into  Acliia,  whence  they  passed  into  a  small 
island,  where  they  imagined  themselves  secure 
from  the  rage  of  their  adversaries,  and  at  li- 
berty to  indulge  tlicmselves  in  all  the  austeri- 
ties of  that  niisoral)le  life,  which  they  looked 
upon  as  the  perfection  of  holiness  here  below. 
But  no  retreat  was  sufficient  to  screen  them 
from  the  vigilance  and  fury  of  their  cruel  per- 
secutors, who  left  no  means  unemploj'ed  to  per- 
petuate their  miseries.  In  the  mean  time,  the 
branch  of  the  spiritual  Franciscans  that  re- 
mained in  Italy,  continued  to  observe  the  ri- 
gorous laws  of  tiieir  primitive  institution  in 
spite  of  Boniface  VIII.,  who  used  his  utmost 
efforts  to  conquer  their  obstinacy.  They  erect- 
ed societies  of  their  order,  first  in  the  kingdom 
of  Naples,  afterwards  in  the  Milanese,  and  in 
the  marquisate  of  Ancona;  and,  at  length 
spreading  themselves  through  the  greatest  part 
of  Europe,  they  continued  in  the  most  violent 
state  of  war  with  the  church  of  Rome,  until 
the  Reformation  changed  the  face  of  things. 
In  these  conllicts  they  underwent  trials  and 
sufferings  of  every  kind,  and  multitudes  of 
them  perished  in  the  flames,  as  miserable  vic- 
tims to  the  infernal  fury  of  the  Inquisition.]: 


*  Wadding,  Annales,  torn.  v.  p.  :i2t.  338. 

t  Wadding,  Aiinales,  toni.  vi. — Bullariuin  Mag- 
num, Coiitiii.  HI.  IV.  p.  108. 

J  The  writers  that  serve  generally  as  guides  in 
this  part  of  the  history  of  the  church,  and  whom  I 
have  been  obliged  to  consult  upon  th(^  divisions  of 
the  Franciscans,  (whose  history,  as  will  soon  appear, 
is  peculiarly  interesting  and  important,)  are  far  from 
meriting  the  onroniiums  which  are  due  to  perspi- 
cuity and  e.\actiiess.  This  part  of  the  ecclesiastical 
history  of  what  is  called  the  Middle  Age,  has  not  hi 
tlierto  been  accurately  illustrated  by  any  writer, 
tliimgh  it  be,  evcjry  way,  worthy  of  the  labours  of 
tlic  learned,  and  of  the  attention  of  Christians.  Its 
principal  merit  consists  herein,  that  it  exhibits  strik- 
ing examples  of  piety  and  learning  struggling  against 
till!  power  of  superstition  and  ignorance,  and  against 
that  spiritual  tyranny  of  which  Ihc^y  were  the  prin- 
cip;il  supports.  And  it  may  be  observed,  that  these 
rebellious  Franciscans,  though  fanatical  and  super- 
stitious in  several  ns[iriis.  deserve  an  eminent  rank 
among  those  wln)  pnparc^d  llx:  way  for  the  reforma- 
tion in  Kurope,  and  wlio  excited,  in  the  minds  of  the 
people,  a  just  aversion  to  the  church  of  Rome.  Ray- 
naldus,  Bzovius,  Sjiondanus,  in  their  Annals,  EjTiie- 
ricus,  in  his  Directoriiim  Inquisitoruiu,  aiMl  Natalia 
Alexander,  in  his  Ecclesiastical  History,  relate  the 
revolutions  that  hajiiK'ncd  in  the  Franciscan  order, 
and  in  the  church  in  general,  during  this  period; 
but  tlx'ir  accounts  are  neither  so  accurate,  nor  so 
ample,  as  the  importance  of  the  events  deserved. 
And  as  it  is  from  these  authors  that  the  proteslant 
historians  have  drawn  then  materials,  we  need  not 
to  be  surprised  at  the  defects  with  which  the  latter 
abound.    Wadding,  who  merits  high  encomiums  as 


360 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH, 


Part  II. 


XXXIX.  Toward  the  conclusion  of  this  cen- 
tury arose  in  Italy  the  enthusiastic  sect  of  the 
Fratricelli  and  Bizochi,  which,  in  Germany 
and  France,  received  the  denomination  of 
Be^hards.  They  were  condemned  by  Boniface 
VIII.,*  and  by  several  of  his  successors;  and 
the  inquisitors  were  ordered  by  these  despotic 
pontiffs  to  pereecute  them  until  they  were  ex- 
tirpated, which  commission  they  executed  witli 
their  usual  barbarity.  The  Fratricelli,  or  Lit- 
tle Brethren,  were  Franciscan  monks,  who  se- 
parated themselves  from  the  grand  community 
of  St.  Francis,  with  an  intention  of  obeying 
the  laws  of  their  parent  and  founder  in  a  more 
strict  and  rigorous  manner  than  they  were  ob- 
served by  the  other  Franciscans,  and  who,  ac- 
cordingly, renounced  every  kind  of  possession 
and  property  both  common  and  personal,  and 
begged  from  door  to  door  their  daily  subsist- 
ence.!    They  alleged  that  neither  Christ  nor 


a  laborious  ami  learned  writer,  is  yet  an  uncertain 
guide,  when  lie  treats  of  the  matters  now  under  con- 
sideration. His  attachment  to  one  party,  and  his 
fear  of  the  others,  subject  him  to  restraints,  that  pre- 
vent his  declaring  the  truth  with  a  noble  freedom. 
He  shades  his  picture  with  dexterity.  He  conceals, 
dissembles,  excuses,  acknowledges,  and  denies,  with 
such  a  timorous  prudence  and  caution,  that  the  truth 
could  not  but  sutTer  considerably  under  his  pen.  He 
appears  to  have  been  attached  to  the  rigid  Francis- 
cans, and  yet  had  not  the  courage  to  declare  openly, 
that  they  had  been  injured  by  the  pontiffs.  He  saw, 
oil  the  other  hand,  the  tumults  and  perplexities  in 
which  these  rigid  Franciscans  had  involved  the 
church  of  Rome,  and  the  strokes  which  they  had 
aimed,  with  no  small  success,  at  the  majesty  of  the 
pontifls:  hut  he  has  taken  all  imaginable  pains  to 
throw  such  a  shade  upon  this  part  of  their  conduct, 
as  conceals  its  violence  from  the  view  of  his  readers. 
Such  then  being  the  characters  of  the  writers  who 
have  handed  down  to  us  the  history  of  the  church  in 
this  important  period,  I  could  not  follow  any  one  of 
them  as  a  sure  or  constant  guide  in  all  the  events 
they  relate,  the  judgments  they  form,  or  the  charac- 
ters they  describe.  I  have  not,  however,  been  desti- 
tute of  a  clue  to  conduct  me  through  the  various 
windings  of  this  intricate  labyrinth.  The  testimn- 
nies  of  ancient  authors,  with  several  manuscripts 
that  have  never  yet  been  published,  such  as  the  Di- 
plomas of  the  pontitTs  and  cmiicrcirs,  the  Acts  of  the 
Inquisition,  and  other  recnrils  of  that  kind,  are  the 
authentic  sources  from  which  1  have  drawn  my  ac- 
counts of  many  things  that  have  been  very  imper- 
fectly represented  by  other  historians. 

*  See  Trithemius,  An.  Hirsaug.  t.  ii.  p.  74,  though 
this  author  is  defective  in  several  respects,  and  more 
especially  in  his  accounts  of  the  origin  and  senti- 
ments of  the  Fratricelli.  It  is  also  to  be  observed, 
that  he  confounds,  through  the  whole  of  his  history, 
the  sects  and  orders  of  this  century  one  with  ano- 
ther, in  the  most  ignorant  and  unskilful  manner. 
See  rather  Du  Boulay,  His.  Acad.  Paris,  t.  iii.  p. 
541,  where  the  edict  published  in  1297,  by  Boniface 
VIH.  against  the  Bizochi  or  Beghards,  is  inserted; 
as  also  Jnrdani  Chronicon,  in  Muratorii  Antiq.  Ita- 
liae,  tom.  iv.  p.  1020. 

t  The  Fratricelli  resembled  the  Spirituals  in  many 
of  their  maxims  and  observances:  they,  however, 
were  a  distinct  body,  and  differed  from  them  in  va- 
rious respects.  The  Spirituals,  for  instance,  conti- 
nued to  hold  comnmnion  with  the  rest  of  the  Fran- 
ciscans, from  whom  they  differed  in  points  of  consi- 
derable moment,  nor  did  they  ever  pretend  to  erect 
themselves  into  a  particular  and  distinct  order;  the 
Fratricelli.  on  the  contrary,  renounced  all  commu- 
nion with  the  Franciscans,  and,  withdrawing  their 
obedience  from  the  superiors  of  that  society,  chose 
for  themselves  a  new  chief,  under  whom  they  formed 
a  new  and  separate  order.  The  Spirituals  did  not 
absolutely  oppose  their  order's  pos.sessing  certain 
goods  jointly  and  in  common,  provided  they  re 
nounced  all  property  in  these  goods,  and  con  fined  their 
pretensions  to  the  mere  use  of  them;  whereas  the 
Fratricelli  rejected  every  kind  of  possession,  who 
ther  personal  or  in  convmon  and  embraced  that  ab 


his  apostles  had  any  possessions,  either  per- 
sonal or  in  connnon;  and  that  they  were  the 
models,  whom  St.  Francis  commanded  his  fol- 
lowers to  imitate.  After  the  example  also  of 
their  austere  founder,  they  went  about  clothed 
with  sordid  garments,  or  rather  with  loathsome 
rags,  declaimed  against  the  corruption  of  the 
church  of  Rome,  and  the  vices  of  the  pontifls 
and  bishops,  foretold  the  reformation  of  the 
church  and  the  restoration  of  the  true  Gospel, 
by  the  genuine  followers  of  St.  Francis,  and 
declared  their  assent  to  almost  all  the  doc- 
trines, which  were  published  under  the  name 
of  the  abbot  Joacliim.  They  esteemed  and 
respected  Celestin  V.,  because,  as  has  been  al- 
ready observed,  he  was,  in  some  measure,  the 
founder  of  their  society,  by  permitting  them 
to  erect  themselves  into  a  separate  order.  But 
they  refused  to  acknowledge,  as  true  and  law- 
ful heads  of  the  church,  his  successor  Boniface 
and  the  subsequent  pontiffs,  who  opposed  the 
Fratricelli,  and  persecuted  their  order.* 


solute  poverty  and  want  which  St.  Francis  had  pre- 
scribed in  his  Rule  and  in  his  last  Testament.  We 
omit  the  mention  of  less  important  differences. 

*  The  accounts  of  the  Fratricelli,  that  are  given 
by  ancient  and  modern  writers,  even  by  those  who 
pretend  to  the  greatest  exactness,  are  extremely 
rr)nfused  and  uncertain.  Trithemius,  in  his  Aunal. 
Hirsaug.  tom.  ii.  p.  74,  affirms,  that  they  derived 
their  origin  from  Tanchelinus,  and  thus  ignorantly 
confounds  them  with  the  Catharists  and  other  sects 
that  arose  in  those  times.  The  Franciscans  leave  no 
means  unemployed  to  clear  themselves  from  all  re- 
lation to  this  society,  and  to  demonstrate  that  such 
a  pestilential  and  impious  sect,  as  that  of  the  Fra- 
tricelli, did  not  derive  their  origin  from  the  order  of 
St.  Francis.  In  consequence  of  this,  they  deny  that 
the  Fratricelli  professed  the  Franciscan  rule;  and 
maintain,  on  the  contrary,  that  the  society  which 
was  distinguished  by  this  title  was  a  heap  of  rabble, 
composed  of  persons  of  all  kinds  and  all  religions, 
whom  Herman  Pongilup,  toward  the  conclusion  of 
this  century,  assembled  at  Ferrara,  and  erected  into 
a  distinct  order.  See  Wadding's  Annal.  Minor,  tom. 
vi.  p.  279.  This  author  employs  all  his  eloquence  to 
defend  his  order  from  the  infamous  reproach  of  hav- 
ng  given  rise  to  that  of  the  Fratricelli;  but  his  ef- 
forts are  vain;  for  he  acknowledges,  and  even  proves 
by  unquestionable  authorities,  that  this  hated  sect 
professed  and  observed,  in  the  most  rigorous  man- 
ner, the  rule  of  St.  Francis;  and  nevertheless,  he  de- 
nies that  they  wore  Franciscans;  by  which  he  means, 
and  indeed  can  only  mean,  that  they  were  not  such 
Franciscans  as  those  who  lived  in  subjection  to  the 
general  of  the  order,  and  adopted  the  interpretation 
which  the  popes  had  given  of  the  rule  of  their  found- 
er. All  Wadding's  boasted  demonstration,  there- 
fore, comes  to  no  more  than  this,  that  the  Fratricelli 
were  Franciscans  who  separated  themselves  from 
the  grand  order  of  St.  Francis,  and  rejected  the  au- 
thority of  the  general  of  that  opder,  and  the  laws 
and  interpretations,  together  with  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  pontiffs;  and  this  no  mortal  ever  took  into  his 
head  to  deny.  Hermanns,  or  (as  he  is  called  by 
many)  Armanus  Pongilup,  whom  Wadding  and 
others  consider  as  the  parent  of  the  Fratricelli,  lived 
in  this  century  at  Ferrara,  in  the  highest  reputation 
for  his  extraordinary  piety;  and  when  he  died,  in 
1260,  he  was  interred  with  the  greatest  pomp  and 
magnificence  in  the  principal  church  of  that  city. 
His  memory  was,  for  a  long  time,  honoured  with  a 
degree  of  veneration  equal  to  that  which  is  paid  to 
the  most  illustrious  saints;  and  it  was  supposed  that 
the  Supreme  Being  bore  testimony  to  his  eminent 
sanctity  by  various  miracles.  But,  as  Pongilup  had 
been  suspected  of  heresy  by  the  Inquisitors  of  Here- 
tical Depravity,  on  account  of  the  peculiar  austerity 
of  his  life,  which  resembled  that  of  the  Catharists, 
they  made,  even  after  his  death,  such  an  exact  and 
scrupulous  inquiry  into  his  maxims  and  morals, 
that,  many  years  after  he  was  laid  low  in  the  grave, 
his  impiety  was  detected  and  published  to  the  world. 
Hence  it  was,  that,  in  1300,  his  tomb  was  destroyed; 


Chap.  II 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


361 


XL.  As  the  Franciscan  order  acknowledged, 
for  its  companions  and  associates,  a  set  of  men, 
who  observed  the  third  rule  that  was  prescrib- 
ed by  St.   Francis,  and  were  therefore  coin- 


liis  bones  wi;r(!  diif;  up,  aiiri  burned  by  tlie  order  of  Bo- 
niface VIU.,aiid  the  nuillituili;  cfti'ctually  cured  of 
the  enthusiastic  veneration  they  had  for  his  nieniory. 
The  judicial  acts  of  this  remarkable  event  are  re- 
corded by  Muratori,  in  his  Antiquit.  Italic,  niedii 
jEvi,  torn.  V.  p.  !i:i — 147,  and  it  appears  evidently 
from  them,  that  those  learned  men,  who  consider 
Tongilup  as  the  founder  of  the  order  of  the  Fratri- 
celli,  have  fallen  into  a  !»ross  error.  So  far  was  he 
from  beinj;  the  founder  of  this  sect,  that  he  was  dead 
before  it  was  in  existence.  The  truth  is,  tliat  this 
famous  enthusiast  was  a  Catharist,  infected  with 
Paulician  or  Manicheaii  principles,  and  a  member 
of  the  sect  entitled  baffnolists,  from  a  town  of  tiiat 
name  in  Provence,  where  they  resided.  Some  modern 
writers,  indeed,  have  seen  so  far  into  the  truth,  as 
to  perceive  that  the  Fratricelli  were  a  separate 
branch  of  the  ritfld  and  austere  Franciscans;  but  they 
err  in  this,  tliat  tlicy  ccinsider  them  as  the  same  sect 
with  the  BegliMnls  or  Hiyuins,  under  a  different  de- 
nomination, yucli  is  the  opinion  adopted  by  Lini- 
borch,  (in  his  Hist.  Inquisit.  lib.  i.  cap.  xi.v.)  who 
seems  to  have  been  very  little  acquainted  with  the 
matters  now  under  consideration;  by  Baluze,  in  his 
Miscellan.  torn.  i.  p.  I!t5,  and  Vit.  I'ontif.  Avenio- 
nens.  toni.  i.  p.  50!);  by  Beausobre,  in  his  Disserta- 
tion concerninf;  the  Aiiamites,  subjoined  to  the  His- 
tory of  the  Wars  of  the  Hussites,  p.  380;  and  by 
VVaddiniT,  in  his  Annal.  Minor,  torn.  v.  p.  376.  But, 
notwithstanding  the  authorities  of  these  learned 
men,  it  is  certain,  as  we  shall  show  in  its  place,  that 
there  was  a  real  difference  between  the  Fratricelli 
and  the  Beghards,  not  indeed  with  respect  to  their 
opinions,  but  in  their  rule  of  discipline  and  their 
wanner  of  life. 

The  principal  cause  of  the  errors  that  have  ob- 
scured the  history  of  the  Fratricelli,  is  the  ambiguity 
in  the  denomination  of  tlieir  order.  Fratriccllus  or 
Fraterculus  (Little  Brother)  was  an  Italian  nick- 
name, or  terra  of  derision,  that  was  applied  in  this 
century  to  all  those  who,  without  belonging  to  any 
of  the  religious  orders,  affected  a  monkish  air  in 
their  clothing,  their  carriage,  and  their  manner  of 
living,  and  assumed  a  sanctimonious  aspect  of  piety 
and  devotion.  See  Villani,  Istorie  Florentine,  lib. 
viii.  c.  84. — Iinola  in  Dantem,  p.  1121,  in  Muratori's 
Antiq.  Ital.  torn.  i.  And  as  there  were  many  vaga- 
bonds of  this  kind  during  this  century,  it  happened 
that  the  general  term  of  Fratricelli  was  applied  to 
them  all,  though  they  differed  considerably  from  one 
another  in  tlxur  opinions  and  in  their  methods  of 
living.  Thus  the  Catharists,  the  Waldenses,  the 
Apostles,  and  many  other  sects  who  hail  invented 
new  opinions  in  religion,  were  marked  with  this  de- 
nomination by  thf  multitude;  while  the  writers  of 
foreign  nations,  unac<)uainted  with  this  ludicrous 
application  of  the  word,  were  puzzled  in  their  inqui- 
ries after  the  sect  of  the  Fratricelli,  (who  had  given 
so  much  trouble  to  the  Roman  pontill's,')  wiri'  even 
led  into  the  grossest  mistakes,  and  iniaciiied.  .it  one 
time,  that  this  order  was  that  of  the  Catharists;  at 
another,  that  it  was  the  sect  of  the  Wabb^nses,  &c. 
But,  in  order  to  have  distinct  ideas  of  this  matter,  it 
must  be  considered  that  the  word  Fralcnulus.  or 
I.iltle  Brother,  bore  a  quite  different  sense  from  the 
ludicrous  one  now  mentioned,  when  it  was  applied 
to  the  austere  part  of  the  Franciscans,  who  main- 
tained the  necessity  of  observing,  in  the  strirlcst 
manner,  the  rule  of  their  fouiidi'r.  Instead  of  heiiig 
a  nick-name,  or  a  term  of  derision  when  applied  id 
them,  it  was  an  honourable  denomination  in  which 
they  delighted,  and  which  they  preferri'd  infinitely 
to  all  other  titles.  The  import  of  Fratricelli  corres- 
ponds with  Friars-Minors;  and  every  one  knows, 
that  the  latter  appellation  was  adopted  by  die  Fran- 
ciscans, as  an  expression  of  their  e.vtraordinary  hu- 
mility and  modesty.  In  assuming  this  title,  there- 
fore, these  monks  did  not,  properly  speaking,  assume 
a  new  name,  but  only  translated  the  anicierit  name 
of  their  order  into  the  Italian  language;  for  those 
whom  the  Latins  called  Fralrcs  Minores.  the  Italians 
called  Fratricelli.  Of  the  many  proofs  we  might 
draw  from  the  best  authorsin  favourof  this  arcount 
of  the  matter,  we  shall  only  allege  one.  from  the  life 
of  Thorn.  Aquinas,  hv  Guliclmus  de  Thoco  in  Acus 
Vol.  I.— 46 


moiily  called  Tertiaries;*  so  likewise  the  order 
of  the  Fratricelli,  who  were  desirous  of  being 
considered  as  the  only  genuine  followers  of  St. 
Francis,  had  a  great  number  of  Tertiaries  at- 
tached to  their  cause.  These  half-monks  were 
called,  in  Italy,  /?i:oc/uand  Bocasoti;  in  France, 
Biguim;  and  in  Germany  Begivards,  or  Beg- 
hards, which  last  was  the  de^iomination  by 
which  they  were  commonly  known  in  almost 
all  places.  I     They  ditfered  from  the  Fratri- 

Sanctor.  Martii,  torn.  i.  cap.  ii  sect.  xxi.  "Destruiit 
(says  that  biographer)  er  tertiuin  pestiferum  pravita- 
tis  errorem  S.  Thomas  .  .  .  cujus  sectatores  simul  et 
invcntores  se  iiotiiinanl  fraterculo.i  de  vita  paupere, 
ut  etiam  sub  hoc  humilitatis  sophistico  nomine  sira- 
plicium  corda  seducant . . .  contra  ([uem  errorem  pes- 
tiferum Johannes  papa  XXII.  mirandani  edidit  de- 
cretalem." 

Now  this  very  Decretal  of  John  XXII.  against  the 
Fratricelli,  which  Thoco  calls  admirable,  is,  to  men- 
lion  no  other  testimonies,  a  sufficient  and  satisfac- 
tory proof  of  what  I  have  affirmed  in  relation  to  that 
sect.  In  this  .^ct  (which  is  to  be  seen  in  the  Extra- 
vagantia  Joh.  XXII.  Corp.  Juris  Canon,  torn.  ii.  p. 
1112,  edit.  Boluner)  the  pontiff  expresses  himself 
thus:  "Noniiulli  profaiia>  multitudinis  viri,  qui  vul- 
gariter  Fratricelli  seu  Fratres  de  paupere  vita,  Bizo- 
chi,  sive  IJeguiiii,  nuncupaiitur  in  partibus  Itahae,  in 
insula  Sieilia;  ....  publice  mendicare  soleiit."  He 
afterwards  dixides  the  Fratricelli  into  monks  and 
tertiaries,  or  (which  amounts  to  the  same  thing,  as 
we  shall  show  iu  its  place)  into  Fratricelli  and  Be- 
guins.  With  respect  to  the  Fratricelli,  properly  so 
called,  he  expresses  himself  thus;  "  Plurinii  regulain 
seu  ordinem  Fratruin  Minorum  .  .  .  .  se  profiteri  ad 
literam  conservarc  confingunt,  jira^tendentes  se  a 
sancta;  memoria;  C'celestino  Papa  tiuinto,  prajdeces- 
sore  nostro,  hujus  status  seu  vita;  privilegium  ha- 
buisse.  Quod  tameu  etsi  ostenderent,  non  valeret, 
cum  Honifacius  papa  octavusexcertis  causisration- 
abilibus  omnia  ab  ipso  Coelestino  concessa  ....  viri- 
hus  penitiis  evacuavcrit."  Here  he  describes  clearly 
liiose  Fratricelli,  who,  separating  themselves  from 
the  Fraiici.scans  with  a  view  to  observe  more  strictly 
the  rule  of  Pt.  Francis,  were  erected  into  a  distinct 
order  by  Celestin  V.  And  in  the  following  passage 
he  characterises,  with  the  same  perspicuity,  the  Bi- 
zochi  and  Keguins,  who  entitled  themselves  of  the 
third  order  of  tlK?  penitents  of  St.  Francis'  "  NonnulU 
ex  ipsis  qsserentes  se  esse  de  tertio  ordine  beatl 
Francisci  pmnitentium  vocato,  pra"dictum  statum  et 
ritum  eorum  sub  vclaiuiiie  talis  nominis  satagunt 
palliare." 

*  Beside  two  very  austere  rules  drawn  up  by  St. 
Francis,  the  one  for  the  Friars-Minors,  and  the 
other  for  the  Poor  Pistc-rs,  called  Clarisses,  from  St. 
Clara  their  fnumler,  this  famous  chief  drew  up  a 
third,  whose  demands  were  less  rigorous,  for  such 
as,  without  ali.indoiiing  their  worldly  affairs  or  re- 
signing  tlieir  possessions,  were  disposed  to  enter 
\\  ith  certain  restrictions  into  the  Franci.«can  order, 
and  desirous  of  enjoying  the  privileges  annexed  to 
it.  This  rule  prescribed  fasting,  continence,  hours 
of  devotion  and  prayer,  mean  and  dirty  apparel, 
gravity  of  manners,  and  things  of  that  nature;  but 
neither  prohibited  contracting  marriage,  acciitnulat- 
ing  wealth,  filling  civil  employments,  nor  attending 
to  worldly  atfairs.  All  the  Franci.=can  historians 
have  given  accounts  of  this  third  rule,  more  espe- 
cially Wadding,  Annal.  Min.  torn.  ii. — Helyot  Hist. 
(les  Ordres,  tom.  vii.  They  who  professed  this  ttiird 
rule,  were  called  Friars  of  the  Penance  of  Christ,  and 
sometimes  also,  on  account  of  the  meanness  of  their 
garments.  Brethren  of  the  Sack;  but  they  were  more 
cenerally  known  by  the  dennmination  of  Tertiaries. 
The  greatest  part  of  I  he  religious  orders  of  the  church 
of  Rome  imilaled  this  institution  of  St.  Francis,  as 
soon  as  tliev  perreiveil  the  various  advantages  that 
wire  drdurilile  from  it.  And  lienre,  at  this  day, 
these  orders  ciiniiiiue  to  have  llieir  Tertiaries. 

t  The  Tertiaries  that  were  connected  with  the 
order  of  the  Fratricelli,  arose  about  the  year  l-2<.ifi.  in 
the  marquisate  of  Ancona  and  the  neighbouring 
countries,  and  were  called  Bizochi,  as  we  learn  from 
(he  edict  issued  acalnst  them,  in  P2!)7,  by  Boniface 
VIII..  and  publL^ihed  by  Dii  Boiilay,  in  his  Historia, 
Acad.  Paris,  tojn.  iii.  p.  541.    They  are  mentioned 


362 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


celli,  not  in  their  opinions  and  doctrines,  but 
only  in  their  manner  of  living.  The  Fratri- 
celli  were  real  monks,  subjected  to  tlie  rule  of 
St.  Francis;  while  the  Bizochi  or  Beguins,  if 


under  the  same  title  by  John  XXII.  in  the  bull  al- 
ready cited.  Add  to  all  these  authorities,  that  of  the 
learned  Du-Fresne,  who,  in  hisGlossar.  Latinit.  me- 
diEP,  observes,  that  this  deiioniiiiation  is  derived  from 
Bizochus,  which  signifies  in  French  une  Bcsacc,  i.  e. 
a  sack  or  wallet,  sucli  as  beggars  in  general,  and 
these  holy  bejgars  in  particular,  were  accustomed  to 
carry  about  with  them.  The  term  Bocasottis,  (or 
Vocasotus,  as  Du-Boulay  writes  it,)  has  without 
doubt  the  same  origin,  and  bears  the  same  significa- 
tion. It  is  used  by  Jordan,  in  his  Chronicle,  from 
which  wc  shall  cite  a  reniarkaWe  passage  in  the  fol- 
lowing note.  The  denominations  of  Beghards  and 
Beguins,  given  to  the  Tertiaries  in  Fiance  and  Ita- 
ly, are  very  frequently  met  with  in  the  ecclesiastical 
history  of  tlie  middle  ages.  The  accounts,  however, 
which  both  ancient  and  modern  writers  generally 
give  of  these  famous  names,  are  so  uncertain,  and 
so  ditferent  from  each  other,  that  we  need  not  be 
surprised  to  find  the  history  of  the  Beghards  and  Be- 
guins involved  in  greater  pcrple.xity  ami  darkness, 
than  any  otlwr  part  of  the  ecclesiastical  annals  of 
the  period  now  mentioned.  It  is  therefore  my  pre- 
sent object  to  remove  this  perplexity,  and  dispel  this 
darkness  as  far  as  that  can  be  done  in  the  short 
space  to  whidi  I  am  confined,  and  to  disclose  tiie 
true  origin  of  those  denominations. 

The  words  Bcghard  or  Bcggehard,  Begutfa,  Beg- 
hiiius,  and  Beghind,  which  only  differ  in  their  termi- 
nations, have  all  one  and  the  same  sense.  The 
German  and  Belgic  nations  wrote  Bcghard  and  Be- 
ffittte,  which  terminations  are  extremely  common  in 
the  language  of  the  ancient  Germans.  But  the 
French  substituted  the  Latin  termination  for  the 
German,  and  changed  Bcghard  into  Bcghinvs  and 
Beghina;  so  that  those  who  in  Holland  and  Germa- 
ny were  called  Beghard  and  Begnttc,  were  denomi- 
nated, in  France,  Bcghini  and  BeghiiDC.  Kven  in 
Germany  and  Holland,  the  Latin  termination  was 
gradually  introduced  instead  of  the  German,  particu- 
larly in  the  feminine  term  Bcgutta,  of  which  change 
we  might  allege  several  probable  reasons,  if  this 
were  the  proper  place  for  disquisitions  of  that  na- 
ture. There  are  many  diflfcrent  opinions  concerning 
the  origin  and  signification  of  these  terms,  which  it 
would  be  too  tedious  to  mention,  and  still  more  so 
to  refute.  Besides,  I  have  done  this  in  a  large  work 
concerning  the  Beghards,  wherein  I  have  traced  out, 
with  the  utmost  pains  and  labour,  (from  records,  the 
greatest  part  of  which  had  never  before  seen  the 
light,)  the  history  of  all  the  sects  to  whom  these 
names  have  been  given,  and  have,  at  the  same  time, 
detected  the  errors  into  which  many  learned  men 
have  fallen,  in  treating  this  part  of  the  liistory  of  the 
church.  At  present,  therefTire,  setting  aside  many 
opinions  ami  conjectures,  I  stiall  confiTie  myself  to  a 
brief  incpiiry  into  the  true  origin  and  signification 
of  these  words.  They  are  undoubtedly  derived  t'rom 
the  old  German  word  bcggcn  or  hcggeren,  which  sig- 
nifies to  seek  any  thing  vvitli  importunity,  zeal,  and 
earnestness.  In  joining  to  this  word  the  syllable 
hard,  which  is  the  termination  of  many  German 
words,  we  have  the  term  Beggchard,  which  is  .ippli- 
cable  to  a  person  who  asks  any  thing  with  ardour 
and  importunity;  and,  therefore,  common  mendi- 
cants, in  the  ancient  German  language,  were  called 
Beghard,  from  which  the  English  word  beggar  is 
manifestly  derived.  Begutta  signifies  a  female  beg- 
gar.— When  Christianity  was  introduced  into  Ger- 
many, the  word  hcggen,  or  hcggeren,  was  used  in  a 
religious  sense,  and  expres-sed  the  act  of  devout  and 
fervent  prayer  to  the  Supreme  Being.  Accordingly, 
we  find,  in  the  Gothic  translation  of  the  Four  Gos- 
pels attributed  to  Ulphilas,  the  word  beggen  employ- 
ed to  express  the  duty  of  the  earnest  and  fervent 
prayer.  Hence,  when  any  person  distinguished  him- 
self from  otliers  by  the  frequency  and  fervour  of  his 
devotional  service,  he  was  called  a  Bcghartl,  i.  e.  a 
devout  man;  and  the  denomination  of  lirgutta  was 
given  in  the  same  sense,  to  women  of  uiiciiiMninn 
piety.  And  as  they  who  distinguislied  lliiinselves 
from  others  by  the  frequency  of  their  prayers,  thus 
assumed  a  uiore  striking  air  of  external  devotion 
than  the  rest  of  their  (ellow-Christians,  all  llio.«e  who 
were  ambitious  of  appearing  more  religious  and  de- 


we  except  their  sordid  habit,  and  certain  ob- 
servances and  maxims,  which  they  followed  in 
consequence  of  the  injunctions  of  the  famous 
saint  above  mentioned,  lived  after  the  manner 


vout  than  their  neighbours,  were  called  Beghardi  or 
Begutlu: 

The  observations  we  have  hitherto  made  with  re- 
spect to  the  origin  and  signification  of  the  words  in 
question,  will  serve  as  a  clue  to  rescue  the  attentive 
reader  from  that  labyrinth  of  difficulties  in  which  the 
subject  has  been  involved.  They  will  also  enable 
him  to  account  for  the  prodigious  multitudes  of  Beg- 
hards and  Beguins  that  sprang  up  in  Europe  in  the 
thirteenth  century,  and  will  show  liim  how  it  hap- 
pened, that  these  denominations  were  given  to  above 
30  sects  or  orders,  which  differed  widely  from  each 
otljcr  in  their  opinions,  discipline,  and  manner  of 
living.  The  original  signification  of  the  word  Beg- 
hard, (or  Beggert,  as  it  was  pronounced  by  the  com- 
mon people,)  was  importunate  beggar.  Therefore, 
when  the  people  saw  certain  persons,  not  only  em- 
bracing with  resignation,  but  also  with  the  most 
voluntary  choice,  and  under  a  pretext  of  devotion, 
the  horrors  of  absolute  poverty,  begging  their  daily 
bread  fi-om  door  to  door,  and  renouncing  all  their 
worldly  pos.sessions  and  occupations,  tiiey  called  all 
such  persons  Beghards,  or,  if  they  were  women.  Be- 
guttcs,  without  considering  the  variety  of  opinions 
and  maxims  by  wliioii  thi'y  were  distinguished.  The 
sect  called  jlpost/ct<.  tin-  risid  Franciscans,  the  bre- 
thren of  the  free  spirit  (of  wlK)m  we  shall  speak 
hereafter,)  all  embraced  this  sordid  state  of  beggary; 
and  though  among  these  orders  there  was  not  only  a 
wide  difierence,  but  even  the  greatest  opposition, 
the  Germans  called  tltem  indiscriminately  Beghards, 
from  the  miserable  state  which  they  had  all  embrac- 
ed. Nor  is  this  to  he  wondered  at;  the  character 
which  they  possessed  in  common  was  striking,  while 
the  sentiments  and  maxims  that  divided  them  es- 
caped the  observation  of  the  multitude. 

I5ut  the  word  Bcghard  acquired  a  second,  and  a 
new  signification,  in  this  century,  being  employed, 
as  we  have  already  observed,  to  signify  a  person  who 
prayed  with  uiicoinmon  frequency,  and  who  distin- 
guished himself  from  those  about  him  by  an  extra- 
ordinary appearance  of  piety.  The  force  of  this 
term,  in  its  new  signification,  is  the  same  with  that 
of  the  word  Methodist,  which  is  at  present  the  deno- 
mination of  a  certain  sect  of  fanatics  in  Great  Bri- 
tain. Such,  therefore,  as  departed  from  the  manner 
of  living  that  was  usual  among  their  fellow-citizens, 
and  distinguished  themselves  by  the  gravity  of  their 
aspect  anil  the  austerity  of  their  manners,  were 
comprehended  under  the  general  denomination  of 
Beghards  and  Bcgutfcs  in  Germany,  and  of  Beguins 
and  Beguines  in  France.  These  terms,  as  we  could 
show  liy  many  examples,  comprehended  at  first  even 
the  monks  and  nuns;  but,  in  process  of  time,  they 
were  confined  to  those  who  formed  a  sort  of  inter- 
mediate order  between  the  monks  and  citizens,  and 
who  resembled  the  former  in  the  manner  of  living, 
without  assuniing  their  name  or  contracting  their 
obligations.  The  Tertiaries,  therefore,  or  half-monks 
of  the  Dominican,  Franciscan,  and,  in  general,  of  all 
the  religious  orders,  were  called  Beghards;  for 
though,  as  lay-citizens,  they  belonged  to  the  body 
politic,  yet  they  distinguished  themselves  by  their 
monkish  dispositions,  and  their  profession  of  extra- 
ordinary piety  and  sanctity  of  manners.  The  fra- 
ternity of  weavers,  the  Brethren  of  St.  Alexius,  the 
followers  of  Gerard  the  Great,  in  a  word,  all  who 
pretended  to  an  uncommon  degree  of  sanctify  and 
devotion,  were  caller!  Beghards,  although  they  pro- 
cured the  necessaries  of  life  by  honest  industry, 
without  having  recourse  to  the  sordid  trade  of  beg- 
ging. 

The  denominations,  therefore,  of  Beghards,  Be- 
euttes,  Beguins,  and  Beguines,  are  rather  honourable 
than  otherwise,  when  we  consider  their  origin;  and 
they  are  mentioned  as  such,  in  several  records  and 
deeds  of  this  century,  whose  authority  is  most  re- 
spectable, particularly  in  the  Testament  of  St.  Louis, 
king  of  France.  But,  in  the  sequel,  these  terms  lost 
gradually,  as  the  case  ol'len  happens,  their  primitive 
signification,  and  became  marks  of  infamy  and  deri- 
sion. For,  among  these  religious  beggars  and  these 
sanctimonious  pretenders  to  extraordinary  piety, 
there  were  many,  whose  piety  was  nothing  more 
than  the  mos*.  senseless  superstition;  many,  also, 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  8tc. 


3G3 


of  other  men,  and  were  therefore  considered  in 
no  other  light,  tlian  as  seculars  and  laymen.* 
It  is,  however,  to  be  observed,  that  the  Hi/.ochi 
were  divided  into  two  classes,  whicli  derived 
their  respective  denominations  of  perfect  and 
imperfect,  from  tlic  ditTeront  deirrecs  of  austeri- 
ty that  they  discovered  in  their  manner  of  liv- 
ing. The  perfect  lived  upon  alms,  abstained 
from  wedlock,  and  had  no  fixed  habitations. 
The  imperfect,  on  the  contrary,  had  tiieir 
houses,  wives,  and  possessions,  and  were  en- 
gaged, like  the  rest  of  their  fellow-citizens,  in 
the  various  affairs  of  life. f 

XLI.  We  must  not  confound  these  Beguins 
and  Beguincs,  who  derive  tlieir  origin  from 
an  austere  branch  of  the  Franciscan  order, 
with  the  German  and  Belgic  Beguines,  who 
crept  out  of  tiieir  obscurity  in  this  century,  and 
multiplied  prodigiously  in  a  very  short  time. J 


whose  .lustere  devotion  was  accompanied  with  opi- 
nions of  a  corrupt  nature,  entirely  opposite  to  tlie 
doctrine  of  the  church;  and  (what  was  still  more 
horrible)  many  artful  hypocrites,  who,  under  the 
mask  of  reli{j;ion,  concealed  the  most  abominable 
principles,  and  committed  the  most  enormous  crimes. 
These  were  the  fools  and  knaves  who  broufjht  the 
denomination  of  ISeghard  into  disrepute,  and  ren- 
dered it  both  ridiculous  and  iufanioiis;  so  that  it  was 
only  employed  to  sijinify  idiots,  heretics,  or  hypo- 
crites. The  denomination  of  Lollards,  of  which  sect 
we  shall  soon  have  occasion  to  speak,  mot  with  the 
same  fate,  and  was  rendered  cimtemptible  by  the 
persons  who  masked  their  iniquity  under  that  spe- 
cious title. 

*  See  the  Acta  Inquis.  Tolos.  published  by  Lim- 
borch,  p.  298,  302,  &c.  Among  the  various  passages 
of  ancient  writijrs,  which  tend  to  illustrate  the  his- 
tory of  the  Fratricelli  and  Beguins,  I  shall  quote 
only  one,  which  is  to  be  found  in  Jordan's  Chroni- 
con,  published  by  Muratori,  in  his  Antiq.  Ital.  medii 
iEvi,  tom.  iv.  p.  1(120,  and  confirms  almost  every 
thing  we  have  said  upon  that  head;  anno  12S14. 
"  Petrus  de  Macerata  et  I'etrus  de  Forftsempronio 
apostatae  fuerunt  ordinis  Minonnn  et  ha'retici.  His 
petentibus  ercmitice  viverc,  ut  regulam  11.  Franrisci 
ad  literam  servare  pos.seiit;  quibus  plures  Apostat.-i' 
adh.Tseriint,  qui  statum  coniniunitatisdamnabanl  et 
declarationes  regul.T,  et  vocubant  se  Fratrcs  8. 
Prancisci  (he  ought  to  have  said  Fratriccllos)  Sa'cu- 
lares,  (i.  e.  the  Tertiaries,  who  were  the  friends  and 
associates  of  the  Fratricelli,  without  quitting,  how- 
ever, their  secular  stale,  or  entering  into  the  monas- 
tic order;)  Sa^culares  autem  vocarunt  liizocios  aiit 
Fratricellns  vel  Bocasotos."  Jordan,  however,  errs  in 
alKrming,  that  the  csu'culares  were  called  Fratricelli; 
for  the  latter  name  bclouged  only  to  the  true  monks 
of  St.  Francis,  ami  not  to  the  Tc^rtiaries.  The:  other 
circumstances  of  this  .KTonnt  are  exact,  and  show 
that  the  more  austere  priilcssurs  of  the  Franei.-;can 
rule  were  divideil  into  twoclasses,  namely,  friarsand 
seculars,  and  that  the  l.ilter  were  railed  liimrhi.  "II 
dogmatizabaut,  <|un(l  nulliis  suinmus  puntilix  regu- 
lam B.  Francisci  deilarare  potuit.  Item,  (piod  ange 
his  ahstulit  a  Nicolao  tertio  papatiis  auctoritatem 
.  .  .  .  Et  quod  ipsi  soli.sinil  in  via  Dei  et  vera  eccle- 
sia,"  &,r 

t  This  division  is  mentioned,  or  supposed  by  seve 
ral  authors,  anrl  more  especiallyiin  the  Acta  Inqui- 
sit.  Tolosanw,  p.  :«):i,  &c. 

\  In  the  seventeenth  century,  there  was  a  great  de- 
Imte  carried  on  in  the  Netherlands  on  this  sulijict. 
In  the  course  of  this  ciuitroversy  it  was  proved,  by 
the  most  authentic  and  unr'xcepiionahle  records  and 
diplomas,  that,  so  early  as  the  eleventh  and  twelfth 
centuries,  there  had  been  several  societies  of  liecui 
nes  established  in  Holland  and  I'Linders.  It  is  true. 
that  no  more  than  threeof  these  authentic  acts  were 
produced;  the  first  was  ilrawn  up  in  Ill(i,'>,  the  seconrl 
in  11*»,  the  third  in  ll.'il;  .iird  they  were  all  three 
drawn  up  at  Vilvorden  by  the  Beguines.  See  Aub. 
Mira^us,  Opera  DipKunatico-historica,  tom.  ii.c.  x.vvi. 
p.  948,  and  tom.  iii.  p.  t>2:).  -F.rycius  Puteanus,  de 
Beghinarum  apud  Beliras  Instituto.  This  treatise 
of  Puleanus  is  to  be  found  with  another  of  the  same 
author,  and  upon  the  same  subject,  in  a  work  en- 


Their  origin  was  of  earlier  date  than  this  cen- 
tury; but  it  was  only  now  tiiat  they  actjuired 
a  name,  and -made  a  noise  in  the  world.  Their 
primitive  estajjlishinont  was,  undoubtedly,  tlio 
effect  of  virtuous  dispositions  and  upriglit  in- 
tentions. A  certain  number  of  pious  women, 
botli  virgins  and  widows,  in  order  to  maintain 
their  integrity,  and  preserve  their  principles 
from  the  contagion  of  a  vicious  and  corrupt 
age,  formed  themselves  into  societies,  each  of 
which  had  a  fi.xed  place  of  residence,  and  lived 
under  the  inspection  and  government  of  a  fe- 
male head,  ilere  they  divided  their  time  be- 
tween exercises  of  devotion,  and  works  of 
honest  inchistry,  reserving  to  themselves  the 
liberty  of  entering  into  tlie  state  of  matrimony, 
as  also  of  rjuitting  the  convent,  whenever  they 
thought  proper.  And  as  all  those  among  tho 
female  sex,  who  made  extraordinary  profes- 
sions of  piety  and  devotion,  were  distinguished 
by  the  title  of  Beguines,  (i.  c.  persons  who 
were  uncommonly  assiduous  in  prayer,)  that 
title  was  given  to  tlie  women  of  whom  we  are 
now  speaking.*  The  first  regular  society  of 
this  kind  that  wo  read  of,  was  formed  at  Ni- 
velle  in  Brabant,  in  1226;t  and  it  was  followed 
by  so  many  institutTonS  of  a  like  nature  in 
France,  Germany,  Holland,  and  Flanders, 
that,  toward  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, there  was  scarcely  a  city  of  any  note, 
that  had  not  its  beguinage,  or  vineyard,  as  it 
was  sometimes  called  in  conformity  to  the  style 
of  the  Song  of  Songs.|;     All  these  female  so- 


titled  Josephi  Gcldolphi  a  Ryckel  Vita  S.  Beggs, 
cum  Adnotationibus,  p.  ti5 — 227.  Duaci,  1031.  Now, 
though  we  grant  that  those  writers  have  not  fallen 
into  an  error  who  place  the  rise  of  the  Beguines  in 
the  twelfth  or  thirteenth  century,  yet  the  small 
number  of  authentic  records,  which  they  have  to  pro- 
duce in  favour  of  their  antiquity,  is  an  incontestable 
|iroof  of  the  obscurity  in  which  they  lay  concealed 
before  the  time  in  which  these  authors  placed  tiieir 
origin,  and  may  render  it  almost  probable,  that  tlie 
only  convent  of  Beguines,  that  existed  hcloru  tliu 
thirteenth  century,  was  that  of  Vilvorden. 

*  All  the  Beghards  and  Beguines  that  yet  remain 
in  the  Netherlands,  where  their  convents  have  al- 
most entirely  changed  their  ancient  and  primitive 
form,  affirm  unanimously,  that  both  their  iiaiiii'  and 
institution  di'rive  their  origin  from  St.  ItegL'he,  diich 
ess  of  lirabaut,  and  daughter  of  I'epin,  mayor  of  the 
palace  of  the  king  of  Auslrasia,  who  lived  in  the 
seventh  century,  'i'liis  l.iily,  therefore,  they  con- 
sider as  thiir  p.ilrniuss,  and  honour  her  as  a  kind 
of  tutelar  divinity  with  the  dc^epest  sentiments  of 
veneration  ami  respect.  See  Jos.  Geld,  a  Ryckel, 
Vit.  S.  Begga',  a  wink  of  great  hulk  and  little  merit, 
and  full  of  tin;  ino.'-t  silly  and  insipid  fables.  — Tho.sp 
who  are  not  widlwishers  to  the  latise  of  the  Be- 
guines, adopt  a  quite  diflercMit  accoiiiil  of  their 
origin,  whicli  they  deduce  from  Lambert  le  |!igiic>,  a 
priest  and  native  of  Liege,  who  lived  in  tin  luelfth 
century,  and  wa.-;  iiiMch  csteenird  for  Ins  eminent 
piety.  The  learned  I'eler  Coens, canon  ot  Antwerp, 
has  defended  this  opinion  with  more  erudition  than 
any  other  writer, in  Ills  Disqiiisitio  Historicade  Ori- 
giiie  Beghinarum  (;t  Beghinagiorum  in  Belgio,  Leod. 
11.72. 

(aj^  \  Other  liistorians  say,  in  1207. 

]  See  Matth.  Paris,  Histor.  Major,  ad  An.  12-13  and 
I2.')0,  p.  .'ilO,  (i'.Hi. — Thomas  flantipratensis  in  Bono 
I'liiversali  di;  Apihiis,  lib.  ii.  cap.  li. — Pet.de  Her- 
eiith.il,  in  his  Annals,  from  which  we  have  a  very 
reui.irk.ible  passage  cited  by  Jos.  Geld,  a  Kyckel,  in 
Ills  Olifrrvationc^i  ad  Vilnm  S.  Brjr/rtr,  sect.  c.\cvi. 
The  origin  anil  charters  of  the  convents  ofBegni- 
nes,  that  were  founded  during  this  and  the  following 
century  in  Holland  and  Flanders,  are  tre.nted  in  an 
ample  m.inner  by  Aiib.  Miracus,  in  his  Opera  Hiii- 
loriro  (lipbuiiatica,  John  Bapt.  Grainniaye,  in  his 
Antiquitntes  Belgic»,  Anton.  Sanders,  in  his  Bra- 


S64 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


PartII 


cieties  were  not  governed  by  the  same  laws; 
but,  in  the  greatest  part  of  them,  the  hours 
that  were  not  devoted  to  prayer,  meditation, 
or  other  rehgious  exercises,  were  employed  in 
weaving,  embroidering,  and  other  manual  la- 
bours. The  poor,  sick,  and  disabled  Beguines, 
were  supported  by  the  pious  liberality  of  such 
opulent  persons  as  were  friends  to  the  order. 

XLII.  This  female  institution  was  soon 
imitated  in  Flanders  by  tlie  other  sex;  and  con- 
siderable numbers  of  unmarried  men,  both 
bachelors  and  widowers,  formed  themselves 
into  communities  of  the  same  kind  with  those 
of  the  Beguines,  under  the  inspection  and  go- 
vernment of  a  certain  cliicf,  and  with  the  same 
religious  views  and  purposes;  reserving  to 
themselves,  however,  the  liberty  of  returning 
to  their  former  mode  of  life.*  These  pious  per- 
sons were,  in  the  style  of  this  age,  called  Beg- 
hards,  and  (by  a  corruption  of  that  term  usual 
among  the  Flemish  and  Dutch)  Bogarib;  from 
others  they  received  the  denomination  of  Lol- 
lards: in  France  they  were  distinguished  at 
first  by  that  of  Bons  Valets,  or  Bo7is  Garcons, 
and  afterwards  by  that  of  Begxiins:  they  were 
also  styled  the  Fraternity  of  Weavers,  from  the 
trade  whicli  the  greatest  part  of  them  exer- 
cised. The  first  Beghard  society  seems  to  have 
been  that  which  was  establislied  at  Antwerp  in 
1228j  and  this  establishment  was  followed  by 
many  similar  associations  in  Germany,  France, 
Holland,  and  Flanders,  though,  after  all  their 
success,  their  congregations  were  less  nume- 
rous than  those  of  the  Bcguines-f  It  is  worthy 
of  observation,  that  the  Roman  pontiffs  never 
honoured  tlie  societies  of  the  Beghards  and 
Beguines  with  their  solemn  or  explicit  appro- 
bation, or  confirmed  their  establishments  by 
the  seal  of  their  authority.  They,  however, 
granted  them  a  full  toleration,  and  even  de- 
fended them  often  against  tiic  stratagems  and 
violence  of  their  enemies,  who  were  many  in 
number.  This  appears  by  the  edicts  in  favour 
of  the  Beghards,  which  tlie  pontiffs  granted  in 
compliance  with  tlie  solicitations  of  many  il- 
lustrious personages,  wlio  wished  well  to  that 
society.  It  did  not,  however,  continue  always 
to  flourish.  The  greatest  part  of  the  convents, 
botii  of  the  Beghards  and  Beguines,  are  now 
either  demolished,  or  converted  to  other  uses. 
In  Flanders,  indeed,  a  considerable  number  of 
the  latter  still  sul)sist,  ])ut  few  of  the  former 
arc  to  be  found  in  any  country. 

XLIII.  After  the  accounts  hitherto  given  of 
the  rulers  of  the  church,  and  of  the  religious 
orders  that  were  instituted  or  became  famous 
during  this  century,  it  will  not  be  improper  to 
conclude  this  chapter,  by  mentioning  briefly 


bantia  et  Flandria  ilUistrata,  and  by  other  writers 
of  the  Belgic  liistory. 

*  Matth.  Paris,  Hist.  Major,  ad  An.  1253. 

t  See  Uyckelit  Vita  S.  Begga?,  p.  t)3.5.— Ant.  San- 
deri  Flandria  Ilhistrata,  lib.  iii.  c.  xvi.  Jo.  Bapt. 
Graminaye's  Antiqiiit.  Flaiid.  p.  22.— Aiib.  Mirii'i 
Opera  Diploni.  Hist.  toni.  iii.c.  clxviii. — Helyot,  ili.<t. 
des  Ordres,  torn.  vii.  p.  248,  who  is  nevertlii'less 
chargeable  with  many  errors.— Gerardns  Antoninus, 
Pater  Minister  (so  the  head  of  the  order  is  calliil  in 
our  times)  Brghardorum  Antwerpiensiuni,  in  Epis- 
toia  ad  Kvckinin  do  Beghardoruni  origine  et  futis 
in  Rvckelii  Vila  S.  Bepga?,  p.  489.  This  author,  in- 
deed, from  a  spirit  of  partiality  to  his  order,  conceals 
the  truth  desiijnedly  in  various  places 


the  Greek  and  Latin  writers,  who,  durino-  the 
same  period,  acquired  fame  by  their  learned 
productions.  The  most  eminent  among  the 
Greeks  were, 

Nicetas  Acominatus,  who  composed  a  work, 
entitled  the  History  and  Treasure  of  the  Or- 
thodox Faith; 

Germanus,  the  Grecian  patriarch,  of  whom 
we  have  yet  extant,  among  other  productions 
of  less  note,  a  Book  against  the  Latins,  and  an 
Exposition  of  the  Greek  Liturgy; 

Tlieodorus  Lascaris,  who  left  behind  him 
several  treatises  upon  various  subjects  of  a  re- 
ligious nature,  and  who  also  entered  the  lists 
against  the  Latins,  which  was  the  reigning 
passion  among  such  of  the  Greeks  as  were  en- 
dowed with  tolerable  parts,  and  were  desirous 
of  showing  their  zeal  for  the  honour  of  their 
nation; 

Nicephorus  Blemmida,  who  employed  his 
talents  in  the  salutary  work  of  healing  the 
divisions  between  tlie  Greeks  and  Latins; 

Arsenius,  whose  Synopsis  of  the  Canon  Law 
of  the  Greeks  is  far  from  being  contemptible; 

Georgius  Acropolita,  who  acquired  a  high 
degree  of  renown,  not  only  by  his  historical 
writings,  but  also  by  the  transactions  and  ne- 
gotiations in  which  he  was  employed  by  the 
emperor  Michael; 

Johannas  Beccus  or  Veccus,  who  involved 
himself  in  much  trouble,  and  e.xcited  the  odium 
of  many,  by  defending  the  cause  of  the  Latins 
against  his  own  nation  with  too  much  zeal; 

George  Metochita,  and  Constantine  Meli- 
teniota,  who  employed,  without  success,  their 
most  earnest  efforts  fo  bring  about  a  reconcilia 
tion  between  the  Greeks  and  Latins; 

George  Pachymeres,  who  acquired  reputa 
tion  by  his  commentary  upon  Dionysius,  the 
pretended  chief  of  the  mystics,  and  by  a  history 
which  he  composed  of  his  own  time;  and, 

George  the  Cyprian,  whose  hatred  of  the 
Latins,  and  warm  opposition  to  Veccus  above- 
mentioned,  rendered  him  more  famous  than  all 
his  other  productions.* 

XLIV.  The  prodigious  number  of  JLatip 
writers  that  appeared  in  this  century,  renders 
it  impossible  for  us  to  mention  them  all;  we 
shall  therefore  confine  our  account  to  those 
among  them,  who  were  the  most  eminent,  and 
whose  theological  writings  demand  most  fre- 
(luently  our  notice  in  the  course  of  this  history. 
Sucii  were, 

Joachim,  abbot  of  Flora  in  Calabria,  who 
was  a  man  of  mean  parts  and  of  a  weak  judg- 
ment, fiill  of  enthusiastic  and  visionary  notions, 
but  was  esteemed  for  his  piety  and  supposed 
knowledge,  and  was  even  considered,  during 
his  life  and  after  his  death,  by  the  miserable 
and  blinded  multitude,  as  a  prophet  sent  from 
above.  The  pretended  prophecies  of  this  silly 
fanatic  arc  abundantly  known,  and  have  been 
frequently  published;! 


*  For  a  more  ample  account  of  all  these  writers, 
the  reader  may  consult  the  Bibliotheca  Grteca  of 
Fabricius. 

t  The  life  of  Joachim  was  written  in  Italian  by 
Gregory  di  Lauro,  and  published  at  Naples  in  1660 
The  first  edition  of  his  prophecies  appeared  at  Venice, 
in  1517;  and  it  was  followed  by  several  new  editions, 
to  satisfy  the  curiosity  of  the  populace,  great  and 
small 


i 


Chap.  III. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH 


365 


Stephen  Langton,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
who  wrote  commentaries  upon  the  greatest 
part  of  tlie  books  of  Scripture;' 

Francis,  tiie  founder  of  the  famous  society 
of  Friars-minors,  or  Franciscans,  whose  wri- 
tings were  desisjued  to  toucFi  tlie  heart,  and  ex- 
cite pious  and  devout  sentiments,  but  discover 
little  genius,  and  less  judgment. 

Alan  de  I'Isle,  a  logician,  who  made  no 
mean  figure  among  the  disputatious  tribe;  who 
applied  himself  also  to  the  study  of  chemistry, 
and  published  several  moral  discourses,  in 
whicli  are  many  wise  and  useful  exhortations 
and  precept,s;f 

JacobiLs  de  Vitriaco,  who  acquired  a  name 
by  his  Oriental  History;  and  Jacobus  de  Vora- 
gine,  whose  History  of  the  Lombards^  was  re- 
•ceived  with  applause. 

The  writers  of  this  century,  who  obtained 
the  greatest  renown  on  account  of  tlieir  labo- 
rious researches  in  what  was  called  philosophi- 
cal or  dialectical  theology,  were  Albertus 
Magnus,  Tliomas  Aquinas,  and  Bonaventura, 
who  respectively  possessed  an  inquisitive  turn 
of  mind,  and  a  sublime  and  penetrating  ge- 
nius, accompanied  with  an  uncommon  talent 
of  exploring  the  most  hidden  truths,  and  treat- 
ing with  facility  tiic  most  abstruse  subjects, 
though  they  are  all  chargeable  with  errors  and 
reveries  that  do  little  honour  to  their  memo- 
ries. §  The  other  writers,  who  trod  the  same 
intricate  paths  of  metaphj'sical  divinity,  were 
many  in  number,  and  several  of  them  were 
justly  admired,  tliough  much  inferior  in  re- 
nown to  the  celebrated  triumvirate  now  men- 
tioned; such  were  Alexander  Hales,  the  inter- 
preter of  Aristotle,  William  of  Paris,||  Robert 
CapitOjH  Tliomas  Cantipratensis,  John  of 
Peckham,  William  Durand,  Roger  Bacon,** 
Richard  Middleton,  Giles  de  Columna,  Ar- 
mand  de  Bello-Visu,  and  several  others. 

Hugo  de  St.  Caro  gained  much  applause  by 
his  Concordance  of  the  Holy  Bible,  jj 


Qj^  *  Langtoii  was  a  Ipariifd  and  polite  author 
for  the  age  in  which  he  lived.  To  him  we.  am  in- 
debted for  th(!  division  of  the  Bible  into  ch.Tpters. 
He  wrote  coinnienturics  upon  all  tlie  books  of  the 
Old  Testament,  and  np(Ui  iSt.  Paul's  Kpistles. 

t  Several  of  the  name  of  Alan  lived  in  this  cen- 
tury, who  have  been  strangely  confounded,  botli  by 
ancient  and  modern  writers.  See  Ja(i.  le  liteuf.  Me- 
moires  surDlist.  d'Aux(;rre,  torn.  i.  and  Dissert,  sur 
I'Hist.  Civil,  et  Eccles.  de  Paris,  tom.  ii. 

}  Jac.  Krhanii  Scriptor.  Uumin.  t.  i. — Bollandi 
Pra^f  a<l  Acta  Sanctor. 

§  For  an  account  of  Albert,  see  Echard.  Script. 
Doni.  torn.  i. — For  an  account  of  Thomas  Acpiinas, 
who  was  called  the  Jlnt^cl  of  the  Schvlaslics  amons 
other  splendid  titles,  see  th(!  Acta  Sanctorum,  torn 
i.  and  Ant.  Touron,  Vie  dc  St..  T/iomas,  Paris,  17U7. — 
We  have  ai.^o  a  circumstantial  relation  of  what- 
ever concerns  the  life,  writiiiKS,  and  exploits  of 
Bonav(!iitura,  the  tutelar  saint  of  the  Lyounois,  in 
France,  in  the  two  follciwini;  books,  viz.  Colonia's 
Histoire  Literairu  di;  la  Ville  de  I.yon,  tom.  ii.  and 
the  Histoire  de  la  Vie  et  du  Culte  de  S.  Honaventure, 
par  un  Reli^teux  Cordelier. 

|(  See  the  Gallia  Christiana,  published  by  the 
Benedictines,  torn.  vii. 

IT  Anthony  Wood  has  given  an  ample  account  of 
Robert  C'apito,  in  his  Antiqnitat.  O.xoniens.  tom,  i. 

gj^  »*  We  are  surprised  to  find  Roger  Bacon  thrust 
here  into  a  crowd  of  vulgar  literati,  since  that  great 
man,  whose  astonishing  genius  and  universal  learn- 
ing have  already  been  noticcul,  was  in  every  respect 
superior  to  Albert  and  Bonaventura,  two  of  the 
heroes  of  Dr.  IMosheim's  triumvirate. 

(it?'  tt  Hugo  de  St.  Oaio,  or  St.  Cher,  composed  also 


Guillaume  de  St.  Amour  carried  on  with 
great  spirit  and  resolution,  but  with  little  suc- 
cess, a  literary  and  theological  war  against 
those  friars  who  looked  upon  begging  as  a. 
mark  of  sanctity. 

Humbert  de  Romania  drew  up  a  system  of 
rules  and  precepts,  with  a  view  of  subjecting 
to  a  better  regulation  the  lives  and  manners  of 
the  monastic  orders. 

William  Perald  arose  in  this  century  to  a 
high  degree  of  literary  renown,  in  consequence 
of  a  system  of  morals  he  published  under  the 
title  of  Summa  Virtutum  et  Viliorum.* 

Raymond  Martin  yet  survives  the  oblivion 
that  has  covered  many  of  his  contemporaries; 
and  his  Pvgio  Fidei,  or  Sword  of  Faith,  which 
he  drew  against  tlie  Jews  and  Saracens,  has 
escaped  the  ruins  of  time. 

John  of  Paris  deserves  an  eminent  rank 
among  the  glorious  defenders  of  truth,  liberty, 
and  justice,  since  he  maintained  the  authority 
of  tlie  civil  powers,  and  the  majesty  of  kings 
and  princes,  against  the  ambitious  stratagems 
and  usurpations  of  the  Roman  pontifls,  and  de- 
clared openly  his  opposition  to  the  opinion  that 
was  commonly  adopted  with  respect  to  the  sa- 
crament of  the  Lord's  supper,  and  the  presence 
of  Christ  in  that  holy  ordinance.! 

CHAPTER  m. 

Concerning  the  Doctrine  qf  the  Christian  Church 

during  this  Century. 

I.  However  numerous  and  deplorable  were 
the  corruptions  and  superstitious  abuses  which 
had  hitherto  reigned  in  the  church,  and  deformed 
the  beautiful  simplicity  of  the  Gospel,  they 
were  nevertheless  increased  in  this  century, 
instead  of  being  reformed;  and  tlie  rehgion  of 
Christ  continued  to  sutfcr  under  the  growing 
tyranny  of  fanaticism  and  superstition.  The 
progress  of  reason  and  of  truth  was  retarded 
among  the  Greeks  and  Orientals,  by  their  im- 
inf>derate  aversion  to  the  Latins,  their  blind 
admiration  of  whatever  bore  the  stamp  of  an- 
tiquity, the  indolence  of  their  bishops,  the  stu- 
pidity of  their  clergy,  and  the  calamities  of  the 
times.  Among  the  Latins,  many  concurring 
causes  united  to  augment  the  darkness  of  that 
cloud  whicli  had  already  been  cast  over  the 
divine  lustre  of  genuine  Christianity.  On  the 
one  hand,  the  Roman  poiitilfs  could  not  bear 
the  thought  of  any  thing  tiiat  migiit  iiave  even 
the  remotest  tendency  to  diminish  their  au- 
thority, or  to  encroach  upon  their  preroga- 
tives; and  therefore  they  laboured  assiduously 
to  keep  the  multitude  in  the  dark,  and  to  bias' 
every  attempt  that  was  made  toward  a  refor- 
mation in  the  doctrine  or  di.scipline  of  the 
church.    On  the  other  hand,  the  school  divines, 

a  very  learned  collection  of  the  various  readings  of 
the  Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin  manuscripts  of  the 
Bible.  This  work,  which  he  eiUitled  (Jorrectoriuir 
liiblia;,  is  preserved  in  manuscript  in  the  Sorbonne 
Library.  We  must  not  forget  to  observe  also,  iha. 
his  Concordance  is  the  first  that  ever  was  compiled. 

*  See  Colonia,  Histoire  Literairc  de  la  Ville  de 
Lyon,  tom.  ii.  p.  322. 

t  We  may  learn  his  opinion  concerning  theenchar- 
ist  from  his  treatise  entitled  Determinatio  de  S. 
(^cena,  published  at  Lon(l<in,by  the  learned  Dr.Allix, 
in  lljhC).— See  also  EchardiScriptor.  Dominican,  tom. 
i.  p.  001.— Baluzii  Vitae  Ponlif  Avenionens.  tom.  i, 


366 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


PART  H. 


among  whom  the  Dominican  and  Franciscan 
monks  made  the  greatest  figure  on  account  of 
their  unintelhgiblc  jargon  and  subtlety,  shed 
perplexity  and  darkness  over  the  plain  truths 
of  religion  by  their  intricate  distinctions  and 
endless  divisions,  and  by  that  cavilling,  quib- 
bling, disputatious  spirit,  which  is  the  mortal 
enemy  both  of  truth  and  virtue.  It  is  true  that 
these  scliolastic  doctors  were  not  all  equally 
chargeable  with  corrupting  the  truth;  the  most 
enormous  and  criminal  corruptors  of  Christi- 
anity wore  those  who  led  the  multitude  into 
the  two  following  abominable  errors:  that  it 
was  in  tjie  power  of  man  to  perform,  if  he 
wished,  a  more  perfect  obedience  than  God 
required;  and  that  the  whole  of  religion  con- 
sisted in  an  external  air  of  gravity,  and  in  certain 
composed  bodily  gestm-es. 

II.  It  will  be  easy  to  confirm  this  general  ac- 
count of  the  state  of  religion  by  particular 
facts.  In  the  fourth  Lateran  council,  convok- 
ed by  Innocent  III.,  in  1215,  and  at  which  an 
extraordinary  number  of  ecclesiastics  were  as- 
sembled,* that  imperious  pontiff,  without  deign- 
ing to  consult  any  body,  published  no  less  than 
seventy  laws  or  decrees,  by  which  not  only  the 
authority  of  the  popes  and  tlic  power  of  the 
clergy  were  confirmed  and  extended,  but  also 
new  doctrines,  or  articles  of  faith,  were  impos- 
ed upon  Christians.  Hitherto  the  opinions 
of  the  Christian  doctors,  concerning  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ 
were  present  in  the  eucharist,  were  extremely 
different;  nor  had  the  church  determined,  by 
any  clear  and  positive  decree,  the  sentiment 
that  was  to  be  embraced  in  relation  to  that  im- 
portant matter.  It  was  reserved  for  Innocent 
to  put  an  end  to  the  liberty,  which  every  Chris- 
tian had  hitherto  enjoyed,  of  interpreting  this 
presence  in  tlie  manner  he  thought  most  agree- 
able to  the  declarations  of  Scripture,  and  to 
decide  in  favour  of  the  most  absurd  and  mon- 
strous doctrine  that  the  phrensy  of  supersti- 
tion was  capable  of  inventing.  This  auda- 
cious pontiff  pronounced  the  opinion,  which  is 
embraced  at  this  day  in  the  cliurch  of  Rome 
with  regard  to  that  point,  to  be  the  only  true 
and  orthodox  account  of  the  matter;  and  he 
had  the  honour  of  introducing  and  establishing 
the  use  of  the  term  TransubUantialion,  which 
was  hitherto  absolutely  unknown. f  The  same 
pontiff  placed,  by  his  own  authority,  among 
the  duties  prescribed  by  the  divine  laws,  that 
of  auricular  confession  to  a  priest;  a  confession 
that  implied  not  only  a  general  acknowledg- 
ment, but  also  a  particular  enumeration  of  tiie 
sins  and  follies  of  the  penitent.  Before  this 
period  several  doctors,  indued,  looked  upon 
this  kind  of  confession  as  a  duty  inculcated 
by  divine  authority;  but  this  opinion  was  not 
publicly  received  as  the  doctrine  of  tjie  church; 
for,  though  the  confession  of  sin  was  justly 
deemed  an  essential  duly,  yet  it  was  left  to 
every  Christian's  choice,  to  make  the  confes- 
sion mentally  to  the  Supreme  Being,  or  to  ex- 
press it  in  words  to  a  spiritual  confidant  and 


(t(j=  *  At  this  CDiiiicil  tlioro  wore  prcsi-nl  412  bi- 
shops, 800  abbiits  and  prims,  beside  lliu  aiidiassadois 
of  almost  all  Hip  European  princes. 

t  See  Edin.  .Mburtinus,  de  Eucliaristia,  lib  iii.  n. 
972. 


director.*  These  two  laws,  which,  by  the  au- 
thority of  Innocent,  were  received  as  laws  of 
God,  and  consequently  adopted  as  laws  of  the 
church,  occasioned  a  multitude  of  new  injunc- 
tions and  rites,  of  which  not  even  the  smallest 
traces  are  to  be  found  in  the  sacred  writintrs, 
or  in  the  apostolic  and  primitive  ages;  and 
which  were  much  more  adapted  to  establish 
and  extend  the  reign  of  superstition,  than  to 
open  the  eyes  of  the  blinded  midtitude  upon 
the  enormous  abuses  of  which  it  had  been  the 
source. 

III.  There  is  nothing  that  will  contribute 
more  to  convince  us  of  the  miserable  state  of 
religion  in  this  century,  and  of  the  phrensy 
that  prevailed  in  the  devotion  of  these  unhap- 
py times,  than  the  rise  of  the  sect  called  Fla- 
gellantes,  or  Wliippers,  which  sprang  up  in  Ita- 
ly, in  1260,  and  thence  diffused  itself  through 
almost  all  the  countries  of  Europe.  The  so- 
cieties that  embraced  this  new  discipline,  pre- 
sented the  most  hideous  and  shocking  specta- 
cle that  can  well  be  conceived;  multitudes, 
composed  of  persons  of  both  sexes,  and  of  all 
ranks  and  ages,  ran  tlu-ough  the  public  places 
of  the  most  populous  cities,  and  also  through 
the  fields  and  deserts,  with  whips  in  their  hands, 
lasiiing  their  naked  bodies  with  astonishing  se- 
verity, filling  the  air  with  their  wild  shrieks, 
and  beholding  the  firmament  with  an  air  of 
distraction,  ferocity,  and  horror;  and  all  this 
with  a  view  to  obtain  the  divine  mercy  for 
themselves  and  others,  by  their  voluntary  mor- 
tification and  penance.f  This  method  of  ap- 
peasing the  Deity  was  perfectly  conformable  to 
the  notions  of  religion  that  generally  prevailed 
in  this  century;  nor  did  these  fanatical  Flagel- 
lators  do  any  thing  more,  in  this  extravagant 
discipline,  than  practise  the  lessons  which  they 
had  received  from  the  monks,  especially  from 
the  mendicant  fanatics.  Hence  they  attracted 
the  esteem  and  veneration,  not  oidy  of  the  po- 
pulace, but  also  of  their  rulers,  and  were  ho- 
noured and  revered  by  all  ranks  and  orders,  on 
ai^count  of  their  extraordinary  sanctity  and 
virtue.  Their  sect,  however,  did  not  alwa)'s 
continue  in  the  same  high  degree  of  credit  and 
re|>utation;  for,  though  the  primitive  whippers 
were  exemplary  in  pohit  of  morals,  yet  their 
societies  wore  augmented,  as  might  naturally 
be  expected,  by  a  turbulent  and  furious  rabble, 
many  of  whom  were  infected  with  the  most 
ridiculous  and  even  impious  opinions.  Hence 
!)oth  the  emperors  and  pontifi's  thought  proper 
to  put  an  end  to  tiiis  religious  phrensy,  by  de- 
claring all  devout  flagellation  contrary  to  the 
divine  law,  and  prejudicial  to  tiie  soul's  eternal 
interests. 

IV.  The  Christian  interpreters  and  commen- 
tators of  this  century  difler  very  little  from 
tho.se  of  tlic  preceding  times.  The  greatest 
part  of  them  prctenilcd  to  draw  from  the 
depths  of  truth,  (or  rather  of  their  imagina- 


*  See  the  book  of  the  learned  Daille,  concerning 
Auricnlar  ("onfession. 

t  Christ.  Scliotjxenii  Ilislnria  Flagellantium. — Ja 
qiii>s  IJoilean,  llisloirc  des  Flaj;ellaiis,  chap.  i.x.  We 
liiive  also  a  lively  ))irtiire  of  this  fanatical  discipline 
of  the  Whippers,  exhibited  in  Miirtenne's  Voyage 
Ijiteraire  de  diMi.x  Beiu'dictins,  ton),  ii.  with  which 
the  reader  may  compare  Muratori's  Aiilii].  Ital  me- 
dii  ili^vi,  torn,  vi 


Chap.  HI. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


367 


tioiis,)  what  they  called  the  internal  juice  and 
marrow  of  the  Scriptures,  i.  e.  their  liidden  and 
mysterious  Bense;  and  this  they  did  with  so  lit- 
tle dexterity,  so  little  ])lausibility  and  inven- 
tion, that  the  greater  part  of  their  explications 
must  appear  insipid  and  nauseous  to  such  as 
are  not  entirely  destitute  of  judgment  and  taste. 
If  our  readers  be  desirous  of  a  proof  of  the 
justice  of  this  censure,  or  curious  to  try  the 
extent  of  their  patience,  they  have  only  to  pe- 
ruse the  explications  that  have  been  given  by 
Archbishop  Langton,  Hugh  do  St.  Cher,  and 
Antony  of  Padua,  of  the  v.arious  books  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testament.  The  mystic  doctors 
carried  this  visionary  method  of  interpreting 
Scripture  to  the  greatest  height,  and  displayed 
the  most  laborious  industry,  or  rather  the 
most  egregious  folly,  in  searching  for  myste- 
ries, where  reason  and  common  sense  could 
find  nothing  but  plain  and  evident  truths. 
They  were  too  penetrating  and  quick-aighted  not 
to  perceive  clearly  in  the  holy  scriptures  all 
those  doctrines  that  were  agreeable  to  their 
idle  and  fantastic  system.  Nor  were  their  ad- 
versaries, the  scjioolmen,  entirely  averse  to  this 
arbitrary  and  fanciful  manner  of  interpreta- 
tion, though  their  ])rincipal  industry  was  cm- 
ployed  rather  in  collecting  the  explications  gi- 
ven by  the  ancient  doctors,  than  in  inventing 
new  ones,  as  appears  from  the  writings  of 
Alexander  Hales,  William  Alvcrnus,  and  Tho- 
mas Aquinas  himself.  We  must  not,  however, 
omit  observing,  that  the  scholastic  doctors  in 
general,  and  more  especially  these  now  men- 
tioned, had  recourse  often  to  the  subtleties  of 
logic  and  metaphysics,  to  assist  them  in  their 
explications  of  the  sacred  writings.  To  faci- 
litate the  study  and  interpretation  of  these  di- 
vine books,  Hugh  de  St.  Cher  composed  his 
Concordance,*  and  the  Dominicans,  under  the 
eye  of  their  supreme  chief,  the  learned  .lordan, 
gave  a  new  edition  of  the  Latin  translation  oi" 
the  Bible,  carefully  revised  and  corrected  from 
the  ancient  copics.f  The  Greeks  contributed 
nothing  that  deserves  attention  toward  the  il- 
lustration of  the  Scriptures;  the  greatest  part 
of  which  were  expomuled  with  great  learning 
by  Gregory  Abulpharaj,  that  celebrated  Syrian, 
whose  erudition  was  famous  throughout  the 
east,  and  whom  we  have  already  had  occasion 
to  mention.! 

V.  Systems  of  theology  and  ethics  were 
multiplied  exceedingly  in  this  century;  and  of 
those  writers,  who  treated  of  the  divine  per- 
fections and  worship  and  of  the  practical  rules 
of  virtue  and  obedience,  the  number  is  too 
great  to  permit  specification.  All  such  as  were 
endowed  with  any  considerable  degree  of  ge- 
nius and  eloquence,  employed  their  labours 
upon  these  noble  branches  of  sacred  science, 
more  especially  the  academical  and  public 
teachers,  among  whom  the  Dominicans  and 
Franciscans  held  the  most  eminent  rank,  it  is, 
indeed,  unnecessary  to  mention  the  names,  or 
enumerate  the  productions  of  these  doctors, 
since  whoever  is  aciiuainted  with  the  charac- 

*  Echnrili  Scriplor.  Ord.  Pra'dicalor.  torn.  i.  p.  !!•! 

t  Uich.  Simon,  Ci  it.  <lo  la  Uib.  (Ilm  Aut.  Ecc.  par 
M.Dii  I'm,  t.i.  p.  341. 

t  Jos.  t^im  Acjfinaiu  bibliuili  Orient.  Vatican, 
torn.  li.  p.  177 


ters  and  writings  of  Albert  the  Great,  and 
Tliomas  Aquinas,  will  know  every  thing  that 
is  worthy  of  note  in  the  rest,  who  were  no 
more  than  their  echoes.  The  latter  of  these 
truly  great  men,  commonly  called  the  Angel 
of  the  Schools,  or  the  Angelic  Doctor,  sat  un- 
rivalled at  tlie  head  of  the  divines  of  this  cen- 
tury, and  deservedly  obtained  the  principal 
place  among  those  who  digested  the  doctrines 
of  Christianity  into  a  regular  system,  and  il- 
lustrated and  explained  them  in  a  scientific 
manner.  For  no  sooner  had  his  system,  or 
sum  of  theology  and  morals,  seen  the  light, 
than  it  was  received  almost  tuiiversally  with 
the  highest  applause,  placed  in  the  same  rank 
with  Lombard's  famous  IJook  of  Sentences, 
and  admitted  as  the  standard  of  truth,  and  the 
great  rule  according  to  which  the  public  teach- 
ers formed  their  plans  of  instruction,  and  the 
youth  their  methods  of  study.  Some  writers, 
hideed,  have  denied  that  Tliomas  was  the  au- 
thor of  the  celebrated  system  that  bears  his 
name;*  but  the  reasons  which  they  allege  in 
support  of  this  notion  are  destitute  of  evidence 
and  solidity. f 

VI.  The  greatest  part  of  these  doctors  fol-  'y 
lowed  Aristotle  as  their  model,  and  made  use 
ot'  the  logical  and  metaphysical  principles  of 
that  subtle  philosopher,  in  illustrating  the  doc- 
trines of  Christianity,  and  removing  the  diffi- 
culties with  which  some  of  them  were  attend- 
ed. In  their  philosophical  explications  of  the 
more  sublime  truths  of  that  divine  religion, 
tliey  followed  the  hypothesis  of  the  Realists,^ 
which  sect,  in  this  century,  was  much  more 
numerous  and  flourishing  than  that  of  the 
J^'ominalists,  on  account  of  the  lustre  iind  credit 
it  derived  from  the  authority  of  Thomas 
Aquinas  and  Aliwrt,  its  learned  and  venerable 
patrons.  Yet,  notwithstanding  all  the  subtlety 
and  penetration  of  these  irrefragable,  seraphic,, 
and  angelic  doctors,  as  they  wore  usually 
styled,  they  often  appeared  wiser  in  their  own 
conceit,  than  they  were  in  reality,  and  fre- 
quently did  little  more  than  involve  in  greater 
obscurity  the  doctrines  which  they  pretended 
to  place  in  the  clearest  light.  For,  not  to  men- 
tion the  ridiculous  oddity  of  many  of  their  ex- 
pressions, the  hideous  barbarity  of  their  style, 
and  their  extravagant  and  presunqjtuous  desire 
of  prying  into  matters  that  infinitely  surpass 
the  comprehension  of  short-sighted  mortals, 
they  were  chargeable  with  defects  in  their  man- 
ner of  reasoning,  which  every  true  philosopher 
will,  of  all  others,  be  most  careful  to  avoid. 
For  they  neither  defined  their  terms  accurately, 
(and  hence  arose  innuinerable  disputes  merely 
about  words,)  nor  did  they  divide  their  subjects 
with  perspicuity  and  precision;  and  hence  they 
generally  treated  it  in  a  confused  and  unsatis- 
factory  manner.     The  great  Angelic  Doctor 


*  Sec  Jo.  Lauiuiii  Traditio  Kcclcsic  circa  Siinoui- 
am,  p.  ^90. 

t  See  Natalis  Alexander,  Histor.  Eccles.  Skc.  xiii. 
p.  3>.tl.— Echard  and  Unctif,  Scriptor.  Ordin.  Praedi- 
cator.  Sjcc.  xiii.  loni.  i.  p.  s;U3.— Ant.  Touron,  Vie  de 
St.  Thomas,  p.  604. 

t  In  the  original  wc  find  Positivi  in  the  n.'argin, 
which  is  manifestly  a  fault;  since  the  Positivi  were 
quite  opposite,  in  their  method  of  tcarhine,  to  the 
schoolmen,  and  were  the  f'ame  with  the  liiblici  men- 
tioned in  the  followiiia  ^ci  tiou.  See  above,  Cent. 
xii.  Part  ii.  Ch.  in.  tWl.  vui. 


368 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OP  THE  CHURCH. 


PartH. 


himself,  notwithstanding  his  boasted  method, 
was  defective  in  these  respects;  his  definitions 
are  often  vague,  or  obscure,  and  his  plans  or 
divisions,  though  full  of  art,  are  frequently  des- 
titute of  clearness  and  proportion. 

VII.  The  method  of  investigating  divine 
truth  by  reason  and  philosophy  remarkably 
prevailed,  and  was  followed  with  such  ardour, 
that  the  number  of  those  who,  in  conformity 
with  the  example  of  the  ancient  doctors,  drew 
their  systems  of  theology  from  the  holy  scrip- 
tures and  the  writings  of  the  fathers,  and  who 
acquired  on  that  account  the  name  ofBiblicisls* 
diminished  from  day  to  day.  It  is  true,  indeed, 
that  several  persons  of  eminent  piety  ,f  and 
even  some  of  the  Roman  jjontitfs,!.  exhorted 
with  great  seriousness  and  warmth  the  scho- 
lastic divines,  and  more  especially  those  of  the 
university  of  Paris,  to  change  their  method  of 
teaching  theology,  and  (relinquishing  their 
philosophical  abstraction  and  subtlety)  to  de- 
duce the  sublime  science  of  salvation  from  the 
holy  scriptures  with  that  purity  and  simplicity 
with  which  it  was  delivered  by  the  inspired 
writers.  But  these  admonitions  and  exliorta- 
tions  were  without  effect;  the  evil  was  too  in- 
veterate to  admit  a  speedy  remedy,  and  the 
passion  for  logic  and  metaphysics  liad  become 
so  general  and  so  violent,  tliat  neither  remon- 
strances nor  arguments  could  check  its  pre- 
sumption or  allay  its  ardour.  In  justice  how- 
ever to  the  scholastic  doctors,  it  is  necessary 
to  observe,  that  they  did  not  neglect  the  dic- 
tates of  the  Gospel  or  the  authority  of  tradi- 
tion, though  it  is  sufficiently  proved,  by  what 
they  drew  from  these  two  sources,  that  they 
had  studied  neither  with  much  attention  or  ap- 
plication of  mind. §  And  it  is  moreover  certain, 
that,  in  process  of  time,  they  committed  to 
others  the  care  of  consulting  the  sources  now 
mentioned,  and  reserved  to  themselves  the 
much-respected  province  of  philosophy,  and 
the  intricate  mazes  of  dialectical  chicane. 
And,  indeed,  independent  of  their  philosophi- 
cal vanity,  we  may  assign  another  reason  for 
this  method  of  proceeding,  drawn  from  the  na- 
ture of  their  profession,  and  the  circumstances 
in  which  they  were  placed.  For  the  greatest 
part  of  these  subtle  doctors  were  Dominican  or 


(tjj-  *  In  the  margin  of  the  original,  instead  of 
Biblkists,  which  we  find  in  the  text.  Dr.  Moshiem 
has  written  Scntentiarii,  which  is  undoubtedly  an 
oversight.  The  Sententiarii,  or  followers  of  Peter 
Lombard,  who  is  considered  as  the  father  of  the 
scholastic  philosophy,  are  to  be  placed  in  the  same 
class  with  the  philosophical  divines,  mentioned  in  the 
preceding  section,  and  were  very  different  from  the 
Biblici,  both  in  their  manner  of  thinking  and 
teaching. 

t  See  Du  Bonlay,  Hist.  Acad.  Paris,  torn.  iii.  p.  9, 129, 
180. — Ant.  Wood,  Antiq.  Oxoniens.  tom.  i.  p.  91. 

X  See  the  famous  epistle  of  Gregory  IX.  to  the 
prof<-ssors  in  the  university  of  Paris,  published  in 
Du  Boulay's  Histor.  Acad.  Paris,  tom.  iii.  The  pon- 
tiff concludes  that  remarkable  epistle  with  the  fol- 
lowing words:  "  Mandamus  et  stricte  prscipimus, 
quateiius  sine  fermento  mundanae  scientire  doceatis 
theologicam  puritatem,  non  adulterantcs  verbum 
Dei  philosophorum  figmentis  ..  .  sed,  content!  termi- 
nis  a  patribus  inslitutis,  mentes  auriitorum  vestro- 
rum  fructu  cfBlestis  eloquii  saginetis,  ut  hauriant  de 
fontibus  Salvatoris." 

§  Faydit,  Alteration  du  Dogme  Theologir|ne  par 
la  Philosophie  ri'Aristote,  p.  289. — Richard  Sunon, 
Critique  de  la  Bihiiotheque  des  Auteurs  Eccles.  par 
M.  Du  Pin.  tom.  i.  P'  HO. 


Franciscan  friars;  and,  as  the  monks  of  these 
orders  had  no  possessions,  not  even  libraries, 
and  led,  besides,  wandering  and  itinerant  lives, 
such  of  them  as  were  ambitious  of  literary 
fame,  and  of  the  honours  of  authorship,  were, 
for  the  most  part,  obliged  to  draw  their  mate- 
rials from  their  own  genius  and  memory,  being 
destitute  of  all  other  succours. 

VIII.  The  opinions  wliich  these  philosophi- 
cal divines  instilled  into  the  minds  of  the  youth, 
appeared  to  the  votaries  of  the  ancient  fathers 
highly  dangerous  and  even  pernicious;  and 
lience  they  used  their  utmost  efforts  to  stop 
the  progress  of  tliese  opinions,  and  to  diminish 
the  credit  and  influence  of  their  authors.  Nor 
was  their  opposition  at  all  ill-grounded;  for  the 
subtle  doctors  of  the  school  not  only  explained 
the  mysteries  of  religion  in  a  manner  confor- 
mable to  the  principles  of  their  presumptuous 
logic,  and  modified  them  according  to  the 'dic- 
tates of  their  imperfect  reason,  but  also  pro- 
moted the  most  impious  sentiments  and  tenets 
concerning  the  Supreme  Being,  the  material 
world,  the  origin  of  tlie  miiverse,  and  the  na- 
ture of  the  soul.  And  when  it  was  objected 
to  these  sentiments  and  tenets,  that  they  were 
in  direct  contradiction  to  the  genius  of  Christi- 
anity, and  to  the  express  doctrines  of  Scrip- 
ture, these  scholastic  quibblers  had  recourse, 
for  a  reply,  or  rather  for  a  method  of  escape, 
to  that  perfidious  distinction  which  has  been 
frequently  employed  by  modern  deists, — that 
these  tenets  were  philosophically  true,  and 
conformable  to  right  reason,  but  that  they 
were,  indeed,  theologically  false,  and  contrary 
to  the  orthodox  faith.  This  produced  an  open 
war  between  the  Biblicists  and  the  scholastic 
doctors;  which  was  carried  on  with  great 
warmth  throughout  the  whole  course  of  this 
century,  particularly  in  the  universities  of  Ox- 
ford and  Paris,  where  we  find  the  former  load- 
ing the  latter  with  the  heaviest  reproaches  in 
tlieir  public  acts  and  in  their  polemic  writings, 
and  accusing  them  of  corrupting  the  doctrines 
of  the  Gospel,  both  in  tlieir  public  lessons,  and 
in  their  private  discourse.*  Even  St.  Thomas 
himself  was  accused  of  holding  opinions  con- 
trary to  the  truth;  his  orthodoxy,  at  least,  was 
looked  upon  as  extremely  dubious  by  many 
of  the  Parisian  doctors. f  He  accordingly  saw 
a  formidable  scene  of  opposition  arising  against 
him,  but  had  the  good  fortune  to  ward  off  the 
storm,  and  to  escape  untouched.  Others, 
whose  autliority  was  less  extensive,  and  whose 
names  were  less  respectable,  were  treated  with 
greater  severity.  The  living  were  obliged  to 
confess  publicly  their  errors;  and  the  memo- 
ries of  the  dead,  who  had  persevered  in  them 
to  tlie  last,  were  branded  with  infamy. 

IX.  But  the  most  formidable  adversaries 
the  scholastic  doctors  had  to  encotmter  were 
the  Mystics,  who,  rejecting  every  thing  that 
bore  the  least  resemblance  to  argumentation 
or  dispute  about  matters  of  doctrine  and  opin- 


*  See  Matth.  Paris,  Histor.  Major,  p.  541.— Boulay. 
Hist.  Acad.  Paris,  tom.  iii.  p.  397,  430,  &c. 

t  See  J.  Launoy,  Histor.  Gymnas.  Navarreni,  part 
iii.  lib.  iii.  chap.  cxvi.  tom.  iv.  op.  part  i.  p.  485. — 
Bnulay,  Histor.  Acad.  Paris,  tom.  iv.  p.  204.— -Petri 
Zorni  Opnscula  Sacra,  tom.  i.  p.  445. — B.  Simon, 
Lettres  Choisies,  tom.  ii.  p.  2B6.— Echardi  Scriptor. 
Ordin.  rrsedicator.  tom.  i.  p.  435. 


Chap.  HI. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


369 


ion,  confined  their  endeavours  to  the  advance- 
ment of  inward  piety,  and  the  propajration  of 
devout  and  tender  feelings,  and  llnis  acquired 
the  highest  degree  of  popuhirity.  Tlic  people, 
who  are  much  more  affected  with  what  touciios 
their  passions,  than  with  what  is  only  addressed 
10  tiieir  reason,  were  attached  to  tlie  Mystics 
in  the  warmest  manner;  and  this  gave  such 
weight  to  the  reproaches  and  invectives  which 
they  threw  out  against  the  schoolmen,  that  the 
latter  thought  it  more  prudent  to  disann  these 
favourites  of  the  multitude  by  mild  and  sub- 
missive measures,  than  to  return  their  re- 
proaches with  indignation  and  bitterness 
They  accordingly  set  themselves  to  flatter  the 
Mystics,  and  not  only  extolled  their  sentimen- 
tal system,  but  employed  their  pens  in  illus- 
trating and  defending  it;  they  even  associated 
it  with  the  schokistic  philosophy,  though  they 
were  as  different  from  each  other  as  any  two 
things  could  be.  It  is  well  known  that  Bona- 
ventura,  Albert  the  Great,  Robert  Capito, 
and  Thomas  Aquinas,  contributed  to  this  re- 
conciliation between  mysticism  and  dialectics 
by  their  learned  labours,  and  even  went  so  far 
as  to  write  commentaries  upon  Dionysius,  the 
ciiief  of  the  Mystics,  whom  these  subtle  doctors 
probably  looked  upon  with  a  secret  contempt. 
X.  Both  the  schoolmen  and  Mystics  of  this 
century  treated,  in  their  writings,  of  the  obli- 
gations of  morality,  the  duties  of  the  Christian 
Lfe,  and  of  the  means  that  were  most  adapted 
to  preserve  or  deliver  the  soul  from  the  servi- 
tude and  contagion  of  vice;  but  their  methods 
of  liandling  these  important  subjects  were,  as 
may  be  easily  conceived,  entirely  different. 
We  may  form  an  idea  of  mystical  morality  from 
the  observations  of  George  Pachymcres,  upon 
the  writings  of  Dionysius,  and  from  the  Spirit- 
ual Institutes,  or  Abridgment  of  Mystic  The- 
ology, composed  by  Humbert  de  Romanis,  of 
which  productions  the  former  was  written  in 
Greek,  and  the  second  in  Latin.  As  to  the 
scholastic  moralists,  they  were  principally  em- 
ployed in  defining  the  nature  of  virtue  and 
vice  in  general,  and  the  characters  of  the  vari- 
ous virtues  and  vices  in  particular;  and  hence  a 
prodigious  number  of  sums,  or  systematic  col- 
lections of  virtues  and  vices,  appeared  in  this  cen- 
tury. The  schoolmen  divided  the  virtues  into 
two  classes.  The  first  comprehended  the  moral 
virtues,  which  differ,  in  no  respect,  from  those 
which  Aristotle  recommended  to  his  disciples. 
The  second  contained  the  theological  virtues, 
which,  in  consequence  of  what  St.  Paul  says, 
(1  Corinth,  xiii.  13,)  they  made  to  consist  in 
faith,  hope,  and  charity.  In  explaining  and 
illustrating  the  nature  of  the  virtues  compre- 
hended in  these  two  classes,  they  seemed  rather 
to  have  in  view  the  pleasures  of  disputing,  than 
the  design  of  instructing;  and  they  exhausted 
all  their  subtlety  in  resolving  difiiculties  which 
were  of  their  own  creation.  Thomas  Aquinas 
6hone  forth  as  a  star  of  the  first  magnitude, 
though,  like  tlie  others,  he  was  oflen  covered 
with  impenetrable  fogs.  The  second  part  of 
his  famous  sum  was  wholly  employed  in  lay- 
ing down  the  principles  of  morality,  and  in 
deducing  and  illustrating  the  various  duties 
that  result  from  them;  and  this  part  of  his 
learned  labour  has  had  the  honour  and  misfor- 
VoL.  I.— 47 


tune  of  pas.sing  through  the  hands  of  a  truly 
prodigious  number  of  commentators. 

XI.  It  is  al)solutely  necessary  to  observe 
here,  that  the  moral  writers  of  this  and  the 
following  centuries  must  be  read  with  the  ut- 
most caution,  and  with  a  perpetual  attention 
to  this  circumstance,  that,  though  they  employ 
the  same  terms  that  we  find  in  the  sacred  writ- 
ings, yet  they  use  them  in  a  quite  difierent 
sense  from  that  which  they  really  bear  in  these 
divine  books.  They  speak  of  justice,  charity, 
faith,  and  holiness;  but,  from  the  manner  in 
which  these  virtues  arc  illustrated  bj  those 
quibbling  sophists,  they  differ  much  from  the 
amiable  and  sublime  duties,  which  Christ  and 
his  disciples  inculcated  under  the  same  deno- 
minations. A  single  example  will  be  suffi- 
cient to  render  this  evident  beyond  contradic- 
tion. A  pious  and  holy  man,  according  to  the 
sense  annexed  by  our  Saviour  to  these  terms, 
is  one  who  consecrates  his  aflections  and  ac- 
tions to  the  service  of  the  Supreme  Being,  and 
accounts  it  his  highest  honour  and  felicity,  eis 
well  as  his  indispensable  duty,  to  obey  his  laws. 
But,  in  the  style  of  the  moral  writers  of  this 
age,  that  person  was  piov^  and  holy,  who  de- 
prived himself  of  his  possessions  to  enrich  the 
.priesthood,  to  build  churches,  and  found  mo- 
nasteries, and  whose  faith  and  obedience  were 
so  implicitly  enslaved  to  the  imperious  dictates 
of  the  Roman  pontiffs,  that  he  believed  and 
acted  without  examination,  as  these  lordly  di- 
rectors thought  proper  to  prescribe.  Nor  were 
the  ideas  which  these  writers  entertained  con- 
cerning justice,  at  all  conformable  to  tlie  na- 
ture of  that  virtue,  as  it  is  described  in  the  holy 
scriptures,  since  in  their  opinion  it  was  lawful 
to  injure,  revile,  torment,  persecute,  and  even 
put  to  death,  a  heretic,  i.  e.  any  person  who  re- 
fused to  obey  blindly  the  decrees  of  the  pon- 
tifis,  or  to  believe  all  the  absurdities  which 
they  imposed  upon  the  credulity  of  the  multi- 
tude. 

XII.  The  writers  of  controversy  in  this  cen- 
tury were  more  numerous  than  respectable. 
Nicetas  Aconiinatus,  who  made  a  considera- 
ble figure  among  the  Greeks,  attacked  all  the 
difierent  sects  in  his  work  entitled  The  Trea- 
sure of  the  Orthodox  Faith;  but  he  combated 
after  the  Grecian  manner,  and  defended  the 
cause  which  he  had  espoused,  rather  by  the 
decrees  of  councils  and  the  decisions  of  the 
fathers,  than  by  the  dictates  of  reason  and  the 
authority  of  Scripture.  Raymond  of  Peima- 
fort  was  one  of  the  first  among  the  Latins,  who 
abandoned  the  unchristian  method  of  convert- 
ing infidels  by  the  force  of  arms  and  the  ter- 
rors of  capital  punishments,  and  who  tmder- 
took  to  vanquish  the  Jews  and  Saracens  by 
reason  and  argument.*  This  c-ngaged  in  the 
siime  controversy  a  considerai)le  number  of 
able  disputants,  who  were  acquainted  with  the 
Hebrew  and  Arabic  languages;  among  whom 
Raymond  Martini,  the  celeijrated  author  of 
the  Sword  of  Faith, |  is  un(|uestionably  enti- 
tled to  the  first  rank.  Thomas  Aquinas  also 
appeared  with  dignity  among  the  Christian 


*  Echard  and  Quelif  apud  Scriptores  OrdinisPrat- 
dicator.  torn.  i.  sect.  xiii. 

t  Baylo's  Diriionary.  at  the  article  Maitini.  -Faull 
Colomcsii  Ilispaiua  Orient,  p.  )iO\). 


370 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


champions;  and  hia  boolc  against  the  Gentiles* 
is  far  from  beinij  (:onlcMi[)tilile:  nor  ought  we 
to  omit  mentioning  a  iearned  book  of  Alan  tie 
risle,  which  was  designed  to  refute  the  objec- 
tions both  of  Jews  and  Pagans.f  The  writers, 
who  handled  otlier  (more  particular)  branches 
of  theological  controversy,  were  far  inferior 
to  those  now  mentioned  in  genius  and  abi- 
lities; and  their  works  seemed  less  calculated 
to  promote  the  truth,  than  to  render  their  ad- 
versaries odious. 

XIII.  The  grand  controversy  between  the 
Greek  and  Lalin  church,  was  still  carried  on; 
and  all  the  efforts  that  were  made,  during  this 
century,  to  bring  it  to  a  conclusion,  proved  in- 
effectual. Gregory  IX.  employed  the  minis- 
try of  the  Franciscan  monks  to  bring  about  an 
accommodation  with  the  Greeks,  and  pursued 
with  zeal  this  laudable  purpose  from  the  year 
1232,  to  the  end  of  his  pontificate,  but  without 
the  least  appearance  of  success. J  Innocent 
IV.  embarked  in  the  same  undertaking,  in 
1247,  and  with  that  view  sent  John  of  Parma, 
with  other  Franciscan  friars,  to  Nice;  while 
the  Grecian  pontift'  came  in  person  to  Rome, 
and  was  declared  legate  of  tlie  apostolic  see.§ 
But  these  previous  acts  of  mutual  civility  and 
respect,  which  excited  the  hopes  of  such  as. 
longed  for  the  conclusion  of  these  violent  dis- 
cords, did  not  terminate  in  the  reconciliation 
that  was  expected.  New  incidents  arose  to 
blast  the  influence  of  these  salutary  measures, 
and  the  flame  of  dissension  gained  new  vigour. 
Under  the  pontificate  of  Urban  IV.,  however, 
the  aspect  of  tilings  changed  for  the  better, 
and  the  negotiations  for  peace  were  renewed 
with  such  success,  as  promised  a  speedy  con- 
clusion of  these  unhappy  divisions;  for  Michael 
Palaeologus  had  no  sooner  driven  the  Latins 
out  of  Constantinople,  then  he  sent  ambassa- 
dors to  Rome  to  declare  his  pacific  intentions, 
that  thus  he  might  establish  his  disputed  do- 
minion, and  gain  over  tlie  Roman  pontifl^to  his 
side. II  But  during  tJio  course  of  these  nego- 
tiations, Urban's  death  left  matters  unfinished, 
and  suspended  once  more  the  hopes  and  ex- 
pectations of  the  public.  Under  the  pontifi- 
cate of  Gregory  X.,  proposals  of  peace  were 
again  made  by  the  same  emperor,  who,  after 
much  opposition  from  his  owiL  clergy,  sent  am- 
bassadors to  the  council  of  Lyons  in  the  year 
1274;ir  and  these  deputies,  with  the  solemn 
consent  of  John  Veccus,  patriarch  of  Constan- 
tinople, and  several  Greek  bishops,  publicly 
agreed  to  the  terms  of  accommodation  proposed 
by  the  pontiff.**   This  re-miion,  however,  was 


*  Jo.  Alb.  Fahriciiis,  Deloct.  Aigumentoriim  et 
Scriptor.  pro  vcritati;  Kolij;.  Christian,  p.  270. 

t  Liber  contra  Jiidjeos  et  Paganos. 

X  See  VVaililiiif,  .Vniial.  Minor,  torn.  ii.  p. 279,  296; 
and  Echard,  Scriptor.  Ordiri.  Praedicator.  torn.  i.  p. 
103, 911.— Add  to  these  Matth.  Paris,  Histor.  Major, 
p.  380. 

§  See  Raliizii  Miscellan.  torn.  vii.  p.  370,  388,  393, 
497. — Wadding,  Anna!.  Minor,  torn.  iii.  and  iv. 

II  Wadding,  toni.  iv.  p.  IHl,  201,  223,  209,303. 

IT  See  Wadding,  .\nnal.  Minor,  torn.  iv.  p.  313,  371. 
toMi.  V.  p. '.»,  29,  02— Colon  ia,  Ilisl.  Liter,  de  la  Ville 
de  Lyon,  loni.  ii.  |i.  2-<l. 

♦*  Joseph  (not  Veccns:)  was  patriarch  of  Constan- 
tinoplu,  when  tliu  treaty  was  concluded.    The  I'oi 


not  durable;  for  the  situation  of  affairs  in 
Greece  and  Italy  being  changed  some  years 
after  this  convention,  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
deliver  the  former  from  all  apprehensions  of  a 
Latin  hivasion,  Andronicus,  the  son  of  Mi- 
chael, assembled  a  council  at  Constantinople, 
in  the  palace  of  Blachernas,  A.  D.  1284,  in 
which,  by  a  solemn  decree,  this  ignominious 
treaty  was  annulled,  and  the  famous  Veccus, 
by  whose  persuasion  and  authority  it  had  been 
concluded,  was  sent  into  exile.*  This  resolute 
measure,  as  may  well  be  imagined,  rendered 
the  divisions  more  violent  than  they  had  been 
before  the  treaty  was  signed;  and  it  was  also 
followed  by  an  open  schism,  and  by  the  most 
unhappy  discords  among  the  Grecian  clergy. 

XIV.  We  pass  over  several  controversies  of 
a  more  private  kind,  and  of  inferior  moment, 
wliich  have  nothing  in  their  nature  or  circum- 
stances to  claim  the  attention  of  the  ciuious; 
but  we  must  not  forget  to  observe  that  the 
grand  dispute  concerning  the  eucharist  was 
still  continued  in  this  century,  not  only  in 
France,  but  also  in  some  other  countries;  for, 
though  Innocent  III.  had,  in  the  Lateran 
council  of  the  year  1215,  presumptuously 
placed  traiisubstanlialion  among  the  avowed 
;ind  regular  doctrines  of  the  Latin  church, 
yet  the  authority  of  this  decree  was  called  in 
question  by  many,  and  several  divines  main- 
tained the  probability  of  the  opinions  that 
were  opposed  to  that  monstrous  doctrine. 
Those  indeed  who,  adopting  the  sentiments  of 
Berenger,  considered  the  bread  and  wine  m 
no  otlier  light  than  as  signs  or  symbols  of  the 
body  and  blood  of  Christ,  did  not  venture 
cither  to  defend  or  profess  this  opinion  in  a 
public  manner;  while  many  thought  it  suffi- 
cient to  acknowledge  what  was  termed  a  real 
presence,  though  tliey  explained  the  inanner  of 
this  presence  quite  otherwise  than  the  doc- 
trine of  Innocent  had  defuied  it.f  Among 
these,  John,  surnamed  Pimgens  Asinus,J  a  sub- 
tle doctor  of  the  university  of  Paris,  acquired 
an  eminent  and  distinguislied  name,  and  with- 
out incurring  the  censure  of  his  superiors,  sub- 
stituted consiibstantiatiun  for  Iransubstantiation 
toward  the  conclusion  of  this  century. 


iner  had  bound  himself  by  a  soleinii  oath  never  to  con- 
sent to  a  reconciliation  between  the  Greek  and  Latin 
clmrches;  for  which  reason  the  emperor,  when  he 
sent  his  ambassadors  to  Lyons,  proposed  to  Joseph 
llie  following  alternative:  that,  if  they  succeeded  in 
bringing  about  an  accommodation,  he  should  re- 
nounce his  patriarchal  dignity;  but  if  they  failed  in 
their  attempt,  he  was  to  remain  patriarch,  being  ad- 
vised, at  the  same  time,  to  retire  to  a  convent,  until 
the  matter  was  decided.  The  ambassadors  were  suc- 
cessful: Joseph  was  deposed,  and  Veccus  elected  in 
his  place;  when,  and  not  before,  the  latter  ratified 
the  treaty  in  question  by  his  solemn  consent  to  the 
iLMiominious  article  of  supremacy  and  pre-eminence 
which  it  confirmed  to  the  Roman  pontiff. 

*  Leo  Allatius,  de  perpotua  Consensione  Eccles. 
Orient,  et  Occident,  lib.  i.  c.  xv.  xvi.  p.  727. — Fred. 
Spanheiin  de  Perpet.  Dissensione  Gra;cor.  et  Latin, 
tom.  ii.  op.  p.  188,  &c. 

t  Pet.  Allix.  PrtEf.  ad  F.  Johannis  Dcterniinat.de 
Sacramento  Altaris,  published  at  London  in  1680. 

I  The  book  of  this  celebrated  doctor  was  publish- 
ed by  the  learned  Allix  above  mentioned.  See 
Ralnzii  Vit.-E  Ponlif.  Avenion.  tom.  i.  p.  576.— 
D'Arherii  Spicileg.  Veter.  Scriptor.  torn,  iii  p,  58. — 
Echaidi  Scriptoics  Douiiiiic.  lorn.  i.  p.  561 


Chap.  IV. 


RITES  AND  CEREMONIES. 


871 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Concerning  the  Rites  nnd  Ceremonies  xised  in  the 
Christian  Church  during  this  Centuiij. 

'  I.  It  would  be  endless  (o  oniimcr.atc  the  ad- 
ditions that  were  made  in  this  century  to  the 
external  part  of  divine  worship,  in  order  to  in- 
rrea.se  its  pomp  and  render  it  more  strikinjr. 
These  additions  were  produced  in  part  by  the 
public  edicts  of  tlie  Roman  pontiffs,  and  partly 
by  the  private  injunctions  of  the  sacerdotal  and 
mona.stic  orders,  who  shared  the  veneration 
which  was  excited  in  the  multitude  by  the 
splendour  and  magnificence  of  this  religious 
spectacle.  Instead  of  mentioning  these  addi- 
tions, we  shall  only  observe  in  general,  that 
religion  had  now  become  a  sort  of  a  raree-show 
in  the  hands  of  the  rulers  of  the  church,  who, 
to  render  its  impressions  more  deep  and  last- 
ing, thought  proper  to  exhibit  it  in  a  striking 
manner  to  the  external  senses.  For  this  pur- 
pose, at  stated  times,  and  especially  upon  the 
principal  festivals,  the  miraculous  dispensations 
of  the  divine  wisdom  in  favour  of  the  church, 
and  the  more  remarkable  events  in  the  (Chris- 
tian history,  were  represented  under  allegorical 
figures  and  images,  or  rather  in  a  kind  of 
mimic  show.*  But  these  scenic  representations, 
in  which  there  was  a  motley  mixture  of  mirth 
and  gravity,  these  tragi-comical  spectacles, 
though  they  amused  and  affected  in  a  certain 
manner  the  gazing  populace,  were  highly  det- 
rimental, instead  of  being  useful  to  the  cause 
of  religion;  they  degraded  its  dignity,  and  fur- 
nished abundant  matter  of  laughter  to  its  ene- 
mies. 

II.  It  will  not  appear  surprising  that  the 
bread,  consecrated  in  the  sacrament  of  the 
Lord's  supper,  became  the  object  of  religious 
worship;  for  this  was  the  natural  consequence 
of  the  monstrous  doctrine  of  transubstantiation. 
But  the  effects  of  that  impious  and  ridiculous 
doctrine  did  not  end  here;  it  produced  a  series 
of  cereujonies  and  institutions,  still  used  in  the 
church  of  Rome,  in  honour  of  that  dtified 
bread,  as  they  blasphemously  call  it.  Hence 
arose  those  rich  and  sph^ndid  receptacles 
which  were  formed  for  the  residence  of  God 
under  this  new  shape,!  find  the  lamps  and 
other  precious  ornaments  tiiat  were  designed  to 
beautify  this  habitation  of  the  Deity;  and 
hence  the  custom  that  still  prevails  of  carry- 
ing about  this  divine  bread  in  solemn  pomp 
through  the  public  streets,  when  it  is  to  bo  ad- 


*  It  is  probable  tliat  this  licontious  custom  of  px- 
hibitine  mimic  ri'iiriisontations  of  rolisioiis  olyccts 
derived  its  origin  from  tlii' Mciidirant  friars. 

Qi;^  t  This  blasplit-mous  lan(;ii.iL'i\  which  Dr.  Mo- 
sheim  is  obliged  to  use  in  rrprcsfiitiiii;  the  alisiirdi- 
ties  of  the  doctrine  of  irannuhManiinlian,  is  nothing 
in  comparison  with  the  impious  figures  that  were 
used  by  the  abettors  of  that  monstrous  tenet,  to  ac- 
conunoilate  it,  in  some  measure,  to  the  capacities  of 
the  multitude.  We  need  not  wonder,  that  the  Pagans 
metamorphosed  their  Jupiter  into  a  bull,  a  swan, 
and  other  such  figures,  when  we  see  the  rulers  of 
the  Christian  church  transforming  the  Son  of  God  into 
a  piece  of  bread;  a  transformation  so  vile,  and  (even 
were  it  not  vile)  so  useless,  that  it  is  inconceivable 
how  it  could  enter  into  the  head  of  any  mort.il,  and 
equally  so.  how  the  bishops  of  Rome  could  conlide 
so  far  in  the  credulity  of  the  people  as  to  risk  their 
authority  by  propagatinjg  such  a  doctrine. 


ministered  to  sick  or  dying  persons,  with  many 
other  ceremonies  of  a  like  nature,  which  are 
dislionourablc  to  religion,  and  opprobrious  to 
humanity.  But  tliat  which  gave  the  finishing 
touch  to  this  heap  ol"  absurdities,  and  displayeu 
.superstition  in  its  highest  extravagance,  was 
the  inslitulion  of  the  celebrated  annual  Festi- 
tival  of  the  Holy  Sacrament,  or,  as  it  is  some- 
times called,  of  the  Body  of  Christ;  the  origin 
of  which  was  as  fallows:  a  certain  devout  wo- 
man, whose  name  was  Juliana,  and  who  lived 
at  Liege,  declared  that  she  had  received  a 
revelation  from  heaven,  intimating  to  her,  that 
it  was  the  will  of  God,  that  a  peculiar  festival 
should  bo  annually  observed  in  honour  of  the 
holy  sacrament,  or  rather  of  the  real  presence 
of  Christ's  body  in  that  sacred  institution. 
Few  gave  attention  or  credit  to  this  pretended 
vision,  the  circumstances  of  which  were  ex- 
tremely equivocal  and  absurd,*  and  which 
would  have  come  to  nothing,  had  it  not  been 
supported  by  Robert,  bishop  of  Liege,  who,  in 
1246,  published  an  order  for  the  celebration  of 
this  festival  throughout  the  province,  notwith- 
standing the  opposition  which  he  knew  would 
be  made  to  a  proposal  founded  only  on  an  idle 
dream.  After  the  death  of  Juliana,  one  of  her 
friends  and  companions,  whoso  name  was 
Eve,  adopted  her  cause  with  uncommon  zeal, 
and  had  sufficient  credit  with  Urban  IV.  to 
engage  him  to  publish,  in  1264,  a  solemn  edict, 
by  which  the  festival  in  question  was  imposed 
upon  all  the  Christian  churches.  This  edict, 
however,  did  not  produce  its  full  effect,  on  ac- 
count of  the  deatli  of  the  pontiff,  which  hap- 
pened soon  after  its  publication;  so  that  the 
festival  in  question  was  not  universally  cele- 
brated in  the  Latin  churches  before  the  ponti- 
ficate of  Clement  V.,t  who,  in  the  council 
whicli  lie  held  at  Vienne  in  Dauphine,  in  1311, 
confirmed  the  edict  of  Urban,  and  thus,  in 
spite  of  all  opposition,  established  a  festival, 
which  contributed  more  to  render  the  doctrine 
of  transubstantiation  agreeable  to  the  people, 
than  the  decree  of  the  Lateran  council  under 
Innocent  III.,  or  than  all  the  exhortations  of 
his  lordly  successors. 

III.  About  the  conclusion  of  this  century, 
Boniface  VIII.  added,  to  the  public  rites  and 
ceremonies  of  the  clmrch,  the  famous  jubilee, 
which  is  still  celebrated  at  Rome,  at  a  stated 
period,  with  the  utmost  profusion  of  pomp  and 
magnificence.  In  1299,  a  rumour  was  propa- 
gated among  the  inhabitants  of  that  city,  im- 
porting that  all  such  as  should  visit,  within  the 
limits  of  tlie  following  year,  the  church  of  St. 
Peter,  should  obt;iin  the  remission  of  all  their 
sins,  and  that  this  privilege  viras  to  be  annexed  to 


(pj-  *  This  fanatical  woman  declared,  tlKitasonen 
as  she  ,-iil(lri'..;sid  liersclf  to  God,  or  to  the  saints  in 
prayiM',  she  saw  the  full  moon  with  a  small  defect 
or  breach  in  it;  and  that,  having  long  stuilied  to  find 
out  llie  signification  of  this  strange  appearance,  she 
was  itiwardlij  informed  by  the  Spirit,  that  the  moon 
signified  the  church,  and  that  the  defect  orbreach  was 
the  want  of  anannual  festival  in  honour  of  the  holy 
sacrament. 

t  See  Barthol.  Fisen,  Origo  prima  Festi  Corporia 
Christi  ex  Viso  Sanctte  Virgini  Juliana;  oblato,  pub- 
lished at  Liege  in  1619.— Dall^us,de(;ultus  religiosi 
objecto,  p.  287.— Acta  Sanctor.  April,  torn.  i.  p.  437, 
903.— And  above  all  Henedict  XIV.  I'ont.  Max.  de 
FestiH  Christi  et  Marie,  lib.  i.  c.  xiii.  p.  360.  torn. 
X.  op. 


372 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


the  performance  of  the  same  service  once  in 
every  period  of  one  hundred  years.  Boniface 
no  sooner  heard  of  this,  than  Jie  ordered  strict 
inquiry  to  be  made  concerning  tlie  author  and 
the  foundation  of  this  report;  and  the  result  of 
the  inquiry  was  answ^erable  to  his  views;  for  he 
was  assured,  by  many  testimonies  worthy  of 
credit,*  (say  the  Roman-cathoHc  historians) 
that,  from  the  remotest  antiquity,  this  impor- 
tant privilege  of  remission  and  indulgence  was 
to  be  obtained  by  the  service  above-mentioned. 
No  sooner  had  tlio  pontiff  received  this  infor- 
mation, than  he  addressed  to  all  Christians  an 
epistolary  mandate,  in  whicli  he  enacted  it  as 
a  solemn  law  of  the  chnrcli,  that  those  who, 
in  every  hundredth  or  jubilee  year,  should  con- 
fess their  sins,  and  visit,  with  sentiments  of 
contrition  and  repentance,  the  churches  of  St. 
Peter  and  St.  Paul  at  Rome,  should  obtain 
thereby  the  entire  remission  of  their  various 
oiFences.j  Tlie  successors  of  Boniface  were 
not  satisfied  with  adding  a  multitude  of  new 
rites  and  inventions,  by  way  of  ornaments,  to 
this  superstitious  institution;  but,  finding  by 
experience  that  it  added  to  the  lustre,  and 
augmented  the  revenues  of  the  Roman  church, 
they  rendered  its  return  more  frequent,  and 
fixed  its  celebration  to  every  five-and-twenti- 
eth  year.J 


5]3="  *  These  testimonies  wnrihy  of  eredit  have  never 
been  produced  by  the  Romish  writers,  unless  we 
rank,  in  that  class,  that  ot"  an  old  man,  who  liad 
completed  his  lOTlh  year,  and  who,  being  brought 
before  Boniface,  declared  (if  we  may  believe  the 
abbe  Fleury)  that  his  father,  who  was  a  common 
labourer,  had  assisted  at  the  celebration  of  a  jubilee, 
a  hundred  years  before  that  time.  See  Fleury's 
Hist.  Eccles.  toward  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century. 
It  is,  however,  a  very  unaccountablething,  if  the  in- 
stitution of  the  jubilee  year  was  not  the  invention 
of  Boniface,  that  there  should  he  neither  in  the  acts 
of  councils,  nor  in  the  records  of  history  or  writings 
of  the  learned,  any  trace  or  the  least  mention  of  its 
celebration  before  the  year  ]:!00.  This,  and  other 
reasons  of  an  irresistible  evidence,  have  persuaded 
some  Roman  catholic  writers  to  consider  the  insti- 
tution of  the  jubilee  year,  as  the  invention  of  this 
pontifT.  who,  to  render  it  more  respectable,  pretended 
that  it  was  of  a  nuich  earlier  date.  See  Ghilen.  et 
Vietorell.  apud  Philippi  Konanni  Numism.  Pontif. 
Rom.  torn.  i.  p.  2-2,  23. 

t  So  the  matter  is  related  by  James  Caietan,  car- 
dinal of  St.  George,  and  neiihew  to  Boniface,  in  his 
Relatio  de  Centesinio  seu  jiibil.-po  anno,  which  is 
published  in  his  Magna  Blbliotheca  Vet.  Patruni, 
torn.  vi.  p.  420,  and  in  the  Bibliotheca  Maxima  Pa- 
trum,  tom.  .\xv.  p.  207.  Nor  is  there  any  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  this  account  is  erroneousandfalse,  or  that 
Boniface  acted  the  part  of  an  impostor  from  a  prin- 
ciple of  avarice  upon  this  occasion. 

(1(7-  JV.  B.  It  is  not  without  astonishment,  that  we 
hear  Dr.  Mosheim  decidini;  in  this  manner  with  re- 
spect to  the  good  faith  of  Boniface,  and  the  relation 
of  his  nephew.  The  character  of  that  wicked  and 
ambitious  pontifTis  well  known,  and  the  relation  of 
the  carihnal  of  St.  George  has  been  proved  to  be  the 
most  ridiculous,  fabulous,  motley  piece  of  stuti'  that 
ever  usurped  the  title  of  an  historical  record.  See 
the  excellent  Lettres  de  M.  Chais  sur  les  Jubiles, 
tom.  i.  p.  53. 

X  The  v;irious  writers  who  have  treated  of  the  in- 
stitution of  the  Roman  Jubilee,  are  enumerated  by 
Jo.  Albert  Fabricius  in  his  Bibliogr.  Antiqnar.  p. 
316.  Among  the  authors  that  may  be  added  to  this 
Jist,  there  is  one  whom  we  think  it  necessary  to 
mention  particularly,  viz.  the  Reverenil  Charles 
Chais,  whose  LettresHistoriques  et  Dogmatiques  sur 
les  Jubiles  ot  les  Indulsences,  were  published  in  IT.'il. 

(ay-  The;:.'  letters  of  Mr.  Chais  (Minister  of  the 
French  rhurrli  at  tho  Hague,  and  well  known  in  the 
republic  of  letters')  contain  the  most  full  and  accu- 
rate account  that  has  been  ever  given  of  the  institii- 


CHAPTER  V. 

Concerning  the  Divisions  and  Heresies  that  trmi- 
hled  the  Church  during  this  Century. 

I.  We  have  no  account  of  any  new  sects  that 
arose  among  the  Greeks  diu-ing  this  century. 
Those  of  the  Nestorians  and  Jacobites,  estab- 
lished in  the  remoter  regions  of  the  east,  who 
equalled  the  Greeks  in  their  aversion  to  the 
rites  and  jurisdiction  of  the  Latin  church, 
were  frequently  solicited,  by  the  Francis- 
can and  Dominican  papal  missionaries,  to  re- 
ceive the  Roman  yoke.  In  1246,  Innocent 
IV.  used  his  utmost  efforts  to  bring  both  tliese 
sects  under  his  dominion;  and,  in  1278,  terms 
of  accommodation  were  proposed  by  Nicolas 
IV.  to  the  Nestorians,  and  particularly  to  that 
branch  of  tiie  sect  which  resided  in  the  north- 
em  parts  of  Asia.*  The  leading  men,  both 
among  the  Nestorians  and  Jacobites,  seemed 
to  give  ear  to  the  proposals  that  were  made  to 
them,  and  to  wish  for  a  reconciliation  with  the 
church  of  Rome;  but  the  prospect  of  peace 
soon  vanished,  and  a  variety  of  causes  con- 
curred to  prolong  the  rupture. 

II.  During  the  whole  course  of  this  century, 
tlie  Roman  pontiffs  carried  on  the  most  bar- 
barous and  inhuman  persecution  against  those 


tion  of  the  Jubilee,  and  of  the  rise,  progress,  abuses, 
and  enormities,  of  the  infamous  traffic  of  indulgen- 
ces. This  account  is  judiciously  collected  from  the 
best  authors  of  antiquity,  and  from  several  curious 
records  that  have  escaped  the  researches  of  other 
writers;  it  is  also  interspersed  with  curious,  and 
sometimes  ludicrous  anecdotes,  that  render  the  work 
equally  producliveof  entertainment  and  instruction. 
In  the  first  volume  of  these  letters,  the  learned  au- 
thor lays  open  the  nature  and  origin  of  the  institu- 
tion of  the  jubilee;  he  proves  it  to  have  been  a  hu- 
man invention,  which  oweil  its  rise  to  the  avarice 
and  ambition  of  the  popes,  and  its  credit  to  the  igno- 
rance and  superstition  of  the  people,  and  whose  cele- 
bration was  absolutely  nnknovvn  before  the  thir- 
teenth century,  which  is  the  true  date  of  its  origin. 
He  takes  notice  of  the  various  changes  it  underwent 
with  respect  to  the  time  of  its  C(!lebration,  the  vari- 
ous colours  with  which  the  ambitious  pontiffs  covered 
it  in  order  to  render  it  respectable  and  alluring  in 
tho  eyes  of  the  multitude;  and  exposes  these  delusions 
by  many  convincing  arguments,  whose  gravity  is 
si^asoned  with  an  agreeable  and  temperate  mixture 
of  decent  raillery.  He  proves,  with  the  utmost  evi- 
dence, that  the  papal  jubilee  is  an  imitation  of  the 
Secular  Games,  which  were  celebrated  with  such 
pomp  in  pagan  Rome.  He  points  out  the  gross  con- 
tradictions that  reign  in  the  bulls  of  the  different 
popes,  with  respect  to  the  nature  of  this  insti- 
tution, and  the  time  of  its  celebration.  Nor  does 
he  pass  over  in  silence  the  infamous  traffic  of  in- 
dulgences, the  worldly  pomp  and  splendour,  the 
crimes,  debaucheries,  and  disorders  of  every  kind,  that 
were  observable  at  the  return  of  each  jubilee  year. 
He  lays  also  before  the  reader  an  historical  view  of 
all  the  jubilees  that  were  celebrated  from  the  ponti- 
ficate of  Boniface  VIII.  in  the  year  1300,  to  that  of 
Benedict  XIV.  in  1750,  with  an  entertaining  account 
of  the  most  remarkable  adventures  that  happened 
among  the  pilgrims  who  repaired  to  Rome  on  these 
occasions.  The  second  and  third  volumes  of  these 
interesting  letters  treat  of  the  indulgences  that  are 
administered  in  the  church  of  Rome.  The  reader 
will  find  here  their  nature  and  origin  explained,  the 
doctrine  of  tho  Roman  catholic  divines  relating  to 
them  stated  and  refuteil,  the  history  of  this  impious 
traffic  accurately  laid  down,  and  its  enormities  and 
pernicious  ellects  circumstantially  exposed,  with 
learning,  perspicuity,  and  candour. 

*  Odor.  Raynaldus,  Annal.  Eccles.  tom.  xiii.  ad 
Annum  1247,  sect,  xxxii.el  tom.  xv.  ad  A.  1303,  sect, 
xxii.  et  ad  A.  1304,  sect,  xxiii.— Matth.  Paris,  Hist. 
Major,  p.  372. 


Chap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


373 


whom  they  branded  with  the  denomination  of 
heretics;  i.  e.  against  all  those  who  called  tlieir 
pretended  autliority  and  jurisdiction  in  ques- 
tion, or  taught  doctrines  diirerciit  from  tliosc 
which  were  adopted  and  propagated  by  tlic 
church  of  Rome.  For  the  sects  of  the  C!a- 
thari,  Waldenses,  Petrobrussians,  &.c.  gatliered 
strength  from  day  to  day,  spread  imperceptibly 
throughout  all  Europe,  assembled  numerous 
congregations  in  Italy,  France,  Spain,  and 
Germany,  and  formed  by  degrees  such  a  pow- 
erful party  as  rendered  them  formidable  to  the 
pontiffs,  and  menaced  the  papal  jurisdiction 
with  a  fatal  revolution.  To  the  ancient  sects 
new  factions  were  added,  which,  though  tiiey 
differed  from  each  other  in  various  respects, 
unanimously  agreed  in  this  point:  "  That  the 
public  and  established  religion  was  a  motley 
system  of  errors  and  superstition,  and  that  the 
dominion  which  the  popes  had  usurped  over 
Christians,  as  also  the  autliority  they  exercised 
in  religious  matters,  were  unlawful  and  tyran- 
nical." Such  were  the  notions  propagated  by 
the  sectaries,  who  refuted  tlie  superstitions  and 
impostures  of  the  times  by  arguments  drawn 
from  the  holy  scriptures,  and  whose  declama- 
tions against  the  power,  the  opulence,  and  the 
vices  of  tiie  pontitfs  and  clergy,  were  extremely 
agreeable  to  many  princes  and  civil  magis- 
trates, who  groaned  under  the  usurpations  of 
the  sacred  order.  The  pontiffs,  therefore,  con- 
sidered themselves  as  obliged  to  liave  recourse 
to  new  and  extraordinary  methods  of  defeating 
and  subduing  enemies,  who,  both  by  their 
number  and  their  rank,  were  every  way  pro- 
per to  fill  them  with  terror. 

III.  Of  these  dissenters  from  the  church  of 
Rome,  the  number  was  no  where  greater  than 
in  Narbonne  Gaul,*  and  the  countries  adja- 
cent, where  they  were  received  and  protected, 
in  a  singular  manner,  by  Raymond  VI.  earl  of 
Toulouse,  and  other  persons  of  the  highest  dis- 
tinction; and  where  the  bishops,  either  through 
humanity  or  indolence,  were  so  negligent  and 
remiss  in  the  prosecution  of  heretics,  that  the 
latter,  laying  aside  all  their  fears,  formed  set- 
tlements, and  multiplied  greatly  from  day  to 
day.  Iimocent  111.  was  soon  informed  of  all 
these  proceedings;  and,  about  the  commence- 
ment of  this  centuiy,  he  sent  legates  extraor- 
dinary into  the  southern  provinces  of  France 
to  do  what  the  bishops  had  left  unilone,  and  to 
extirpate  heresy,  in  all  its  various  forms  and 
modifications,  without  being  at  all  scrupulous 
in  the  adoption  of  such  methods  as  might  seem 
necessary  to  effect  this  salutary  purpose.  The 
persons  charged  with  this  conmiission  were 
Rainier,t  a  Cistertian  monk,  and  Pierre  de 
Castelnau,J  archdeacon  of  Maguelone,  who 
became  also  afterwards  a  Cistertian  friar. 
These  eminent  missionaries  were  followed  by 


*  That  part  of  FraiiCR,  wliioli,  in  ancii'iit  times, 
was  tfrnioil  Narliniine  Oaiil,  cinnprelu-iiiliMl  tlic  jiro- 
viiiccs  of  Savoy,  Uuiiptune,  ProvenciMiml  l,.iiii;ii(il(ii-. 

(fi^  t  Instead  of  Kaiiiier,  other  historians  nifnlinn 
one  Raoiil,  or  Kniph,  as  thn  associati?  of  l'i(rr<^  di; 
Castplnuii.  See  Fluury's  Histoire  Eccles.  liv.  l.wvi. 
sect.  xii. 

t  The  greatpst  part  of  the  Roman  writers  consider 
Pierre  de  Cast  el  nan  ns  the  first  in(|uisitor.  It  will 
appear  hereafter  in  what  sense  this  assertion  may 
be  admitted.  For  an  arronnt  of  this  legale,  see  the 
Acta  Sanctor.  tuiii.  i.  Martii,  p.  411. 


several  others,  among  whom  was  the  famous 
Spaniard,  Dominic,  founder  of  the  order  of 
preachers,  who,  returning  from  Rome  in  1206, 
met  with  these  delegates,  embarked  in  their 
cause,  and  laboured  both  by  his  exliortations 
and  actions  in  the  extirpation  of  heresy.  These 
spirited  champions,  who  engaged  in  this  expe- 
dition upon  the  sole  authority  of  the  pope, 
without  either  asking  the  advice  or  demanding 
the  succours  of  the  bishops,  and  who  inflicted 
capital  punishment  upon  such  of  the  heretics 
as  they  could  not  convert  by  reason  and  argu- 
ment, were  distinguished  in  common  discourse 
by  the  title  of  Ituinlsilors;  and  from  them  the 
formidable  and  odious  tribunal,  called  the  In- 
quisition, derived  its  origin. 

IV.  W^hen  this  new  set  of  heresy-hunters* 
had  executed  their  commission,  and  purged  the 
provinces  to  which  thoy  were  sent  of  the  great- 
est part  of  the  enemies  of  the  Roman  faith,  the 
pontiffs  were  so  sensible  of  their  excellent  ser- 
vices, that  they  established  missionaries  of  a 
like  nature,  or,  in  other  words,  placed  Inqid- 
sitois  in  almost  every  city,  whose  inhabitants 
had  the  misfortune  to  be  suspected  of  heresy, 
notwithstanding  the  reluctance  which  the  peo- 
ple showed  to  this  new  institution,  and  the 
violence  with  which  they  frequently  expelled, 
and  sometimes  massacred,  these  bloody  offi- 
cers of  the  popish  hierarchy.  The  council 
convoked  at  Toulouse,  in  1229,  by  Romanus, 
cardinal  of  St.  Angelo,  and  pope's  legate,  went 
.still  farther,  and  erected  in  every  city  a  set  or 
society  of  inquisitors,  consisting  of  one  pnest  and 
three  lmjmen.\  This  institution  was,  however, 
superseded  in  1233  by  Gregory  IX.,  who  in- 
trusted the  Dominicans,  or  preaching  friars, 
with  the  important  commission  of  discovering 
and  bringing  to  judgment  the  heretics  who  were 
lurking  in  France,  and  in  a  formal  epistle  dis*- 
charged  the  bishops  from  the  burthen  of  that 
painful  office.;};  Immediately  after  this,  the 
bishop  of  Tournay,  who  was  the  pope's  legate 
in  France,  began  to  execute  this  new  resolu- 
tion, by  appointing  Pierre  Cellan,  and  Guil- 
laume  Arnaud,  inquisitors  of  heretical  pravity 
at  Toulouse,  and  afterwards  proceeded  in 
every  city,  where  the  Dominicans  had  a  mo- 
nastery, to  constitute  officers  of  the  same  na- 
ture, selected  from  the  monks  of  that  celebrat- 
ed order.§  From  this  period  we  are  to  date 
the  commencement  of  the  dreadful  tribunal  of 
the  inquisitinn,  whicii  in  this  and  the  following  Im- 
ages subdued  such  a  prodigious  multitude  of 
heretics,  part  of  whom  were  converted  to  tlie 
church  by  terror,  and  the  rest  committed  to 
the  flames  without  mercy.  For  the  Domini- 
cans erected,  first  at  Toulouse  and  afterwards 
at  Carcasone  and  other  places,  a  tremendous 


QtJ=  *  The  term  of  lieri'syhnnters.  for  which  the 
translator  is  respoiisilile,  will  not  seem  absurd,  when 
it  is  known,  that  [he.  missionaries  wlio  were  sent  into 
the  provinces  of  France  to  extirpate  heresy,  and  the 
inquisitors  who  succeeded  them,  were  bound  by  an 
oath,  not  only  to  seek  for  the  heretics  in  towns, 
houses,  cellars,  and  other  lurking-places,  but  also  in 
woods,  caves,  fields,  &c. 

t  See  Harduini  Concilia,  tom.  vii.  p.  175. 

\  Hern.  Guido  in  Chronico  I'ontif.  apud  Jac.  Echar- 
dum,  Scriptor.  Prieilirator.  tom.  i.  p.  88. — Percini 
Ilistoria  Inquisit.  Tolosame,  subjoined  to  his  Ilisto- 
ria  Conventus  Frat.  Priedicat.  Tolosa-,  1B93.— His- 
toire Generale  de  I^anguedoc,  torn.  iii.  p.  394. 

§  Echard  and  Percinus,  loc,  citat. 


374 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


court,  before  whicli  wore  summoned  not  only 
heretics,  and  persons  suspected  of  heresy,  but 
likewise  all  who  were  accused  of  magic,  sor- 
cery, Judaism,  witchcraft,  and  other  crimes  of 
a  spiritual  kind.  This  tribunal,  in  process 
of  time,  was  erected  in  other  countries  of  Eu- 
rope, tliough  not  every  where  with  the  same 
success.* 

V.  The  method  of  proceeding  in  this  court 
of  inquisition  was  at  hrst  simple,  and  almost 
in  every  respect  similar  to  that  which  was  ob- 
served in  the  ordinary  courts  of  justice. f  But 
this  simplicity  was  gradually  changed  by  the 
Dominicans,  to  whom  experience  suggested 
several  new  methods  of  augmenting  the  pomp 
and  majesty  of  their  spiritual  tribunal,  and 

*  The  accounts  wliich  we  have  here  given  of  the 
rise  of  the  Inqnisitiun,  though  founded  upon  the 
most  unexceptioiiahle  testimonies  and  the  most  au- 
thentic records,  are  yet  very  ditTerent  from  those 
that  are  to  be  found  in  most  authors.  Some  learned 
men  tell  us,  that  the  Tribunal  of  the  Inquisition  was 
the  invention  of  St.  Uoininic,  and  was  first  erected 
by  him  in  the  city  of  Toulouse;  that  he,  of  conse- 
quence, was  the  first  inquisitor;  that  the  year  of  its 
institution  is  indeed  uncertain;  but  that  it  was  un- 
doubtedly confirmed  in  a  solemn  manner  by  inno- 
cent 111.  in  the  Lateran  council  of  1215.  See  Jo.  Alli. 
Fabricius,  in  his  Lux  Evangelii  toti  Orbi  exoriens, 

p.  5lj'.i Phil.  Limborchi  Ilisloria  Inquisit.  lib.  i.  c.  x. 

and  the  other  writers  mentioned  by  Fabricius.  I 
will  not  artirni.  that  the  writers,  who  give  this  nc 
count  of  the  matter,  have  advanced  all  this  without 
authority;  but  this  I  will  venture  to  say,  that  the 
authors,  wliom  they  have  taken  for  their  guides,  arc 
not  of  the  first  rate  in  point  of  merit  and  credibility. 
Limborch,  whose  History  of  the  Imjuisition  is  looked 
upon  as  a  most  hnportant  and  capital  work,  is  ge- 
nerally followed  by  modern  writers  in  their  ac- 
counts of  that  odious  tribunal.  But,  however  laud- 
able that  hi-storian  may  have  been  in  point  of  fide- 
lity and  diligence,  it  is  certain  that  he  was  little  ac- 
quainted with  the  ecclesiastical  history  of  the  middle 
ages;  that  he  drew  his  materials,  not  from  the  true 
and  original  sources,  but  from  writers  of  a  second 
class,  and  thus  has  fallen,  in  the  course  of  his  his- 
tory, into  various  mistakes.  His  account  of  the  ori- 
gin of  the  inquisition  is  undoubtedly  false;  nor  does 
that  which  is  given  by  many  other  writers  approach 
nearer  to  the  truth.  The  circumstances  of  this  ac- 
count, which  I  have  mentioned  in  the  beginning  of 
this  note,  are  more  especially  destitute  of  all  founda- 
tion. Many  of  the  Dominicans,  who,  in  our  times, 
have  presided  in  the  court  of  inquisition,  and  liave 
extolled  the  sanctity  of  tliat  pious  institution,  deny, 
at  the  same  time,  that  Dominic  was  its  founder,  as 
also  that  he  was  the  first  inquisitor,  or  that  he  was 
an  inquisitor  at  all.  They  go  still  farther,  and  affirm, 
that  the  court  of  inquisition  was  not  erected  during 
the  life  of  St.  Dominic.  Nor  is  all  this  advanced  in- 
considerately, as  every  impartial  inquirer  into  the 
proofs  they  allege  will  easily  perceive.  Nevertheless, 
the  question,  whether  or  not  St.  Dominic  was  an 
inquisitor,  seems  to  be  merely  a  dispute  about  words, 
and  drpends  entindy  npoti  the  different  significa- 
tions of  which  the  "term  iiirjuisitor  is  susceptible. 
That  word,  accordiuL'  to  its  oris;iual  meaning,  signi- 
fied a  person  investi'd  with  tlir  cummission  and  au- 
thority of  the  (lope  to  extirpate  heresyand  oppose  its 
abettors,  but  not  clothed  with  any  judicial  power. 
But  it  soon  acquired  a  diflereiit  meaning,  and  signi- 
fied a  person  appointed  by  the  pontitTto  proceed  jn- 
diciaUy  against  heretics  and  such  as  were  suspected 
of  heresy,  to  pronounce  sentence  according  to  their 
respective  cases,  and  to  deliver  over  to-  the  secular 
arm  such  as  persisted  obstinately  in  their  errors.  In 
the  latter  sense  Dominic  was  not  an  inquisitor, 
since  it  is  well  known  that  there  were  no  papal 
judges  of  this  nature  before  the  pontificate  of  Gre- 
gory IX.;  but  he  was  undoubtedly  an  inquisitor  in 
the  sense  originally  attached  to  that  term. 

t  The  records,  published  by  the  Benedictines  in 
their  Histoire  Gener.  de  Languedoc,  torn.  iii.  p.  371, 
6how  the  simplicity  that  reigned  in  the  proceedings 
of  the  inqui;iition  at  its  first  institution. 


who  made  such  alterations  in  the  process,  that 
the  manner  of  taking  cognisance  of  heretical 
causes  became  totally  difl'erent  from  that  which 
was  usual  in  civil  alTairs.  These  friars  were, 
to  vS.ay  the  truth,  entirely  ignorant  of  judicial 
matters;  nor  were  they  acquainted  with  the 
proceedings  of  any  other  tribunal,  than  that 
which  was  called,  in  the  Roman  church,  the 
Tribunal  of  penaiice.  It  was  therefore  from 
this,  that  they  modelled  the  new  court  of  In- 
qiiisUion,  as  far  as  a  resemblance  was  possible; 
and  hence  arose  that  strange  system  of  inqui- 
sitorial law,  which,  in  many  respects,  is  so 
contrary  to  the  common  feelings  of  humanity, 
and  the  plainest  dictates  of  equity  and  justice. 
This  is  the  important  circumstance  by  which 
we  are  enabled  to  account  for  the  absurd  and 
iniquitous  proceedings  of  the  inquisitors,  against 
persons  who  are  accused  of  holding,  what  they 
call,  heretical  opinions. 

VI.  That  nothing  might  be  wanting  to  ren- 
der this  spiritual  court  formidable  and  tremen- 
dous, the  Roman  pontiffs  persuaded  the  Eu- 
ropean princes,  and  more  especially  the  em- 
jieror  Frederic  II.,  and  Louis  IX.  king  of 
France,  not  only  to  enact  the  most  barbarous 
laws  against  heretics,  and  to  commit  to  the 
flames,  on  pretence  of  public  justice,  those 
who  were  pronoimced  such  by  the  inquisitors, 
but  also  to  maintain  the  latter  in  their  office, 
and  grant  them  their  protection  in  the  most 
open  and  solemn  manner.  The  edicts  to  this 
purpose  issued  by  Frederic  II.  are  well  known; 
edicts  fit  only  to  excite  horror,  and  which  ren- 
dered the  most  illustrious  piety  and  virtue  in- 
capable of  saving  from  the  most  cruel  death 
such  as  had  the  misfortune  to  be  disagreeable 
to  the  inquisitors.*  These  execrable  laws  were 
not,  however,  sufficient  to  restrain  the  just  in- 
dignation of  the  people  against  these  inhuman 
judges,  whose  barbarity  was  accompanied 
with  superstition  and  arrogance,  with  a  spirit 
of  suspicion  and-  perfidy,  and  even  with  te- 
merity and  imprudence.  Accordingly  they 
were  insulted  by  the  multitude  in  many  places, 
were  driven  in  an  ignominious  manner  out  of 
some  cities,  and  were  put  to  death  in  others; 
and  Conrad  of  Marpurg,  the  first  German  in- 
quisitor, who  derived  his  commission  from  Gre- 
gory IX.,  was  one  of  the  many  victims  that 
were  sacrificed  upon  this  occasion  to  the  ven- 
geance of  the  public,!  which   his   incredible 


*  The  laws  of  the  emperor  Frederic,  in  relation  to 
the  inquisitors,  may  be  seen  in  Limborch's  History 
of  the  Inquisition,  as  also  in  the  Epistles  of  Pierre 
de  Vignes,  and  in  Bzovius,  Raynaldus,  &c.  The 
edict  of  St.  Louis,  in  favour  of  these  spiritual  judges, 
is  generally  known  under  the  title  of  Cupientcs;  for 
so  it  is  called  by  the  French  lawyers,  on  account  of 
its  beginning  with  that  word.  It  was  issued  in  1229, 
as  the  Benedictine  monks  have  proved  sufficiently  in 
their  Hist.  Generale  de  Languedoc,  tom.  iii.  It  is 
also  published  by  Catelius,  in  his  Histor.  Comit.  To- 
losanor,  and  by  many  other  authors.  This  edict  is 
as  severe  and  inhmnan,  to  the  full,  as  the  laws  of 
Frederic  II.;  for  a  great  part  of  the  sanctity  of  good 
king  Louis  consisted  in  his  furious  and  implacable 
aversion  to  heretics,  against  whom  he  judged  it  more 
expedient  to  employ  the  influence  of  racks  and  gib- 
bets, than  the  power  of  reason  and  argument.  See 
Du  Fresne,  Vita  Ludovici  a  Joinvillio  scripta. 

t  The  life  of  this  furious  .Tnd  celebrated  inquisitor 
was  composed  from  the  most  authentic  records,  and 
al.'io  from  several  valuable  manuscripts,  by  the  learn- 
ed John  Herman  Schminckius.    See  also  Wadding, 


Chap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


375 


barbarities  had  raised  to  a  dreadful  degree  of 
vehemence  and  fury.* 

VII.  When  Innocent  III.,  perceived  that 
the  labours  of  llie  inquisitors  were  not  imme- 
diately attended  vvitli  such  al>undant  fruits  as 
he  had  fondly  expected,  he  addressed  liimself, 
in  1207,  to  Piiilip  Augustus,  king  of  France, 
and  to  the  leading  men  of  that  nation,  urging 
them,  by  the  alluring  promise  of  the  most 
ample  indulgences,  to  extirpate  all,  whom  he 
thought  proper  to  call  heretics,  by  fire  and 
sword. t  This  exhortation  was  repeated,  with 
new  accessions  of  fervour  and  earnestness,  in 
the  following  year,  when  Pierre  de  C'astelnau, 
the  legate  of  this  pontiff,  and  his  inquisitor  in 
France,  was  put  to  death  by  the  patrons  of 
the  heretics.+  Not  long  after  this,  the  Cister- 
tian  mord?s,  in  the  name  of  this  pope,  pro- 
claimed a  crusade  against  the  heretics  through- 
out France;  and  a  storm  seemed  to  be  gather- 
ing against  them  on  all  sides.  Raymond  VI., 
earl  of  Toulouse,  in  whose  territories  Castel- 
nau  had  been  massacred,  was  solemnly  excom- 
municated, and,  to  deliver  himself  from  this 
ecclesiastical  malediction,  changed  sides,  and 
embarked  in  the  crusade  now  mentioned.  In 
1209,  a  formidable  anny  of  cross-bearers 
commenced  against  the  heretics  (who  were 
comprehended  under  the  general  denomination 
of  .llbigenses^)  an  open  war,  which  they  car- 
ried on  with  the  utmost  exertions  of  cruelty, 
though  with  various  success,  for  several  years. 
The  chief  director  of  this  war  was  Arnald, 
abbot  of  the  Cisterlians,  and  legate  of  the  Ro- 


An.  Minor,  t.  ii.  p.  151,  3.55,  and  Echard,  Scrip.  Do- 
minican, t.  i.  p.  4B7. 

0(p-*The  abbe  Floury  acknowledges  the  brutal 
barbarity  of  this  unrelenting  imiuisitor,  who,  umlcr 
the  pretext  of  heresy,  not  only  committed  to  Ilie 
flames  a  prodigious  number  of  nobles,  clerks,  monks, 
hermits,  and  lay-persons  of  all  ranks,  but  moreover 
caused  them  to  be  put  to  death  on  the  very  day  when 
they  were  accused,  without  appeal.  See  Fleury's 
Hist.  Eccies.  liv.  Ixxx. 

t  Innoceiitii  Terlii  Epistola;,  lib.  x.  epist.  49. 

j  Iiuioc.  Epist.  lib.  xi.  p.  2G. — Acta  Sanctor.  Mart, 
tom.  i.  p.  411. 

§  This  term  is  used  in  two  senses,  of  which  one  is 
general,  and  the  other  more  confined.  In  its  more 
general  and  e.vtensive  sense  it  comprehends  all  the 
various  kinds  of  heretics  who  resided  at  that  time 
ii\  Narbonne  Gaul,  i.  e.  in  the  southern  parts  of 
France.  This  appears  from  the  following  passaL'e 
of  Petrus  Sarni'nsis,  who,  in  the  dedication  of  his 
History  of  the  Albigenses  to  Innocent  III.  expri'sscs 
himself  thus:  "  Tolosani  et  aliarum  civit.itum  rt 
castrorum  hairetici,  et  defensores  eornni,  giMier.ilitrr 
Albigenses  vocantur."  The  same  author  ilividcs 
afterwards  the  Albigenses  into  various  sects,  (cap. 
ii.  p.  3,  and  8.)  of  which  he  considers  that  of  the 
Waldenses  as  the  least  pernicious.  '  Mali  erant 
Waldenses,  sed  comparatione  aliorum  ha^reticoruni 
longe  minus  perversi."  It  was  not,  Iiowever,  from 
the  city  of  Albigia,  or  Alhi,  that  the  French  heretics 
were  comprehended  under  the  general  title  of  Albi- 
genses, but  from  another  circumstance,  namely,  that 
the  greatest  part  of  Narbonne  Gaul  was,  in  this  cen- 
tury, called  Albigtsium,  as  the  Benedictine  monks 
have  clearly  demonstrated  in  their  Histoire  Gcmtr- 
ale  de  Languedoc,  tom.  iii.  The  term  ^Ihipctisef:,  in 
its  more  confined  sense,  was  used  to  denote  those 
heretics  who  inclined  toward  the  Manicha^an  sys- 
tem, and  who  were  otherwise  known  by  the  denom- 
inations of  Catharists,  Publicans  or  Pauliciaiis,  .md 
Rulgarians.  This  apjtears  evidently  from  in;iny  in- 
contestable nutlKnities,  and  iiion-  e.-|ircj.illy  from  llie 
Codex  Ini|uisiti(>nis  Tolosana',  (published  by  1,1m- 
horch,  in  his  History  of  the  Inquisition,)  in  which 
the  Albigenses  are  careftilly  distinguished  from  the 
othct  setts  that  made  a  iioisc  in  this  century. 


man  pontitf;  and  the  commander  in  chief  ot 
the  troops  employed  in  this  noble  expedition 
was  Simon,  earl  of  Montfort.  Raymond,  who, 
consulting  his  safety  rather  than  his  conscience, 
had  engaged  in  the  crusade  against  the  here- 
tics, was  now  obliged  to  attack  their  persecu- 
tors. For  Simon,  who  had  embarked  in  this 
war,  not  so  much  from  a  principle  of  zeal  for 
religion,  or  of  aversion  to  the  heretics,  as  from 
a  desire  of  augmenting  his  fortune,  cast  a 
greedy  eye  upon  the  territories  of  Raymond, 
and  his  selfish  views  were  seconded  and  ac- 
complished by  the  court  of  Rome.  After 
many  battles,  sieges,  and  a  multitude  of  other 
exploits,  conducted  with  the  most  intrepid 
courage  and  the  most  abominable  barbarity, 
he  received  from  the  hands  of  Innocent,  at  the 
Lateran  council,  A.  D.  1215,  the  county  of 
Toulouse,  and  the  other  lands  belonging  to  the 
obnoxious  earl,  as  a  reward  for  his  zeal  in  sup- 
porting the  cause  of  God  and  of  the  church. 
About  three  years  after  this,  he  lost  his  life  at 
the  siege  of  Toulouse.  Raymond,  his  valiant 
adversary,  died  in  1222. 

VIII.  Thus  were  the  two  chiefs  of  this  de- 
plorable war  taken  off  the  scene;  but  this  re- 
moval was  far  from  extinguishing  the  infernal 
flame  of  persecution  on  the  side  of  the  pon- 
tiffs, or  calming  the  restless  spirit  of  faction  on 
that  of  the  pretended  heretics.  Raymond 
VII.,  earl  of  Toulouse,  and  Amalric,  earl  of 
Montfort,  succeeded  their  fathers  at  the  head  of 
the  contending  parties,  and  carried  on  the  war 
with  the  utmost  veiiemence,  and  with  such 
various  success  as  rendered  the  issue  for  some 
time  doubtful.  The  fonner  seemed  at  first 
more  powerful  than  his  adversary;  and  pope 
Honorius  III.,  alarmed  at  the  vigorous  oppo- 
sition he  made  to  the  orthodox  legions,  engaged 
Louis  VIII.,  king  of  France,  by  the  most 
pompous  promises,  to  march  in  person  with  a 
formidable  army  against  tlie  enemies  of  the 
church.  The  obsefjuious  monarch  listened  to 
the  solicitations  of  the  lordly  pontiff,  and  em- 
barked with  a  considerable  military  force  in 
the  cause  of  the  church,  but  did  not  live  to 
reap  the  fruits  of  his  zeal.  His  engagements, 
however,  with  the  court  of  Rome,  and  his  fu- 
rious designs  against  the  heretics,  were  exe- 
cuted with  the  greatest  alacrity  and  vigour  by 
his  son  and  successor  Louis  the  Saint;  so  that 
Raymond,  pressed  on  all  sides,  was  obliged,  in 
1229,  to  make  peace  upon  the  most  disadvan- 
tiigeous  terms,  even  by  making  a  cession  of 
tlie  greatest  part  of  his  territories  to  the  French 
monarch,  after  having  sacrificed  a  considera- 
ble portion  of  them,  as  a  peace-offering  to  the 
church  of  Rome.*     This  treaty  gave  a  mortal 


0(7-*  It  was  in  consequence  of  this  treaty  (of 
which  the  articles  were  drawn  up  at  Manx,  and 
afterwards  confirmed  at  Paris,  in  presence  of  Louis) 
that  the  university  of  Toulouse  was  founded,  Ray- 
mond having  bound  liimself  thereby  to  pay  the  sum 
of  4000  silver  marcs,  toward  the  support  of  two  pro- 
fes.sors  of  divinity,  two  of  canon  law,  two  of  gram- 
mar, and  si.\  of  the  liberal  arts,  during  the  space  of 
ten  years.  We  must  also  observe,  that  what  Dr. 
Mosheim  says  of  the  cession  that  Kaymond  made  of 
his  lands  is  not  sntnciently  clear  and  accurate. 
'I'liese  lands  were  not  to  l)e  transferred  till  at"ler  hi» 
death,  and  they  were  to  be  iransterred  to  the  brother 
of  Loni.s  IX.  who,  according  to  the  treaty,  was  to 
espouse  the  daughter  of  Raymond.  See  Flcury's  Hill. 
Etclcs.  liv.  Ixxix  sect,  50. 


376 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  11. 


blow  to  the  cause  of  heresy,  and  dispersed  tlie 
champions  that  had  appeared  in  its  defence: 
the  inquisition  was  establislied  at  Toulouse, 
and  the  heretics  were  not  only  exposed  to  the 
pious  cruelties  of  Louis,  but,  what  was  still 
more  shocking,  Raymond  himself,  who  had 
formerly  been  their  patron,  became  their  per- 
secutor, and  treated  them  upon  all  occasions 
with  the  most  inhuman  severity.  It  is  true, 
this  prince  broke  the  engagements  into  which 
lie  had  entered  by  the  treaty  above-mentioned, 
and  renewed  the  war  against  Louis  and  the  in- 
quisitors, who  abused,  in  the  most  odious  man- 
ner, their  victory  and  the  power  they  had 
acquired.  But  this  new  effort,  in  favour  of 
the  heretics,  was  attended  with  little  or  no 
effect,  and  the  unfortunate  earl  of  Toulouse, 
the  last  representative  of  that  noble  and  pow- 
erful family,  dejected  and  exliausted  by  the 
losses  he  had  sustained,  and  the  perplexities  in 
which  he  was  involved,  died,  in  1249,  without 
male  issue.  And  thus  ended  a  civil  war,  of 
which  religion  had  been  partly  the  cause,  and 
partly  the  pretext,  and  which,  in  its  conse- 
quences, was  highly  profitable  both  to  the  kings 
of  France  and  to  the  Roman  pontiffs.* 

IX.  The  severity  which  the  court  of  Rome 
employed  in  the  extirpation  of  heresy,  and  the 
formidable  arguments  of  hrc  and  sword,  racks 
and  gibbets,  with  which  the  popes  and  their 
creatures  reasoned  against  the  enemies  of  the 
church,  were  not  sufhcient  to  prevent  the  rise 
of  new  and  pernicious  sects  in  different  coim- 
tries.  Many  of  these  sects  were  inconsidera- 
ble in  themselves,  and  transitory  in  tlieix  dura- 
tion, while  some  of  them  made  a  noise  in  the 
world,  and  were  suppressed  with  difficulty. 
Among  the  latter  we  may  reckon  that  of  tlie 
Brethren  and  Sisters  of  the  free  spirit,  which 
about  this  time  gained  ground  secretly  and  al- 
most imperceptibly  in  Italy,  France,  and  Ger- 
many, and  seduced  into  its  bosom  multitudes 
of  persons  of  both  sexes,  by  the  striking  ap- 


*  Many  writers,  both  ancient  and  modern,  have 
related  the  circumstances  of  this  reUgious  war,  car- 
ried on  against  the  earls  of  Toulouse  and  their  con- 
federates, and  also  against  the  heretics,  whose  cause 
they  maintained.  But  the  historians,  whom  I  have 
consulted  on  this  subject,  have  not  treated  it  with 
that  impartiality  which  is  so  essential  to  the  merit 
of  historic  writing.  The  protestant  writers,  among 
whom  Basnage  deserves  an  eminent  rank,  are  too 
favourable  to  Raymond  and  the  Albigenses;  the  Ro- 
man catholic  historians  lean  with  still  more  par- 
tiality to  the  other  side.  Of  the  latter,  the  most  re- 
cent are  Benedict,  a  Dominican  monk,  author  of 
the  Histoire  des  Albigeois,  des  Vaudois,  et  des  Barbels, 
published  at  Paris  in  1(591,  and  J.  Bapt.  L'Anglois,  a 
Jesuit,  who  composed  the  Histoire  desCroisadcs  con- 
tre  les  Albigeois,  published  at  Rouen  in  1703,  to 
which  wc  must  add  Jo.  Jac.  Percini  Moniimenta 
Conventus  Tolosani  Ordinis  Fratrnm  Pr.-pdicator.  in 
quibus  Historia  hujus  Conventus  distribuilur,  et  re- 
fertur  totius  Albigensium  facti  narratio,  Tolosas, 
1093.  These  writers  are  chargeable  with  tlie  greatest 
partiality  and  injustice  for  the  reproaches  and  ca- 
lumnies they  throw  out  so  liberally  against  the  Ray- 
monds and  the  Albigenses,  while  they  disguise,  with 
a  perfidious  dexterity,  the  barbarity  of  Simon  of 
Montfort,  and  the  ambitious  views  of  extending 
their  dominions  that  engaged  the  kings  of  France 
to  enter  into  this  war.  The  most  ample  and  ac- 
curate account  of  this  expedition  against  the  here- 
tics is  that  which  is  given  by  the  learned  Benedic- 
tines Claude  le  Vie  and  Joseph  Vaisselte,  in  their 
Histoire  Gcneralc  de  Languerioc,  torn.  iii.  in  vhic,*!, 
however,  there  are  several  omissions,  which  /ender 
that  valuable  work  defective. 


pearance  of  piety  that  was  observed  in  the 
conduct  of  the  members  who  composed  it. 
How  far  the  councils  of  this  century  proceeded 
against  the  new  sect,  we  cannot  say  with  cer- 
tainty, because  we  have  upon  record  only  a 
few  of  the  decrees  that  were  issued  upon  that 
occasion.  Perhaps  the  obscurity  of  the  rising 
faction  screened  it,  in  a  great  measure,  from 
public  view.  But  this  was  not  the  case  in  the 
following  age;  the  Brethren  and  Sisters  above- 
mentioned  issued  from  their  retreats  in  propor- 
tion as  their  numbers  increased:  they  drew 
upon  them  the  eyes  of  the  world,  and  particu- 
larly those  of  the  inquisitors,  who  committed 
to  the  flames  such  of  these  mihappy  enthu- 
siasts as  fell  into  their  hands;  while  the  coun- 
cils, holden  in  Germany  and  other  countries, 
loaded  them  with  excommunications  and 
damnatory  edicts. 

This  sect  took  its  denomination  from  the 
words  of  St.  Paul,*  and  maintained  that  the 
true  children  of  God  were  invested  with  the 
privilege  of  a  full  and  perfect /reerfoni  from  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  law.]  They  were  called,  by 
the  Germans  and  Flemish,  Beghards  and  Be- 
guttes,  names  which,  as  we  have  seen  already, 
were  usually  given  to  those  who  made  an  ex- 
traordinary profession  of  piety  and  devotion. 
They  received  from  others  the  reproachful 
denomination  of  Bicorni,  i.  e.  Idiots.  In 
France,  they  were  known  by  the  appellation 
of  Beguins  and  Beguines,  while  the  multitude 
distinguished  them  by  that  of  Turlupins,  the 
origin  and  reason  of  which  title  I  have  not 
been  able  to  learn.J  Nothing  carried  a  more 
shocking  air  of  lunacy  and  distraction  than 
their  external  aspect  and  manners.  They  ran 
from  place  to  place  clothed  in  the  most  singu- 
lar and  fantastic  apparel,  and  begged  their 
bread  with  wild  shouts  and  clamours,  rejecting 
with  horror  every  kind  of  industry  and  labour, 
as  an  obstacle  to  divine  contemplation,  and  to 
the  ascent  of  the  soul  toward  the  Father  of 
spirits.     In  all  their  excursions  they  were  fol- 


*  Romans,  viii.  2,  14. 

t  The  accounts  here  given  of  these  wretched  fana- 
tics are,  for  the  most  part,  taken  from  authentic  re- 
cords, which  have  not  been  yet  published,  from  the 
decrees  of  synods  and  councils  holden  in  France  and 
Germany,  from  the  diplomas  of  the  Roman  pontiffs, 
the  sentences  pronounced  by  the  inquisitors,  and 
other  sources  of  information  to  which  I  have  had 
access.  I  have  also  a  collection  of  extracts  from 
certain  books  of  these  enthusiasts,  and  more  es- 
pecially from  that  which  treated  of  the  JVine  Spirit- 
ual Rocks,  and  which  was  in  the  highest  esteem 
among  the  free  brethren,  who  considered  it  as  a 
treasure  of  divine  wisdom  and  doctrine.  As  1  can- 
not here  expose  these  records  to  the  examination  of 
the  curious  reader,  I  beg  leave  to  refer  him  to  a  long 
and  ample  edict  issued  out  against  these  brethren 
by  Henry  I.  archbishop  of  Cologne,  and  published  in 
the  Statuta  Coloniensia,  anno  15.54.  This  edict  is, 
in  every  respect,  conformable  to  those  published  on 
the  same  occasion  at  Mentz,  AschafTenburg,  Pader- 
born,  Beziers,  Treves,  and  other  places. 

t  Many  have  written  of  the  Turlupins,  but  none 
with  .accuracy  and  precision.  See  Beausobre's  Dis- 
sertation sur  les  Adamites,  part  ii.  p.  384,  where 
that  learned  author  has  fallen  into  several  errors, 
as  usually  happens  to  him  when  he  treats  subjects 
of  this  kind.  I  know  not  the  origin  of  the  word 
Turlupin;  but  I  am  able  to  demonstrate,  by  the  most 
authentic  records,  that  the  persons  so  called,  who 
were  burned  at  Paris  and  in  other  parts  of  France, 
were  no  other  than  the  Brethren  of  the  free  spirit, 
who  were  condemned  by  the  Roman  pontifl's,  and 
aleo  by  vaiious  councils. 


Chap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


377 


lowed  by  women,  called  Sisters,  with  whom 
they  lived  in  the  most  intimate  familiarity  " 
They  distributed,  among  the  people,  books 
which  contained  the  substance  of  tlieir  doc- 
trines; lield  nocturnal  assemblies  in  places  re- 
mote from  public  view;  and  seduced  many 
from  frequenting  the  ordinary  institutions  of 
divine  worship. 

X.  These  brethren,  who  gloried  in  tlie  free- 
dom which  they  pretended  to  Jiave  obtained, 
through  the  spirit,  from  the  dominion  and  obli- 
gation of  the  law,  adopted  a  certain  rigid  and 
fantastic  system  of  mystic  theology,  built  upon 
pretended  philosophical  principles,  which  bore 
a  striking  resemblance  to  the  impious  doc- 
trines of  the  Pantiieists.  They  held,  "  That 
all  things  flowed  by  emanation  from  God,  and 
were  finally  to  return  to  tlieir  divine  source; 
that  rational  souls  were  so  many  portions  of 
the  Supreme  Deity,  and  that  the  universe, 
considered  as  one  great  whole,  was  God: 
that  every  man,  by  the  power  of  contempla- 
tion, and  by  calling  off  his  mind  from  sensible 
and  terrestrial  objects,  might  be  united  to  the 
Deity  in  an  inexplicable  manner,  and  become 
one  with  the  Source  and  Parent  of  all  things; 
and  that  tbey,  who,  by  long  and  assiduous 
meditation,  had  plunged  themselves,  as  it 
were,  into  the  abyss  of  the  Divinity,  acquired 
a  most  glorious  and  sublime  liberty,  and  were 
not  only  delivered  from  the  violence  of  sinful 
lusts,  but  even  from  the  connnon  instincts  of 
nature."  From  these  and  the  like  doctrines, 
the  brethren  drew  this  impious  and  horrid  con- 
clusion, "  That  the  person  who  had  ascended 
to  God  in  tliis  manner,  and  was  absorbed  by 
contemplation  in  the  abyss  of  Deity,  became 
thus  a  part  of  tlie  Godhead,  commenced  God, 
was  the  Son  of  God  in  the  same  sense  and  man- 
ner in  which  Christ  was,  and  was  thereby 
raised  to  a  glorious  independence,  and  freed 
from  the  obligation  of  all  laws  human  and  di- 
vine." It  was  in  consequence  of  all  this,  that 
they  treated  with  contempt  the  ordinances  of 
the  Gospel,  and  every  external  act  of  religious 
worship,  looking  upon  prayer,  fasting,  baptism, 
and  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  supper,  as  the 
first  elements  of  piety  adapted  to  tlie  state  and 
capacity  of  children,  and  as  of  no  sort  of  use  to 
the  perfect  man,  wliom  long  meditation  had 
raised  above  all  external  things,  and  carried 
into  the  bosom  and  essence  of  the  Deity.f 


*  Hence  they  were  styl(;d,  in  Goririany,  Schwrstri- 
ones,  as  appears  by  the  decrees  of  several  coimcils. 

t  It  may  not  be  improper  to  introduce  a  certain 
number  of  sentences,  translated  faithfully  from  seve- 
ral of  the  more  secret  books  of  these  heretics.  The 
following  will  be  sntiicient  to  give  the  curious  reader 
a  full  idea  of  their  impiety. 

"  Every  pious  and  cood  man  is  the  only  bepotten 
Son  of  God,  whom  God  engendered  from  all  eternity: 
(for  these  heretics  maintained,  that  what  the  Scrip- 
tures taught  concerning  the  distinction  of  three  per- 
sons in  the  divine  nature,  is  by  no  means  to  be  un- 
derstood literally,  and  therefore  explained  it  accord- 
ing to  the  principles  of  their  mystical  and  fantastic 
system.) 

"All  created  tilings  arc  non-entities,  or  nothing: 
I  do  not  say  that  they  are  small  or  minute,  but  that 
they  arc  absolutely  nothing. 

"There  is  in  the  soul  of  man  something  tli.it  is 
neither  created  nor  susceptible  of  creation,  and  that 
is,  rationality,  or  the  power  of  reasoning. 

"God  is  neither  good,  nor  better,  nor  best:  whoso- 
ever  therefore  calls  the  Deity  good,  speaks  as  fool- 1 
Vol.  I.— 48 


XI.  Among  these  fanatics  there  were  seve- 
ral persons  of  eminent  probity,  who  had  en- 
tered into  this  sect  with  the  most  upright  in- 
tentions, and  who  extended  that  liberty  of  the 
spirit,  which  they  looked  upon  as  the  privilege 
of  true  believers,  no  farther  than  to  an  ex- 
emption from  the  duties  of  external  worship, 
and  an  immunity  from  the  positive  laws  of  the 
church.  The  whole  of  religion  was  placed  by 
this  class  of  men  in  internal  devotion,  and 
they  treated  with  the  utmost  contempt  the 
rules  of  monastic  disciplme,  and  all  other  exter- 
nal rites  and  institutions,  as  infinitely  beneath 
the  attention  of  the  perfect.  Nor  were  their 
e.xhortations  and  examples  without  effect;  for, 
about  the  middle  of  this  century,  they  per- 
suaded a  considerable  number  of  monks  and 
devout  persons,  in  Suabia,  "  to  live  without 
any  rule,  and  to  serve  God  in  the  liberty  of 
the  spirit,  which  was  the  most  acceptable  ser- 
vice that  could  be  presented  to  the  Deity."* 
The  inquisitors,  however,  stopped  tliese  poor 
enthusiasts  in  tlie  midst  of  tlieir  career,  and 
committed  several  of  them  to  the  flames,  in 
which  they  expired,  not  only  with  the  most 
unclouded  serenity,  but  even  witli  the  most 
triumphant  feelings  of  cheerfulness  and  joy. 

But  we  find  among  these  Brethren  of  the 
free  spirit  another  class  of  fanatics  very  differ- 
ent from  these  now  mentioned,  and  mucli  more 
extravagant,  whose  system  of  religion  was  as 
dangerous  as  it  was  ridiculous  and  absurd, 
since  it  opened  a  door  to  the  most  licentious 
manners.  These  wretched  enthusiasts  main- 
tained, that,  by  continual  contemplation,  it  was 
possible  to  eradicate  all  the  instincts  of  nature 
out  of  the  heaven-born  mind,  and  to  introduce, 
into  the  soul  a  certain  divine  stupor,  and  holy 
apathy,  which  they  looked  upon  as  tlie  great 
characteristics  of  Christian  perfection.  The 
persons  who  adopted  these  sentiments  took 
strange  liberties  in  consequence  of  their  pre- 
tended sanctity,  and  showed,  indeed,  by  their 
conduct,  that  they  had  little  regard  to  external 
appearances;  for  they  held  their  secret  assem- 
blies in  a  state  of  nudity,  and  lay  in  the  same 
beds  with  their  spiritual  sisters,  or,  indiscrimi- 
nately, with  other  women,  witliout  the  smallest 
scruple  or  hesitation.    This  shocking  violation 


ishly  .as  he  who  calls  an  object  black  which  ba 
ktiovvs  to  be  white. 

"God  still  engenders  his  only  begotten  son,  and 
begets  still  the  same  son,  whom  lie  had  begotten 
from  eternity:  for  every  operation  of  the  Deity  is 
uniform  and  one;  and  therefore  lie  engender."!  liis  son 
without  any  division. 

"  What  the  Scriptures  say  roncerning Christ  is  true 
of  every  good,  of  every  divine  man:  aiul  every  quality 
of  the  divine  nature  belongs  equally  to  every  person 
whose  piety  is  genuine  and  sincere." 

To  these  horrid  passages  we  may  add  the  following 
sentences,  in  which  John  bishop  of  StrHsbourg  (in  an 
edict  he  published  against  the  Brethren  of  the  free 
spirit,  in  l.l]")  discovers  farther  the  Wasphemou* 
doctrine  of  this  impious  sect.  '  Deus  (says  these 
heretics)  est  formaliter  omne  quod  est.  Cluilibet 
homo  pi-rfeetus  est  Christus  per  naluram.  Homo 
perfectus  est  liber  in  totum,  nee  tenetur  ad  servan- 
dum  pra'cepta  ecclesiie  data  a  Deo.  Mulla  sunt  po- 
etioa  ill  l''vangelio,  qua-  mm  sunt  vera;  ct  hoipines 
credere  magis  debent  coiiceptibus  e.v  aiiima  sua  Deo 
juncia  profcctis,  quam  Evangelio,"  &c. 

*  See  Mart.  Crusius,  Ann.il.  Suevicorum,  part  iii. 
lib.  ii.  cap.  xiv.  ad  annum  1201. — This  .tuthor  has 
taken  his  materials  from  Felix  Faber,  an  impartial 
writer. 


378 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


of  decency  was  a  consequence  of  their  perni- 
cious system.  Tliey  looked  upon  decency  and 
modesty  as  marks  of  inw.ird  corruption,  as  the 
characters  of  a  soid  tlr.it  waa  still  under  the 
dominion  of  the  sensual,  animal,  and  lascivi- 
ous spirit,  and  that  was  not,  as  yet,  re-unitcd 
to  the  divine  nature,  its  centre  and  source. 
And  they  considered,  as  at  a  fatal  distance  from 
the  Deity,  all  such  as  cither  felt  the  carnal 
suggestions  of  nature,  or  were  penetrated  with 
warm  emotions  at  the  view  or  approach  of  per- 
sons of  a  different  sex,  or  were  incapahle  of 
vanquishijig  and  suppressing  the  rising  fervour 
of  lust  aad  intemperance.* 

There  were,  moreover,  in  this  fanatical  troop, 
certain  enthusiasts,  who  far  surpassed  in  impi- 
ety the  two  classes  we  have  been  now  mention- 
ing, who  abused  the  system  and  doctrines  of 
the  sect,  so  as  to  draw  from  tliem  an  apology 
for  all  kinds  of  wickedness,  and  who  audacious- 
ly maintained,  that  the  divine  man,  t*the  be- 
liever, who  was  intimately  united  to  God, 
could  not  sin,  let  his  conduct  be  ever  so  horri- 
ble and  atrocious.  This  execrable  doctrine 
was  not,  indeed,  cvplaiued  in  the  same  manner 
by  all  the  Brethren  of  the  free  spirit  who  were 
so  outrageous  to  adopt  it.  Some  held  that  the 
motions  and  actions  of  the  body  had  no  rela- 
tion at  all  to  the  soul,  which,  by  its  union  with 
God,  was  blended  with  the  divine  nature:  others 
fell  into  a  notion  inlinitely  injurious  to  the 
Supreme  Being,  and  maintained  that  the  pro- 
pensities and  passions  tliat  arose  in  the  soul  of 
the  divine  man  after  his  union  with  the  Deity, 
were  the  propensities  and  affections  of  God 
himself,  and  were  therefore,  notwithstanding 
their  apparent  deformity  and  opposition  to  the 
law,  holy  and  good,  since  the  Supreme  Being 
is  infinitely  exalted  above  all  law  and  all  obli- 
gation.!    It  is  necessary  to  observe,  before  we 


*  Certain  writers,  wliose  principal  zeal  is  employ- 
ed in  the  defence  of  these  heretics,  and  who  liave 
accustomed  themselves  to  entertain  a  hi^rh  idea  of 
the  sanctity  of  all  those  who,  in  the  middle  ages, 
separated  tliemselves  from  the  communion  of  the 
churcli  of  Rome,  suspect  the  inquisitors  of  having 
attributed  falsely  tlie.se  impious  doctrines  to  the  Bre- 
thren of  the  free  spirit,  with  a  view  to  blacken  these 
pious  men,  and  to  render  them  odious.  But  this  sus- 
picion is  entirely  groundless;  and  the  account  of  this 
matter,  which  we  have  given  in  the  text,  is  conform- 
able to  the  strictest  truth.  The  inquisitors  have 
been  less  fabulous  in  their  accusations  of  these  he- 
retics, than  many  are  apt  to  imagine.  They  ac- 
knowledge that  the  Beghards,  though  destitute  of 
shame,  were  not  in  general  chargeable  with  a  breach 
of  the  duties  of  chastity  and  abstinence.  They  were 
indeed  of  opinion,  that  the  firmness  of  mind,  and  in- 
sensibility of  heart,  v  hich  rendered  them  proof 
against  female  charms,  ami  deaf  to  the  voice  of  na- 
ture, were  privileges  granted  to  them  by  the  devil; 
for  they  adopted  the  opinion  of  honest  Nieder,  (For- 
inicar.  lib.  iii.  cap.  v.)  and  affirmed  that  it  was  in  the 
power  of  that  evil  spirit  to  render  men  cold,  and  to 
extinguish  the  warm  and  lascivious  solicitations  of 
nature;  and  that  Satan  wrought  this  miracle  upon 
his  friends  and  adherents,  in  order  to  procure  them  a 
high  reputation  for  sanctity,  and  make  them  appear 
superior  in  virtue  to  the  rest  of  mankind.  "  Credo 
(saith  Nieder,  who  was  both  a  Dominican  and  an  in- 
quisitor) quosdam  ex  eis  diumonis  opera  aftectos  fu 
isse,  ne  moverentur  ad  nat\irales  actus  incuutiuentiai 
Facillimum  enim  est  d;emonibus  infrigidare." 

t  This  account  will  be  confirmed  by  the  ftdlowing 
passage,  which  is  faithfully  translated  from  the  fa- 
mous book  of  the  JVine  ftorA-,;,  written  originally  in 
German:  "  Moreover  the  divine  man  operates  and 
engenders  whatever  the  Deity  operates  and  engen- 
ders: for  in  God  he  produced  and  formed  the  heavens 


leave  this  subject,  that  flagitious  and  impious 
impostors  mingled  themselves  sometimes  with 
this  sect,  and  took  the  name  of  Beghards,  that 
by  a  feigned  piety  they  might  impose  upon  the 
iimltitude,  and  deceive  the  simple  into  their 
snares.* 

XII.  The  famous  Amalric,  professor  of  logic 
and  theology  at  Paris,  whose  bones  were  dug 
up  and  publicly  burned  in  1209,  (although  he 


and  the  earth.  He  is  also  the  father  of  the  eternal 
word.  Neither  could  God  produce  any  thing  with- 
out this  divine  man,  who  is  therefore  obliged  to  ren- 
der his  will  conformable  to  the  will  of  God,  that 
whatever  may  be  agreeable  to  the  Deity,  may  be 
agreeable  to  him  also.  If  therefore  it  be  the  will  of 
(jod  tliat  I  should  commit  sin,  my  will  must  be  the 
same,  and  I  must  not  even  desire  to  abstain  from 
sill.  This  is  true  contrition.  And  although  a  man, 
who  is  well  and  truly  united  to  God,  may  have  com- 
mitted a  thousand  mortal  sins,  he  ought  not  to  wish 
that  he  had  not  committed  them:  he  should  even  be 
ready  to  die  a  thousand  deaths  rather  than  omit  one 
of  these  mortal  sins."  Hence  arose  the  accusation 
brought  by  the  inquisitors  against  this  impious  sect, 
u  liom  they  reproach  with  maintaining  that  the 
"  sin  of  a  man  united  to  God,  is  not  sin,  since  God 
works  in  him  and  with  him  whatever  he  does."  Hen- 
ry Suso,  a  Dominican  monk,  and  one  of  the  most  ce- 
lebrated Mystic  writers,  composed,  in  the  following 
century,  another  book  concerning  the  Nine  Rocks, 
which  is  to  be  found  in  the  edition  of  his  works  pub- 
lished by  Laurence  Surius.  But  this  book  is  entirely 
different  from  that  which  was  in  such  high  esteem 
among  the  Beghards,  though  it  bears  the  same  title. 
Thi'  latter  is  of  much  older  date,  and  was  in  vogue 
in  Germany,  among  the  Brethren  of  the  free  spirit, 
long  before  Suso  was  born.  There  fell  some  time 
ago  into  my  hands  an  ancient  manu.«cript,  composed 
in  Alsace  during  the  fifteenth  century,  containing 
an  account  of  various  revelations  and  visions  of 
that  age.  In  this  manuscript  I  found  a  piece  enti- 
tled, Declaratio  Religiosi  cujusdam  super  Revela- 
tione  Carthusiano  cuidam  de  Ecelesiaj  per  gladium 
reformatione,  Lcodii  in  anno  1-153  facta;  and,  almost 
in  the  beginning  of  this  declaration,  I  met  with  the 
following  passage  relating  to  the  book  of  the  Nine 
Rocks:  "  Homo  (juidam  devotissimus,  licet  laicus,  li- 
brum  de  uovem  Rupibus  conscripsit  a  Deo  compul- 
sus,  ubi  niulta  ad  prssens  jiertinentia  continentur 
de  Ecclesis  renovatione  et  prsvia  gravi  persecu- 
tione."  These  Nine  Rocks  signified,  according  to  the 
fanatical  doctrine  of  this  wrong-headed  sect,  the  dif- 
ferent steps  by  which  the  divine  man  ascended  to  the 
Deity. 

*  The  founder  of  this  famous  sect,  the  place  of  its 
origin,  and  the  time  of  its  first  appearance,  are  not 
known  with  certainty.  I  have  in  my  possession 
eighty-nine  Sentences  of  the  Beghards,  vulgarly  call- 
ed Schwestriones,  but  who  style  themselves  Brethren 
of  the  sect  of  the  free  spirit  and  of  voluntary  pover- 
ty, with  a  refutation  of  the  said  sentences,  written 
at  Worms  toward  the  conclusion  of  this  century  by 
one  of  the  inquisitors.  The  "i'th  sentence  runs  thus: 
"To  say  that  the  truth  is  in  Rhetia,  is  to  fall  into 
the  heresy  of  Donatus,  who  said  that  God  was  in 
Africa,  and  not  elsewhere."  From  these  words  it 
appears  evident,  that  Rhetia  was  the  country  where 
the  church  of  the  Brethren  of  the  free  spirit  was  fix- 
ed and  established,  and  that  from  this  province  they 
passed  into  Germany.  I  am  not,  however,  of  opin- 
ion, that  this  sect  had  its  origin  in  thai  province; 
but  am  rather  inclined  to  think,  that  Italy  was  its 
country,  and  that,  being  driven  thence,  it  took  re- 
fuge in  Rhetia.  Nor  is  at  all  improbable,  that  Italy, 
which  saw  so  many  religious  factions  arise  in  its  bo- 
som, was  also  the  nursing  mother  of  this  blasphemous 
sect.  We  shall  be  almost  fully  confinned  in  this 
opinion,  when  we  consider  that,  in  a  long  letter 
from  Clement  V.  to  Rainier  bishop  of  Cremona,  (pub- 
lished by  Odor.  Raynaldus,  Annal.  torn.  .xv.  sm. 
1311,)  the  zealous  pontiff  exhorts  that  prelate  to  sup- 
press and  extirpate,  with  all  liis  power,  the  sect  of 
the  Brethren  of  the  free  spirit,  who  were  settled  in 
several  parts  of  Italy,  and  particularly  in  the  pro- 
vince of  Spoleto  and  the  coujUries  adjacent.  Such 
are  the  terms  of  the  pontiff's  letter:  "  In  nonnullis 
ItaliEE  partjbus,  tarn  Spoletanae  ptovinriae,  quam  cir- 
cumjacentium  regionum." 


Chap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


379 


had  abjured  his  errors  before  his  death,)  and  a 
considerable  number  of  whose  disciples  and 
followers  were  conuniUcd  to  tlic  flames  on  ac- 
count of  tiieir  absurd  and  pernicious  doctrine, 
was  undoubtedly  of  the  same  way  of  thinking 
with  the  sect  whose  opinions  we  have  been 
now  considering;*  for,  though  the  writers  of 
this  barbarous  age  have  given  very  different 
and  confused  accounts  of  liis  opinions,  and  even 
attributed  some  doctrines  to  him  which  he 
never  maintained,  it  is  nevertheless  certain, 
that  he  taught,  that  all  things  were  the  parts 
of  one  substance,  or,  in  other  words,  that  the 
universe  was  God,  and  that  not  only  the  fonns 
of  all  things,  but  also  their  matter  or  substance, 
proceed  from  the  Deity,  and  must  return  to 
the  source  from  wliich  they  were  derived. f 
From  these  absurd  and  blasphemous  principles 
he  deduced  that  chimerical  system  of  fanatical 
devotion,  which  we  have  already  exposed  to 
the  vievk'  of  the  reader,  pretended  to  demon- 
strate the  possibility  of  incorporating  or  trans- 
lating the  human  nature  into  the  divine,  and 
rejected  all  kinds  of  e.xtemal  worship,  as  in- 
significant and  useless.  The  disciples  of  this 
enthusiast  were  men  of  exemplary  piety,  were 
distinguished  by  the  gravity  and  austerity  of 
their  lives  and  manners,  and  suffered  death  in 
the  most  dreadful  forms  with  the  utmost  reso- 
lution and  constancy.  David  of  Dinant,  a 
Parisian  doctor,  was  one  of  the  most  eminent 
among  these;  and  he  usually  expressed  the  fiui- 
damental  principle  of  his  master  in  the  follow- 
ing proposition;  "  God  is  the  primary  matter 
or  substance  of  all  tilings."  He  composed  a 
work  entitled  Quaternarii,  with  several  other 
productions,  which  were  cliietly  designed  to 

♦  This  did  not  escape  the  notice  of  the  enemies  of 
the  Beghards  or  Brethren  of  the  free  spirit  in  Ger- 
many, niucli  less  that  of  the  inquisitors,  who,  in 
tlieir  Refutation  of  the  89  sentences  of  the  Beg- 
hards, mentioned  in  the  preceding  note,  express 
themselves  thus:  (sent.  C8.)  "  Dicere  quod  omnis 
creaturaest  Deus,  hsresis  Alexandri*  est,  qui  dixit, 
materiam  primam  et  Deuni  et  hominem,  hoc  est 
mentes,  esse  in  substantia,  quod  postea  qnidam  Da- 
vid de  Dinanto  sequutus  est,  qui  tcniporibus  nostris 
de  hac  h;eresi  de  Francia  fugatus  est,  et  punitus 
fuisset,  si  deprehensus  fuisset," 

SS'  \  The  account  given  by  Fleury,  in  his  Ecclesi- 
astical History,  of  the  opinions  of  Amalric,  is  very 
dilTerent  from  that  which  is  here  given  by  Ur.  Mo- 
sheim.  The  former  observes,  that  Amalric,  or 
Amauri,  taught  that  '  every  Christian  was  obliged 
to  believe  luniself  a  member  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  that 
without  tliis  belief  none  could  be  saved;'  and  he  ob- 
eerves  also,  that  his  disciples  introduced  errors  still 
more  pernicious,  such  as  the  following:  "That  the 
power  of  the  Father  had  continued  only  during  the 
Mosaic  dispensation,  that  of  the  Son  1200  years 
after  his  entrance  upon  earth,  and  that,  in  the  thir- 
teenth century,  the  age  of  the  Holy  Spirit  com- 
menced, in  which  the  sacraments  and  all  external 
worship  were  to  be  abolished;  that  there  would  be 
no  resurrection;  that  heaven  and  hell  were  mere  fic- 
tions;" and  many  more  sentiments  of  that  nature, 
which,  as  the  learned  Spanheim  imagines,  were 
falsely  imputed  to  Amalric,  in  order  to  render  his 
menuiry  odious,  because  he  had  opjH)sed  the  worship 
of  saints  and  images.  See  Flfiiry,  Hist.  Eccles.  livre 
l.xxvi.  sect.  lix. — Dr.  Mosheim  considered  Amalric  as 
a  Pantheist;  and  many  men  of  eminent  learning  are 
of  this  opinion.  See,  among  others,  Joh.  Gerson  apud 
Jac.  Thomasium,  and  also  Brucker's  Hist.  I'hilosoph. 
torn.  iii.  p.  ()H8. 


*  The  person  here  mentioned  is  Ale.vander,  the 
Epicurean,  of  whom  Plutarch  siieaks  in  his  Sympo- 
sium, 


affect  and  gain  the  multitude;  but  he  was  at 
length  obliged  to  save  himsflfijy  flight.*  The 
bishops,  assembled  in  council  at  Paris,  in  1209, 
considered  the  philosophy  of  Aristotle  as  tlie 
source  of  these  im])ious  doctrines,  and,  on  that 
account,  proliil)ited  all  persons  from  reading 
or  explaining,  either  in  public  or  private,  the 
metaphysical  and  other  productions  of  the 
Grecian  sagc.j 

XIII.  If  we  may  depend  upon  the  accounts 
given  by  certain  writers,  Amalric  and  his  fol- 
lowers received  with  the  utmost  docility  and 
faith  the  predictions,  attributed  to  Joachim, 
abbot  of  Flora,  concerning  the  reformation 
that  was  .soon  to  be  brought  about  in  the 
church  by  the  power  of  the  sword, — the  ap- 
proaching Jlge  of  the  ITolij  Ghost,  that  was  to 
succeed  those  of  the  Father  and  the  Son, — 
and  other  things  of  that  nature,  which  raised 
the  hopes  and  occupied  the  thoughts  of  the 
Spiritual  Franciscans.  Whether  these  accounts 
may  be  depended  upon  or  not,  we  shall  not 
determine.  To  us  they  appear  extremely 
doubtful.  It  is,  however,  true,  that  certain 
persons  were  so  far  deluded  by  tliese  pretended 
prophecies,  as  to  form  new  sects  with  a  view 
to  their  accomplishment,  and  to  declare  war 
against  the  established  church,  its  system  of 
doctrine,  and  its  forms  of  worship.  Among 
other  fh,natical  sectaries,  there  arose  one  of  a 
most  extraordinary  kind,  a  Bohemian  woman, 
named  Wilhehnina,  who  resided  in  the  terri- 
tory of  Milan.  This  delirious  and  wrong- 
headed  woman,  having  studied  with  attention 
the  predictions  concerning  the  age  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  was  so  extravagant  as  to  persuade  her- 
self, and  (what  is  still  more  amazing)  had 
sufficient  infltience  to  persuade  others,  that 
the  Holy  Ghost  had  become  incarnate  in  her 
person,  for  the  salvation  of  a  great  part  of 
mankind.  According  to  her  doctrine,  "  None 
could  be  saved  by  the  blood  of  Jesus,  but  true 
and  pious  Christians;  while  the  Jews,  Sara- 
cens, and  unworthy  Cliristians,  were  to  obtain 
salvation  through  the  Holy  Spirit  which  dwelt 
in  her;  and,  in  consequence  thereof,  all  that 
had  hapjjened  to  Christ,  during  his  appearance 
upon  earth  in  tlte  human  nature,  was  to  be 
exactly  renewed  in  her  person,orrather  in  that 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  which  was  united  to  her." 
This  mad  woman  died  at  Milan,  in  1281,  in 
the  most  fragrant  odour  of  sanctity;  and  her 
memory  was  not  only  holden  in  the  highest 
veneration  by  her  niunerous  followers  and  the 
ignorant  multitude,  but  was  also  honoured 
with  religious  worship  both  in  public  and  in 
private.  Her  sect  was  at  length  discovered  by 
the  curious  eye  of  persecution,  in  1300,  and 
fell  under  the  cognizance  of  the  inquisitors, 
who  destroyed  the  magnificent  monument  that 
had  been  erected  to  her  honour,  ordered  her 
bones  to  he  committed  to  the  flames,  and  in 
the  same  fire  consimicd    the  leaders  of  this 


*St.'e  Martenne's  Tliesaur.  Anecd.  tom.  iv.  p.  163, 
where  there  is  an  account  of  the  heresies  for  which 
sever.'il  priests  were  burned  alParisin  120'J.— Natal. 
Ale.vander,  Hist.  Eccl.  Sffic.  xiii.  cap.  iii.  art.  ii.  p. 
7t).— DuBois,  Hist.  Eccl.  Paris,  t,  ii.  p.2-14.— Boulay, 
Hist.  Acad.  Paris,  t.  iii.  p.  24,  4H,  53.— Jac.  Thoma- 
sius,  dc  E.vustione  Mundi  Stoica,  p.  199. 

t  I.aunoy,  dc  varia  Aristot.  furtuna  in  Acad.  Paris. 
p.  127. 


380 


INTERNAL  fflSTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


wretched  faction,  among  whom  were  persons 
of  both  sexes.* 

XIV.  It  was  upon  predictions  similar  to 
those  mentioned  in  the  preceding  section,  that 
the  sect  of  the  ^fipostles  founded  its  disciphne. 
The  members  of  this  sect  made  Uttle  or  no  al- 
teration in  the  doctrinal  part  of  the  public  re- 
ligion; what  they  principally  aimed  at,  was,  to 
introduce  among  Christians  the  simplicity  of 
the  primitive  times,  and  more  especially  the 
manner  of  life  that  was  observed  by  the  apos- 
tles. Gerard  Sagarelli,  the  founder  of  this 
sect,  obliged  his  followers  to  go  from  place  to 
place  as  the  apostles  did,  to  wander  about 
clothed  in  white,  with  long  beards,  dishevelled 
hair,  and  bare  heads,  accompanied  with  women 
whom  they  called  their  Sisters.  They  were 
also  obliged  to  renounce  all  kinds  of  property 
and  possessions,  and  to  preach  in  public  the 
necessity  of  repentance,  while  in  their  more 
private  assemblies  they  declared  the  approach- 
ing destruction  of  the  corrupt  church  of  Rome, 
and  the  establishment  of  a  purer  service,  and  a 
more  glorious  church,  which,  according  to  the 
prophecies  of  the  abbot  .Toachim,  would  cer- 
tainly arise  from  its  ruins.  No  sooner  was  the 
ill-fated  leader  of  this  faction  committed  to  the 
flames,!  than  he  was  succeeded  in  that  charac- 
ter by  a  bold  and  enterprising  fanatic,  named 
Dulcinus,  a  native  of  Novara,  who  published 
his  predictions  with  more  courage,  and  main- 
tained them  with  more  zeal,  than  iiis  prede- 
cessor had  done,  and  who  did  not  hesitate  to 
declare  that,  in  a  short  time,  pope  Bonifvce 
VIII.,  the  corrupt  priests,  and  the  licentious 
monks,  were  to  perisli  by  the  hand  of  the  em- 
peror Frederic  III.,  son  of  Peter,  king  of  Ar- 
ragon,  and  that  a  new  and  most  holy  pontiff 
was  to  be  raised  to  the  head  of  the  church. 
These  visionary  predictions  were,  no  doubt, 
drawn  from  the  dreams  of  Joachim,  who  is 
said  to  have  declared,  among  other  things,  that 
an  emperor  called  Frederic  III.,  was  to  bring 
to  perfection  what  Frederic  II.  had  left  unfin- 
ished. Be  that  as  it  may,  Dulcinus  appeared 
with  intrepid  assurance  at  the  head  of  the 
apostles;  and  acting,  not  only  in  the  character 
of  a  prophet,  but  also  in  that  of  a  general,  he 
assembled  an  army  to  maintain  his  cause,  and 
perhaps  to  accomplish,  at  least  in  part,  his 
predictions.  He  was  opposed  by  Raynerius, 
bishop  of  Vercelli,  who  defended  the  interests 
of  the  Roman  pontiff,  and  carried  on,  above 
two  years,  a  most  sanguinary  and  dreadful 
war  against  this  chief  of  the  apostles.  The 
issue  of  this  contest  was  fatal  to  the  latter, 
who,  after  several  battles  fought  with  obstinate 
courage,  was  at  length  taken  prisoner,  and 
put  to  death  at  Vercelli  in  a  most  barbarous 
manner,  in  1307,  together  with  Margaret, 
whom  he  had  chosen  for  his  spiritual  sister, 

*  The  Milanese  liistorianp,  such  as  Bernardinus 
Coriiis.  and  others,  have  related  the  adventures  nf 
this  odd  woman;  but  their  accounts  are  very  differ- 
ent from  those  given  by  the  learned  Muratori,  in 
his  Antiq.  Italicae  niedii  Mvi,  tom.  v.,  and  which  he 
has  drawn  from  the  judicial  proceedings  of  the  court, 
where  the  extraordinary  case  of  this  temale  fanatic 
was  examined.  We  are  informed  by  the  same  ex- 
cellent author,  that  ale,<jrned  writer,  named  Puricolli, 
composed  a  history  of  Wilhelmina,  and  of  her  sect. 

t  This  unhappy  man  was  burned  alivo  at  Parma, 
in  1300. 


according  to  the  custom  of  his  sect.  The  ter- 
rible end  of  Dulcinus  was  not  immediately 
followed  by  the  extinction  of  his  sect,  which 
still  subsisted  in  France,  Germany,  and  other 
coantries,  and  stood  firm  against  the  most  ve- 
hement eiforts  of  its  enemies,  until  the  begin- 
ning of  the  15th  century,  when,  under  the 
pontificate  of  Boniface  IX.,  it  was  totally  ex 
tirpated.* 

XV.  This  famous  Joachim,  abbot  of  Flora, 
whose  fanatical  predictions  turned  the  heads 
of  so  many  well-meaning  people,  and  excited 
tliem  to  attempt  reforming  tlie  church  by  the 
sword,  and  to  declare  open  war  against  the 
Roman  pontifts,  did  not  fill  under  the  suspi- 
cion of  heresy  on  account  of  these  predictions, 
but  in  consequence  of  a  new  explication  he  had 
given  "of  the  doctrine  of  a  Trinity  of  persons  in 
the  Godhead.  He  had  in  an  elaborate  work 
attacked  very  warmly  Peter  Lombard,  the 
master  of  the  sentences,  on  account  of  the  dis- 
tinction which  this  writer  had  made  between 
tlie  divine  essence  and  the  three  persons  in  the 
Godliead;  for  Joachim  looked  upon  this  doc- 
trine as  introducing  a  fourth  object,  even  ari 
essence,  into  the  Trinity.  But  the  good  man 
was  too  little  versed  in  metaphysical  matters,  to 
carry  on  a  controversy  of  such  a  subtle  natiu-e; 
and  he  was  betrayed  by  his  ignorance  so  far 
as  to  advance  inconsiderately  the  most  rash 
and  most  exceptionable  tenets.  For  he  denied 
tliat  there  was  any  tiling,  or  any  essence,  that 
belonged  in  common  to  the  tliree  persons  in 
the  Trinity,  or  was  jointly  possessed  by  them; 
by  which  doctrine  the  substantial  union,  among 
the  three  persons,  was  taken  away,  and  the 
union  of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost, 
was  reduced  from  a  natural,  simple,  and  numeri- 
cal unity,  to  a  moral  one  only;  that  is,  to  such 
an  unity  as  reigns  in  the  counsels  and  opinions 
of  different  persons,  who  embrace  the  same 
notions,  and  think  and  act  with  one  accord. 
Tliis  explication  of  the  Trinity  was  looked 
upon  by  many  as  very  little  different  from  the 
Arian  system;  and  therefore  pope  Innocent  III. 
pronounced,  in  1216,  in  the  Lateran  council, 
a  damnatory  sentence  against  the  doctrine  of 
Joachim;  not  extending,  however,  to  the  per- 
son or  fame  of  the  abbot  himself.  Notwith- 
standing this  papal  sentence,  Joachim  has  at 
tliis  day  a  considerable  number  of  adherents 
and  defenders,  more  especially  among  those 
Franciscans  who  are  called  Observaixts.  Some 
of  these  maintain  that  the  book  of  this  abbot 
was  corrupted  and  interpolated  by  his  enemies, 
while  the  rest  are  of  opinion  that  his  doctrine 


*  I  composed  in  the  German  language  an  accurate 
history  of  this  famous  sect,  which  is  very  little 
known  in  our  times;  and  I  have  in  my  hands  mate- 
rials, that  will  furnish  an  interesting  addition  to  that 
history.  That  this  sect  subsisted  in  Germany,  and 
in  some  other  countries,  until  the  pontificate  of 
Boniface  IX.,  is  evident  from  the  Chronicle  of  Her- 
man Cornerus,  published  by  Jo.  George  Echard,  in 
his  Corpus  Historicnm  medii  JEvi,  tom.  ii.,  and  may 
be  sufficiently  demonstrated  by  other  authentic  testi- 
monies. In  1402,  a  certain  member  of  this  apostolic 
sect,  whose  name  was  William,  or  Wilhelmus,  was 
burned  alive  at  Lubec.  The  Germans,  who  were 
accustomed  to  distinguish  by  the  name  of  Beghards 
all  those  who  pretended  to  extraordinary  piety,  and 
sought,  by  poverty  and  begging,  an  eminent  reputa- 
tion for  sanctity  and  virtue,  gave  this  title  also  to 
the  sect  of  the  Apostles. 


Chap.  I. 


PROSPEROUS  EVENTS. 


3BI 


was  not  thoroughly  understood  by  those  who 
opposed  it.* 


*  See  Dan.  Papebrocliiiis,  Disqiiis.  Histor.  de  FIo- 
rensi  Ordinc,  Prophetiis,  Doctriiia,  B.  Joacliiini,  in 


Artis  Sanctorum,  Maii,  torn.  vi.  p.  4H6,  which  con- 
tains the  life  of  Joachim,  written  by  SyilanEPus,  and 
several  other  pieces  of  consequence.  See  also  Natal. 
Alexander,  Flist.  Krrles.  sa!C.  xiii.  dis.  ii.  d.  331. — 
Luc.  Wadding,  Annal.  Minor,  torn.  iv. 


THE  FOURTEENTH  CENTURY. 


PART  I. 


THE  EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 
Concerning"  the  prosperous  Events  that  happened 
to  the  Church  during  this  Century. 
I.  Several  attempts  were  made  by  tlie 
princes  of  the  west,  at  the  instigation  of  tlie 
Roman  pontiffs,  to  renew  the  war  in  Palestine 
against  the  Turks  and  Saracens,  and  to  deli- 
ver the  whole  province  of  Syria  from  the  op- 
pressive yoke  of  those  despotic  infidels.  The 
succession  of  pontiffs  tiiat  resided  in  Avignon, 
evinced  the  greatest  zeal  for  the  renovation  of 
this  religious  war,  and  left  no  artifice,  no  me- 
thods of  persuasion  unemployed,  that  could 
have  the  least  tendency  to  engage  the  kings 
of  England  and  France  in  an  expedition  to  the 
Holy  Land.  But  their  success  was  not  an- 
swerable to  their  zeal;  and,  notwithstanding 
the  powerful  influence  of  their  exhortations 
and  remonstrances,  something  still  happened 
to  prevent  their  producing  the  desired  effect. 
Clement  V.  urged  tlie  renewal  of  this  holy  war 
with  the  greatest  ardour  in  the  years  1307  and 
1308,  and  set  apart  a  very  large  sum  of  money 
for  prosecuting  it  with  alacrity  and  vigour.* 
John  XXn.  ordered  ten  ships  to  be  fitted  out 
in  1319,  to  transport  an  army  of  pious  adven- 
turers into  Palestine,!  and  had  recourse  to  the 
power  of  superstition,  that  is,  to  the  influence 
of  indulgences,  for  raising  the  funds  necessary 
to  the  support  of  this  great  enterprise.  These 
indulgences  he  offered  to  such  as  contributed 
generously  to  the  war,  and  appointed  legates 
to  administer  them  in  all  the  European  coun- 
tries that  were  subject  to  his  spiritual  jurisdic- 
tion. But,  under  this  fair  show  of  piety  and 
zeal,  John  is  supposed  to  have  covered  tlio 
most  selfish  and  grovelling  views;  and  we  find 
Louis  of  Bavaria,  who  was  at  that  time  empe- 
ror, and  several  other  princes,  complaining 
loudly  that  this  pontifi'  made  use  o/  tiie  holy 
war  as  a  pretext  to  disguise  his  avarice  and 
ambition;};  and  indeed  the  character  of  this 
pope  was  of  such  a  stamp  as  tended  to  accredit 
such  complaints.  Under  the  pontificate  of 
Benedict  XII.,  a  formidable  army  was  raised, 
in  1330,  by  Philip  de  Valois,  king  of  France, 


*  Bnluzii  Vita-  I'ontif.  Aveninn.  torn.  i.  ji.  15,  .Wl; 
torn.  ii.  p.  55,  374,  &c.  Ant.  Mattha.'i  Analecta  ve- 
teris  iEvi,  torn.  ii.  p.  577. 

t  B.iluzii  VitiB  Pontif.  Avenion.  torn.  i.  p.  125;  tom. 
ii.  p.  515. 

t  Bahizius,  tom.  i.  p.  175,  786.  Mattbxi  Analecta 
vet.  ^vi,  tom.  ii.  p.  595. 


with  a  view,  as  was  said,  to  attempt  the  deli- 
verance of  the  Christians  in  Palestine;*  but, 
when  he  was  ready  to  embark  his  troops,  the 
apprehension  of  an  invasion  from  England 
obliged  him  to  lay  aside  this  weighty  enter- 
prise. In  1345,  Clement  VI.,  at  the  request 
of  the  Venetians,  engaged,  by  the  persuasive 
power  of  indulgences,  a  prodigious  number  of 
adventurers  to  embark  for  Smyrna,  where 
they  composed  a  numerous  army  under  the 
command  of  Guido,  or  Guy,  dauphin  of 
Vienne;  but  the  want  of  provisions  soon  obliged 
this  army  to  return  with  the  general  into  Eu- 
rope.f  This  disappointment  did  not,  however, 
damp  the  spirits  of  the  restless  pontiff's;  for 
anotlier  formidable  army  was  assembled  in 
1363,  in  consequence  of  the  zealous  exhorta- 
tions of  Urban  V.,  and  vi'as  to  be  employed  in 
a  new  expedition  against  the  infidels,  with 
John,  king  of  France,  at  its  head;  but  the  un- 
expected death  of  that  prince  blasted  the  hopes 
that  many  had  entertained  from  this  grand 
project,  and  occasioned  the  dispersion  of  that 
numerous  body  which  had  repaired  to  his 
standard.]; 

II.  The  missionaries  who  had  been  sent  by 
the  Roman  pontiffs  into  C!hina,  Tartary,  and 
the  adjacent  countries,  in  tlie  preceding  cen- 
tury, found  their  labours  crowned  with  the  de- 
sired success,  and  established  a  great  ruunber 
of  Christian  churches  among  those  unenlight- 
ened nations.  In  1307,  Clement  V.  erected 
Cambalu  (which  at  that  time  was  the  celebrat- 
ed metropolis  of  Cathay,  and  is,  undoubtedly, 
the  same  with  Pekin,  the  capital  city  at  pre- 
sent of  the  Chinese  empire,)  into  an  archbi- 
shopric, which  he  conferred  upon  John  de 
Monte  Corvino,  an  Italian  friar  who  had  been 
employed  in  propagating  the  Gospel  in  that 
country  for  many  years.  Tlie  same  jrontiff 
sent  soon  after,  to  assist  this  prelate  in  his 
pious  labours,  seven  other  prelates  of  the  Fran- 
ciscan order.§     John  XXII.   exerted   in   this 


*  Ralnzius,  torn.  i.  p.  200. 

t  Fra^nienta  Histor.  Komana;.  in  Murator.  Antiq. 
Ital.  niedii  JP,\i,  torn.  ili.  p.  30H. 

t  Baluy.ii  Vita;  I'ontif.  Avenion.  tom.  i.  p.  360,368, 
371,  -101. 

§  Waddinfj,  Annal.  Ordin.  Minor,  tom.  vi.  ad  an. 
I.m5,  sect.  xii.  p.  69.  ad  an.  1307,  p.  91,  368;  tom.  vii. 
p.  53,  221;  tom.  viii.  p.  235.— J.  S.  Asseman.  Biblioth. 
Orient.  Vatican,  tom.  iii.  sect.  ii.  p.  521. — J.  Echard, 
Scriptor.  Prffidicator.  tom.  i.  p.  537. — Acta  Sanctor. 
torn.  i.  Januarii,  p.  984.— Moshcim,  Historia  Eccles. 
Tartar. 


382 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  I. 


good  catise  tlie  same  zeal  which  had  distin- 
guished the  pontificate  of  his  predecessors.  On 
the  death  of  John  do  Monto  Corvino,  in  1333, 
he  sent  Nicolas  of  Bentra  to  fill  the  vacant 
archhishopric  of  Cambalu,  and  charged  him 
with  letters  to  the  emperor  of  the  Tartars, 
who,  at  that  time,  was  in  possession  of  the 
Chinese  dominions.  In  1338,  Benedict  XII. 
sent  new  legates  and  missionaries  into  Tartary 
and  China,  in  consequence  of  a  solemn  em- 
bassy* with  which  he  was  honoured  at  Avig- 
non from  the  kahn  of  the  Tartars.  During  the 
time  that  the  princes  of  the  latter  nation  main- 
tained themselves  in  the  empire  of  China,  the 
Christian  religion  flourished  in  those  vast  re- 
gions; and  both  Latins  a!id  Nestorians  not 
only  made  a  public  profession  of  their  faith, 
but  also  propagated  it,  without  any  apprehen- 
sion of  danger,  through  the  northern  provinces 
of  Asia. 

III.  There  remained  in  this  century  scarcely 
any  European  prince  unconverted  to  Chris- 
tianity, if  we  except  Jagellon,  duke  of  Lithua- 
nia, who  continued  in  the  darkness  of  pagan- 
ism, and  worshipped  the  gods  of  his  idolatrous 
ancestors,  until  1386,  when  he  embraced  the 
Christian  faith,  received  in  baptism  the  name 
of  Ladislaus,  and  persuaded  his  subjects  to 
open  their  eyes  upon  the  divine  light  of  the 
Gospel.  We  sliall  not  protend  to  justify  the 
purity  of  the  motives  that  first  engaged  tliis 
prince  to  renounce  the  religion  of  his  fathers, 
as  they  were  accompanied,  at  least,  with  views 
of  policy,  interest,  and  ambition.  On  the  death 
of  Louis,  king  of  Poland,  which  happened  in 
1382,  Jagellon  was  named  among  the  com- 
petitors who  aspired  to  the  vacant  throne; 
and,  as  he  was  a  rich  and  powerful  prince,  the 
Poles  beheld  his  pretensions  and  efforts  with  a 
favourable  eye.  His  religion  was  the  only  ob- 
stacle to  the  accomplishment  of  his  views. 
Hedwige,  the  youngest  daugliter  of  the  de- 
ceased monarch,  who,  by  a  decree  of  the  se- 
nate, was  declared  heiress  of  the  kingdom, 
was  as  little  disposed  to  espouse,  as  the  Poles 
were  to  obey,  a  Pagan;  and  hence  Jagellon 
was  obliged  to  make  superstition  yield  to  roy- 
alty.f  On  the  other  hand,  the  Teutonic 
knights  and  crusaders  extirpated  by  fire  and 
sword  all  the  remains  of  paganism  that  were  to 
be  found  in  Prussia  and  Livonia,  and  effected, 
by  force,  what  persuasion  alone  ought  to  have 
produced. 

We  find  also  in  the  annals  of  tliis  century 
many  instances  of  Jews  converted  to  the 
Christian  faith.  The  cruel  persecutions  they 
suffered  in  several  parts  of  Europe,  particularly 
in  France  and  Germany,  vanquished  their  ob- 
stinacy, and  bent  their  intractable  spirits  under 
the  yoke  of  the  Gospel.    The  reportsj  (whether 


*  Baliizii  Vitae  Ponliticum  Aveiiionensiuni,  torn.  i. 
p.  2J2. 

f  Oilor.  Raynaldus,  Annal.  Eccles.  ad  an.  138(i, 
sect.  iv.  Waddinj;,  Annal.  Minor,  tnni.  ix.  p.  71. — 
Solignac,  Histnire  de  Pologne,  loin.  iii.  p.  241. 

(^  I  It  soeins  more  than  probable  that  these  re- 
ports were  insidiously  for<.'ed  out  of  aiiiino.sity 
against  the  Jews,  who  had  Itnii;  been  the  peculiar 
objects  of  freneral  odimti.  This  will  appear  still 
more  evidently  to  have  been  the  rase,  when  we  con- 
siderthat  the  popes  Gregory  IX.  and  Innocent  IV.. 
published,  in  the  thirtet>nth  century,  declarations 
calculated  to  de.-<troy  the  eflccl  of  several  caiumnios 


false  or  true,  we  shall  not  determine)  that  had 
been  industriously  spread  abroad,  of  their  poi- 
soning the  public  fountains,  of  their  killing 
infants  and  drinking  their  blood,  of  their  pro- 
faning, in  the  most  impious  and  blasphemous 
manner,  the  consecrated  wafers  that  were  used 
in  the  celebration  of  the  eucharist,  with  other 
accusations  equally  enormous,  excited  every 
where  the  resentment  of  the  magistrates  and 
the  fury  of  the  people,  and  brought  the  most 
terrible  sufferings,  that  unrelenting  vengeance 
could  invent,  upon  that  wretched  and  devoted 
nation. 

IV.  The  Saracens  still  maintained  a  con- 
siderable footing  in  Spain.  The  kingdoms  of 
Granada  and  Murcia,  with  the  province  of 
Andalusia,  were  subject  to  their  dominion;  and 
they  carried  on  a  perpetual  war  with  the  kings 
of  Castile,  Arragon,  and  Navarre,  in  which, 
however,  they  were  not  always  victorious. 
The  African  princes,  and  particularly  the  em- 
perors of  Morocco,  became  their  auxiliaries 
against  the  Christians.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Roman  pontiffs  left  no  means  unemployed 
to  excite  the  Christians  to  unite  their  forces 
against  the  Moslems,  and  to  drive  them  out  of 
the  Spanish  territories;  presents,  exhortations, 
promises, — in  short,  all  allurements  that  reli- 
gion, superstition,  or  avarice,  could  render 
powerful, — were  made  subservient  to  the  exe- 
cution of  tills  ariluous  project.  The  Christians, 
accordingly,  united  their  counsels  and  efforts 
for  this  end;  and  though  for  some  time  the  diffi- 
culty of  the  enterprise  rendered  their  progress 
inconsiderable,  yet  even  in  this  century  their 
affairs  wore  a  promising  aspect,  and  gave  them 
reason  to  hope  that  they  might  one  day  triumph 
over  their  enemies,  and  become  sole  possessors 
of  the  Spanish  dominions.* 

CHAPTER  II. 

Concerning  the  calamitous  Events  that  happened 
to  the  Church  during  this  Century. 
I.  The  Turks  and  Tartars,  who  extended 
their  dominions  in  Asia  with  an  amazing  ra- 
pidity, and  directed  their  arms  against  the 
Greeks,  as  well  as  against  the  Saracens,  de- 
stroyed wherever  they  went  the  fruits  that  had 
sprung  up  in  such  a  rich  abundance  from  the 
labours  of  the  Christian  missionaries,  extir- 
pated the  religion  of  Jesus  in  several  provinces 
and  cities  where  it  had  flourished,  and  substi- 
tuted the  impostitres  of  Mohammed  in  its 
place.  Many  of  the  Tartars  liad  formerly  pro- 
fessed the  Gospel,  and  still  more  had  tolerated 
the  exercise  of  that  divine  religion;  but,  from 
the  beginning  of  this  century,  things  put  on  a 
new  face;   and  that  fierce   nation  renounced 


which  had  been  invented  and  dispersed  to  the  disad- 
vantajre  of  the  Jews,  and  in  the  fourteenth  century, 
we  fiiid  Benedict  XII.  and  Oleinent  VI.  giving  simi- 
lar proofs  of  their  equity  toward  an  injured  people. 
We  find,  in  history,  circular  letters  of  the  dukes  of 
Milan  and  Venice,  and  iniiierial  edicts  of  Frederic 
III.  and  Charles  V.,  to  tlie  same  purimse;  and  all 
these  circumstances  materially  detract  from  the  ore 
dibility  of  the  reports  mentioned  by  Dr.  Moshiem. 

*  See  J.  de  Perreras,  Ilistoiro  d'Espagne,  tom.  iv.  v. 
vi. — Fragmenta  Histor.  Uomanx,  in  Muratorii  An 
tii|.  Ital.  medii  Mvi,  tom.  iii.  p.  319,  in  which,  how- 
ever, there  is  a  considerable  mixture  of  fal.oehood 
with  truth.— Haluzii  Misccllan.  tom.  ii  p.  2ti7. 


Chap.  I. 


LEARNING  AND  PHILOSOPHY. 


383 


overy  otlier  religious  doctrine,  except  tliat  of 
the  Koran.  Even  Tininr-Bcn,  commonly  call- 
ed Tamerlane,  their  mighty  emperor,  embraced 
the  doctrlTic  of  Mohammed,  thoufrh  under  a 
form  ditVercnl  fnun  that  which  was  ado[itcd 
by  the  Tartars  in  "feneral.*  This  formidahio 
warrior,  after  having  siilidned  the  greatest  part 
of  Asia,  having  trimnplied  over  Bajazet  (or 
Bayezid)  emjjurorof  the  Turks,  and  even  tilled 
Eiu^ope  with  terror  at  the  approach  of  his  vic- 
torious arms,  made  use  of  his  authority  to 
force  multitudes  of  Christians  to  apostatise 
from  their  holy  faith.  To  the  dictates  of 
authority  he  added  the  compulsive  power  of 
violence  and  persecution,  and  treated  the  dis- 
ciples of  Christ  with  the  utmost  barbarity. 
Persuaded,  as  we  learn  from  the  most  credible 
writers  of  his  life  and  actions,  that  it  was  in- 
cumbent upon  the  true  followers  of  Moham- 
med to  persecute  the  Christians,  and  that  the 
most  ample  and  glorious  rewards  were  reserved 
for  such  as  were  most  instrumental  in  convert- 
ing them  to  the  religion  of  that  supposed  pro- 
phet,! '"3  employed  tlie  most  inhuman  acts  of 
severity  to  vanquish  the  magnanimous  con- 
stancy of  such  as  persevered  in  their  attach- 
ment to  the  Christian  religion,  of  whom  some 


*  This  great  Tamfrlaiie,  whoso  name  seemed  to 
strike  terror  even  when  he  was  no  more,  adhered  to 
the  sect  of  the  Sonnitos,  and  professed  the  greatest 
enmity  against  their  adversaries,  the  Shiites.  See 
Petit  Croix,  Histoire  Aa  Timur-Bec,  torn.  ii.  p.  151; 
torn.  iii.  p.  '228.  It  is,  however,  extremely  doubtful, 
what  was,  in  reality,  the  relision  of  Tamerlane, 
though  he  professed  the  Mohammedan  faith.  See 
Mosheim,  Hist.  Eccles.  Tarlaror.  p.  124. 

t  Petit  de  la  Croix,  Histoire  de  Timur-Bec,  lorn, 
ii.  p.  329;  torn.  iii.  p.  137,  213,  &c. 


sulVered  death  in  the  most  barbarous  forms, 
while  others  were  condemned  to  perpetual  sla 
veiy.^ 

J  I.  In  those  parts  of  Asia,  which  are  inhabit- 
ed by  the  Chinese,  'I'artars,  Moguls,  and  other 
natioiis  still  less  known,  the  Christian  religion 
not  oidy  lost  ground,  but  seemed  to  be  totally 
extirpated.  It  is,  at  least,  certain,  that  we 
have  no  account  of  any  members  of  the  Latin 
church  residing  in  those  coimtries,  later  than 
the  year  1370;  nor  could  we  ever  learn  the  fate 
of  the  Franciscan  missionaries  sent  thither 
from  Rome.  Wc  have,  indeed,  some  records, 
from  which  it  would  appear  that  there  were 
Nestorians  residing  in  Cliina  so  far  down  as  the 
si.xleenlli  century;f  but  these  records  are  not  so 
clear  as  to  remove  all  doubt.  However  that 
may  be,  the  abolition  of  Christianity  in  those 
remote  parts  of  the  world  may,  without  hesi- 
tation, be  imputed  to  the  wars  that  were  car- 
ried on  by  the  Tartars  against  the  Chinese  and 
other  Asiatic  nations;  for,  in  1369,  the  last 
emperor  of  the  race  of  Genghiz-Khan  was 
driven  out  of  Ciiina,  and  his  throne  filled  by 
the  Mini  family,  who,  by  a  solemn  law,  refused 
to  all  foreigners  the  privilege  of  entering  that 
country. 


*  Many  instances  of  this  we  find  in  the  History  of 
Tinnir-Bec,  written  hya  Persian  named  Shercfeddin; 
published  at  Delft,  in  1723.— See  also  Herbelot,  Bib- 
lioth.  Oriental,  at  the  article  Timur,  p.  877.--[The 
work  of  Sherefeddin  ip  the  same  with  that  of  M.  de 
la  Croix,  who  only  professed  himself,  in  this  in- 
stance, a  translator.     Edit.] 

f  Nicol.  Trigautius,  de  Christ.  Exped.  apnd  Sinas, 
lib.  i.  c.  xi. — Jos.  Sim.  Assemani  Bib.  Orien.  Vatic^ 
t.  iii.— Du  HaJdc,  Descrip.  de  la  Chine,  t.  i. 


PART  II. 

THE  INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Concerning  the  State  of  Letters  and  Philosophy 
during  this  Century. 

I.  The  Greeks,  though  dejected  by  the  fo- 
reign and  intestine  calamities  in  which  they 
were  involved,  Vv'ere  far  from  withdrawing 
their  attention  and  zeal  from  the  cause  of  lite- 
rature, as  is  evident  from  the  great  number  of 
learned  men  who  flourished  among  them  dur-! 
ing  this  period.  In  this  honourable  class  we 
may  reckon  Nicephorus  (rrngoras,  Manuel 
Chrysoloras,  Maximus  Plamides,  and  many 
others,  who,  by  their  indefatigable  application 
to  the  study  of  history,  antiquities,  and  the 
belles  Icttrcs,  acquireKl  considerable  reputation. 
Omitting  the  mention  of  writers  of  inferior 
note,  we  may  observe,  that  Theodorus^Meto- 
chita,  John  Cantacuzenus,  and  Niccpliorus 
Gregoras,  applied  themselves  to  the  coinposi- 
tion  of  history,  though  with  different  success. 
Nor  otight  wo  to  pass  over  in  silence  Nice- 
phorus Callistus,  who  compiled  an  ecclesiasti- 
cal history,  which,  notwithstanding  its  being 
debased  with  idle  stories  and  evident  raarki 


of  superstition,  is  highly  useful  on  accoimt  of 
its  illustration  of  many  important  facts. 

II.  As  no  sage  of  this  century  had  the  pre- 
sumption to  set  up  for  a  leader  in  philosophy, 
such  of  tlie  Greeks  as  had  a  taste  for  philoso" 
phical  researches  adhered  to  Aristotle,  as  their 
cooductor  and  guide;  but  we  may  learn  frons 
the  tracts  of  Theodorus  Metochita  in  what 
manner  they  explained  the  principles  and  te- 
nets of  the  l^tagirite.  Plato  also  had  his  fol- 
lowers, es{)ccially  among  those  who  were  fond 
of  mysticism,  wliirh  had  for  many  ages  been 
holden  in  the  highest  veneration  by  the  Greeks 
In  the  sublime  sciences  of  mathematics  and  as- 
tronomy, Nicolas  Cabasilas  surpassed  all  his 
contemporaries.  Balaam  adopted  the  senti- 
ments and  precepts  of  the  Stoics  with  respect 
to  the  obligations  of  morality  and  the  dutiea 
of  life,  and  digested  them  into  a  work  which 
is  known  by  the  title  of  Ethica  ex  Stvicis.* 

III.  In  all  the  Latin  provinces,  schemes 
wore  carried  into  execution  with  considerable 
success,  for  promoting  the  study  of  letters,  im- 


*  Henrici  Cani?ii  Lcctiones  Antinuae,  torn  iv.  p. 
40i. 


384 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  IL 


proving'  taste,  and  dispelling  tlie  pedantic  spi- 
rit of  the  times.  This  laudable  disposition 
gave  rise  to  the  erection  of  many  schools  and 
academies,  at  Cologne,  Orleans,  Cahors,  Peru- 
sia,  Florence,  and  Pisa,  in  which  all  the  liberal 
arts  and  sciences,  distributed  into  the  same 
classes  that  still  subsist  in  those  places,  were 
taught  with  assiduity  and  zeal.  Opulent  per- 
sons founded  and  amply  endowed  particular 
colleges,  in  the  public  universities,  in  which, 
beside  the  monks,  young  men  of  narrow  cir- 
cumstances were  educated  in  all  the  branches 
of  literature.  Libraries  were  also  collected, 
and  men  of  learning  animated  to  aspire  to 
fame  and  glory,  by  the  prospect  of  honourable 
rewards.  It  must  be  acknowledged,  indeed, 
that  the  advantages  arising  to  the  church  and 
state,  from  so  many  professors  and  learned 
men,  did  not  wholly  answer  the  expense  and 
care  bestowed  on  this  undeitaking  by  men  of 
rank  and  fortune;  yet  we  are  by  no  means  to 
conclude,  as  many  have  rashly  done,  that  all 
the  doctors  of  this  age,  wiio  rose  gradually 
from  the  lower  to  the  higher  and  more  honour- 
able stations,  were  only  distinguished  by  their 
stupidity  and  ignorance. 

IV.  Clement  V.,  who  was  now  raised  to  the 
pontificate,  ordered  the  Hebrew  and  other 
Oriental  languages  to  be  taught  in  the  public 
schools,  that  the  church  might  never  want  a 
sufficient  number  of  missionaries  properly  qua- 
lified to  dispute  with  the  Jews  and  Moham- 
medans, and  to  diffuse  the  divine  light  of  tlie 
Gospel  throughout  the  east;*  in  consequence 
of  which  appointment,  some  eminent  profi- 
cients in  these  tongues,  and  especially  in  the 
Hebrew,  flourished  during  this  age.  The 
Greek  language,  which  hitherto  had  been 
much  neglected,  was  now  revived,  and  taught 
with  general  apoiause,  first  by  Leontius  Pila- 
tus,  a  Calabrian,  who  wrote  a  commentary 
upon  Homer,  and  a  few  others, f  but  after- 
wards, with  far  greater  success  and  reputation, 
by  Manuel  Chrysoloras,};  a  native  of  Constan- 
tinople. Nor  were  there  wanting  some  extra- 
ordinary geniuses,  who,  by  their  zeal  and  ap- 
plication, contributed  to  the  restoration  of  the 
ancient  and  genuine  eloquence  of  the  Latins, 
among  whom  the  excellent  and  justly  renown- 
ed Petrarch  held  the  first  place,§  and  Dante 
Alighieri  the  second.  Full  of  this  worthy  de- 
sign, they  both  acted  as  if  they  had  received 
an  extraordinary  commission  to  promote  the 
reign  of  true  taste  and  the  progress  of  polite 
learning;  and  their  success  was  answerable  to 
the  generous  ambition  that  animated  their  ef- 
forts; for  they  had  many  followers  and  admir- 


159 


See  Ant.  Wood,  Antiq.  Oxoniens.  torn.  i.  p.  156, 


t  See  Humph.  Hody.de  Gracis  illustribus,  LingUcE 
GrjECcE  Literarumqiie  humanioruin  Instauratoribus, 
lib.  i. — Calogera,  Opusculi  Scientifici,  torn.  xxv.  p 
958. 

t  Hody,  lib.  i.  p.  10.— Calogera,  p  348.— and  more 
especially  Christ.  Fred.  Borner's  Lib.  de  Gracis  Li- 
terariim  GrcEcarum  in  Italia  Instaurat. 

§  See  Jac.  Phil.  Thomasini  Vita  Petrarcha  in  Jo. 
Ger.  Meuschen  Vit.  claror.  Viror.  torn.  iv.  who,  in 
his  preface,  enumerates  all  the  other  writers  of  his 
life.  Of  the  celebratprt  poet  Dante,  several  have 
treated,  particularly  his  translator  Benvenuto  of 
Iraola,  from  whom  Muratori  has  borrowed  large  ex- 
tracts  in  his  Antiquit.  Ital.  medii  JEvi,  torn  i. 


ers,  not  only  among  their  countrymen,  but  also 
amongthe  French  and  Germans. 

V.  The  writings  of  this  age  furnish  us  with 
a  long  list  of  grammarians,  historians,  lawyers, 
and  physicians,  of  whom  it  would  be  easy  to 
speak  more  particularly;  but,  as  such  a  detail 
is  unnecessary,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  inform 
our  readers,  that  there  were  few  of  this  multi- 
tude, whose  labours  were  strikingly  useful  to 
society.  Great  numbers  applied  themselves  to 
the  study  of  the  civil  and  canon  laws,  because 
it  was  the  readiest  way  to  preferment  both  in 
cliurch  and  state.  Such  as  have  any  tolerable 
acquaintance  with  history,  cannot  be  entirely 
strangers  to  the  fame  of  Bartolus,  Baldus,  An- 
dreas, and  other  doctors  of  laws  in  tliis  centu- 
ry, who  reflected  honour  on  the  universities 
of  Italy.  But,  after  all,  it  is  certain  that  the 
j  urisprudence  of  this  age  was  a  most  intricate, 
disagreeable  study,  unenlivened  either  by  his- 
tory or  style,  and  destitute  of  every  allure- 
ment that  could  recommend  it  to  a  man  of  ge- 
nius. As  for  the  mathematics,  they  were  cul- 
tivated by  many;  yet,  if  we  except  Thomas 
Bradwardine,  the  acute  and  learned  archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  there  were  few  who  acquired 
any  degree  of  reputation  by  this  kind  of  study. 

VI.  The  vast  number  of  philosophers,  who 
rather  disgraced  than  adorned  this  century, 
looked  upon  Aristotle  as  their  infallible  oracle 
and  guide,  though  they  stripped  him  of  all 
those  excellences  that  really  belonged  to  him, 
and  were  incapable  of  entering  into  the  true 
spirit  of  his  writings.  So  great  was  the  autho- 
rity of  the  peripatetic  philosophy,  that,  in  w- 
der  to  diff'use  the  knowledge  of  it  as  widely  as 
possible,  even  kings  and  emperors  ordered  the 
works  of  Aristotle  to  be  translated  into  the 
native  language  of  their  respective  dominions. 
Among  the  most  eminent  of  this  class  was 
Charles  V.  king  of  France,  who  ordered  all 
the  writings  of  the  ancients,  and  especially 
those  of  Aristotle,  to  be  translated  into  French 
by  Nicolas  Oresme.*  Those,  however,  who 
professed  themselves  philosophers,  instead  of 
being  animated  by  the  love  of  truth,  were  in- 
flamed by  a  rage  of  disputation,  which  led 
them  to  perplex  and  deform  the  pure,  simple 
doctrines  of  reason  and  religion,  by  a  multi- 
tude of  idle  subtleties,  trifling  questions,  and 
ridiculous  distinctions.  It  is  needless  to  enlarge 
either  on  the  barbarity  of  their  phraseology, 
in  which  they  supposed  the  chief  strength  of 
their  art  consisted,  or  on  that  utter  aversioa 
to  every  branch  of  polite  learning,  in  which 
they  foolishly  gloried.  Those  who  wish  to  be  ac- 
quainted with  their  methods  of  argumentation, 
and  whatever  else  relates  to  this  wrangling 
tribe,  need  only  consult  Jolm  Scotus,  or  Wal- 
ter Burlaeus.  But,  though  they  all  followed 
one  common  track,  there  were  several  points 
on  which  they  differed  among  themselves. 

VII.  The  old  disputes  between  the  Realists 
and  Mminalists,  which  had  lain  dormant  a  long 
time,  were  now  revived,  with  an  ardour  seem- 
ingly inextinguishable,  by  an  English  Francis- 
can of  the  severe  order,  named  William  Oc- 


*  Launoy,  Hist.  Gygmnas.  Navarr.  torn.  iv.  op. 
part  i.  p  504  — Boulay,  Histor.  Acad.  Paris,  tom.  iv. 
p.  3711.— Lc  BoBuf,  Dissert,  sur  I'Hist.  EccleB.  et  Ci- 
vile de  Par.  tom.  iii.  p.  456. 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


385 


cam,  who  was  a  follower  of  the  great  Scotus, 
and  a  doctor  of  divinity  at  Paris.  The  Greeks 
and  Persians  never  fought  against  each  other 
witli  more  hatred  and  fury,  than  tliese  two 
discordant  sects,  whose  angry  disputations  sub- 
sisted without  any  abatement,  till  the  appear- 
ance of  Luther,  who  soon  obliged  the  scholas- 
tic divines  to  terminate  their  mutual  wrang- 
lings,  and  to  listen  to  terms  of  accommoda- 
tion. The  Realists  despised  their  antagonists 
as  philosophers  of  a  recent  date,  branding  them 
with  the  name  of  Moderns,  while,  through  a 
great  mistake,  they  ascribed  a  very  high  anti- 
quity to  the  tenets  of  their  own  party.  The 
Nominalists,  on  the  other  hand,  inveighed 
against  them  as  a  set  of  doting  visionaries, 
who,  despising  substantial  matters,  were  pur- 
suing mere  shadows.  The  Nominalists  had 
the  most  eloquent,  acute,  and  subtle  doctors 
of  Paris,  for  their  leaders,  among  whom,  beside 
Occam,  the  famous  John  Buridan*  was  very 
eminent;  the  Realists,  nevertheless,  through 
the  countenance  given  them  by  successive 
popes,  prevailed;  for,  when  Occam  had  joined 
the  party  of  the  Franciscan  monks,  who  stre- 
nuously opposed  John  XXII.,  that  pope  him- 
self, and  his  successors,  left  no  means  untried 
to  extirpate  the  philosophy  of  the  Nominalists, 
which  was  deemed  highly  prejudicial  to  the  in- 
terests of  the  church-.f  and  hence  it  was,  that, 
in  1339,  the  university  of  Paris,  by  a  public 
edict,  solemnly  condemned  and  prohibited  the 
philosophy  of  Occam,  which  was  that  of  the 
Nominalists. I  But,  as  it  is  natural  for  men  to 
love  and  pursue  what  is  forbidden,  the  conse- 
quence was,  that  the  party  of  the  Nominahsts 
flourished  more  than  ever. 

VIII.  Among  the  philosophers  of  these  times, 
there  were  many  who  with  their  philosophy 
mingled  astrology,  i.  e.  the  art  of  telling  for- 
tunes by  the  aspect  of  the  heavens  and  the  in- 
fluence of  the  stars;  and,  notwithstanding  the 
obvious  folly  and  absurdity  of  this  pretended 
science,  both  the  higher  and  lower  ranks  were 
fond  of  it  even  to  distraction.  Yet,  in  spite  of 
all  this  popular  prejudice  in  favour  of  their  art, 
these  astrological  pliilosophers,  to  avoid  being 
impeached  of  witchcraft,  and  to  keep  them- 
selves out  of  tlie  hands  of  the  inquisitors,  were 
obliged  to  behave  with  great  circumspection. 
The  neglect  of  this  caution  was  remarkably 
fatal  to  Ceccus  Asculanus,  a  famous  peripate- 
tic philosopher,  astrologer,  and  mathematician, 
who  first  acted  as  physician  to  pope  John 
XXII.  and  afterwards  to  Charles  Sineterra, 
duke  of  Calabria.  This  unfortimale  man,  hav- 
ing performed  some  experiments  in  mechanics, 
that  seemed  miraculous  to  the  vulgar,  and  hav- 
ing also  offended  many,  and  among  the  rest 
iiis  master,  by  giving  out  some  predictions, 
which  were  said  to  have  been  fultilled,  was 
universally  supposed  to  deal  with  infernal  spi- 
rits, and  was  committed  to  the  flames,  in  1327, 

*  Rob.  GaRuin  wroto  a  partinilar  account  of  tliis 
famDiis  man,  as  we  learn  from  l..aunoy,  in  his  llisto- 
riaGymnasii  Navarreni,  t(nn.  iv.  op.  pari  i.  p.  722. 
See  also  Boiilay,  Hi.-^tor.  Acad.  Paris,  torn.  iv.  p.  2<^2, 
307,  341,  &c. 

t  Steph.  Baliizii  Miscel.  tom.  iv.  p.  532. 

j  Boulay,  Hist.  Acad.  Pari.^.  tom.  iv.  p.  257;  tom. 
V.  p.  708.-^ar.  PIcps.  d'Argentre,  Colleclio  judicio- 
rum  de  novis  erroribus,  tec. 
Vol.  I.— 49 


by  the  inquisitors  of  Florence.*  There  is  yet 
extant  his  commentary  upon  the  Sphere  of 
John  dc  Sacrobosco,  otherwise  named  Holy- 
wood,  which  shows  him  to  have  been  deeply 
tainted  with  superstition.! 

IX.  Raymond  Lully  was  the  author  of  a 
new  and  singular  kind  of  philosophy,  which 
he  endeavoured  to  illustrate  and  defend  by  his 
voluminous  writings.  He  was  a  native  of  Ma- 
jorca, and  admirable  for  the  extent  and  fecun- 
dity of  his  genius;  but  was,  at  the  same  time, 
a  strange  compound  of  reason  and  folly.  Be- 
ing full  of  zeal  for  the  propagation  of  the  Gos- 
pel, and  having  performed  many  voyages,  and 
undergone  various  hardships  to  promote  it,  he 
was  slain  at  Bugia,  in  Africa,  in  1316,  by  the 
Mohammedans  whom  he  was  attempting  to  con- 
vert. The  Franciscans,  to  whose  third  order  it 
is  said  he  belonged,  extol  him  to  the  skies,  and 
have  taken  great  pains  to  persuade  several 
popes  to  canonise  him;  while  many,  on  the 
contrary,  and  especially  the  Dominicans,  in- 
veigh bitterly  against  him,  calling  him  a  wild 
and  visionary  chemist,  a  hot-headed  fanatic 
and  heretic,  a  magician,  and  a  mere  compiler 
from  the  works  of  the  more  learned  Moslems. 
The  popes  entertained  different  opinions  of 
him;  some  regarding  liim  as  a  harmless  pious 
man,  while  others  pronounced  him  a  vile  he- 
retic. But  whoever  peruses  the  writings  of 
Lully  without  prejudice,  will  not  be  biassed  by 
either  of  these  parties.  It  is  at  least  certain, 
that  he  would  have  been  a  great  man,  had  the 
warmth  and  fertility  of  his  imagination  been 
tempered  with  a  sound  judgnient.J 

CHAPTER  11. 
Conce7-ning  the  Doctors  and  Government  of  Ike 
Church  during  this  Century. 
I.  The  governors  of  the  church  in  this  pe- 
riod, from  the  highest  to  the  lowest  orders, 
were  addicted  to  vices  peculiarly  dishonoura- 
ble to  their  sacred  character.  We  shall  say 
nothing  of  the  Grecian  and  Oriental  clergy, 
who  lived,  for  the  most  part,  undtr  a  rigid, 
severe,  and  oppressive  government,  though 
they  deserve  their  part  in  this  heavy  and  ig- 
nominious charge.  But,  with  regard  to  the 
Latins,  our  silence  would  be  me.xcusable,  since 
the  flagrant  abuses  tliat  prevailed  among  them 
were  attended  with  consequences  equally  per- 
nicious to  the  interests  of  religion  and  the 
well-being  of  civil  society.  It  is,  however, 
necessary  to  observe,  that  there  were,  even  in 
these  degenerate  times,  some  pious  and  worthy 
men,  who  ardently  longed  for  a  reformation  of 
the  church,  both  in  its  head  and  members,  as 


*  Paul  Am.  Appianiis  wrote  a  defence  of  this  tin- 
h.Tppy  man,  which  is  inserted  in  Domen.  Bernini  Stu- 
ria  di  tiilte  I'Hercsie,  tom.  iii.  sect.  xiv.  cap.  iii.  p. 
21(1.  We  have  also  a  farther  account  of  him  by 
Giov.  Maria  Cre.scimhcni,  Commenlari  della  volgar 
Poesia,  vol.  ii.  part  ii.  lib.  iii.  rap.  xiv. 

t  Gabr.  Nauda-iis,  Apolojiie  ponr  les  grands  horn 
moa  qui  out  ete  soiipconnoz  de  Mapie,  p.  270. 

I  See  John  Salzinijers  Preface  to  Kaymond  Liilly's 
works,  which  John  VVilliani,  elector  Palatine,  caused 
to  be  collected  at  a  en-al  e.xiwnse,  and  to  be  publish- 
ed in  1720.  Luc.  Waildiiiir,  Annal.  Minor,  tom.  iv. 
p.  421;  torn.  v.  p.  157,  31ti;  torn.  vi.  p.  22i).  Concern- 
ing the  famous  invention  of  Lully,  sec  the  Polyhis- 
tor  of  Dan.  George  Morhoff,  lib.  ii.  cap.  v.  p.  352. 


386 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


they  used  to  express  themselves.*  To  prevent 
the  accompHshment  of  these  laudable  desires, 
many  circumstances  concurred;  such  as  the 
exorbitant  power  of  the  popes,  so  confirmed 
by  length  of  time  that  it  seemed  immovable, 
and  the  excessive  superstition  that  enslaved 
the  minds  of  the  generality,  together  with  the 
wretched  ignorance  and  barbarity  of  the  age, 
by  which  every  spark  of  truth  was  stifled,  as 
it  were,  in  its  very  birth.  Yet,  firm  and  last- 
ing as  the  dominion  of  the  Roman  pontiff's 
seemed  to  be,  it  was  gradually  undermined 
and  weakened,  partly  by  the  pride  and  rash- 
ness of  the  popes  themselves,  and  partly  by  un- 
expected events. 

II.  This  important  change  may  be  dated 
from  the  quarrel  which  arose  between  Boni- 
face VIII.,  who  filled  the  papal  throne  about 
the  beginning  of  this  century,  and  Pliilip  the 
Fair,  king  of  France.  This  prince,  who  was 
endowed  with  a  bold  and  enterprising  spirit, 
soon  convinced  Europe,  that  it  was  possible  to 
Bet  bounds  to  the  overgrown  arrogance  of  the 
bishop  of  Rome,  although  many  crowned 
heads  had  attempted  it  without  success.  Boni- 
face  sent   Philip  the  haughtiest  letters  ima- 

finable,  in  which  he  asserted,  that  the  king  of 
'ranee,  and  all  other  kings  and  princes,  were 
obliged,  by  a  divine  command,  to  submit  to 
the  authority  of  the  popes,  as  well  in  all  politi- 
cal and  civil  matters,  as  in  those  of  a  religious 
nature.  The  king  answered  him  with  great 
spirit,  and  in  terms  expressive  of  the  utmost 
contempt.  The  pope  rejoined  with  more  arro- 
gance than  ever;  and,  in  that  famous  bull 
(unam  sanctum)  which  he  published  about  this 
time,  asserted  that  Jesus  Christ  had  granted  a 
twofold  power  to  his  church,  or,  in  other 
words,  the  spiritual  and  temporal  swords;  that 
he  had  subjected  the  whole  human  race  to  the 
authority  of  the  Roman  pontiff",  and  that  all 
who  dared  to  dispute  it,  were  to  be  deemed 
heretics,  and  excluded  from  all  possibility  of 
salvation. t  The  king,  on  the  other  hand,  in 
an  assembly  of  the  peers  of  his  kingdom, 
holden  in  1303,  ordered  William  de  Nogaret, 
a  celebrated  lawyer,^  to  draw  up  an  accusation 
against  the  pope,  in  which  he  publicly  charged 
him  with  heresy,  simony,  and  other  vices  and 
crimes,  demanding,  at  the  same  time,  the  con- 
vocation of  an  oecumenical  council,  for  the 
speedy  deposition  of  such  an  execrable  pontiff. 
The  pope,  in  his  turn,  passed  a  sentence  of 
excommunication,  in  that  very  year,  against 
the  king  and  all  his  adherents. 

III.  Philip,  shortly  after  he  received  his 
sentence,  held  an  assembly  of  the  states  of  the 
kingdom,  where  he  again  employed  some  per- 

*  Matt.  Flacius,  Cataloc;.  testium  Veritatis,  lib. 
xiii.  p.  1697.  Jo.  Launoius,  de  varia  Fortuna  Aris- 
totelis  p.  217.  Jo.  Henr.  Hottinger,  Historia  Eccles. 
EiEc.  xiv.  p.  754. 

tThis  buUiayet  extant  in  the  Corpus  Juris  Canon. 
Extravagant.  Commun.  lib.  i.  tit.  de  majoritate  et 
obedientia. 

X  Of  this  distinguished  man,  who  was  the  most 
intrepid  and  inveterate  enemy  the  popes  ever  had 
before  Luther,  no  writers  have  given  us  a  more  co- 
pious account  than  the  Benedictine  mov.fcs,  Hist. 
Generale  de  Languedoc,  torn.  iii.  p.  114,  117.  Philip 
made  him  chancellor  of  France  for  his  resolute  oppo- 
sition to  the  pope* 


sons  of  the  highest  rank  and  reputation  to  sit 
in  judgment  upon  the  pope,  and  appeal  to  a 
general  council.  After  this,  he  sent  William 
de  Nogaret  with  some  others  into  Italy,  to  ex- 
cite a  sedition,  to  seize  the  pope's  person,  and 
then  to  convey  him  to  Lyons,  where  the  king 
was  determined  to  hold  the  above-mentioned 
council.  Nogaret,  being  a  resolute  active  man, 
soon  drew  over  to  his  assistance  the  powerful 
Colonna  family,  (then  at  variance  with  the 
pope,)  levied  a  small  army,  seized  Boniface, 
who  lived  in  apparent  security  at  Anagni,  and 
treated  him  in  the  most  shocking  manner, 
carrying  his  resentment  so  far  as  to  wound  him 
on  the  head  by  a  blow  with  his  iron  gauntlet. 
The  inhabitants  of  Anagni  rescued  him  out 
of  the  hands  of  this  fierce  and  implacable  ene- 
my, and  conducted  him  to  Rome,  where  he 
died  soon  after  of  an  illness  occasioned  by  the 
rage  and  anguish  into  which  these  insults 
had  thrown  him.* 

IV.  Benedict  XL,  who  succeeded  him,  and 
whose  name,  before  his  accession  to  the  papal 
chair,  was  Nicolas  Boccacini,  learned  prudence 
by  this  fatal  example,  and  pursued  more  mode- 
rate and  gentle  measures.  He  repealed,  of  his 
own  accord,  the  sentence  of  excommunication 
which  his  predecessor  had  thundered  out 
against  the  king  of  France  and  his  dominions; 
but  never  could  be  prevailed  upon  to  absolve 
Nogaret  of  his  treason  against  the  spiritual 
majesty  of  the  pontificate.  Nogaret,  on  the 
other  hand,  set  a  small  value  upon  the  papal 
absolution,  and  prosecuted,  with  his  usual 
vigour  and  intrepidity,  in  the  Roman  coiut, 
the  accusation  that  he  had  formerly  adduced 
against  Boniface;  and,  in  the  name  of  his  royal 
master,  insisted,  that  the  memory  of  that  pon- 
tiff" should  be  branded  with  a  notorious  mark 
of  infamy.  During  these  transactions,  Benedict 
died,  A.  D.  1304;  upon  which  Philip,  by  hia 
artful  intrigues  in  tlie  conclave,  obtained  the 
see  of  Rome  for  Bertrand  de  Got,  archbishop 
of  Bourdeaux,  who  was  accordingly  elected 
to  that  high  dignity,  on  the  5th  of  June,  1305. 
This  step  was  so  much  the  more  necessary,  as 
the  breach  between  the  king  and  the  court  of 
Rome  was  not  yet  entirely  healed,  and  (No- 
garet not  being  absolved)  might  easily  be  re- 
newed. Besides,  the  French  monarch,  in- 
flamed with  the  desire  of  revenge,  insisted  upon 
the  formal  condemnation  of  Boniface  by  the 
court  of  Rome,  the  abolition  of  the  order  of 
Templars,  and  other  concessions  of  great  im- 
portance, which  he  could  not  reasonably  ex- 
pect from  an  Italian  pontiff".  Hence  he  looked 
upon  a  French  pope,  in  whose  zeal  and  com- 
phance  he  could  confide,  as  necessary  to  the 
execution  of  his  designs.  Bertrand  assumed 
the  name>3f  Clement  V.,  and,  at  the  king's  re- 
quest, remained  in  France,  and  removed  the 
papal  residence  to  Avignon,  where  it  continued 
during  the  space  of  seventy  years.  This  period, 


*  See  the  Acta  inter  Bonifacium  VIII.  Bened.  XI. 
Clement.  V.  et  Philippum  Pulchrum,  published  in 
1614  by  Peter  Putcanus.— Adr.  Baillet,  Hist,  des 
Demelez  du  Pape  Boniface  VIII.  avec  Philippe  le 
Bel. — Jo.  Rubeus,  in  Bonifacio,  cap.  xvi.  p.  137.  The 
other  writers  on  this  subject  are  mentioned  by 
Baillet,  in  his  Preface,  p.  9.— See  also  Boulay,  Hist 
Acad.  Paris,  torn.  iv. 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


387 


the  Italians  call,  by  way  of  derision,  the  Baby- 
lonish captivity.* 

V.  There  is  no  doubt,  that  the  continued 
residence  of  the  popes  in  France  greatly  im- 
paired the  authority  of  the  Roman  see.  For, 
during  the  absence  of  the  pontiffs  from  Rome, 
the  faction  of  the  Ghibellines,  their  inveterate 
enemies,  rose  to  a  jrreater  height  than  ever; 
and  they  not  only  invaded  and  ravaged  St. 
Peter's  patrimony,  but  even  attacked  the  pa- 
pal authority  by  their  writings.  This  caused 
many  cities  to  revolt  from  the  popes:  even 
Rome  itself  was  the  grand  source  and  fomenter 
of  cabals,  tumults,  and  civil  wars;  insomuch, 
that  the  laws  and  decrees  sent  thither  from 
France  were  publicly  treated  with  contempt 
by  the  populace,  as  well  as  by  the  nobles. f 
The  influence  of  this  example  was  propagated 
from  Italy  through  most  parts  of  Europe;  it 
being  evident,  from  a  vast  number  of  instances, 
that  the  Europeans  in  general  were  far  from 
paying  so  much  regard  to  the  decrees  and 
thunders  of  the  Gallic  popes,  as  they  did  to 
those  of  Rome.  This  gave  rise  to  various  se- 
ditions against  the  pontiffs,  which  they  could 
not  entirely  crush,  even  with  the  aid  of  the 
inquisitors,  who  exerted  themselves  with  the 
most  barbarous  fury. 

VI.  The  French  pontiffs,  finding  that  they 
could  draw  only  small  revenues  from  their 
Italian  dominions,  which  were  now  torn  in 
pieces  by  faction  and  ravaged  by  sedition,  were 
obliged  to  contrive  new  methods  of  accumu-« 
lating  wealth.  For  this  purpose,  they  not  only 
sold  indulgences  to  the  people,  more  frequent- 
ly than  they  had  formerly  done,  whereby  they 
made  themselves  extremely  odious  to  several 
potentates,  but  also  disposed  publicly  of  scan- 
dalous licences,  of  all  sorts,  at  an  excessive 
price.  John  XXII.  was  remarkably  shrewd 
and  zealous  in  promoting  this  abominable  traf- 
fic; for,  though  he  was  not  the  first  inventor 
of  the  taxes  and  rules  of  the  apostolic  chan- 
cery, the  Romish  writers  acknowledge  that  he 
enlarged  and  rendered  them  more  extensively 
profitable  to  the  holy  treasury. J  It  is  certain, 
that  the  origin  of  the  tribute  paid  to  the  popes 
under  the  name  of  Jlnnatcs,  a  tax  which  is  ge- 
nerally affirmed  to  have  been  first  imposed  by 
him,  is  of  a  much  earlier  date.§  Beside  the 
abuses  now  mentioned,  these  Gallic  popes, 
having  abolished  the  right  of  election,  arro- 
gated to  themselves  a  power  of  conferring  all 
the  offices  of  the  church,  whether  great  or 


*  For  an  account  of  the  French  popes,  consiiU 
chiefly  Vitae  Pontif.  Avenionensium,  published  by 
Baluze  in  1693.  The  reader  may  also  peruse,  but  it 
must  be  with  the  utmost  caution,  Longucval's  His- 
tory of  the  Gallican  Church,  and  the  continuation 
of  that  work. — Sec  more  especially  torn.  xii.  This 
Jesuit,  and  his  successors,  have  shown  great  industry 
and  eloquence  in  the  composition  of  this  history;  hut 
they,  for  the  most  part,  artfullyconceal  the  vices  and 
enormities  of  the  Roman  pontifis. 

t  See  Baluze,  Pontif  Avenion.  tom.  ii.  p.  200,  301, 
309.— Muratori,  Anliq.  Ital.  tom.  iii.  p.  397,  401, 
&.C. — Giannone,  Historia  di  Napoli,  t.  iii. 

X  Jo.  Ciampinus,  de  Vice-Cancellario  Ecclesiae 
Rom.  p.  39. — Chais,  Lettres  sur  lea  Jubiles,  tom.  ii. 
p.  673. 

§  Bern,  van  Espen,  Jus  F.ccle.i.  universale,  tom.  Ii. 
p.  876.— Boulay,  Histor.  Acad.  Paris,  tom.  iv.  p. 
911. — Ant.  Wood,  Antiquit.  Oxon.  tom.  i.  p.  213. — 
Guil.  Franc.  Berthier,  Diss,  sur  lea  Annatea,  tom.  xil. 
Hist,  de  I'Eglise  Gallic. 


small,  according  to  their  fancy,  by  which  they 
soon  amassed  prodigious  wealth.  It  was  also 
under  their  government  that  reserves,  provi- 
sions, expectatives,  and  other  impositions  of 
the  like  odious  nature,  which  had  seldom,  (if 
ever)  been  heard  of  before,  became  familiar  to 
the  public  ear,  and  filled  all  Etu-ope  with  bit- 
ter complaints.*  These  complaints  exceeded 
all  bounds,  when  some  of  these  pontiffs,  parti- 
cularly John  XXII.,  Clement  Vl.,  and  Gre- 
gory XI.,  openly  declared  that  tliey  had  re- 
served to  themselves  all  churches  and  parishes 
within  their  jurisdiction,  and  were  determined, 
in  consequence  of  that  sovereign  authority  and 
plenitude  of  power  which  Christ  had  con- 
ferred upon  them,  his  vicars,  to  provide  for 
them,  and  dispose  of  them  without  exception.! 
It  was  by  these  and  other  mean  and  selfish 
contrivances,  which  had  no  other  end  than  the 
acquisition  of  riches,  that  these  inconsiderate 
and  rapacious  pontiffs  excited  a  general  hatred 
against  the  Roman  see,  and  thereby  greatly 
weakened  the  papal  empire,  which  had  been 
visibly  upon  the  decline  firom  the  time  of  Bo- 
niface. 

VII.  Clement  V.  was  a  mere  creature  of 
Philip  the  Fair,  and  was  absolutely  directed 
and  governed  by  that  prince  as  long  as  he 
lived.  William  de  Nogaret,  the  implacable 
enemy  of  the  late  pontiff",  although  he  was  un- 
der a  sentence  of  excommunication,  had  the 
boldness  to  prosecute  his  master's  cause,  and 
his  own,  against  Bonifkce,  even  in  the  pope's 
court;  an  instance  of  assurance  not  easy  to  be 
paralleled.  Philip  insisted,  that  the  dead  body 
of  Boniface  sliould  be  dug  up  and  publicly 
burned;  but  Clement  averted  this  infamy  by 
his  advice  and  intreaties,  promising  implicit 
obedience  to  the  king  in  every  thing  else.  In 
order  therefore  to  keep  his  word,  he  was 
obliged  to  abrogate  the  laws  enacted  by  Boni- 
face, to  grant  the  king  a  bounty  of  five  years' 
tithes,  fully  to  absolve  Nogaret  of  all  his 
crimes,  on  condition  of  his  submitting  to  a 
light  penance,  (which,  however,  he  never  per- 
formed,) to  restore  the  citizens  of  Anagni  to 
their  reputation  and  honour,  and  to  call  a  ge- 
neral council  at  Vienne,  in  1311,  in  order  to 
condemn  the  Templars,  on  whose  destruction 
Philip  was  most  ardently  bent.  In  this  coim- 
cil  every  thing  was  determined  as  the  king 
thought  proper;  for  Clement,  terrified  by  the 
melancholy  fate  of  Boniface,  durst  not  venture 
to  oppose  this  intrepid  and  obstinate  monarch. J 

VIII.  Upon  Clement's  death,  which  hap- 
pened in  1314,  fierce  contentions  arose  in  the 
conclave  about  choosing  a  successor,  the 
French  cardinals  insisting  upon  a  French,  and 
those   of  Italy   demanding   an   Italian   pope. 


*  Stpph.  Baluz.ii  Miscellan.  tom.  iii.  p.  479,  518. — 
Ejus  V)t.  Pontif.  Avenion.  tom.  li.  p.  60,  74,  154. — 
Gallia  Christiana  Benedictinor.  tom.  i.  Append,  p. 
13.— Wood,  Antiquit.  Oxon.  tom.  i.  p.  14c<,  201.— 
Boulay,  Hist.  Acad.  Paris,  tom.  iv.  p.  411. 

t  Baluzii  Pontif  Avenion.  tom.  ii.  p.  873.  tom.  i. 
p.  285,  311,  681.— Ant.  Mattha»i  Analecta  vet.  iEvi, 
tom.  v.  p.  249.— Gallia  Christiana,  tom.  i.  p.  69, 
1208. — Histoire  du  Droit  Er.cks.  Francois,  tom.  ii.  p. 
129. 

t  Beside  the  common  writers  already  cited,  see 
Guil.  Fran.  Berthier,  DiScours  sur  le  Pontificat  de 
Clement  V.  tom.  xiii.  Hist.  Eccles.  Gallic— Colonia, 
Hist.  Liter,  de  Lyon,  tom.  i.  p.  340.— GaUia  Christi- 
I  ana,  tom.  i.  ii. 


388 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  n. 


After  a  contest,  which  continued  two  years, 
the  French  party  prevailed,  and,  in  1316, 
elected  James  d'Euse,  (a  native  of  Cahors,  and 
cardinal  bishop  of  Porto,)  who  assumed  the 
name  of  John  XXII.  He  had  a  tolerable 
share  of  learning,  but  was  crafty,  proud,  weak, 
imprudent,  and  covetous,  which  is  allowed 
even  by  those  writers  who,  in  other  respects, 
speak  well  of  him.  He  is  deservedly  censured 
on  account  of  his  temerity,  and  the  ill  success 
that  attended  him,  through  his  own  impru- 
dence, in  many  of  his  enterprises;  but  he  is 
more  especially  blamed  for  that  calamitous 
and  unhaj)py  war  into  which  he  entered  against 
Louis  of  Bavaria.  This  powerful  prince  dis- 
puted the  imperial  throne  of  Germany  with 
Frederic,  duke  of  Austria;  and  they  had  been 
both  chosen  to  that  high  dignity,  in  1314,  by 
their  respective  partisans  among  the  electors 
and  princes  of  the  empire.  John  took  it  for 
granted,  that  the  decision  of  this  contest  came 
under  his  spiritual  jurisdiction.  But,  in  1322, 
the  duke  of  Bavaria,  having  vanquished  his 
competitor  by  force  of  arms,  assumed  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  empire  without  asking  the 
pope's  approbation,  and  would  by  no  means 
allow,  that  the  dispute,  already  determined  by 
the  sword,  should  be  again  decided  by  the 
pontiff's  judgment.  John  interpreted  this  re- 
fusal as  a  heinous  insult  upon  his  authority, 
and,  by  an  edict  issued  in  1324,  pretended  to 
deprive  the  emperor  of  his  crown.  But  this 
impotent  resentment  was  very  little  regarded; 
and  he  was  even  accused  of  heresy  by  Louis, 
who,  at  the  same  time,  appealed  to  a  general 
council.  Highly  exasperated  by  these  and 
other  deserved  affronts,  the  pontiff  presumed, 
in  1327,  to  declare  the  imperial  throne  vacant 
a  second  time,  and  even  to  publish  a  sentence 
of  excommimication  against  the  chief  of  the 
empire.  This  new  mark  of  papal  arrogance 
was  severely  resented  by  Louis,  who,  in  1328, 
published  an  edict  at  Rome,  by  which  John 
was  declared  unworthy  of  the  pontificate,  de- 
posed fi-om  that  dignity,  and  succeeded  in  it  by 
one  of  his  bitterest  enemies,  Peter  de  Corbieri, 
a  Franciscan  monk,  who  assumed  the  name 
of  Nicolas  v.,  and  crowned  the  emperor  at 
Rome,  in  a  solemn  and  public  manner.  But, 
in  1330,  this  imperial  pope  voluntarily  abdi- 
cated the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  and  surrendered 
himself  to  John,  who  kept  him  in  close  con- 
finement at  Avignon  for  the  rest  of  his  life. 
Thus  ended  the  contest  between  the  duke  of 
Bavaria  and  John  XXII.,  both  of  whom,  not- 
withstanding their  efforts  to  dethrone  each 
other,  continued  in  the  possession  of  their  re- 
spective dignities.* 


*  The  purticulais  of  this  violent  quarrel  may  be 
learned  from  the  Records  (wbhshed  by  Steph.  Baliize 
in  his  Vit.  Pontif  Avenion.  torn.  ii.  p.  512. — Edm. 
Martenne,  Thesaur.  Anecdotor.  torn.  ii.  p.  641. — Jo. 
Georg.  Herwart,  in  Ludovico  Imperatore  defense 
contra  Bzovium,  et  Christ.  Gcwold.  in  Apologia  pro 
Ludovico  Bavaro,  against  the  same  Bzovius,  who,  in 
the  Annals  he  had  published,  basely  aspersed  the 
memory  of  the  emperor.  See  also  Wadding,  in  An- 
nalib.  Minor,  torn.  vii.  p.  77,  lOti,  &c.  Whoever  at- 
tentively peruses  the  history  of  thi>  war,  will  per- 
ceive that  Louis  of  Bavaria  followed  the  example  of 
Philip  the  Fair,  king  of  France.  As  Philip  brought 
an  accusation  of  heresy  against  Bonifare,  so  did 
Louis  with  respect  to  John  XXIL  The  French  mo- 
narch made  use  of   Nogaret   and    other    accusers 


IX.  The  numerous  tribes  of  the  Fratricelli, 
Beghards,  and  Spiritual  Franciscans,  adhered 
to  the  party  of  Louis.  Supported  by  his  pa- 
tronage, and  dispersed  through  the  greatest  part 
of  Europe,  they  boldly  attacked  the  reigning 
pontiff,  as  an  enemy  to  the  true  religion,  and 
loaded  him  with  the  heaviest  accusations,  and 
the  bitterest  invectives,  both  in  their  writings 
and  in  their  ordinary  conversation.  These  at- 
tacks did  not  greatly  affect  the  pontiff,  as  they 
were  made  only  by  private  persons,  by  a  set  of 
obscure  monks,  wlio,  in  many  respects,  were  un- 
worthy of  his  notice;  but,  toward  the  conclu- 
sion of  his  life,  he  incurred  the  disapprobation 
and  censures  of  almost  the  whole  Catholic 
church:  for,  in  1331,  and  the  succeeding  year, 
he  asserted,  in  some  public  discourses,  that  the 
souls  of  the  faithful,  in  their  intermediate 
state,  were  permitted  to  behold  Christ  as  man, 
but  not  the  face  of  God,  or  the  divine  nature, 
Ijefore  their  re-union  with  the  body  at  the  last 
day.  This  doctrine  highly  offended  Philip  VI., 
king  of  France,  was  opposed  by  the  pope's 
friends  as  well  as  by  his  enemies,  and  con- 
demned in  1333  by  the  divines  of  Paris.  This 
favourite  tenet  of  the  pope  was  thus  severely 
treated,  because  it  seemed  highly  prejudicial  to 
the  felicity  of  happy  spirits  in  their  unembodi- 
ed  state;  otherwise  the  point  might  have  been 
yielded  to  a  man  of  his  positive  temper,  with- 
out any  material  consequence.  Alarmed  by 
these  vigorous  proceedings,  he  immediately 
©ft'ered  something  by  way  of  excuse  for  having 
espoused  this  opinion;  and  afterwards,  in  1334, 
when  he  was  at  the  point  of  death,  though  he 
did  not  entirely  renounce,  he  in  some  measure 
softened  it,  by  saying  he  believed  that  the  un- 
embodied  souls  of  the  righteous  '  beheld  the 
divine  essence  as  far  as  their  separate  state  and 
condition  would  permit.'*  This  declaration 
did  not  satisfy  his  adversaries:  hence  his  suc- 
cessor, Benedict  XII.,  after  many  disputes  about 
it,  put  an  end  to  this  controversy  by  an  unani- 
mous resolution  of  the  Parisian  doctors,  order- 
ing it  to  be  received  as  an  article  of  faith,  that 
the  souls  of  the  blessed,  during  their  interme- 
diate state,  were  capable  of  contemplating, 
fully  and  perfectly,  the  divine  nature.f  Bene- 
dict's publishing  of  this  resolution  could  be  in 
no  way  injurious  to  the  memory  of  John;  for, 
wlien  the  latter  lay  upon  his  death-bed,  he  sub- 
mitted his  opinion  to  the  judgment  of  the 
church,  that  he  might  not  be  deemed  a  heretic 
after  his  decease. |  


against  one  pontiff:  Louis  employed  Occam  and 
the  Franciscans,  in  that  quality  against  the  other. 
Each  insisted  upon  the  convocation  of  a  general 
council,  and  the  deposition  of  an  obnoxious  pontiff. 
I  omit  other  circumstances  that  might  be  alleged  to 
render  the  parallel  more  striking. 

*  See  Steph,  Baluzii  Vit.  Pontif.  Avenion.  torn.  i. 
p.  175,  182,  197,  221,  786,  &c.— Luc.  D'Acherii  SpicU. 
Scriptor.  Veter.  torn.  i.  p.  760,  ed.  vet. — Jo.  Launoii 
Historia  Gymnas.  Navarreni,  part  i.  cap.  vii.  p.  319. 
torn.  Iv.  part  i.  op. — Boulay,  Histor.  Acad.  Paris. 
torn.  iv.  p.  235,  250.— Wadding,  Annal.  Minor,  torn, 
vi.  p.  371;  torn.  vii.  p.  145.— Echard,  Scriptor.  Prtedi- 
cator.  torn.  i.  p.  599,  608. 

t  Baluzii  Vit.  Pontif.  Avenion.  torn.  i.  p.  197,  316, 
221. 

QC^  t  All  the  heretical  fancies  of  this  pope  about 
the  Beatific  Vision  were  nothing  in  comparison  with 
a  vile  and  most  enormous  practical  heresy,  that  was 
found  in  his  coffers  after  his  death,  viz.  five  and 
twenty  millions  of  florins,  of  which  there  were  eigh- 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


389 


X.  .lohn  dying  m  1334,  new  contentions 
arose  in  the  conclave  between  the  French  and 
Italian  cardinals,  about  the  election  of  a  pope; 
but  toward  the  end  of  the  year  they  chose 
James  Foiu-nier,  a  Frenchman,  and  cardinal 
of  St.  Prisca,  who  took  the  name  of  Benedict 
XII.  The  writers  of  these  times  represent 
him  as  a  man  of  great  probity,  who  was  not 
charg(!able  with  tliat  avarice,  or  that  ambition, 
which  had  dishonoured  so  many  of  liis  prede- 
cessors.* He  put  an  end  to  the  papal  quarrel 
with  the  emperor  Louis;  and  tliough  he  did 
not  restore  him  to  the  communion  of  the 
church,  because  prevented,  as  it  is  said,  by  the 
king  of  France,  yet  he  did  not  attempt  any 
thing  against  him.  He  carefully  attended  to 
the  grievances  of  tlie  church,  redressed  them  as 
far  as  was  in  his  power,  endeavoured  to  reform 
the  fundamental  laws  of  the  monastic  socie- 
ties, whether  of  the  mendicant,  or  more  opu- 
lent orders;  and  died  in  1342,  while  he  was  de- 
vising the  most  noble  schemes  for  promoting  a 
yet  more  extensive  reformation.  In  short,  if 
we  overlook  his  superstition,  the  prevailing 
blemish  of  this  barbarous  age,  it  must  be  allow- 
ed that  he  was  a  man  of  integrity  and  merit. 

XI.  He  was  succeeded  by  a  man  of  a  very 
different  disposition,  Clement  VI.,  a  native  of 
France,  whose  name  was  Peter  Roger,  and 
who  was  cardinal  of  St.  Nereus  and  St. 
Achilles,  before  liis  elevation  to  the  pontifi- 
cate. Not  to  insist  upon  the  most  unexceptiona- 
ble parts  of  this  pontiff's  conduct,  we  shall 
only  observe,  that  he  trod  faitlifully  in  the 
steps  of  John  XXII.  in  providing  for  vacant 
churches  and  bishoprics,  by  reserviiig  to  him- 
self the  disposal  of  them,  which  showed  his 
sordid  and  insatiable  avarice;  that  he  conferred 
ecclesiastical  dignities  and  benefices  of  the 
highest  consequence  upon  strangers  and  Ita- 
lians, which  drew  upon  him  the  warm  dis- 
pleasure of  the  kings  of  England  and  France; 
and  lastly,  that  by  renewing  the  dissensions  that 
had  formerly  subsisted  between  Louis  of  Ba- 
varia and  the  Roman  see,  he  exposed  his 
excessive  vanity  and  ambition  in  the  most  odi- 
ous colours.  In  1343,  he  assailed  the  emperor 
with  his  thundering  edicts;  and  when  he  heard 
that  they  were  treated  by  that  prince  with  the 
utmost  contempt,  his  rage  was  augmented, 
and  he  not  only  threw  out  new  maledictions, 
and  published  new  sentences  of  excommunica- 
tion against  him,  in  1346,  but  also  excited  the 
German  princes  to  elect  Henry  VII.,  son  of 
Charles  IV.,  emperor  in  his  place.  This  vio- 
lent measure  woidd  infallibly  have  occasioned 
a  civil  war  in  Germany,  had  it  not  been  pre- 
vented by  the  death  of  Louis,  in  1347.  Cle- 
ment survived  him  above  five  years,  and  died 
near  the  close  of  the  year  1352,  famous  for 
nothing  but  his  excessive  zeal  for  extending 
the  papal  authority,  and  for  his  having  added 


teen  in  specie,  and  the  rest  in  plate,  jewels,  crowns, 
mitres,  and  other  precious  baubles,  which  he  had 
squeezed  out  of  the  people  and  the  inferior  clergy 
during  liis  pontificate.  See  Fleury,  Hist.  Eccles.  liv. 
sciv.  sect,  xxxi-x. 

*  See  the  Fragmenta  Histor.  Roman,  in  Muratorii 
Antiquit.  Ital.  tom.  iii.  p.  275. — Baluzii  Vit.  Pont. 
Avenion.  tom.  i.  p.205, 218,  &c.—Boulay,  Hist.  Acad. 
Par.  tom.  iv. 


Avignon,  which  he  purchased  of  Joan,  queen 
of  Naples,  to  the  patrimony  of  St.  Peter. 

XII.  His  successor.  Innocent  VI.,  whose 
name  was  Stephen  Albert,  was  much  more  re- 
markable for  integrity  and  moderation.  He 
was  a  Frenchman,  and  before  his  election  had 
been  bishop  of  Ostia.  He  died  in  1362,  after 
having  governed  the  church  for  almost  ten 
years.  His  greatest  blemish  was,  that  he  pro- 
moted his  relatives  with  an  excessive  partiality; 
but,  in  other  respects,  he  was  a  man  of  merit, 
and  a  great  encourager  of  pious  and  learned 
men.  He  kept  the  monks  closely  to  their  duty, 
carefully  abstained  from  reserving  churches,  and, 
by  many  good  actions,  acquired  a  great  and 
deserved  reputation.  He  was  succeeded  by 
William  Grimoard,  abbot  of  St.  Victor  at 
Marseilles,  who  took  the  name  of  Urban  V., 
and  was  entirely  free  from  all  the  grosser  vices, 
if  we  except  those  which  cannot  easily  be  sepa- 
rated from  the  papal  dignity.  This  pope,  be- 
ing prevailed  on  by  the  entreaties  of  the  Ro- 
mans, returned  to  Rome  in  1367;  but,  in  1370, 
he  revisited  Avignon,  to  reconcile  the  differ- 
ences that  had  arisen  between  the  kings  of  Eng- 
land and  France,  and  died  there  in  the  same  year. 

XIII.  He  was  succeeded  by  Peter  Roger,  a 
French  ecclesiastic  of  illustrious  descent,  who 
assumed  the  name  of  Gregory  XL,  a  man  who, 
though  inferior  to  his  predecessors  in  virtue, 
far  exceeded  them  in  courage  and  audacity. 
In  his  time,  Italy  in  general,  and  the  city  of 
Rome  in  particular,  were  distressed  with  most 
outrageous  and  formidable  tumults.  The  Flo- 
rentines carried  on  with  success  a  terrible  war 
against  the  ecclesiastical  state;*  upon  which, 
Gregory,  in  hopes  of  quieting  the  disorders  of 
Italy,  and  also  of  recovering  the  cities  and 
territories  which  had  been  taken  from  St. 
Peter's  patrimony,  transferred  the  papal  seat, 
in  1376,  from  Avignon  to  Rome.  To  this  he 
was  in  a  great  measure  determined  by  the  ad- 
vice of  Catharine,  a  virgin  of  Sens,  who,  in 
this  credulous  age,  was  thought  to  be  inspired 
with  the  spirit  of  prophecy,  and  made  a  journey 
to  Avignon  on  purpose  to  persuade  him  to  take 
this  step.f  It  was  not,  however,  long  before 
Gregory  repented  that  lie  had  followed  her 
advice;  for,  by  the  long  absence  of  the  popes 
from  Italy,  their  authority  was  reduced  to  so 
low  an  ebb,  that  the  Romans  and  Florentines 
made  no  scruple  to  insult  him  with  the  grossest 
abuse,  which  made  him  resolve  to  return  to 
Avignon;  but,  before  he  could  execute  his  de- 
termination, he  was  taken  off  by  death,  in  1378. 

XIV.  After  the  death  of  Gregory  XL,  the 
cardmals  were  assembled  to  consult  about 
choosing  a  successor,  when  the  people  of  Rome, 
unwilling  that  the  vacant  dignity  should  be 
conferred  on  a  Frenchman,  approached  the 
conclave  in  a  tumidtuous  manner,  and  with 
great  clamours,  accompanied  with  outrageous 
menaces,  insisted  that  an  Italian  should  be 
advanced  to  the  popedom.  The  cardinals,  ter- 
rified by  this  uproar,  immediately  proclaimed 


*  See  Colucii  Salutati  Epistolm,  written  in  the 
name  of  the  Florentines,  parti.  See  also  the  preface 
to  the  second  part. 

t  See  Longueval,  Hist,  de  I'EgUse  Gallicane,  tom. 
xiv.  p.  159,  192. 


390 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


Bartholomew  Pregnane,  who  was  a  NeapoUtan, 
and  archbishop  of  Bari,  and  assumed  the  name 
of  Urban  VI.  This  new  pontiff,  by  his  impo- 
lite behaviour,  injudicious  severity,  and  intole- 
rable arrogance,  had  entailed  upon  himself  the 
odium  of  people  of  all  ranks,  and  especially  of 
the  leading  cardinals.  These  latter,  therefore, 
tired  of  his  insolence,  withdrew  from  Rome  to 
Anagni,  and  thence  to  Fondi,  where  they 
elected  to  the  pontificate  Robert,  count  of 
Geneva,  (who  took  thenameof  Clement  VII.,) 
and  declared  at  the  same  time,  that  the  elec- 
tion of  Urban  was  nothing  more  than  a  mere 
ceremony,  which  tliey  had  found  themselves 
obliged  to  perform,  in  order  to  calm  the  turbu- 
lent rage  of  the  populace.  Which  of  these 
two  we  ought  to  consider  as  having  been  the 
true  and  lawful  pope,  is  to  this  day,  a  doubtful 
point;  nor  will  the  records  and  writings,  al- 
leged by  the  contending  parties,  enable  us  to 
adjust  that  point  with  certainty.*  Urban  re- 
mained at  Rome:  Clement  went  to  Avignon. 
His  cause  was  espoused  by  France,  Spain, 
Scotland,  Sicily,  and  Cyprus,  while  all  the 
rest  of  Europe  acknowledged  Urban  as  the 
true  vicar  of  Christ. 

XV.  Thus  the  union  of  the  Latin  church 
.under  one  head,  was  destroyed  at  the  death  of 
Gregory  XI.,  and  was  succeeded  by  that  de- 
plorable dissension,  commonly  known  by  the 
name  of  the  great  xoesterti  schism.^  This  dis- 
sension was  fomented  with  such  dreadful  suc- 
cess, and  arose  to  such  a  shameful  height,  that, 
for  fifty  years,  the  cliurch  had  two  or  three 
different  heads  at  the  same  time;  each  of  the 
contending  popes  fonning  plots,  and  thunder- 
ing out  anathemas  against  their  competitors. 
The  distress  and  calamity  of  these  times  are 
beyond  all  power  of  description;  for,  not  to  in- 
sist upon  tlie  perpetual  contentions  and  wars 
between  the  factions  of  the  several  popes,  by 
which  multitudes  lost  tlieir  fortunes  and  lives, 
all  sense  of  religion  was  extinguished  in  most 
places,  and  profligacy  rose  to  a  most  scanda- 
lous excess.  The  clergy,  while  they  vehe- 
mently contended  which  of  the  reigning  popes 
ought  to  be  deemed  the  true  successor  of 
Christ,  were  so  excessively  corrupt,  as  to  be 
no  longer  studious  to  keep  up  even  an  appear- 
ance of  religion  or  decency:  and,  in  consequence 
of  all  this,  many  plain  well-meaning  people, 
who  concluded  that  no  one  could  partake  of 
eternal  life,  unless  united  with  the  vicar  of 
Christ,  were  overwhelmed  with  doubt,  and 
plunged   iato  the   deepest  mental    distress.;!: 


*  See  the  acts  and  documents  in  Boulay,  Hist. 
Acad.  Paris,  torn.  iv.  p.  463.— Luc.  Wadding,  Annal. 
Minor,  torn.  i.\.  p.  12.— Steph.  Baluze,  Vit.  Pontif. 
Aveiiion.  torn.  i.  p.  442,  998.— Acta.  Sanctor.  torn.  i. 
April,  p.  728. 

t  An  account  of  this  dissension  may  be  seen  in 
Pierre  du  Pay,  Histoire  Generale  du  Schisme  qui  a 
etc  en  I'Eglise  depuis  I'ao.  1378  jusqu'  en  I'an.  1428, 
which,  as  we  are  informed  in  the  preface,  was  com- 
piled from  the  royal  records  of  France,  and  is  en- 
tirely worthy  of  credit.  Nor  should  we  wholly  reject 
Louis  Maimbourg's  Histoire  du  grand  Schisme  d'Oc- 
cident,  though  in  general  it  be  deeply  tainted  with 
the  leaven  of  party  spirit.  Many  documents  are  to 
be  met  with  in  Boulay's  Histor.  Acad.  Paris,  torn. 
iv.  and  v.;  and  also  in  Martenne's  Thesaur.  Anecdo- 
tor.  torn.  ii.  I  always  pass  over  the  common  writers 
upon  this  subject,  such  as  Alexander,  Raynald, 
Bzovius,  Spondanus,  and  Du-Pin. 

t  Of  the  mischievoua  consequences  of  this  ichism, 


Nevertheless,  these  abuses  were,  by  their  con- 
sequences, greatly  conducive  both  to  the  civil 
and  religious  interests  of  mankind;  for,  by  these 
dissensions,  the  papal  power  received  an  incu- 
rable wound;  and  kings  and  princes,  who  had 
formerly  been  the  slaves  of  the  lordly  pontiffs, 
now  became  their  judges  and  masters;  and 
many  of  the  least  stupid  among  the  people  had 
the  courage  to  disregard  and  despise  the  popes, 
on  account  of  their  odious  disputes  about  do- 
minion, to  commit  their  salvation  to  God 
alone,  and  to  admit  it  as  a  maxim,  that  tlie 
prosperity  of  the  church  might  be  maintained, 
and  the  interests  of  religion  secured  and  pro- 
moted, without  a  visible  head,  crowned  with  a 
spiritual  supremacy. 

XVI.  The  Italian  cardinals,  attached  to  the 
interests  of  Urban  VI.,  on  the  death  of  that 
pope,  in  1389,  set  up  for  his  successor  Peter 
Thomacelli,  a  Neapolitan,  who  took  the  name 
of  Boniface  IX.;  and  Clement  VII.,  dying  in 
1394,  the  French  cardinals  raised  to  the  ponti- 
ficate Peter  de  Luna,  a  Spaniard,  who  assumed 
the  name  of  Benedict  XIII.  During  these 
transactions,  various  methods  were  proposed 
and  attempted  for  healing  this  melancholy 
breach  in  the  church.  Kings  and  princes, 
bishops  and  divines,  appeared  with  zeal  in  this 
salutary  project.  It  was  generally  thought 
that  the  best  course  to  be  taken  was,  what  they 
then  styled,  the  Method  of  Cession:  but  neither 
of  the  popes  could  be  prevailed  on,  either  by 
entreaties  or  threats,  to  give  up  the  pontificate. 
The  Galilean  church,  highly  incensed  at  this 
obstinacy,  renoimced  solemnly,  in  a  council 
holden  at  Paris,  in  1397,  all  subjection  and  obe- 
dience to  both  pontiffs;  and,  on  the  publication 
of  this  resolution,  in  1398,  Benedict  was,  by 
the  express  orders  of  Charles  VI.,  detained 
prisoner  in  his  palace  at  Avignon.* 

XVII.  Some  of  the  popes,  particularly 
Benedict  XIL,  were  perfectly  acquainted  with 
the  prevailing  vices  and  scandalous  conduct 
of  the  greatest  part  of  the  monks,  which  they 
zealously  endeavoured  to  rectify  and  remove; 
but  the  disorder  was  too  inveterate  to  be  easily 
cured,  or  effectually  remedied.  The  Mendi- 
cants, and  more  especially  the  Dominicans  and 
Franciscans,  were  at  the  head  of  the  monastic 
orders,  and  had,  indeed,  become  the  heads  of 
the  church:  so  extensive  was  the  influence 
they  had  acquired,  that  all  matters  of  impor- 
tance, both  in  the  court  of  Rome,  and  in  the 
cabinets  of  princes,  were  carried  on  under  their 
supreme  and  absolute  direction.  The  multi- 
tude had  such  a  high  notion  of  the  sanctity  of 
these  sturdy  beggars,  and  of  their  credit  witli 
the  Supreme  Being,  that  great  numbers  of  both 
sexes,  some  in  health,  others  in  a  state  of  infir- 
mity, others  at  the  point  of  death,  earnestly 
desired  to  be  admitted  into  the  Mendicant  or- 
der, which  they  looked  upon  as  a  sure  and  in- 
fallible method  of  rendering  Heaven  propitious. 
Many  made  it  an  essential  part  of  their  last 
wills,  that  their  carcasses,  after  death,  should 
be  wrapped  in  ragged  Dominican  or  Francis-  ■ 


we  have  a  full  account  in  the  Histoire  du  Droit  pub- 
lic Eccles.  Francois,  tom.  ii.  p.  166,  193,  202. 

*  Beside  the  common  historians,  and  Longueval'a 
Histoire  de  I'Eglise  Gallicane,  t.  xiv.  see  the  acts  of 
this  council  in  Boulay's  Hist,  t.  iv. 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


391 


can  habits,  and  interred  among  the  Mendi- 
cants; for,  amidst  the  barbarous  superstition 
and  wretched  ignorance  of  this  age,  the  gcne- 
rahty  of  people  believed  that  they  might  readily 
obtain  mercy  from  Christ  at  the  day  of  judg- 
ment, if  they  should  appear  before  his  tribunal 
associated  with  the  Mendicant  friars. 

XVIII.  The  high  esteem  attached  to  the 
Mendicant  orders,  and  the  great  authority 
which  they  had  acquired,  only  served  to  ren- 
der them  still  more  odious  to  such  as  had 
hitherto  been  their  enemies,  and  to  draw  upon 
iheni  new  marks  of  jealousy  and  hatred  from 
the  higher  and  lower  clergy,  tlie  monastic  so- 
cieties, and  the  pul^c  universities.  So  general 
was  this  odium,  that  in  almost  every  province 
and  university  of  Europe,  bishops,  clergy,  and 
doctors,  were  warmly  engaged  in  opposition  to 
the  Dominicans  and  Franciscans,  who  em- 
ployed the  power  and  authority  they  had  re- 
ceived from  the  popes,  in  undermining  the  an- 
cient discipline  of  the  church,  and  assuming  to 
themselves  a  certain  superintendence  in  reli- 
gious matters.  In  England,  the  university  of 
Oxford  made  a  resolute  stand  against  the  en- 
croachments of  the  Dominicans,*  while  Rich- 
ard, archbishop  of  Armagh,  Henry  Cromp, 
Norris,  and  others,  attacked  all  the  Mendicant 
orders  with  great  vehemence  and  severity.! 
But  Richard,  whose  animosity  was  much 
keener  against  them  than  that  of  their  other 
antagonists,  went  to  the  court  of  Innocent  VI., 
in  1336,  and  vindicated  the  cause  of  the  church 
against  them  with  the  greatest  fervour,  both 
in  his  writings  and  discourse,  until  the  year 
1360,  in  which  he  died.  J  They  had  also  many 
opponents  in  France,  who,  together  with  the 
university  of  Paris,  were  secretly  engaged  in 
contriving  means  to  overturn  their  exorbitant 
power:  but  John  de  Polliac  set  himself  openly 
against  them,  publicly  denying  the  validity  of 
the  absolution  granted  by  the  Dominicans  and 
Franciscans  to  those  who  confessed  to  them, 
maintaining  that  the  popes  were  disabled  from 
granting  them  a  power  of  absolution  by  the 
authority  of  the  canon  entitled  Oinnis  utm%Ls- 
que  sexus,  and  proving  from  these  premises, 
that  all  those  who  would  be  sure  of  their  sal- 
vation, ought  to  confess  their  sins  to  the  priests 
of  their  respective  parishes,  even  though  they 
had  been  absolved  by  the  monks.  They  suf- 
fered little  or  nothing,  however,  from  the  ef- 
forts of  these  numerous  adversaries,  being  reso- 
lutely protected  against  all  opposition,  whether 
open  or  secret,  by  the  popes,  who  regarded 
them  as  their  best  friends  and  most  effectual 
supports.  Accordingly,  John  XXII.,  by  an 
extraordinary  decree,  in  1321,  condemned  the 
opinions  of  John  de  Polliac.  § 

XIX.  But,  among  all  the  enemies  of  the 


*  See  Wood's  Antiquit.  Oxon.  torn.  i.  p.  150,  196, 
&c. 

t  See  Wood,  torn.  i.  p.  181;  torn.  ii.  p.  01.— Baluzii 
VitJE  Pontif.  Aveiiion.  torn.  i.  p.  338,  950.— Boulay, 
torn.  iv.  p.  336.— Wadding,  torn.  viii.  p.  126. 

I  See  Simon's  Lettres  t'hoisies,  torn.  i.  p.  104.  I 
liave  in  my  possession  a  manuscript  treatise  of  Bar- 
tholomew de  Brisac,  entitled,  "  Solutiones  oppositte 
Ricardi,  Armachani  episcopi,  propositionihus  contra 
Mendicantes  in  curia  Romana  coram  Pontifice  et 
cardinalibus  factis,  anno  13()0." 

J  See  Jo.  Launoius,  de  Canono  Omnis  utriiisque 
Sexus,  torn.  i.  part  i.  op.  p.  271,  287,  &c,— Baluzii 


Mendicant  orders,  no  one  has  been  transmitted 
to  posterity  with  more  exalted  encomiums  on 
the  one  hand,  or  black  calumnies  on  the  other, 
than  John  Wickliff,  an  English  doctor,  profes- 
sor of  divinity  at  Oxford,  and  afterwards  rector 
of  Lutterworth;  who,  according  to  the  testi- 
mony of  the  writers  of  these  times,  was  a  man 
of  an  enterprising  genius,  and  extraordinary 
learning.  In  1360,  animated  by  the  example 
of  Richard,  archbishop  of  Aniiagh,  he  defend- 
ed the  statutes  and  privileges  of  the  university 
of  Oxford,  against  all  the  orders  of  the  Men- 
dicants, and  had  the  courage  to  throw  out 
some  slight  reproofs  against  the  popes,  their 
principal  patrons,  which  no  true  Briton  ever 
imputed  to  him  as  a  crime.  After  this,  in 
1367,  he  was  deprived  of  the  wardenship  of 
Canterbury  Hall,  in  the  university  of  Oxford, 
by  Simon  Langham,  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, who  substituted  a  monk  in  his  place; 
upon  which  he  appealed  to  pope  Urban  V., 
who  confirmed  the  sentence  of  the  primate 
against  him,  on  account  of  the  freedom  with 
which  he  had  inveighed  against  the  monastic 
orders.  Highly  exasperated  at  this  treatment, 
he  threw  off  all  restraint,  and  not  only  attack- 
ed all  the  monks,  and  their  scandalous  irregu- 
larities, but  even  the  pontifical  power  itself  and 
other  ecclesiastical  abuses,  both  in  his  sermons 
and  writings.  He  proceeded  to  yet  greater 
lengths,  and,  detesting  the  wretched  supersti- 
tion of  the  times,  refuted,  with  great  acuteness 
and  spirit,  the  absurd  notions  that  were  gene- 
rally received  in  religious  matters,  and  not  only 
exhorted  the  laity  to  study  the  Scriptures,  but 
also  translated  into  English  these  divine  books, 
in  order  to  render  the  perusal  of  them  more 
general.  Though  neither  the  doctrine  of 
Wickliff  was  void  of  error,  nor  his  life  with- 
out reproach,  yet  it  must  be  allowed,  tliat  the 
changes  he  attempted  to  introduce,  both  in  the 
faith  and  discipline  of  the  church,  were,  in 
many  respects,  wise,  useful,  and  salutary.* 

XX.  The  monks,  whom  Wickliff  had  prin- 
cipally exasperated,  commenced  a  violent  pro- 
secution against  him  at  the  court  of  Gregory 
XI.,  who,  in  1377,  ordered  Simon  Sudbury, 
archbishop  of  Canterbury,  to  take  cognizance 
of  the  affair  in  a  council  convoked  at  London. 
Imminent  as  this  danger  evidently  was,  Wick- 
liff escaped  it,  by  the  interest  of  the  duke  of 
Lancaster,  and  some  other  peers,who  had  a  high 
regard  for  him;  and  soon  after  the  death  of 
Gregory,  the  fatal  schism  of  the  Romish 
church  commenced,  during  which  there  was 
one  pope  at  Rome,  and  another  at  Avignon;  so 
that  of  course  the  controversy  lay  dormant  a 
long  time.  The  process  against  Wickliff  was 
afterwards  revived,  however,  by  William  de 
Courtenay,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  in  1385, 
and  was  carried  on  with  great  vehemence  in 
two  councils  holden  at  London  and  Oxford. 
The  event  was,  that  of  the  twenty-three  opin- 


Vit.  Pontif.  Avenion.  torn.  i.  et  ii.  Ejus.  Miscellanea, 
torn.  i. — D'Acherii  Spicil.  Scriptor.  Veler.  torn,  i.— 
Martenne,  Tliesaur.  Anecdotor.  tom.  i. 

*  A  work  of  his  was  published  at  Leipsic  and 
Frankfort,  in  1753,  entitled,  Dialogorum  Libri  qua- 
tuor,  which,  though  it  does  not  contain  all  the 
branches  of  his  doctrine,  yet  shows  sufficiently  the 
spirit  of  the  man,  and  his  way  of  thinking  in  ge- 
neral. 


392 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


ions,  for  which  Wickliff  had  been  prosecuted 
by  the  monks,  ten  were  condemned  as  heresies, 
and  thirteen  as  errors.*  He  himself,  however, 
returned  in  safety  to  Lutterworth,  where  he 
died  peaceably  in  1387.  The  latter  attack  was 
much  more  dangerous  tlian  the  former;  but  by 
what  means  he  got  safely  through  it,  whether 
by  the  interest  of  the  court,  or  by  denying  or 
abjuring  his  opinions,  is  to  this  day  a  secret. f 
He  left  many  followers  in  England,  and  other 
countries,  who  were  styled  Wickliffites  and 
Lollards,  which  last  was  a  term  of  popular  re- 
'  proach  translated  from  the  Flemish  tongue 
into  English.  Wherever  they  could  be  found, 
they  were  terribly  persecuted  by  the  inquisi- 
tors, and  other  instruments  of  papal  vengeance. 
In  the  council  of  Constance,  in  1415,  the  me- 
mory and  opinions  of  Wicklitf  were  condemn- 
ed by  a  solemn  decree;  and,  about  thirteen 
J 'ears  after,  his  bones  were  dug  up,  and  pub- 
icly  burned. 

XXI.  Although  the  Mendicants  were  thus 
vigorously  attacked  on  all  sides,  by  such  a  con- 
siderable nmnber  of  ingenious  and  learned  ad- 
versaries, they  could  not  be  persuaded  to  abate 
any  thing  of  their  excessive  pride,  to  set  bounds 
to  their  superstition,  or  to  desist  from  imposing 
upon  the  multitude,  but  were  as  diligent  as 
ever  in  propagating  opinions  highly  detrimental 
to  religion  in  generaJ,  and  particularly  injuri- 
ous to  the  majesty  of  the  Supreme  Being. 
The  Franciscans,  forgetting,  in  their  enthusi- 
astic phrensy,  the  veneration  which  they  owed 
to  the  Son  of  God,  and  animated  with  a  mad 
zeal  for  advancing  the  glory  of  their  order  and 
its  founder,  impiously  maintained,  that  the 
latter  was  a  second  Christ,  in  all  respects  simi- 
lar to  the  first,  and  that  their  institution,  doc- 
trine, and  discipline,  were  the  true  Gospel  of 
Jesus.  Yet,  shocking  as  these  foolish  and  im- 
pious  pretensions  were,  the  popes  were  not 
ashamed  to  patronise  and  encourage  them  by 
their  letters  and  mandates,  in  which  they  made 
no  scruple  to  assert,  that  the  absurd  fable  of 

O"*  111  the  original,  Dr.  Moslieim  says,  that,  of 
eighteen  articles  imputed  to  Wickli  11'  nine  were  con- 
demned as  heresies,  and  fifteen  as  errors.  This 
contradiction,  which  we  have  taken  the  liberty 
to  correct  in  the  text,  is  an  oversight  of  the  learned 
author,  who  appears  to  have  confounded  the  eighteen 
heresies  and  errors  that  were  enumerated  and  re- 
futed by  William  Woodford,  in  a  letter  to  Arundel, 
archbishop  of  Canterbury,  with  the  twenty-three 
propositions  that  had  been  condemned  by  liis  pre- 
decessor Courtenay  at  London,  of  which  ten  were 
pronounced  heretical,  and  thirteen  erroneous.  See 
the  very  curious  collection  of  pieces,  entitled.  Fas- 
ciculus rerum  expetendarum  et  fugiendarum  Orthu- 
ini  Gratii,  published  first  at  Cologne  by  the  compiler, 
in  1.535,  and  afterwards  at  London,  in  16(10,  with  an 
additional  volume  of  ancient  pieces  and  fragments, 
by  the  learned  Mr.  Edward  Brown.  The  letter  of 
Woodford  is  at  full  length  in  the  first  volume  of  this 
collection. 

t  We  have  a  full  and  complete  History  of  the  Life 
and  Sufferings  of  John  Wicklitl"  piibllsiied  at  Lon- 
don, in  1720,  by  Mr.  John  Lewis,  v\  ho  also  published, 
in  1731,  Wickiiff's  English  translation  of  the  New 
Testament  from  the  Latin  version  called  the  Vul- 
gate. This  translation  is  enriched  with  a  learned 
preface  by  the  editor,  in  which  he  enlarges  upon  the 
life,  actions,  and  suft'erings,  of  that  eminent  reform- 
er. The  pieces,  relative  to  the  controversies  which 
were  occasioned  by  the  doctrines  of  Wickliff,  are  to 
be  found  in  the  learned  work  of  Wilkiiis,  entitled, 
Concilia  M.ignre  Britannife  et  Hibern.  torn.  iii.  p. 
116,  156. — See  also  Boulays  Hist,  torn  iv.  and 
Wood'3  Antiq.  torn.  i. 


the  stigmas,  or  five  wounds  impressed  upon 
Francis  by  Christ  himself,  on  mount  Alvemus, 
was  worthy  of  credit,  because  matter  of  un- 
doubted fact.*  Nor  was  this  all;  for  they  not 
only  permitted  to  be  published,  without  any 
mark  of  their  disapprobation,  but  approved, 
and  even  reconunended,  an  impious  piece, 
stuffed  with  tales  yet  more  improbable  and  ri- 
diculous than  either  of  the  above-mentioned 
fictions,  and  entitled,  The  Book  of  the  Con- 
formities of  St.  Francis  with  Jesus  Christ, 
which  was  composed,  in  1385,  by  Bartholomew 
Albizi,  a  Franciscan  of  Pisa,  with  the  applause 
of  his  order.  This  infamous  tract,  in  which 
the  Son  of  God  is  put  i^on  a  level  with  a 
wretched  mortal,  is  an  eternal  monument  of 
the  outrageous  enthusiasm  and  abominable  ar- 
rogance of  the  Franciscan  order,  and  also  of 
the  excessive  imprudence  of  the  pontiffs  who 
e.\tolled  and  recommended  it.f 

XXII.  The  Franciscans,  who  adhered  to  the 
genuine  and  austere  rule  of  their  founder,  and 
opposed  the  popes  who  attempted  to  mitigate 
the  severity  of  its  injunctions,  were  not  in  the 


*  The  story  of  the  marks,  or  stigmas,  impressed  on 
Francis,  is  well  known,  as  are  also  the  letters  of 
the  Roman  pontiffs,  which  enjoin  the  belief  of  it, 
and  which  VV adding  has  collected  with  great  care, 
and  published  in  his  Annates  Minorum,  tom.  viii. 
and  ix.  The  Dominicans  formerly  made  a  public 
jest  of  this  ridiculous  fable;  but,  being  awed  into 
silence  by  the  papal  bulls,  they  are  now  obliged  to  de- 
ride it  in  secret,  while  the  Franciscans,  on  the  other 
hand,  continue  to  propagate  it  with  the  most  fervent 
zeal.  That  St.  Francis  had  upon  his  body  the  marks 
or  impressions  of  the  five  great  wounds  of  Christ,  is 
not  to  be  doubted,  since  this  is  a  fact  proved  by  a 
great  number  of  unexceptionable  witnesses.  But, 
as  he  was  a  most  superstitious  and  fanatical  mortal, 
it  is  undoubtedly  evident  that  he  imprinted  on  him- 
self these  holy  wounds,  that  he  might  resemble 
Christ,  and  bear  about  on  his  body  a  perpetual  memo- 
rial of  the  Redeemer's  sufferings.  It  was  customary 
in  these  times,  for  such  as  were  willing  to  be  thought 
more  pious  than  others,  to  imprint  upon  their  bodies 
marks  of  this  kind,  that,  having  thus  continually 
before  them  a  lively  representation  of  the  death  of 
Christ,  they  might  preserve  a  becoming  sense  of  it 
in  their  minds.  The  words  of  St.  Paul  (Galat.  vi.  17,) 
were  sufficient  to  confirm  in  this  wretched  delusion 
an  ignorant  and  superstitious  age,  in  which  the 
Scriptures  were  neither  studied  nor  understood.  A 
long  list  of  these  stigmatised  fanatics  might  be  ex- 
tracted from  the  Acta  Sanctorum,  and  other  records 
of  this  and  the  following  century:  nor  is  this  ancient 
piece  of  superstition  entirely  abolished,  even  in  our 
times.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  Franciscan  monks, 
having  found  these  marks  upon  the  dead  body  of 
their  founder,  took  this  occasion  of  making  him  ap. 
pear  to  the  world  as  honoured  by  Heaven  above  the 
rest  of  mortals,  and  invented,  for  this  purpose,  the 
story  of  Christ's  having  miraculously  transferred  his 
wounds  to  liim. 

t  For  an  account  of  Albizi  and  his  book,  see  Wad- 
ding, tom.  ix.  p.  158. — Fabricii  Biblioth.  Lat.  medii 
^vi,  tom.  i.  p.  131. — Schelhornii  Amoen.  Liter,  tom. 
iii.  p.  KiO. — Bayle's  Dictionary,  at  the  article  Fran- 
cois, and  the  Nouveau  Dictionnaire  Hist.  Crit.  at 
the  article  Albizi.  Erasmus  Albert  made  several 
e.xtracts  from  this  book,  and  published  them  under 
the  title  of  the  Koran  of  the  Franciscans,  which 
was  frequently  printed  in  Latin,  German,  and 
French. 

0(7-  The  conformities  between  Christ  and  St. 
Francis,  are  only  carried  to  forty,  in  the  book  of 
Albizi:  but  they  are  multiplied  to  4000,  by  a  Spanish 
monk  of  the  order  of  Observants,  in  a  work  publish- 
ed, in  1651,  under  the  following  title,  Prodigiosum 
Naturs  et  Gratiae  Portentum.  The  conformities 
mentioned  by  Pedro  de  Alva  Astorga,  the  austere 
author  of  this  most  ridiculous  book,  are  whimsical 
beyond  expression.  See  tha  Bibl^des  Sciences  et  de* 
Beaux  Arts,  t.  iv.  p.  31& 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


393 


least  wiser  than  those  of  the  order,  who  ac- 
knowledged the  jurisdiction  and  respected  the 
decisions  of   the  Roman   pontiffs.     By  those 
antipapal  Franciscans  1  mean  the  Fratricelli, 
or  Minorites,  and  the  Tertiarios  of  that  order, 
otherwise  called  Beghards,  together  with  the 
Spirituals,  who  resided  principally  in  France, 
and  embraced  the  opinions  of  Pierre  d'Olive. 
These  monastic  factions  were  turbulent   and 
seditious  beyond  expression;  they  gave  incre- 
dible  vexation  to  the  popes,  and  for  a  long 
time  disturbed,   wherever  they  appeared,  the 
tranquillity  both  of  church  and  state.     About 
the  beginning  of  this  century,''  the  less  austere 
Franciscans  were  outrageous  in  their  resent- 
ment against  the  Fratricelli,  who  had  deserted 
their  communion;!    upon  which  such  of  the 
latter  as  had  the  good  fortune  to  escape  the 
fury  of  their  persecutors,  retired  into  France, 
in  1307,  and  associated  themselves  with  the 
Spirituals,  or  followers  of  Pierre  d'Olive,  in 
Provence,  who  had  also  abandoned  the  society. 
Soon  after  this,  the  whole  Franciscan  order  in 
France,  Italy,  and  other  countries,  formed  two 
parties.      Those  who  embraced  the  severe  dis- 
cipline and   absolute   poverty  of  St.  Francis, 
were  called  Spirituals;    such  as  insisted  upon 
mitigating   the   austere   injunctions  of   their 
founder,  were  styled  the  Brethren  of  the  Com- 
munity.    The  latter,  being  far  more  numerous 
and  powerful,  exerted   themselves  to  the  ut- 
most, to  oppress  the  former,  whose  faction  was 
s^ll  weak,  and,  as  it  were,  in  its  infancy;  yet 
they  cheerfully  submitted  to  these  hardships, 
rather  than  return  to  the  society  of  tliose  who 
had  deserted  the  rules  of  cheir  master.     Pope 
Clement  V.,  having  drawn  the  loaders  of  these 
two  parties  to  his  court,  took  great   pains  to 
compose  these  dissensions;    nevertheless,   his 
pacific  scheme  advanced  but  slowly,  on  ac- 
count of  the  inflexible  obstinacy  of  each  sect, 
and  the  great  number  of  their  nuitual  accu^sa- 
tions.     In  the  mean  while,  the   Spirituals  of 
Tuscany,  instead  of  waiting   for  the  decision 
of  his  holiness,  chose  a  president  and  inferior 
officers;  while  those  of  France,  being  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Avignon,  patiently  expected 
the  papal  determination. J 

XXllI.  After  many  deliberations,  Clement, 
in  a  general  council  at  Vienne  in  Dauphine, 
(where  he  issued  the  famous  bull,§  Exivi  de 
paradiso,)  proposed  an  expedient  for  healing 
the  breach  between  the  jarring  parties,  by  wise 
concessions  on  both  sides.  Ho  gave  up  many 
points  to  the  Spirituals,  or  rigid  Franciscans, 
enjoining  upon  the  whole  order  tiic  profes- 
sion of  absolute  poverty,  according  to  their 
primitive  rule,  and  the  solemn  renunciation  of 
all  property,  whether  common  or  personal, 
confining  them  to  what  was  necessary  fur  their 
immediate  subsistence,  and  allowing  them, 
even  for  that,  a  very  scanty  pittance.  He, 
however,  on  the  other  hand,  pcnnittod  the 
Franciscans,  who  lived  in  i)laccs  where  it  was 


.  *  In  130G  and  1307. 

t  Waddinn,  t.  vi.  ad  an.  1307. 

t  Wadding,  torn.  iv.  ad  an.  1310,  p.  217.— Eor.irdi 
Corpus  llistor.  modii  Mvi,  torn.  i.  |).  1480.— lioiilay, 
torn.  iv.  p.  12!).— Eccardi  Scriplor.  JVitdicitor.  loin.i. 

§  This  hull  is  inserted  in  the  Jus  t'.inonicnni  inter 
Clemen tin.i,^,   lit.  xi.  de  verbor.  signif.  torn.  ii.  p. 
1095,  Pdit.  B.dinif  ri. 
Vol.  I— 50 


extremely  difficult  to  procure  by  begging  the 
necessaries  of  life,  to  erect  granaries  and  store- 
houses, where  they  might  deposit  a  part  of 
their  alms  as  a  stock,  in  case  of  want;  and 
ordered  that  all  such  repositories  should  be  un- 
der the  inspection  and  management  of  over- 
seers and  store-keepers,  who  were  to  determine 
what  quantity  of  provisions  should  be  laid  up 
in  them.  And,  finally,  in  order  to  satisfy  the 
Brethren  of  tlie  Connnunity,  he  condemned 
some  opinions  of  Pierre  d'Olive.*  These  pro- 
ceedings silenced  tlie  monastic  commotions  in 
France;  but  the  Tuscan  and  Italian  Spirituals 
were  so  exceedingly  perverse  and  obstinate, 
that  they  could  not  be  brought  to  consent  to 
any  method  of  reconciliation.  At  length,  in 
1313,  many  of  them,  not  tliinliing  themselves 
safe  in  Italy,  went  into  Sicily,  where  they  met 
with  a  friendly  reception  from  Frederic,  the 
nobility,  and  bishops. f 

XXIV.  Upon  the  death  of  Clement  V.  the 
tumult,  which  had  been  appeased  by  his  autho- 
rity, revived  in  France  with  as  much  fury  as 
ever.  For,  in  1314,  a  hundred  and  twenty  of 
the  Spirituals  made  a  violent  attack  upon  the 
Brethren  of  the  Community,  drove  them  out 
of  the  convents  of  Narbonne  and  Beziers  by 
force  of  arms,  and  inflamed  the  quarrel  in  a 
yet  higher  degree,  by  relinquishing  their  an- 
cient habits,  and  assuming  such  as  were  short, 
close,  and  mean.  They  were  soon  joined  by 
a  considerable  number  from  other  provinces; 
and  the  citizens  of  Narbonne,  where  Olive  was 
interred,  enlisted  themselves  in  the  party. 
John  XXII.,  who  was  raised  to  the  pontificate 
in  tlie  year  1317,  took  great  pains  to  heal  this 
new  disorder.  The  first  thing  he  did  for  this 
purpose,  was  to  publish  a  special  bull,  by 
which  he  ordered  the  abolition  of  the  Fratri- 
celli or  Minorites,  and  their  Tertiaries,  whether 
Beguines  or  Beghards,  who  formed  a  body  dis- 
tinct from  the  Spirituals. |  In  the  next  place, 
he  admonished  the  king  of  Sicily  to  expel  all 
the  Spirituals  who  had  taken  refuge  in  his  do- 
minions,§  and  then  ordered  the  French  Spirit- 
uals to  appear  at  Avignon,  where  he  exhorted 
them  to  return  to  their  duty,  and  as  the  first 
step  to  it,  to  lay  aside  the  short,  close  habits, 
with  the  small  hoods.  The  greatest  part  of 
them  obeyed;  but  Fr.  Bernard  Delitiosi,  who 
was  the  head  of  the  faction,  and  twenty-four 
of  tiie  brethren,  boldly  refused  to  submit  to  the 
injimction.  In  vindication  of  their  conduct, 
they  alleged  that  the  rules  prescribed  by  St. 
Francis,  were  the  same  witli  tlie  Gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ;  that  tlie  popes  therefore  had  no  author- 
ity to  alter  them;  that  the  pontiffs  had  acted 
sinfully  in  permitting  the  Franciscans  to  have 
granaries  and  storehouses;  and  that  they  added 
to  thcirguilt  in  not  allowing  those  habits  to  be 
worn  tiiat  were  enjoined  by  St.  Francis.  John, 
highly  exasperated  by  this  opposition,  gave 
orders  that  these  obstinate  brethren  should  be 


*  VVaddinp,  torn.  vi.  p.  194,  197,  199. 

t  Waddint',  torn.  vi.  p.  213,  214.— lloulay,  torn, 
iv.  p.  152,  1C5. — Ar(;entre,ColIeCtiojudicior.  lie  novis 
error,  torn.  i.  p.  392. 

I 'I'liis  law  is  called  Sanfta  Romana.ic.  and  is 
to  1)1^  lound  .nmong  Iho  E\travagante»  Jolianuis 
XXIf.  tit.  vii.  de  rcligiosis  domibus,  torn.  ii.  Jur. 
Canon,  p.  1112. 

§  Wadding,  torn.  vi.  p.  965. 


394 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


proceeded  against  as  heretics.  And  surely 
nothing  could  make  them  appear  viler  heretics 
in  the  papal  eye,  tlian  their  venturing  thus 
audaciously  to  oppose  the  authority  and  ma- 
jesty of  the  Roman  see.  As  for  Delitiosi,  Avho 
is  sometimes  called  Delli  Consi,  he  was  im- 
prisoned, and  died  in  his  confinement.  Four 
of  his  adherents  were  condemned  to  the  flames, 
in  1318,  at  Marseilles;*  and  this  horrible  sen- 
tence was  accordingly  executed  without  mercy. 

XXV.  Tiius  these  unliappy  friars,  and  many 
more  of  their  fraternity,  who  were  afterwards 
cut  otf  by  this  cruel  persecution,  suffered 
merely  for  their  contempt  of  the  decisions  of 
the  pontiffs,  and  for  maintaining  that  the  in- 
stitute of  St.  Francis,  their  founder,  which 
they  imagined  he  had  established  under  the 
direction  of  an  immediate  inspiration,  was  the 
very  Gospel  of  Christ,  and  therefore  ought  not 
to  be  altered  by  the  pope's  authority.  The 
controversy,  considered  in  itself,  was  rather  ri- 
diculous than  important,  since  it  did  not  affect 
religion  in  the  least,  but  turned  wholly  on 
these  two  points,  the  form  of  the  habits  to  be 
worn  by  the  Franciscan  order,  and  their  grana- 
ries and  store-houses.  The  Brethren  of  the 
Community,  or  the  less  rigid  Franciscans,  wore 
long,  loose,  and  good  habits,  with  ample  hoods; 
but  the  Spirituals  went  in  short,  scanty,  and 
very  coarse  ones,  which  they  asserted  to  be 
precisely  the  dress  enjoined  by  the  institute  of 
St.  Francis,  and  what  therefore  no  power  upon 
earth  had  a  right  to  alter.  And  whereas  the 
former,  immediately  after  the '  harvest  and 
vintage,  were  accustomed  to  lay  up  a  stock  of 
corn  and  wine  in  their  granaries  and  cellars, 
the  latter  resolutely  opposed  this  practice,  as 
entirely  repugnant  to  that  profession  of  abso- 

■  lute  poverty  which  had  been  embraced  by  the 
Fratricelli  or  Minorites.  In  order  to  put  an 
end  to  these  broils,  the  pope,  in  this  very  year, 

})ublished  a  long  mandatory  letter,  in  which 
le  ordered  the  contending  parties  to  submit 
their  disputes,  upon  the  two  points  above- 
mentioned,  to  the  decision  of  their  superiors.! 

XXVI.  The  effects  of  this  letter,  and  of 
other  decrees,  were  prevented  by  the  unsea- 
sonable and  unpious  severity  of  John,  whose 
cruelty  was  condemned  and  detested  even  by 
his  adherents.  For  the  Spiritual  Franciscans 
and  their  votaries,  being  higlily  exasperated  at 
the  cruel  death  of^  their  brethren,  maintained, 
that  John,  by  procuring  the  destruction  of 
these  holy  men,  had  rendered  himself  utterly 
imworthy  of  the  papal  dignity  and  was  the 
true  Antichrist.  They  moreover  revered  their 
four  brethren,  who  were  burned  at  Marseilles, 
as  so  many  martyrs,  paying  religious  venera- 
tion to  their  bones  and  ashes;  and  inveighed 
yet  more  vehemently  than  ever  against  long 
habits,  large  hoods,  granaries,  and  store-houses. 
The  inquisitors,  on  the  other  hand,  having, 


*  Baluze,  Vitse  Pontif.  Avenion.  torn.  i.  p.  116; 
torn.  ii.  p.  341,  et  Miscellan.  torn.  i.  p.  195,272.  Wad- 
ding, torn.  vi.  p.  267.  Martenne.Tliusaur.  Anecdotor. 
torn.  v.  p.  175.  Martinus  Fiililensis,  in  Eccardi  Cor- 
pore  Histor.  medii  ^Evi,  torn.  i.  p.  1725,  et  Herm. 
Corneriis,  ibid.  torn.  ii.  p.  981.  Histoiregenerale 
de  Languedoc,  torn.  iv.  p.  179.  Argentre,  CoUectio 
Judicior.  de  novis  errorib.  torn.  i.  p.  294. 

t  It  may  be  seen  in  the  Jus  Canon,  among  the  Ex- 
travag.  coramunes  de  verbor.  signif.  See  also  Wad- 
ding, torn,  vi, 


by  the  pope's  order,  apprehended  as  many  of 
these  people  as  they  could  find,  condemned 
them  to  the  flames,  and  sacrificed  them  with- 
out mercy  to  papal  resentment  and  fury:  so 
that  from  tJiis  time  a  vast  number  of  those  zea- 
lous defenders  of  the  institute  of  St.  Francis, 
viz.  the  Minorites,  Beghards,  and  Spirituals, 
were  most  barbarously  put  to  death,  not  only 
in  France,  but  also  in  Italy,  Spain,  and  Ger- 
many.* 

XXVII.  This  dreadful  flame  continued  to 
spread  till  it  invaded  the  whole  Franciscan  or- 
der, which,  in  1321,  had  revived  the  old  con- 
tentions concerning  the  poverty  of  Christ  and 
his  apostles.  A  certain  Beguin,  or  monk  of 
the  third  order  of  St.  Francis,  who  was  appre- 
hended this  year  at  Narbonne,  taught,  among 
other  things,  "  That  neither  Christ  nor  his  apos- 
tles ever  possessed  any  thing,  whether  in  com- 
mon or  personally,  by  right  of  property  or  do- 
minion." John  de  Belna,  an  inquisitor  of  the 
Dominican  order,  pronounced  this  opinion  er- 
roneous; but  Berengarius  Taloni,  a  Franciscan, 
maintained  it  to  be  orthodox,  and  perfectly  con- 
sonant to  the  bull,  Exiit  qui  seminal,  of  Nicolas 
III.  The  judgment  of  the  former  was  approv- 
ed by  the  Dominicans;  the  determination  of 
the  latter  was  adhered  to  by  the  Franciscans. 
At  length  the  matter  was  brought  before  the 
pope,  who  prudently  endeavoured  to  put  an 
end  to  the  dispute.  With  this  view  he  called 
into  his  council  Ubertinus  de  Casalis,  the  pa- 
tron of  the  Spirituals,  and  a  person  of  great 
weight  and  reputation.  This  eminent  monk 
gave  captious,  subtle,  and  equivocal  answers  to 
the  questions  that  were  proposed  to  him.  The 
pontifl',  however,  and  the  cardinals,  persuaded 
that  his  decisions,  however  ambiguous,  might 
contribute  to  terminate  the  quarrel,  acquiesced 
in  them,  seconded  them  with  their  authority, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  enjoined  silence  and  mo« 
deration  on  the  contending  parties. f 

XXVIII.  But  the  Dominicans  and  Francis- 
cans were  so  exceedingly  exasperated  against 
each  other,  that  they  could  by  no  means  be 
brought  to  conform  themselves  to  this  order. 
The  pope,  perceiving  this,  permitted  them  to 
renew  the  controversy  in  1322;  and  he  himself 
proposed  to  some  of  the  most  celebrated  divines 
of  the  age,  and  especially  to  those  of  Paris, 
the  determination  of  this  point,  namely, "  Whe- 
ther those  were  to  be  deemed  heretics,  who 
maintained  that  Jesus  Christ,  and  his  apostles, 
had  no  common  or  personal  property  in  any 
thing  they  possessed?"  The  Franciscans,  who 
held  an  assembly  in  that  year  at  Perugia,  hav- 
ing gained  intelligence  of  this  proceeding,  de- 
creed that  those  who  held  this  tenet  were  not 


*  Beside  many  other  pieces  that  serve  to  ilhistrate 
the  intricate  history  of  this  persecution,  I  have  in 
my  possession  a  treatise,  entitled,  Martyrologium 
Spiritiialium  et  Fratricellorum,  which  was  delivered 
to  the  tribunal  of  the  inquisition  at  Carcassone,  A. 
D.  1454.  It  contains  the  names  of  113  persons  of 
both  sexes,  who,  from  the  year  1318  to  the  time  of 
Innocent  VI.,  were  committed  to  the  flames  in 
France  and  Italy,  for  their  infle.xible  attachment  to 
the  poverty  of  St.  Francis.  I  reckon  that  from  these 
and  other  records,  published  and  unpublished,  we 
may  make  out  a  listof  two  thousand  martyrs  of  this 
kind.    See  Codex  Inquis.  Tolosana;. 

t  Wadding,  torn.  vi.  p.  361.  Baluzii  Miscellan 
torn.  i.  p.  307.  Ger.  du  Bois,  Histor,  Eccles.  Paris, 
p.  611. 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


395 


heretics,  but  maintained  an  opinion  that  was 
holy  and  orthodox,  and  perfectly  agreeable  to 
the  decisions  and  mandates  of  the  popes.  They 
also  sent  a  deputy  to  Avignon,  to  defend  this 
unanimous  determination  of  their  whole  order 
against  all  opponents  wliatevcr.  The  person 
whom  they  commissioned  for  this  purpose  was 
F.  Bonagratia,  of  Bergamo,  who  also  went  by 
the  name  of  Boncortese,*  one  of  their  fraterni- 
ty, and  a  man  famous  for  his  extensive  learning. 
John,  being  higlily  incensed  at  this  step,  issued 
a  decree,  wherein  he  espoused  an  opinion  dia- 
metrically opposite  to  that  of  the  Franciscans, 
and  declared  them  to  be  heretics,  for  obstinately 
maintaining  "that  Christ  and  his  apostles  had 
no  common  or  personal  property  in  wliat  they 
possessed,  nor  a  power  of  selling  or  alienating 
any  part  of  it."  Soon  after,  he  proceeded  yet 
farther,  and,  in  another  constitution,  exposed 
the  weakness  and  inefficacy  of  those  argu- 
ments, commonly  reduced  from  a  bull  of  Nico- 
las III.,  concerning  the  property  of  the  Fran- 
ciscan possessions  being  transferred  to  the 
church  of  Rome,  whereby  the  monks  were 
supposed  to  be  deprived  of  what  we  call  right, 
and  were  only  allowed  the  simple  use  of  what 
was  necessary  for  their  immediate  support.  In 
order  to  confute  this  plea,  he  showed  that  it 
was  absolutely  impossible  to  separate  right  and 
property  from  the  lawful  use  of  such  things  as 
were  immediately  consumed  by  that  use.  He 
also  solemnly  renounced  all  property  in  the 
Franciscan  effects,  which  had  been  reserved  to 
the  church  of  Rome  by  former  popes,  their 
churches  and  some  other  things  excepted. 
And  whereas  the  revenues  of  the  order  had 
been  hitherto  received  and  administered  by 
procurators,  on  the  part  of  the  Roman  church, 
he  dismissed  these  officers,  and  abolished  all 
the  decrees  and  constitutions  of  his  predeces- 
sors relating  to  this  affair.f 

XXIX.  By  this  method  of  proceeding,  the 
dexterous  pontiff  entirely  destroyed  that  boast- 
ed expropriation,  which  was  the  main  bulwark 
of  the  Franciscan  order,  and  which  its  founder 
had  esteemed  the  distinguishing  glory  of  the 
society.  It  was  therefore  natural,  that  tliese 
measures  should  determine  the  Franciscans  to 
an  obstinate  resistance.  And  such  indeed  was 
the  effect  they  produced:  for,  in  1323,  they 
Bent  their  brother  Bonagratia  in  the  quality  of 
legate  to  the  papal  court,  where  he  vigorously 
and  openly  opposed  the  recent  constitution  of 
John,  boldly  affirming,  that  it  was  contrary  to 
human  as  well  as  divine  law. J  The  pope,  on 
the  other  hand,  highly  exasperated  against  this 
audacious  defender  of  the  Franciscan  poverty, 
threw  him  into  prison,  and  ordained,  by  a  new 

*  I  insert  this  caution,  because  I  have  observed 
that  some  eminent  writers,  by  not  atteniling  to  this 
circumstance,  have  taken  these  two  names  for  two 
different  persons. 

t  These  constitutions  are  recorded  in  the  Corpus 
Juris  Canoniri,  and  also  among  the  Extravasantns, 
tit.  xiv.  de  verbor.  siffnific.  cap.  ii.  iii.  p.  11-21.  For 
■  an  account  of  the  transaction  itself,  the  reader  should 
chiefly  consult  that  impartial  writer,  Alvarus  I'ela- 
cius,  de  Planctu  Ecclesi®,  lib.  ii.  cap.  60.  as  also  Wad- 
ding, tom.  vi.  p.  3D4.  Both  those  atUhors  blame  pope 
John. 

J  Wadding,  tom.  vii.  p.  2,  22.  — Alvar.  Pelagius,  dc 
Planctu  f'.cclesiir,  lib.  ii.  p.  Ifi7. — Trithemius,  Annal. 
Hirsaug.  tom.  ii.  p.  157. — Theod.deNiem,  in  Eccardi 
Ciorpore  Histor.  med.  iGvi,  t.  vii.  p.  1491. 


edict,  that  all  who  maintained  that  Christ,  and 
his  apostles,  had  no  common  or  special  proper- 
ty in  any  of  their  possessions,  should  be  deem- 
ed heretics,  and  corrupters  of  the  true  religion.* 
Finding,  however,  that  the  Franciscans  were 
not  terrified  in  the  least  by  this  decree,  he  pub- 
lished another  yet  more  flaming  constitution, 
about  the  end  of  the  year  1324,  in  which  he 
confirmed  his  former  edicts,  and  pronounced 
that  tenet  concerning  the  expropriation  of 
Christ  and  his  apostles,  '  a  pestilential,  errone- 
ous, damnable,  and  blasphemous  doctrine,  hos- 
tile to  the  catholic  faitli,'  and  declared  all  such 
as  adhered  to  it,  obstinate  heretics,  and  rebels 
against  the  church. f  In  consequence  of  this 
merciless  decree,  great  numbers  of  those  who 
persisted  in  assertbig  that  Christ  and  his  apos- 
tles were  exactly  such  mendicants  as  Francis 
would  have  his  brethren  to  be,  were  apprehend- 
ed by  the  Dominican  inquisitors,  who  were  im- 
placable enemies  of  the  Franciscans,  and  com- 
mitted to  the  flames.  The  histories  of  France 
and  Spain,  Italy  and  Germany,  during  this  and 
the  following  century,  aboimd  with  instances 
of  this  atrocious  cruelty. 

XXX.  The  zealous  pontiff  pursued  this  af- 
fair with  great  warmth  for  several  years;  and, 
as  this  contest  seemed  to  have  taken  its  rise 
from  the  books  of  Pierre  d'Olive,  he  branded 
with  infamy,  in  1325,  the  Postilla  and  other 
writings  of  that  author,  as  pernicious  and  here- 
tical.J  The  next  step  he  took,  was  to  sum- 
mon to  Avignon,  some  of  the  more  learned 
and  eminent  brethren  of  tlie  Franciscan  order, 
of  whose  writings  and  eloquence  he  was  par- 
ticularly apprehensive,  and  to  detain  them  at 
his  court:  and  then,  to  arm  himself  against  the 
resentment  and  indignation  of  this  exasperated 
society,  and  to  prevent  their  attempting  any 
thing  to  his  prejudice,  he  kept  a  strict  guard 
over  them  in  all  places,  by  means  of  his  friends 
the  Dominicans.  Michael  of  Cesena,  who  re- 
sided in  Italy,  and  was  the  head  of  the  order, 
could  not  easily  dissemble  the  hatred  lie  had 
conceived  against  the  pope,  who  therefore  or- 
dered him  to  repair  to  Avignon,  in  1327,  and 
there  deprived  him  of  his  office. §  But,  pru- 
dent as  this  rigorous  measure  might  appear  at 
first  sight,  it  served  only  to  inflame  the  enrag- 
ed Franciscans  more  than  ever,  and  to  confirm 
them  in  their  attachment  to  the  scheme  of  ab- 
solute poverty.  For  no  sooner  did  the  bitter 
and  well-known  contest,  between  John  XXII. 
and  Louis  of  Bavaria,  break  out,  than  the 
principal  champions  of  the  Franciscan  cause, 
such  as  Marsilius  of  Padua,  and  John  of  Genoa, 
fled  to  the  emperor,  and  under  his  protection 
published  the  most  virulent  pieces  imaginable, 
in  which  they  not  only  attacked  John  person- 
ally, but  also  levelled  their  satire  at  the  power 


*  Waddine,  tom.  vii.  p.  .'!6. — Contin.  de  Nangis,  in 
D'Acliorii  Spicilegio,  tom.  iii.  p.  83.— Boulay,  tom. 
iv.  p.  205.— Beaedictinor.  Gallia  Christiana,  tom.  ii. 
p.  151.5. 

t  This  constitution,  and  the  two  former  already 
mentioned,  are  published  among  the  Extravagantea, 
tit.  xiv.  de  verbor.  signif  Wadding,  (t.  vii.  p.  36,) 
vigorously  opposed  this  last;  which  is  rather  extraor- 
dinary in  a  man  so  immoderately  attached  to  the 
cause  of  the  popes  as  he  was. 

♦  Wadding,  torn-  vii.  p.  47.— Eccardi  Corpus  His- 
tor. medii  JEvi,  tom.  i.  p.  592.  and  1491. 

§  Wadding,  torn.  vii.  p.  69,  74. 


396 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


and  authority  of  the  popes  in  general.*  This 
example  was  soon  followed  by  otliers,  particu- 
larly by  Michael  of  Cesena,  and  William  Oc- 
cam, who  excolled  most  men  of  his  time  in 
subtlety  and  acuteness  of  genius,  and  also  by 
F.  Bonagratia  of  Bergamo.  They  made  tlieir 
escape  by  sea  from  Avignon,  in  1328,  went 
first  to  the  emperor,  who  was  at  that  time  in 
Italy,  and  thence  proceeded  to  Munich.  They 
were  soon  joined  by  many  others,  such  as  Be- 
rengarius,  Francis  de  Esculo,  and  Henry  de 
Halem,  who  were  highly  and  deservedly 
esteemed,  on  account  of  their  eminent  parts 
and  extensive  learning. f  All  tliese  learned 
fugitives  defended  the  institute  of  their  founder 
in  long  and  laboured  treatises,  in  wliich  they 
reduced  the  papal  dignity  and  authority  with- 
in a  very  narrow  compass,  and  loaded  the  pon- 
tiffs with  reproaches  and  invectives.  Occam 
surpassed  them  all  in  tlie  keenness  and  spirit 
of  his  satire;  and  hence  his  Dialogues,  together 
with  his  otlier  productions,  which  were  perus- 
ed with  avidity,  and  transmitted  to  succeeding 
generations,  gave  a  very  severe  blow  to  the 
ambition  and  majesty  of  the  Roman  pontiffs. 

XXXI.  On  the  other  hand,  Louis,  to  ex- 
press his  gratitude  to  these  his  defenders,  not 
only  made  the  cause  of  tlio  Franciscans  his 
own,  but  also  adopted  their  favourite  sentiment 
concerning  the  poverty  of  Christ  and  his  apos- 
tles; for,  among  the  heresies  and  errors  of 
which  he  publicly  accused  John,  and  for  which 
he  deprived  him  of  the  pontificate,  the  princi- 
pal and  most  pernicious  one,  in  tlie  opinion  of 
the  emperor,  was  his  maintaining  that  the  po- 
verty of  Clu-ist  did  not  exclude  all  right  and 
property  in  what  he  used  as  a  subsistence.! 
The  Fratricelli,  Beghards,  Beguines,  and  Spi- 
rituals, then  at  variance  with  the  pope,  were 
effectually  protected  b}'  the  emperor,  in  Ger- 
many, against  the  attempts  of  the  inquisitors; 
so  that,  during  his  reign,  that  country  was 
overrun  with  shoals  of  Mendicant  friars.  'Fhere 
was  scarcely  a  province  or  city  in  the  empire 
that  did  not  abound  with  Beghards  and  Be- 
guines; that  is,  monks  and  nuns  who  professed 
the  third  rule  of  St.  Francis,  and  placed  the 
chief  excellence  of  the  Christian  life  in  a  vol- 
untary and  absolute  poverty.  §  The  Domini- 
cans, on  the  other  hand,  as  enemies  to  the 
Franciscans,  and  friends  to  the  pope,  were 
treated  with  great  severity  by  his  imperial  ma- 
jesty, who  banished  tliem  witli  ignominy  out 
of  several  cities.  |j 


*  Luc.  D'Acherii  Spjcilesium,  torn.  iii.  p.  85.  Bill- 
lar.  Roman,  turn.  vi.  p.  107.  Marteiine,  Thesaur. 
Anecdotor.  tnm.  ii.  p.  6i)5,  704.  Boulay,  torn.  iv.  p. 
S16.  There  is  a  very  noted  piece  on  tliis  snbject 
written  by  Marsilins  of  Padua,  who  was  professor 
at  Vienna,  and  entitled.  Defensor  Pacis  pro  Ludovi- 
co  Bavaro  adversus  usurpatam  Romani  Tontiticis 
jurisdictionem. 

t  Wadding,  torn.  vii.  p.  81.— Martenne,  Thesaur. 
Anecdotor.  torn.  iii.  p.  749,  757.— Trithemii  Annal. 
Hirsaue,  lorn.  ii.  p.  167. — Boulay   torn.  iv.  p,  217. — 

Eccardi  Corpus  Histor.  torn.  ii.  p.  1034 Baluzii  Mis- 

cellan,  torn,  i.  p.  293,  31.'5.—The  reader  may  also  con- 
Bult  those  writers  who  have  compiled  inde.ves  and 
collections  of  Ecclesiastical  historians. 

J  See  Processus  Ludovici  contra  Johannem,  an. 
1328,  d.  12.  Dec.  datus,  in  Baluzii  Miscellaneis,  t.  ii. 
p.  522,  and  also  his  Appellatio,  p.  494. 

§  I  have  many  pieces  upon  this  subject  that  were 
never  published. 

II  Mart.  Diefenbach,  do  mortis  genere,  quo  Henri- 


XXXII.  The  rage  of  the  contending  parties 
subsided  greatly  from  the  year  132D.  The 
pope  ordered  a  diet  of  the  Franciscans  to  be 
holden  in  that  year  at  Paris,  where,  by  means 
of  Cardinal  Bertrand,  who  was  president  of  the 
assembly,  and  by  tlie  efforts  of  the  Parisian 
doctors,  who  were  attached  to  his  interests,  he 
so  far  softened  the  resentment  of  the  greatest 
part  of  the  brethren,  that  they  ceased  to  defend 
the  conduct  of  Michael  of  Cesena  and  his  as- 
sociates, and  permitted  another  president,  Ge- 
rard Odo,  to  be  substituted  in  his  room.  They 
also  acknowledged  John  to  be  a  true  and  law- 
ful pope;  and  then  terminated  the  dispute  con- 
cerning the  poverty  of  Christ  in  such  an  am- 
biguous manner,  tliat  the  constitutions  and 
edicts  of  Nicolas  III.  and  John  XXII.,  how- 
ever contradictory, maintained  their  authority.* 
But,  notwithstanding  tiiese  pacific  and  mutual 
concessions,  there  were  great  numbers  of  the 
Franciscans  in  Germany,  Spain,  and  Italy, 
who  would  by  no  means  consent  to  this  recon- 
ciliation. After  the  death  of  John,  Benedict 
XII.  and  Clement  VI.  took  great  pains  to 
close  the  breach,  and  showed  some  clemency 
and  tenderness  toward  such  of  the  order  as 
thought  the  institute  of  their  founder  more  sa- 
cred tjian  the  papal  bulls.  This  lenity  had 
some  good  effects.  Many  who  had  withdrawn 
themselves  from  the  society,  were  hereby  in- 
duced to  return  to  it,  in  which  number  were 
Francis  de  Esculo  and  others,  who  had  been 
some  of  John's  most  inveterate  enemies.f 
Even  tliose  who  could  not  bo  prevailed  on  to 
return  to  their  order,  ceased  to  insult  the  popes, 
observed  the  rules  of  their  founder  in  a  quiet 
and  inofiensive  manner,  and  would  have  no 
sort  of  connexion  with  those  Fratricelli  and 
Tertiarics  in  Italy,  Spain,  and  Germany,  who 
condemned  the  papal  authority. J 

XXXIII.  The  German  Franciscans,  who 
were  protected  by  the  emperor  Louis,  held 
out  their  opposition  much  longer  than  any  of 
the  rest.  But,  in  1347,  their  imperial  patron 
being  dead,  the  halcyon  days  of  the  Spirituals, 
as  also  of  their  associates  the  Beghards  or 
Tertiaries,  were  at  an  end  in  Germany.  For 
Charles  IV.,  who,  by  the  interest  of  the  pope, 
had  been  declared  king  of  the  Romans  in 
1345,  was  ready,  in  his  turn,  to  gratify  the  de- 
sires of  the  court  of  Rome,  and  accordingly 
supported,  both  by  his  edicts  and  by  Ids  arms, 
the  inquisitors  who  were  sent  by  the  Roman 
pontiff  against  his  enemies,  and  suffered  them 
to  apprehend  and  put  to  death  all  obnoxious 
individuals  who  came  within  their  reach. 
These  ministers  of  papal  vengeance  acted 
chiefly  in  the  districts  of  Magdebul'g  and  Bre- 
men, Thuringia,  Saxony,  and  Hesse,  where 
they  extirpated  all  the  Beghards  and  Beguines, 
or  Tertiaries,  the  associates  of  those  Francis- 
cans, who  held  that  Christ  and  his  apostles  had 
no  property  in  any  thing.     These  severe  mea- 


cus  VII.  obiit,  p.  145,  and  others.— Eccardi  Corpus 
Hist,  t,  i.  p.  2103.— Boulay,  t.  iv.  p.  220. 

*  Wadding,  tom.  vii.  p.  94. — D'Acherii  Spicilegium, 
torn.  iii.  p.  91. 

t  Argcntre,  Collectio  Judicior.  de  novis  erroribus, 
torn.  i.  p.  .343.— Boulay,  tom.  iv.  p.  281.— Wadding, 
tom.  vii.  p.  313. 

X  Wadding,  tom.  vii.  p.  116,  126.— Argentre,  tom.  1 
p.  343,  &c. 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


397 


sures  were  approved  by  Charles  IV.,  who  then 
resided  at  Lucca,  whence,  in  1369,  hr!  issued 
several  edicts,  commanding  all  the  German 
princes  to  extirpate  out  of  their  dominions  the 
Beghards  and  Beguincs,  or,  as  he  himself  inter- 
preted the  names,  the  voluntary  beggars,*  as 
enemies  of  the  church,  and  of  the  Roman  em- 
pire, and  to  assist  the  inquisitors  in  their  pro- 
ceedings against  them.  By  another  edict,  pub 
lislied  not  long  after,  he  gave  the  houses  of 
the  Beghards  to  the  tribunal  of  the  inquisition, 
ordering  them  to  be  converted  into  prisons  for 
heretics;  and,  at  the  same  time,  ordered  all  the 
effects  of  the  Boguines  to  be  publicly  sold,  and 
the  profits  thence  arising,  to  be  equally  divided 
among  the  inquisitors,  the  magistrates,  and  the 
poor  of  those  towns  and  cities  where  such  sale 
should  take  place. "f  The  Beghards,  being  re- 
duced to  great  distress,  by  this  and  other  man- 
dates of  the  emperor,  and  by  the  constitutions 
of  the  popes,  sought  a  refuge  in  those  provinces 
of  Switzerland  that  border  upon  the  Rhine, 
and  also  in  Holland,  Brabant,  and  various 
parts  of  Germany. J  But  the  edicts  and  man- 
dates of  the  emperor,  together  with  the  papal 
bulls  and  inquisitors,  harassed  them  in  their 
most  distant  retreats;  and,  during  the  reign  of 
Charles  IV.,  all  Germany  (except  tlie  pro- 
vinces bordering  upon  Switzerland)  was  tho- 
roughly purged  of  the  Beghards,  or  rebellious 
Franciscans,  both  perfect  and  imperfect. 

XXXIV.  But  no  edicts,  bulls,  or  inquisitors, 
could  entirely  pluck  up  the  roots  of  this  invet- 
erate discord;  for  so  ardently  were  many  of 
the  brethren  bent  upon  observing,  in  the  most 
perfect  and  rigorous  manner,  the  institute  of 
St.  Francis,  that  numbers  were  to  be  found  in 
all  places,  wiio  either  withstood  the  president 
of  the  society,  or  at  least  obeyed  him  with  re- 
luctance. At  once,  therefore,  to  satisfy  both 
the  lax  and  the  rigid  party,  after  various 
methods  had  been  tried  to  no  purpose,  a  di- 
vision of  the  order  was  agreed  to.  According- 
ly, in  1368,  the  president  consented  that  Pau- 
lutius  Fulginas,  the  chief  of  the  more  rigid 
Franciscans  in  Italy,  together  with  his  asso- 
ciates, who  were  numerous,  should  live  sepa- 
rately from  the  rest  of  the  brethren,  according 
to  the  rules  and  customs  they  had  adopted, 
and  follow  the  institutes  of  tiieir  founder,  in 
the  strictest  and  most  rigorous  mamier.   The 


*  Called,  in  the  German  language,  die  wi/gen  Ar- 

t  I  have  in  my  pos.session  this  edict,  with  other 
laws  of  Charles  IV.  enactoil  on  this  occasion,  as  also 
many  of  the  papal  constitutions,  and  othrr  records 
which  illustrate  this  affair,  and  which  undoiihti'dly 
deserve  to  s«e  the  light.  It  is  certain  that  Charles 
himself,  in  his  edicts  and  mandates,  clearly  charac- 
terizes those  people,  wliom  he  there  styles  Kciihards 
and  Beguines.  as  Franciscan  Tertiaries,  beloiifing  to 
that  parly  of  the  order  then  at  variance  with  the 
pope.  "  They  are  (to  use  the  emperor's  own  words, 
in  hiR  edict  of  the  IHth  of  June,  i:!ti'J)  a  pernicious 
sect,  who  pretend  to  a  sacrilegious  and  heretical 
poverty,  and  who  are  under  a  vow,  that  they  neither 
ought  to  have,  nor  will  have,  any  property,  vvhothrr 
special  or  common,  in  the  goods  they  use;"  (this  is 
the  poverty  of  the  Franciscan  institute,  whirli  John 
XXII.  so  strenuously  opposed)  "which  they  extend 
even  to  their  wretched  habits." — For  so  the  spirituals 
and  their  associates  used  to  do. 

X  See  Odor.  Raynaldus,  Aiinal.  Eccles.  ad  an.  J372, 
sect,  xxxiv.  See  also  the  books  of  Felix  Malleolus, 
written  in  the  following  century  against  the  Beghards 
of  Switzerland. 


Spirituals  and  the  followers  of  Pierre  d'Olive, 
whose  scattered  remains  were  yet  observable 
in  several  places,  joined  themselves  gradually 
and  imperceptibly  to  tliis  party.  And,  as  the 
number  of  those  who  were  fond  of  the  severe 
discipline  continually  increased  in  many  pro- 
vinces, the  popes  thouo'ht  proper  to  approve 
that  institute,  and  to  give  it  the  solenan  sanc- 
tion of  their  authority.  In  consequence  of  this, 
the  Franciscan  order  was  divided  into  two 
large  bodies,  namely,  the  Conventual  Breth- 
ren, and  the  Brethren  of  the  regular  observance. 
Those  who  neglected  the  strict  sense  of  the 
expressions  in  which  the  institute  of  their 
founder  was  conceived,  and  adopted  the  modi- 
fications given  of  them  by  the  pontiifs,  were 
called  by  the  farmer  name;  and  the  council  of 
Constance  conferred  the  latter  upon  those  who 
chose  to  be  determined  by  the  words  of  the 
institute  itself,  rather  than  by  any  explications 
of  it.*  But  the  Fratricelli  and  the  Beghards 
absolutely  rejected  this  reconciliation,  and  per- 
sisted in  disturbing  the  peace  of  the  church 
during  this  and  the  following  century,  in  the 
marquisate  of  Ancona,  and  in  other  districts. 

XXXV.  This  century  gave  rise  to  other  re- 
ligious societies,  some  of  which  did  not  long 
subsist,  and  the  rest  never  became  famous. 
John  Colombini,  a  nobleman  of  Sienna, 
founded  in  1367,  the  order  of  the  Apostolic 
clerks,  who,  because  they  frequently  pro- 
nounced the  name  of  Jesus,  were  afterwards 
called  Jesuates.  This  institution  was  confirmed 
by  Urban  V.,  in  the  following  year,  and  sub- 
sisted till  the  seventeenth  century,  when  it 
was  abolished  by  Clement  IX.f  The  brethren 
belonging  to  it  professed  poverty,  and  adhered 
to  the  institute  of  St.  Augustin.  They  were 
not,  however,  admitted  to  holy  orders,  but  as- 
sisted the  poor  by  their  prayers  and  other  pious 
offices,  and  prepared  medicines  for  them, 
which  they  distributed  gi-atis-l  But  tliese  stat- 
utes were  in  a  manner  abrogated  when  Cle- 
ment dissolved  the  order. 

XXXVI.  Soon  after  the  commencement  of 
this  century,  the  famous  sect  of  the  Cellite 
Brethren  and  Sisters  arose  at  Antwerp;  they 
were  also  styled  the  Alexian  Brethren  and 
Sisters,  because  St.  Alexius  was  their  patron; 
and  they  were  named  Ccllites,  from  the  cells 
in  which  they  were  accustomed  to  live.  As 
the  clergy  of  this  age  took  little  care  of  tl»e 
sick  and  dying,  and  deserted  such  as  were  in- 
fected with  those  pestilential  disorders  which 
were  then  very  frequent,  some  compassionate 
and  pious  persons  at  Antwerp  formed  them- 
selves into  a  society  for  the  performance  of 
these  religious  offices,  which  the  sacerdotal  or- 
ders so  shamefully  neglected.  In  the  prosecu- 
tion of  this  agreement,  they  visited  and  com- 
forted the  sick,  assisted  the  dying  with  their 
prayers  and  exhortations,  took  care  of  the  in- 
terment of  those  who  were  cut  oft"  by  the 
plague,  and  on  that  account  forsaken  by  the 
terrified  clergy,  and  committed  them  to  the 

*  See  Wadding,  tom.  viii.  ix. 
.t  In  the  year  ItiGH. 

t  Helyot,  Hist,  des  Ordres,  tom.  iii.  p.  411.— Pagi 
Breviar.  Pontif.  tom.  iv.  p.  189.— Bonanni,  and 
others,  who  have  compiled  histories  of  the  religious 
orders. 


398 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  U. 


grave  with  a  solemn  funeral  dirge.  It  was 
with  reference  to  this  last  office,  that  the  com- 
mon people  gave  them  the  name  of  Lollards.* 
The  example  of  these  good  people  had  such 
an  extensive  influence,  that  in  a  little  time  so- 
cieties of  the  same  kind,  consisting  both  of 
men  and  women,  were  formed  in  most  parts 
of  Germany  and  Flanders,  and  were  supported, 


*  Many  writers  have  given  us  copious  accounts 
concerning  the  sect  and  name  of  the  Lollards; 
yet  none  of  them  can  be  commended  for  their  fidelity, 
diligence,  or  accuracy,  on  this  head.  This  I  can  con- 
fidently assert,  because  I  have  carefully  and  expressly 
inquired  into  whatever  relates  to  the  Lollards,  and 
from  themostauthenticrecordsconcerning  them,  both 
published  and  unpublished,  have  collected  copious 
materials  from  which  their  true  history  may  be  com- 
piled. Most  of  the  German  writers,  as  well  as  those 
of  other  countries,  affirm,  that  the  Lollards  were  a 
particular  sect,  who  ditfered  from  the  church  of  Rome 
in  many  religious  points;  a)id  that  Walter  Lolhard, 
who  was  burned  in  this  century  at  Cologne,  was 
their  founder.  How  so  many  learned  men  came  to 
adopt  this  opinion,  is  beyond  my  comprehension. 
They  indeed  refer  to  Jo.  Tritheraius  as  the  author 
of  this  opinion:  yet  it  is  certain,  that  no  such  account 
of  these  people  is  to  be  found  in  his  writings.  I 
shall  therefore  endeavour,  with  all  possible  brevity, 
to  throw  all  the  light  I  can  upon  this  matter,  that 
they  who  are  fond  of  ecclesiastical  history  may  have 
a  just  notion  of  it. 

The  term  Lollhard,  or  Lull/iard,  (or,  as  the  ancient 
Germans  wrote  it,  Lollert,  Lullcrt,)  is  compounded 
of  the  old  German  word  lullen,  lollen,  lallxn,  and  the 
well-known  termination  hard.  Lollen,  or  lullen,  signi- 
fies to  sing  with  a  low  voice.  It  is  yet  used  in  the 
same  sense  among  the  English,  who  say,  lull  asleep, 
which  signifies  to  sing  any  one  into  a  slumber  with 
a  sweet  indistinct  voice.  See  Franc.  Junii  Etymo- 
logicon  Anglicanum.  The  word  is  also  used  in  the 
same  sense  among  the  Flemings,  Swedes,  and  other 
nations,  as  appears  by  their  respective  dictionaries. 
Among  the  Germans,  both  the  sense  and  pronuncia- 
tion of  it  have  undergone  some  alteration;  for  they 
isay, /a//cre,  which  signifies  to  pronounce  indistinctly, 
or  stammer.  Lolhard,  therefore,  is  a  singer,  or  one 
who  frequently  sings.  For,  as  the  word  beggen, 
which  universally  signifies  to  request  any  thing  fer- 
vently, is  applied  to  devotional  requests  or  prayers, 
and,  in  the  stricter  sense  in  which  it  is  used  by  the 
Germans,  denotes  praying  fervently  to  God;  in  the 
same  manner  the  word  lollen,  or  lullen,  is  transferred 
from  a  common  to  a  sacred  song,  and  signifies,  in 
its  most  limited  sense,  to  sing  a  hymn.  Lolhard, 
therefore,  in  the  vulgar  tongue  of  the  ancient  Ger- 
mans, denotes  a  person  who  is  continually  praising 
God  with  a  song,  or  singing  hymns  to  his  honour. 
Hocsemius,  a  canon  of  Liege,  has  well  apprehended 
and  e.\pressed  the  force  of  this  word  in  his  Gesta 
Pontificum  Leodiensium,  lib.  i.  cap.  xx.\i.  in  Jo. 
Chapeauvilli  Gestis  Pontificum  Tungrensium  et 
Leodiensium,  tom.  ii.  p.  350.  "  In  the  same  year," 
(1309,)  says  he,  "certain  strolling  hypocrites,  who 
were  called  Lollards,  or  praisers  of  God,  deceived 
some  women  of  quality  in  Ilainault  and  Brabant." 
Because  those  who  praised  God  generally  did  it  in 
verse,  to  praise  Qod,  in  the  Latin  style  of  the  middle 
ages,  meant  to  sing  to  him;  and  such  as  were  fre- 
quently employed  in  acts  of  adoration,  were  called 
religious  singers;  and,  as  prayers  and  hymns  are  re- 
garded as  a  certain  external  sign  of  piety  toward 
God,  those  who  aspire  to  a  more  than  ordinary  de- 
gree of  piety  and  religion,  and  for  that  purpose  were 
more  frequently  occupied  in  singing  hymns  than 
others,  were,  in  the  popular  language,  called  Loll- 
hards.  Hereupon  this  word  acquired  the  same  mean- 
ing with  the  term  Beghard,  which  denoted  a  per- 
son remarkable  for  piety;  for  in  all  the  old  records, 
from  the  eleventh  century,  these  two  words  are 
synonymous:  so  that  all  who  were  styled  Beghards 
are  also  called  Lollards,  which  may  be  proved  to  a 
demonstration  from  many  authors. 

The  Brethren  of  the  free  spirit,  of  whom  we  have 
already  given  a  large  account,  are  by  some  styled 
Beghards,  by  others  Lollards.  The  followers  of 
Gerard  Groote,  or  Priests  of  the  community,  are  fre- 
quently called  Lollard  Brethren.    The  good  man 


partly  by  their  manual  labours,  and  partly  by 
the  charitable  donations  of  pious  persons.  The 
magistrates  and  inhabitants  of  the  towns, 
where  these  brethren  and  sisters  resided,  gave 
them  peculiar  marks  of  favour  and  protection 
on  account  of  their  great  usefulness  to  the 
sick  and  needy.  But  the  clergy,  whose  repu- 
tation was  not  a  little  hurt  by  them,  and  the 


Walter,  who  was  burned  at  Cologne,  and  whom  so 
many  learned  men  have  unadvisedly  represented  as 
the  founder  of  the  sect  of  the  Lollards,  is  by  some 
called  a  Beghard,  by  others  a  Lollard,  and  by  some 
a  Minorite.  The  Franciscan  Tertiaries,  who  were 
remarkable  for  their  prayers  and  other  pious  exer- 
cises, were  frequently  called  Lollards;  and  the  Cellite 
Brethren,  or  Alexians,  whose  piety  was  very  exem- 
plary, no  sooner  appeared  in  Flanders,  about  the  be- 
ginning of  this  century,  than  the  people  gave  them 
the  title  of  Lollards.  A  particular  reason  indeed  for 
their  being  distinguished  by  this  name  was,  that  they 
were  public  singers,  who  made  it  their  business  to 
inter  the  bodies  of  those  who  died  of  the  plague,  and 
sang  a  dirge  over  them  in  a  mournful  and  indistinct 
tone  as  they  carried  them  to  the  grave.  Among  the 
many  testimonies  that  might  be  alleged  to  prove 
this,  we  shall  confine  ourselves  to  the  words  of  Jo. 
Bapt.  Gramaye,  a  man  eminently  skilled  in  the 
history  of  his  country,  in  his  work  entitled  Antwer- 
pia,  lib.  ii.  "The  Alexians,"  says  he,  "who  con- 
stantly employed  themselves  about  funerals,  had  their 
rise  at  Antwerp;  at  which  place,  about  the  year  1300, 
some  honest  pious  laymen  formed  a  society.  On 
account  of  their  extraordinary  temperance  and  mo- 
desty, they  were  styled  Matemanni,  (or  Moderatists,) 
and  also  Lollards,  from  their  attendance  on  funeral 
obsequies.  From  their  cells,  they  were  named  Cellite 
brethren."  To  the  same  purpose  is  the  following 
passage  in  his  work  entitled  Lovanium:  "  The 
Alexians,  who  were  wholly  engaged  in  taking  care 
of  funerals,  now  began  to  appear.  They  were  lay- 
men, who,  having  wholly  devoted  themselves  to 
works  of  mercy,  were  named  Lollards  and  Mate- 
manni. They  made  it  their  sole  business  to  take 
care  of  all  such  as  were  sick,  or  out  of  their  senses. 
These  they  attended  both  privately  and  publicly,  and 
buried  the  dead."  The  same  learned  author  tells 
thus,  that  he  transcribed  some  of  these  particulars 
from  an  old  diary  written  in  Flemish  rhyme.  Hence 
we  find  in  the  Annals  of  Holland  and  Utrecht,  in 
Ant.  Mattha-i  Analect.  vet.  M\'\.  tom.  i.  p.  431,  the 
following  words:  "  Die  Lollardtjes  die  brochten  de 
dooden  by  een,  i.  e.  the  Lollards  who  collected  the 
dead  bodies;"  which  passage  is  thus  paraphrased  by 
Matthaeus:  "  The  managers  of  funerals,  and  carriers 
of  the  dead,  of  whom  there  was  a  fixed  company, 
were  a  setof  mean,  worthless  creatures,  who  usually 
spoke  in  a  canting  mournful  tone,  as  if  bewailing  the 
dead;  and  hence  it  came  to  pass,  that  a  street  in 
Utrecht,  in  which  most  of  these  people  lived,  was 
called  the  LoUer  street."  The  same  reason  that 
changed  the  word  Beghard  from  its  primitive  mean- 
ing, contributed  also  to  give,  in  process  of  time,  a  difTer- 
ent  signification  to  that  of  Lollard,  even  to  its  being 
assumed  by  persons  that  dishonoured  it;  for,  among 
those  Lollards  who  made  such  extraordinary  pre- 
tensions to  piety  and  religion,  and  spent  the  great- 
est part  of  their  time  in  meditation,  prayer,  and  the 
like  acts  of  piety,  there  were  many  abominable  hypo- 
crites, who  entertained  the  most  ridiculous  opinions, 
and  concealed  the  most  enormous  vices,  under  the 
specious  mask  of  this  extraordinary  profession.  But 
it  was  chiefly  after  the  rise  of  the  Alexians,  or  Cel- 
lites,  that  the  name  Lollard  became  infamous.  For 
the  priests  and  monks,  being  inveterately  exasperated 
against  these  good  men,  propagated  injurious  suspi- 
cions of  them,  and  endeavoured  to  persuade  the  peo- 
ple, that,  innocent  and  beneficent  as  the  Lollards 
seemed  to  he,  they  were  in  reality  the  contrary,  be- 
ing tainted  with  the  most  pernicious  sentiments  of  a 
religious  kind,  and  secretly  addicted  to  all  sorts  of 
vices.  Thus  by  degrees  it  came  to  pass,  that  any 
person,  who  covered  heresies  or  crimes  under  the 
appearance  of  piety,  was  called  a  Lollard.  Hence  it 
is  certain,  this  was  not  a  name  to  denote  any  one 
particular  sect,  but  was  formerly  common  to  all  per- 
sons and  all  sects,  who  were  supposed  to  be  guilty 
of  impiety  toward  God  and  the  church,  under  an  ex- 
ternal profession  of  extraordinary  piety. 


Chap.  III. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


399 


Mendicant  friars,  who  found  their  profits  di- 
minished by  tiie  growing  credit  of  these  stran- 
gers, persecuted  them  vehemently,  and  accused 
them  to  tlie  popes  of  many  vices  and  intolera- 
ble errors.  Hence  it  was,  that  the  word  Lol- 
lard, wliich  originally  carried  a  good  meaning, 
became  a  term  of  reproacli,  to  denote  a  person 
who,  mider  the  mask  of  extraordinary  piety, 
concealed  eitlier  pernicious  sentiments  or  enor- 
mous vices.  But  the  magistrates,  by  their  re- 
commendations and  testimonials,  supported 
the  Lollards  against  their  malignant  rivals,  and 
obtained  several  papal  constitutions,  by  which 
their  institute  was  confirmed,  and  their  per- 
sons, exempted  from  the  cognizance  of  the  in- 
quisitors, were  subjected  entirely  to  the  juris- 
diction of  the  bishops.  But,  as  these  measures 
were  insufficient  to  secure  them  from  molesta- 
tion, Charles,  duke  of  Burgundy,  in  1472,  ob- 
tained a  solemn  bull  from  pope  Sixtus  IV.,  or- 
dering that  the  Cellites,  or  Lollards,  should  be 
ranked  among  the  religious  orders,  and  deli- 
vered from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  bishops;  and, 
in  1506,  Julius  II.  granted  them  yet  greater 
privileges.  Many  societies  of  this  kind  are 
yet  subsisting  at  Cologne,  and  in  the  cities  of 
Flanders,  though  they  have  evidently  departed 
from  their  ancient  rules.* 

XXXVII.  Among  the  Greek  writers  of  this 
century,  the  following  were  the  most  eminent: 

Nicephorus  Callistus,  whose  Ecclesiastical 
History  we  have  already  mentioned; 

Matthew  Blastares,  who  illustrated  and  ex- 
plained the  canon  law  of  the  Greeks; 

Balaam,  wlio  was  a  very  zealous  champion 
in  behalf  of  the  Grecian  cause  against  the  La- 
tins; 

Gregory  Acindynus,  an  inveterate  enemy 
of  the  Palamites; 

John  Cantacuzenus,  famous  for  his  history 
of  his  own  time,  and  his  confutation  of  the 
Mohammedan  law; 

Nicephorus  Gregoras,  who  compiled  the 
Byzantine  history,  and  left  some  other  monu- 
ments of  his  genius  to  posterity; 

Theophanes,  bishop  of  Nice,  a  laborious  de- 
fender of  the  truth  of  Christianity  against  the 
Jews,  and  the  rest  of  its  enemies; 

Niius  Cabasilas,  Nilus  Rhodius,  and  Nilus 
Damyla,  who  most  warmly  maintained  the 
cause  of  their  nation  against  the  Latin  writers; 

Philotheus,  several  of  whose  tracts  are  yet 
extant,  and  seem  well  adapted  to  excite  a  de- 
votional temper  and  spirit; 

Gregory  Palamas,  of  whom  more  will  be 
said  hereafter. 

XXXVIII.  From  the  prodigious  number  of 
tlie  Latin  writers  of  this  century,  we  shall  only 
select  the  most  famous.  Among  the  scholastic 
doctors,  who  blended  philosophy  with  divinity, 
John  Duns  Scotus,  a  Franciscan,  and  the 
great  antagonist  of  Thomas,  held  the  first 


*  Beside  many  others,  whom  it  is  unnecessary  to 
mention  here,  see  iCgid.  Gelenius,  de  admiranda 
•  sacra  et  civili  mapnitudine  urbis  Colonian,  lib.  iii. 
Syntajm.  li.p.534, 508.— Jo.  Bapt.  Or.imaye,  in  Anti- 
quit.  Bolg — Anton.  Sanderus,  in  Brabantia  el  Flan- 
dria  illnstrat. — Aub.  Minrns,  in  Opcribus  Diplo- 
matiroHiatoricis,  and  many  other  writers  of  this 
period  in  various  places  of  their  works.  I  may  add, 
that  the  Lollards  are  by  many  called  die  J^follbruder, 
from  noUen,  an  ancient  German  word. 


rank;  and,  though  not  entitled  to  any  praise 
for  his  candour  and  ingenuity,  was  by  no 
means  inferior  to  any  of  his  contemporaries  in 
acuteness  and  subtlety  of  genius.* 

After  him,  the  most  celebrated  writers  of 
this  class  were  Durand  of  St.  Portian,  who 
combatted  the  commonly  received  doctrine  of 
the  divine  co-operation  with  the  human  will,t 
Antonius  Andreas,  HerviEus  Natalis,  Francis 
Mayronius,  Thomas  Bradwardine,  an  acute,  in- 
genious man,J  Peter  Aureolus,  John  Bacon, 
William  Occam,  Walter  Burlaeus,  Peter  de 
Alliaco,  Thomas  of  Strasburg,  and  Gregory 
de  Rimini. § 

Among  the  Mystic  divines,  Jo.  Tauler  and 
Jo.  Ruysbrock,  though  not  entirely  fi-ee  from 
errors,  were  eminent  for  their  wisdom  and  in- 
tegrity; 

Nicolas  Lyranus,  or  de  Lyra,  acquired 
great  reputation  by  his  Compendious  Exposi- 
tion of  the  whole  Bible; 

Rayner  of  Pisa,  is  celebrated  for  his  Sum- 
mary of  Theology,  and  Astesanus  for  his  Sum- 
mary of  Cases  of  Conscience. 

CHAPTER  m. 

Concerning  the  Doctrine  of  the  Christian  Church 

during  this  Century. 

I.  All  those  who  are  well  acquainted  with 
the  history  of  these  times,  must  acknowledge, 
that  religion,  either  as  it  was  taught  in  the 
schools,  or  inculcated  upon  the  people  as  the 
rule  of  their  conduct,  was  so  extremely  adul- 
terated and  deformed,  that  there  was  not  a  sin- 
gle branch  of  the  Christian  doctrine,  which 
retained  its  primitive  lustre  and  beauty.  Hence 
it  may  easily  be  imagined,  that  the  W^aldenses 
and  others,  who  ardently  wished  for  a  reforma- 
tion of  the  church,  and  had  separated  them- 
selves from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  bishop  of 
Rome,  though  every  where  exposed  to  the  fury 
of  the  inquisitors  and  monks,  yet  increased 
from  day  to  day,  and  baffled  all  the  attempts 
that  were  made  for  their  extirpation.  Many 
of  these  poor  people,  having  observed,  that 
great  nimibers  of  their  party  perished  by  the 
flames  and  other  punishments,  fled  out  of  Italy, 
France,  and  Germany,  into  Bohemia,  and  the 
adjacent  coimtries,  where  they  afterwards  as- 
sociated with  the  Hussites,  and  other  separa- 
tists from  the  church  of  Rome. 

II.  Nicolas  Lyranus  deservedly  holds  the 
first  rank  among  the  commentators  on  the 
Scriptures,  having  explained  them  in  a  man- 
ner far  superior  to  the  prevailing  taste  and 
spirit  of  his  age.     He  was  a  perfect  master  of 

*  The  very  laborious  and  learned  Wadding  fa- 
voured the  public  with  an  accurate  edition  of  the 
works  of  Scotus,  printed  at  Lyons,  KiStt,  in  twelve 
volumes  folio.  See  Wood,  Antiq.  O.xon.  tom.  i. — 
Wadding,  Annal.  Minor,  fratr.  tom.  vi.— Boulay, 
tom.  iv. 

t  See  Launoy's  treatise,  entitled.  Syllabus  ratio- 
num,  quibus  Durandi  causa  defenditur;  also  Gallia 
Christ,  tom.  ii. 

I  Rich.  Simon,  liettrcs  Choisies,  tom.  iv.  p.  232; 
and  Critique  de  la  Biblioth.  des  Auteurs  Ecclesiast. 
par  M.  Du-Pin,  tom.  i.  p.  300.  Steph.  Souciet,  in  Ob- 
servationibus  ad  h.  I.  p.  703.— Nouv.  Diet.  Hist,  et 
Crit.  tom.  ii.  p.  500.  He  was  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury. 

§  For  a  full  account  of  all  these  persons,  see  His- 
loirs  d«  I'Eglise  Gallicane,  tom.  xiv. 


400 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


the  Hebrew  language,  but  not  well  versed  in 
the  Greek,  and  was  therefore  much  happier  in 
his  exposition  of  tiie  Old  Testament,  than  in 
that  of  the  New.*  All  the  other  divines,  who 
applied  themselves  to  this  kind  of  writing, 
were  servile  imitators  of  their  predecessors. 
They  either  culled  choice  sentences  from  the 
writings  of  the  more  ancient  doctors;  or,  de- 
parting from  the  obvious  meaning  of  the  words, 
tliey  tortured  the  sacred  writers  to  accommo- 
date them  to  senses  that  were  mysterious  and 
abstruse.  They  who  are  desirous  of  being 
acquainted  with  tliis  art,  may  have  recourse  to 
Vitalis  a  Furno,  in  his  Moral  Mirror  of  the 
Scriptures,!  or  to  Ludolphus  of  Saxony,  in  his 
Psalter  Spiritualized.  J  The  philosophers,  who 
commented  upon  the  sacred  writings,  sometimes 
proposed  subtle  questions,  drawn  from  what 
was  called,  in  this  century.  Internal  Science, 
and  solved  them  in  a  dexterous  and  artful  man- 
ner. 

III.  The  greatest  part  of  the  doctors  of  this 
century,  both  Greek  and  Latin,  followed  the 
rules  of  the  peripatetic  philosophy,  in  expound- 
ing and  teaching  the  doctrines  of  religion; 
and  the  Greeks,  from  their  commerce  with  the 
Latins,  seemed  to  have  acquired  some  know- 
ledge of  those  methods  of  instruction  which 
were  used  in  the  western  schools.  Even  to 
this  day,  the  Greeks  read,  in  their  own  tongue, 
the  works  of  Thomas,  and  other  capital  writers 
of  the  scholastic  class,  which  in  this  age  were 
translated  and  introduced  into  the  Greek 
church  by  Demetrius  Cydonius  and  others. § 
Prodigious  numbers  among  tlie  Latins  were 
fond  of  this  subtle  method,  in  which  John 
Scotus,  Durand  of  St.  Portian,  and  William 
Occam,  peculiarly  excelled.  Some  few  had 
recourse  to  the  decisions  of  Scripture  and  tra- 
dition in  explaining  divine  truths,  but  they 
were  overborne  by  the  immense  tribe  of  logi- 
cians, who  carried  all  before  them. 

IV.  This  superiority  of  the  schoolmen  did 
not,  however,  prevent  some  wise  and  pious 
men  among  the  Mystics,  and  in  other  sects, 
from  severely  censuring  this  presumptuous 
method  of  bringing  before  the  tribunal  of  phi- 
losophy matters  of  pure  revelation.  Many, 
as  it  appears,  were  bold  enough  to  oppose  the 
reigning  passion,  and  to  recall  the  youth  de- 
signed for  the  ministry,  to  the  study  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  the  writings  of  the  ancient 
fathers.  This  proceeding  kindled  the  flame  of 
discord  almost  every  where;  but  this  flame 
raged  with  peculiar  violence  in  some  of  the  more 
famous  universities,  especially  in  those  of  Paris 
and  Oxford,  where  many  sharp  disputes  were 
continually  carried  on  against  the  philosophical 
divines  by  those  of  the  biblical  party,  who, 
though  greatly  inferior  to  their  antagonists  in 
point  of  number,  were  sometimes  victorious. 
For  the  philosophical  legions,  chiefly  tutored 
by  Dominicans  and  Franciscans,  were  often 
extremely  rash  in  tlieir  manner  of  disputing; 

*  Rich.  Simon,  Histoire  ties  princip;iux  CoinmeiUa- 
teuis  du  N.  T.  p.  447.  and  Critique  dels  Bililiotli.  des 
Anteurs  Eccles.  par  M.  Du-I'in,  torn.  i.  p.  352. — Wad- 
ding, torn.  V.  p.  21)4. 

t  Speculum  Morale  totius  Srriptnraj. 

1  Psalteiium  jnxta  siiiritiialriii  t^cnsum. 

§  Rich.  Simon.  Creancp  ({>■■  lEglise  Orientale  sur 
la  Transubstaiitiation,  p.  106. 


they  defined  and  explained  the  principal  doc- 
trines of  revealed  religion  in  such  a  way,  as 
really  tended  to  overturn  them,  and  fell  into 
opinions  that  were  evidently  absurd  and  im- 
pioiLS.  Hence  it  came  to  pass,  that  some  of 
them  were  compelled  to  abjure  their  errors, 
others  to  seek  their  safety  in  flight;  some  had 
their  writings  publicly  burned,  and  others  were 
thrown  into  prison.*  However,  when  these 
commotions  were  quelled,  most  of  them  re- 
turned, though  with  prudence  and  caution,  to 
their  former  way  of  thinking,  perplexed  their 
adversaries  by  various  contrivances,  and  de- 
prived them  of  their  reputation,  their  profits, 
and  many  of  their  followers. 

V.  It  is  remarkable,  that  the  scholastic  doc- 
tors, or  philosophical  theologists,  far  from 
agreeing  among  themselves,  were  furiously 
engaged  in  disputations  vi^ith  each  other  con- 
cerning many  points.  The  flame  of  their  con- 
troversy was,  in  this  century,  supplied  with 
copious  accessions  of  fuel,  by  John  Duns  Sco- 
tus, a  learned  friar  already  mentioned,  who, 
animated  against  the  Dominicans  by  a  warm 
spirit  of  jealousy,  had  attacked  and  attempted 
to  disprove  several  doctrines  of  Thomas  Aqui- 
nas. Upon  this,  the  Dominicans,  taking  the 
alarm,  united  from  all  quarters  to  defend  their 
favourite  doctor,  whom  they  justly  considered 
as  the  leader  of  the  scholastics,  while  the  Fran- 
ciscans espoused  with  ardour  the  cause  of  Sco- 
tus, whom  they  looked  upon  as  a  divine  sage 
sent  down  from  heaven  to  enlighten  bewil- 
dered and  erring  mortals.  Thus  these  power- 
ful and  flourishing  orders  were  again  divided; 
and  hence  originated  the  two  famous  sects, 
the  Scotists  and  Thomists,  which,  to  this  day, 
dispute  the  field  of  controversy  in  the  liatin 
schools.  The  chief  points  about  which  they 
disagree  are,  the  nature  of  the  divine  co-ope- 
ration with  the  human  will,  the  measure  of 
divine  grace  that  is  necessary  to  salvation,  the 
unity  of  form  in  man,  or  personal  identity,  and 
other  abstruse  and  minute  questions,  the  enu- 
meration of  which  is  foreign  to  our  purpose. 
We  shall  only  observe,  that  what  contributed 
most  to  exalt  the  reputation  of  Scotus,  and  to 
cover  him  with  glory,  was  his  demonstration 
and  defence  of  what  was  called  the  Immacu- 
late Conception  of  the  Virgin  Mary  against 
the  Dominicans,  who  entertained  different  no- 
tions of  that  point. t 

VI.  A  prodigious  number  of  the  people,  de- 
nominated Mystics,  resided,  and  propagated 
tlieir  tenets,  in  almost  every  part  of  Europe. 
There  were,  undoubtedly,  among  them  many 
persons  of  eminent  piety,  who  endeavoured  to 
wean  men  from  an  excessive  attachment  to 
the  external  part  of  religion,  and  to  form  them 
to  the  love  of  God,  and  the  practice  of  genuine 


*  See  Boulay,  torn.  iv. — In  1340,  several  opinions 
of  the  schoolmen,  concerning  the  Trinity  and  other 
doctrines,  were  condemned,  p.  206. — In  1347,  M.  Jo. 
de  Meicinia  and  Nic.  de  Ultricuria  were  obliged  to 
abjure  their  errors,  p.  2!18,  308. — In  1348,  one  Simon 
was  convicted  of  some  horrible  errors,  p.  322. — The 
same  fate,  in  1354,  befell  Guido  of  the  Augustine  or- 
der, p.  329.  In  1362,  the  like  happened  to  one  Louis, 
p.  374,  to  .To.  de  Calore,  p.  377;  in  136.5,  to  Dion.  Soul- 
liichat,  p.  382.  Oxford  also  had  its  share  in  transac- 
tions of  this  nature.  See  Ant.  Wood,  torn.  i.  p.  153, 
183. 

t  See  Wadd'.riT,  torn.  vi.  p.  53. 


Chap.  III. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


401 


virtue.  Such,  among  otlicra,  were  Taulcrus, 
Ruysbrockius,  Suso,  and  Gerard  of  Zutplien,* 
who,  it  must  be  allowed,  liavo  left  many  wri- 
tings that  are  exceedingly  well  calculated  to 
excite  pious  dispositions  in  the  minds  of  their 
readers,  though  want  of  judgment,  and  a  pro- 
pensity to  indulge  enthusiastic  visions,  arc 
failings  common  to  them  all.  But  there  were 
also  some  senseless  fanatics  belonging  to  this 
party,  who  ran  from  one  place  to  another,  re- 
commending a  most  unaccountable  extinction 
of  all  the  rational  faculties,  whereby  they  idly 
imagined  the  human  mind  would  be  transfused 
into  the  divine  essence,  and  thus  led  their 
proselytes  into  a  foolish  kind  of  piety,  that  in 
too  many  cases  bordered  nearly  upon  licen- 
tiousness. The  religious  phrenzy  of  these  en- 
thusiasts rose  to  such  a  height,  as  rendered 
them  detestable  to  the  sober  sort  of  Mystics, 
who  charged  their  followers  to  have  no  con- 
nexions with  them.f 

VII.  It  is  needless  to  say  much  concerning 
those  who  applied  themselves  to  the  study  of 
morality,  as  their  spirit  is  nearly  of  the  same 
kind  with  that  of  the  authors  whom  we  have 
already  noticed;  though  it  may  be  proper  to 
mention  two  circumstances,  by  which  the  rea- 
der may  ascertain  the  true  state  of  this  science. 
The  first  is,  that,  about  this  time,  more  writers 
than  in  any  former  century  made  it  their  busi- 
ness to  collect  and  solve,  what  they  styled. 
Cases  of  Conscience;  by  which  Astesanus,  an 
Italian,  Monaldus,  and  Bartholomew  of  St. 
Concordia,  acquired  a  reputation  superior  to 
that  of  any  of  their  contemporaries.  This  kind 
of  writing  was  of  a  piece  with  the  education 
then  received  in  the  schools,  since  it  taught 
people  to  quibble  and  wrangle,  instead  of 
forming  them  to  a  sound  faitii  and  a  suitable 
practice.  A  second  tiling  worthy  of  notice  is, 
that  moral  duties  were  explained,  and  their 
practice  enforced,  by  allegories  and  compari- 
sons of  a  new  and  whimsical  kind,  even  by  ex- 
amples drawn  from  the  natures,  properties,  and 
actions  of  the  brute  creation.  These  writers 
began,  for  instance,  by  explaining  the  nature 
and  qualities  of  some  particular  animal,  and 
then  applied  their  description  to  human  life 
and  mamicrs,  to  characterize  the  virtues  and 
vices  of  moral  agents.  The  most  remarkable 
productions  of  this  sort  arc  Niedcr's  Formica- 
rius,  a  treatise  concerning  Bees  by  Thomas 
Brabantinus,  dissertations  upon  Beasts  by 
Hugh  of  St.  Victor,  and  a  tract  by  Thonuu) 
Whalley,  entillud,  The  Nature  of  Brute  Ani- 
Tiials  moralizwl. 

VIII.  The  defender;)  of  Chriylianity  in  Ihiu 
age  were,  in  general,  unequal  to  the  glohouu 
cause  they  undertook  to  support;  nor  do  their 
writings  discover  any  striking  marks  of  genius, 
dexterity,  perspicuity,  or  candour.  Some  pro- 
ductions, indeed,  appeared  from  time  to  time, 


•  Oonceniing  these  authors,  auu  I'clr.  Poiict,  Dib- 
lioth.  Mysticuriini,  ari<l  Uoclofr.  Ariiolii,  Historiu  et 
Dcscriptio  Thuol.  Myatic;c.  Of  Taulerus  and  Suso, 
Kchard  treats  expressly  in  his  Scriptor.  Pricdicat. 
torn.  i.  p.  (>5:i,  677.  See  alsu  Acta  tjaiiclor.  Jaiiuar. 
lorn.  ii.  p.  05-. 

t   Joh.   Uiiyslirockius  inveichcd    liitterly  acainsl 
•  hem,  aa  appears  from  hij  VVorkJ,  published  by  liUiir. 
Siirius,  p  .'iO,  :i78,  and  ulsii  from  his  treatise  dc  vera 
Coutemplnliiiiie,  eap.  xviii.  p.  C08. 
Vol.  I.— 61 


that  were  not  altogether  unworthy  of  notice. 
Tho  learned  Bradwardine,  an  Engliah  divine, 
advanced  many  pertinent  and  ingentoua  re- 
marks, tending  to  confirm  the  truth  of  Chris- 
tianity, in  a  Book  upon  Providence.  The 
work,  entitled,  CoUyrium  Fidci  contra  Ilrorc- 
ticos,  or,  the  "  Eye-salve  of  Faith  against  the 
Heretics,"  shows,  tiiat  its  author,  Alvaro  Po- 
lagio,  was  a  well-meaning  and  judicious  man, 
though  he  has  by  no  means  exhausted  the  sub- 
ject in  this  performance.  Nicolas  de  Lyra 
wrote  against  the  Jews,  as  did  also  Porchctua 
Salvaticus,  whose  treatise,  entitled,  "  The 
Triumph  of  Faith,"  is  chioHy  borrowed  from 
the  writings  of  Raymond  Martin.  Both  these 
writers  are  much  inferior  to  Thcophanes, 
whoso  "  Book  against  the  Jews,  and  his  Har- 
mony between  the  Old  and  New  Testament," 
contain  many  observations  that  are  by  no 
means  contemptible. 

IX.  During  this  century,  there  were  some 
promising  appearances  of  a  reconciliation  be- 
tween the  Greeks  and  Latins.  For  the  former, 
apprehending  that  they  might  want  assistance 
to  set  bounds  to  the  power  of  the  Turks, 
which  about  this  time  was  continually  increas- 
ing, often  pretended  a  willingness  to  submit  to 
the  Latin  canons.  Accordingly,  in  1339,  An- 
dronicus  the  Younger  sent  Balaam  as  his  am- 
bassador into  the  west,  to  desire  a  reconcilia- 
tion in  his  name.  In  1349,  another  Grecian 
embassy  was  sent  to  Clement  VI.  for  the  same 
purpose,  and,  in  1356,  a  third  was  dispatched 
upon  a  Hke  errand  to  Innocent  VI.  Nor  was 
this  all;  for,  in  1367,  the  Grecian  patriarch  ar- 
rived at  Rome,  in  order  to  negotiate  this  im- 
portant matter,  and  was  followed,  in  1369,  by 
the  emperor  hnnself,  John  Palajologus,  who, 
in  order  to  conciliate  the  friendship  and  good- 
will of  the  Latins,  published  a  confession  of  his 
faith,  which  was  agreeable  to  the  sentiments 
of  the  Roman  pontiff.  But,  notwitlistanding 
these  prudent  and  pacific  measures,  the  major 
part  of  tiie  Greeks  could  not  be  persuaded  by 
any  means  to  drop  the  controversy,  or  to  be 
reconciled  to  the  church  of  Rome,  though  se- 
veral of  them,  from  views  of  interest  or  ambi- 
tion, expressed  a  readiness  to  submit  to  its  de- 
mands; so  that  this  whole  century  was  spent 
partly  in  furious  debates,  and  partly  in  fruit- 
less negotiations."* 

X.  In  1381,  a  furious  controversy  arose  at 
Paris,  between  the  university  and  tho  Domi- 
nican order.  The  author  of  it  was  John  de 
Montcsono,  a  native  of  Arragon,  a  Dominican 
friar  and  professor  of  divinity,  who,  in  pursu- 
ance of  the  decisions  and  doctrine  of  his  order, 
publicly  denied  that  the  blessed  Virgin  Mary 
was  conceived  without  any  stain  of  original 
sin;  and  moreover  asserted,  that  all  who  be- 
lieved the  inmiaculate  Conception  were  ene- 
mies of  the  true  faith.  Tho  quarrel  occasioned 
by  this  proceeding  would  certainly  have  been 
soon  comjironiiscd,  had  not  John,  in  a  public 
discourse  delivered  in  138T,  revived  this  opin- 
ion with  more  violence  than  ever.     For  thiis 


*  See  llcnr.  Canisii  Leelimirs  Antiqucc,  toin.  iv. 
p.  30'J. — Leo  Allatiu3,dcperputuauonsensioiieccelcs. 
Orient,  ct  Occident.  Iili.  li.  cap.  xvi.  xvii.  p.  782. — 
Wadchng,  toin.  viii.  p  '20,  40,  107,  201,  '2H3.  Baluze, 
Vila;  rontif.  Avcmon.  torn.  i.  p.  U9,  380,  403.  772. 


402 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


reason  the  college  of  divines,  and  afterwards 
the  whole  university,  condemned  this,  and 
some  other  tenets  of  Montesonus.  For  it  may 
be  proper  to  inform  the  reader,  that  the  uni- 
versity of  Paris,  principally  induced  thereto 
by  the  discourses  of  John  Duns  Scotus,  had, 
from  the  beginning  almost  of  this  century, 
publicly  adopted  tiie  doctrine  of  the  sinless 
conception  of  the  lioly  Virgin.*  Upon  this, 
the  Dominicans,  with  their  champion  John  dc 
Montesono,  appealed  from  the  sentence  of  the 
university  to  pope  Clement  VII.  at  Avignon, 
and  clamorously  affirmed  that  St.  Thomas 
himself  was  condemned  by  the  judgment  passed 
upon  their  brother.  But,  before  the  pope  could 
decide  the  affair,  the  accused  friar  fled  from 
the  court  of  Avignon,  went  over  to  the  party 
of  Urban  VI.,  who  resided  at  Rome,  and,  during 
his  absence,  was  excommunicated.  Whether 
the  pope  approved  the  sentence  of  the  miiver- 
sity  of  Paris,  we  cannot  say.  The  Dominicans, 
however,  deny  that  he  did,  and  affirm,  that 
the  professor  was  condemned  purely  on  ac- 
coimt  of  his  flight;!  though  there  are  many 
others  who  assert,  that  his  opinion  was  also 
condemned;  and,  as  the  Dominicans  would  not 
acknowledge  the  validity  of  the  academic  sen- 
tence, they  were  expelled  in  1389,  and  were 
not  restored  to  their  ancient  honours  in  the 
university  before  the  year  1404.1 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Concerning  the  Rites  and  Ceremonies  used  in  the 

Church  during  this  Century. 

I.  We  must  confine  ourselves  to  a  general 
and  superficial  view  of  the  alterations  wliich 
were  introduced  into  the  ritual  of  the  church 
during  this  century,  since  it  cannot  reasonably 
be  expected  that  we  should  insist  largely  upon 
this  subject  within  the  narrow  limits  of  such  a 
work  as  this.  A  principal  circumstance  that 
strikes  us  here,  is  the  change  that  was  made 
in  the  time  of  celebrating  the  jubilee.  In  1350, 
Clement  VI.,  in  compliance  with  the  request 
of  the  people  of  Rome,  enacted  that  the  jubi- 
lee, which  Boniface  VIII.  had  ordered  to  be 
celebrated  in  every  hundreth  year,  should  be 
celebrated  twice  in  every  century. §  In  favour 
of  this  alteration  he  might  have  assigned  a 
very  plausible  pretext,  since  it  is  well  known 
that  the  Jews,  whom  the  Roman  pontiffs  were 
always  ready  to  imitate  in  whatever  related  to 
pomp  and  majesty,  celebrated  this  sacred  so- 
lemnity in  every  fiftieth  year.  But  Urban  VI., 
Sixtus  VI.,  and  other  popes,  who  ordered  a 
more  fi-equent  celebration  of  this  salutary  and 
profitable  institution,would  have  had  more  diffi- 
culty in  attempting  to  satisfy  those  who  might 
have  demanded  sufficient  reasons  to  justify  this 
inconstancy. 

II.  Innocent  V.  instituted  festivals,  sacred 
to  the  memory  of  the  lance  with  which  our 


*  See  Wadiling's  Annals,  torn.  vi. 

t  See  Jac.  Echardi  Scriptor.  l'ra;dicator.  torn.  i.  p. 
691. 

t  Boulay,  torn.  iv.  p.  500,  618,  638.— Baluzii  Vit. 
Pom.  Av.  torn.  i.  p.  521;  torn.  ii.  p.  002.— Argenlre, 
Colleclio  judicior.  de  novis  errorib.  torn.  i.  p.  61.— 
Jac.  dc  Longueval,  Hist,  de  I'Kglise  GaUicane,  torn 
xiv.  p.  347. 

^Baluze,  torn.  i.  p.  247,  287,  312,  887— Muratori, 
Auttquit.  Ital.  torn.  iii.  p.  344,  481. 


Saviour's  side  was  pierced,  of  the  nails  that 
fastened  him  to  the  cross,  and  the  crown  of 
thorns  he  wore  at  his  death.*  This,  though 
evidently  absurd,  may  be  deemed  pardonable 
upon  the  whole,  if  we  consider  the  gross  igno- 
rance and  stupidity  of  the  times.  But  nothing 
can  excuse  the  impious  fanaticism  and  super- 
stition of  Benedict  XII.,  who,  by  appointing  a 
festival  in  honour  of  the  marks  of  Christ's 
wounds,  which,  the  Franciscans  tell  us,  were 
imprinted  upon  the  body  of  their  chief  and 
founder  by  a  miraculous  interposition  of  the 
divine  jjower,  gave  credit  to  that  grossly  ridicu- 
lous and  blasphemous  fable.  John  XXII.,  be- 
side the  sanction  he  gave  to  many  other  super- 
stitions, ordered  Christians  to  add  to  their 
jjrayers  those  words  with  which  the  angel 
Gabriel  saluted  the  Virgin  Mary. 

CHAPTER  V. 

Concerning  the  Divisions  and  Heresies  thai  trou- 
bled the  Church  during  this  Century. 
I.  During  some  part  of  this  century,  the 
Hesychasts,  or,  as  the  Latins  call  them,  the 
Quietists,  gave  great  trouble  to  the  Oreek 
church.  To  assign  the  true  source  of  it,  we 
must  observe  that  Barlaam,  or  Balaam,  a  na.- 
tive  of  Calabria,  who  was  a  monk  of  St.  Basil, 
and  afterwards  bishop  of  Gierace  in  Calabria, 
made  a  progress  through  Greece  to  inspect 
the  behaviour  of  the  monks,  among  whom  he 
found  many  things  highly  reprehensible.  He 
was  more  especially  offended  at  the  Hesychasts 
of  mount  Athos,  in  Thessaly,  who  were  the 
same  with  the  Mystics,  or  more  perfect  monks, 
and  who,  by  a  long  course  of  intense  contem- 
plation, endeavoured  to  arrive  at  a  tranquillity 
of  mind  entirely  free  from  tumult  and  pertur- 
bation. These  Quietists,  in  compliance  with 
an  ancient  opinion  of  their  principal  doctors, 
(who  imagined  that  there  was  a  celestial  light 
concealed  in  the  deepest  recesses  of  the  mind,) 
used  to  sit  in  a  solitary  corner,  during  a  certain 
portion  of  every  day,  with  their  eyes  eagerly 
and  immoveably  fixed  upon  the  middle  region 
of  the  belly,  or  navel;  and  boasted,  that  while 
they  remained  in  this  posture,  they  found,  in 
effect,  a  divine  light  beaming  forth  from  the 
soul,  which  diffused  through  their  hearts  inex- 
pressible sensations  of  pleasure  and  delight.f 


*  See  Jo.  Henr.  a  Seelen,  Diss.de  festo  Lancese  et 
Clavoruin  Chrisli. — Baluzii  Miscell.  torn.  i.  ct  Vit. 
Pontif.  tom.  i. 

t  We  have  no  reason  to  be  surprised  at,  and  much 
less  to  disbelieve,  this  account.  For  it  is  a  funda- 
mental rule  with  all  those  people  in  the  eastern 
world,  whether  Christians,  Mohammedans,  or  Pa 
gans,  (who  maintain  the  necessity  of  abstracting  the 
mind  from  the  body,  in  order  to  hold  communion 
with  God,  wliich  is  exactly  the  same  thing  with  the 
contemplative  and  mystic  life  among  the  Latins,) 
that  the  eyes  must  be  steadily  fixed  every  day  for 
some  hours  upon  some  particular  object;  and  that  he 
who  complies  with  this  precept  will  be  thrown  into 
an  ecstasy,  in  which,  being  united  to  God,  he  will 
see  wonderful  things,  and  be  entertained  with  inef- 
fable delights.  See  what  is  said  of  the  Siamese 
monks  and  Mystics  by  Engelb,  Krempfer.  in  his  His- 
tory of  Japan,  tom.  i.  and  also  of  those  of  India,  in  the 
Voyages  of  Bernier,  tom.  ii.  Indeed,  I  can  easily 
admit,  that  they  who  continue  long  in  the  above- 
mentioned  posture,  will  imagine  they  behold  many 
things  which  no  man  in  his  senses  ever  beheld  or 
thougiit  of;  for  certainly  the  combinations  they  form 


Chap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


403 


To  such  as  inquired  what  kind  of  Hglit  this 
was,  they  repHed,  hy  way  of  illustration,  that 
it  was  the  glory  of  God,  the  same  celestial  ra- 
diance that  surrounded  Christ  during  his  trans- 
figuration on  the  mount.  Balaam,  entirely 
unacquainted  with  the  customs  and  manners 
of  the  Mystics,  looked  upon  all  this  as  highly 
absurd  and  fanatical,  and  therefore  styled  the 
monks  who  adhered  to  this  institution,  Massa- 
hans  and  Euchites,*  and  also  gave  them  the 
new  name  of  Umbilicani-t  On  the  other  hand, 
Gregory  Palamas,  archbishop  of  Thessalonica, 
defended  the  cause  of  these  monks  against 
Balaam. J 

II.  In  order  to  put  an  end  to  this  dissension, 
a  council  was  convoked  at  Constantinople,  in 
1341,  in  which  the  emperor  himself,  Androni- 
cus  the  younger,  and  the  patriarch,  presided. 
Here  Palamas  and  the  monks  triumphed  over 
Balaam,  who  was  condemned  by  the  council; 
whereupon  he  left  Greece,  and  returned  to 
Italy.  Not  long  after  this,  another  monk, 
named  Gregory  Acindynus,  renewed  the  con- 
troversy, and,  in  opposition  to  the  opinion 
maintained  by  Palamas,  denied  that  God  dwelt 
in  an  eternal  light  distinct  from  his  essence, 
as  also  that  such  a  light  was  beheld  by  the  dis- 
ciples on  mount  Tabor.  This  dispute  was  now 
no  longer  concerning  the  monks,  but  turned 
upon  the  light  seen  at  mount  Tabor,  and  also 
upon  the  nature  and  residence  of  the  Deity. 
Nevertheless,  he  was  condemned  as  a  follower 
of  Balaam,  in  another  council  holden  at  Con- 
stantinople. Many  assemblies  were  convened 
about  this  affair;  but  the  most  remarkable  of 
them  all,  was  that  of  the  year  1351,  in  which 
the  Balaamites  and  their  adherents  received 
such  a  fatal  wound,  in  consequence  of  the  se- 
vere decrees  enacted  against  them,  that  tliey 
were  forced  to  yield,  and  leave  the  victory  to 
Palamas.  This  prelate  maintained,  that  God 
was  encircled,  as  it  were,  with  an  eternal 
light,  which  might  be  styled  his  energy  or 
operation,  and  was  distinct  from  his  nature  and 
essence;  and  that  he  favoured  the  three  dis- 
ciples with  a  view  of  this  light  upon  moimt 
Tabor.  Hence  he  concluded  that  this  divine 
operation  was  really  different  from  the  sub- 


of  the  unconnected  notions  that  arise  to  their  fancy 
while  their  minds  arc  in  this  odd  and  unnatural 
state,  must  be  most  singular  and  whimsical;  so  miicli 
the  more,  as  the  rule  itself,  which  proscribes  the  con- 
templation of  a  certain  object  as  the  means  of  ar 
riving  at  a  vision  of  the  Deity,  absolutely  forbids  all 
use  of  the  faculty  of  reason  during  that  ecstatic  and 
sublime  interval.  Tliis  total  suspension  of  reason 
and  reflection,  during  the  period  of  contemplation, 
was  not,  however,  peculiar  to  the  eastern  Ciuietists; 
the  Latin  Mystics  observed  the  same  rule,  and  in- 
culcated it  upon  their  disciples.  On  a  due  e.\amina- 
tion  of  the  subject,  we  may  safely  conclude,  that  the 
many  surprising  visions,  of  which  these  fanatics 
boast,  are  fables  utterly  destitute  of  reason  and  pro- 
bability. But  this  is  not  the  proper  place  for  enlarg- 
ing upon  prodigies  of  this  nature. 

Q(^  *  The  J[Iassalians  (so  called  from  a  Hebrew 
word  which  signifies  prayer,  aiul  Euchites  from  a 
Greek  word  of  the  same  signification)  formed  them- 
selves into  a  sect,  during  the  fourth  century,  in  the 
reigri  of  Constantius.  Their  tenets  resembled  those 
of  the  (iuietists  in  several  respects. 

f  For  an  account  of  these  two  famous  men,  Ha- 
laam  and  Gregory  Talamas,  see,  in  prefi-renre  to  all 
other  writers,  Jo.  Alb.  Fabricius,  niblioth.  Ura:ca, 
tom.  X.  p.  427,  and  454. 


stance  of  the  Deity;  and  farther,  that  no  being 
could  partake  of  the  divine  substance  or  es- 
sence, but  that  finite  natures  might  possess  a 
share  of  his  divine  light,  or  operation.  The 
Balaamites,  on  the  contrary,  denied  these  po- 
sitions, affirming,  that  the  properties  and  ope- 
rations of  the  Deity  were  not  different  from 
his  essence,  and  that  there  was  really  no  differ- 
ence between  the  attributes  and  essence  of  God, 
considered  in  themselves,  but  only  in  our  con- 
ceptions of  them,  and  reasonings  upon  them.* 

III.  In  the  Latin  church  the  inquisitors,  those 
active  ministers  and  executioners  of  papal  jus- 
tice, extended  their  vigilance  to  every  quarter, 
and  most  industriously  hunted  out  the  remains 
of  those  sects  who  opposed  the  religion  of 
Rome,  even  the  Waldenses,  the  Calharists, 
the  Apostolists,  and  others;  so  that  the  history 
of  these  times  abounds  with  numberless  instan- 
ces of  persons  who  were  burned  or  otherwise 
barbarously  destroyed,  by  those  imrelenting 
instruments  of  superstitious  vengeance.  But 
none  of  these  enemies  of  the  church  gave  the 
inquisitors  and  bishops  so  much  employment 
of  tliis  sanguinary  kind,  as  the  Brethren  and 
Sisters  of  the  free  spirit,  who  went  under  the 
common  name  of  Beghards  and  Beguines  in 
Germany  and  the  Netherlands,  and  were  dif- 
ferently denominated  in  other  provinces.  For, 
as  this  sort  of  people  professed  an  uncommon 
and  sublime  species  of  devotion,  endeavouring 
to  call  off  men's  minds  from  the  external  and 
sensible  parts  of  religion,  and  to  wui  them  over 
to  the  inward  and  spiritual  worship  of  God, 
tliey  were  greatly  esteemed  by  many  plain, 
well-meaning  persons,  whose  piety  and  sim- 
plicity were  deceived  by  a  profession  so  seduc- 
ing; and  thus  they  made  many  converts  to  tlieir 
opinions.  It  was  on  this  account  that  such 
numbers  of  this  turn  and  disposition  perished 
in  the  flames  of  persecution  during  this  century 
in  Italy,  France,  and  Germany. 

IV.  This  sect  was  most  numerous  in  the  ci- 
ties of  Germany  that  lay  upon  the  Rliine, 
especially  at  Cologne;  which  circumstance  in- 
duced Henry  I.,  archbishop  of  that  diocese,  to 
publish  a  severe  edict  against  them,  A.  D. 
1306;!  an  example  that  was  soon  followed  by 
the  bishops  of  Mentz,  Treves,  Worms,  and 
Strasburg.J  And  as  there  were  some  subtle 
acute  men  belonging  to  this  party,  that  emi- 
nently keen  logician,  John  Duns  Scotus,§  waa 
sent  to  Cologne,  in  1308,  to  dispute  against 
them,  and  to  vanquish  them  by  dint  of  syllo- 
gism.    In  1310,  the  famous  Margaret  Poretta, 


*  See  Jo.  Cantacuzcnus,  Hist.  lib.  ii.  cap.  .xxxLx. 
p.  203,  and  the  observations  of  Gregor.  Pontanus;  also 
Nicephorus  Gregoras,  Hist.  Byzant.  lib.  .\i.  cap.  x.  p. 
277,  and  in  many  other  places.  But  these  two  wri- 
ters disagree  in  severa!  circumstances.  Many  mate- 
rials relative  to  this  cuiitriiversy  are  yet  unpublished 
(see  Montfaucon,Bil)liotli.Coisliniana,  p.  150,174, 404.) 
Nor  have  we  ever  been  favoured  with  an  accurate 
and  well-digested  history  of  it.  In  the  mean  time, 
the  reader  may  consult  T.eo  Allatius,  de  perpetua 
consensione  Orient,  et  Occid.  Eccles.  lib.  ii.  cap. 
.\.\ii.  p.  824.— Henr.  Canisii  I.cctioiies  Antiquie,  tom. 
iv.  p.  SOI.— Dion  Pctavius,  Dogmat.  Theol.  tom.  i. 
lib.  i.  cap.  xii.— Steph.  de  Altinmra,  Panoplia  contra 
Schisma  Grrecor.  p.  :tf  1,  &c. 

t  See  Statuta  Colon lensia,  published  in  1554. 

}  Johannes,  apud  Scriptores  rerum  Moguntinar. 
tom.iii.  p.298.— Martenne.Thesaur.  Anecdotor.  torn, 
iv.  p.  250. 

§  Wadding,  Annul.  Minor,  lorn.  vi.  p.  108. 


404 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


who  made  such  a  shining  figure  in  this  sect, 
was  committed  to  the  flames  at  Paris  with  one 
of  tlie  brethren.  Slio  had  undertaken  to  de- 
monstrate in  an  elaborate  treatise,  "That  the 
soul,  when  absorbed  in  the  love  of  God,  is  free 
from  the  restraint  of  every  law,  and  may  freely 
gratify  all  its  natural  appetites,  without  con- 
tracting any  guilt."*  Pope  Clement  V.,  exas- 
perated by  this  and  other  instances  of  the  per- 
nicious fanaticism  that  prevailed  among  this 
sect,  published  in  a  general  council  at  Vienna, 
A.  D.  1311,  a  special  constitution  against  the 
Beghards  and  Begyines  of  Germany;  and 
though  the  edict  only  mentions  imperfectly  the 
opinions  of  this  sect,  yet,  by  the  numeration  of 
them,  we  may  easily  perceive  that  the  Mystic 
brethren  and  sisters  of  the  free  spirit  are  the 
persons  principally  intended.!  Clement,  in 
the  same  council,  issued  another  constitution, 
by  which  he  suppressed  another  and  a  very 
different  sort  of  Beguines,J;  who  had  hitherto 
been  considered  as  a  lawful  and  regular  society, 
and  lived  in  fixed  habitations  appropriated  to 
their  order,  but  were  now  corrupted  by  the  fa- 
natics above  mentioned;  for  the  Brethren  and 
Sisters  of  the  free  spirit  had  insinuated  them- 
selves into  the  greatest  part  of  the  convents  of 
the  Beguines,  where  they  inculcated  with 
great  success  their  mysterious  and  sublime 
system  of  religion  to  these  simple  women;  and 
these  credulous  females  were  no  sooner  initia- 
ted into  this  brilliant  and  chimerical  system, 
than  they  were  captivated  with  its  delusive 
charms,  and  babbled,  in  the  most  absurd  and 
impious  hianner,  concerning  the  true  worship 
of  the  Deity.  § 

V.  The  Brethren  of  the  free  spirit,  oppres- 
sed by  so  many  severe  edicts  and  constitutions, 
formed  the  intention  of  removing  from  Upper 
Germany  into  the  lower  parts  of  the  empire; 
and  this  scheme  was  so  far  put  in  execution, 
that  Westphalia  was  the  only  province  which 
refused  admission  to  these  dispersed  fanatics, 
and  was  free  from  their  disturbances.  This 
tranquillity  was  produced  by  the  jyovident 
measures  of  Henry,  archbishop  of  Cologne, 
\\'ho,  having  called  a  council,  in  1322,  serious- 
ly admonished  the  bishops  of  his  province  of 
the  approaching  clanger,  and  thus  excited  them 
to  exert  their  utmost  vigilance  to  prevent  any 
of  these  people  fi-om  coming  into  Westphalia. 
About  the  same  time  the  Beghards||  upon  the 
Rhine,  lost  their  chief  leader  and  champion, 
Walter,  a  Dutchman  of  remarkable  eloquence, 
and  famous  for  his  writings,  who  came  from 
Mentz  to  Cologne,  where  he  was  apprehended 


*  Luc.  tl'Acherii  Spicil.  veter.  Scriptor.  torn.  iii.  p. 
63. — J.  Bale,  de  Scriptor.  Britan.  Centur  iv.  ii.  88.  p. 
.T67. 

t  It  is  extant  in  the  Corpus  Juris  Canon,  inter 
Clementinas,  lib.  v.  tit.  iii.  de  Hsereticis,  cap.  iii.  p. 
1088. 

t  In  Jure  Canonico  inter  Clementinas,  lib  iii.  tit. 
xi.  de  relieiosis  domibus,  cap.  i.  p.  1075,  edit.  Bohmer. 

§  For  this  reason,  in  the  German  record.s  of  this 
century,  we  often  find  a  distinction  of  the  Beguines 
into  those  of  the  right  and  approved  class,  and  those 
of  the  sublime  and  free  spirit;  the  former  of  whom 
adhered  to  the  public  religion,  while  the  latter  were 
corrupted  by  thi-  opinions  of  the  Mystics. 

(fsj-  11  i'.y  Beghards,  here.  Dr.  Mosheim  means  par- 
ticularly the  Brethren  of  the  Free  Spirit  who  fre- 
tiuently  put-v^ed  under  this  dei)oii)inat>OD 


and  burned.*  The  death  of  this  person  was 
highly  detrimental  to  the  affairs  of  the  Bre- 
thren of  the  free  spirit;  it  did  not,  however, 
ruin  their  cause,  or  extirpate  their  sect.  For 
it  not  only  appears  from  innumerable  testimo- 
nies, that,  for  a  long  time  afterwards,  they 
held  their  private  assemblies  at  Cologne,  and 
in  many  other  parts  of  Germany,  but  also  tliat 
they  had  several  men  among  them  of  high 
rank  and  great  learning,  of  which  number 
Henry  Aycardus,  or  Eccard,  a  Saxon,  was  the 
most  famous.  He  was  a  Dominican,  and  also 
the  superior  of  that  order  in  Saxony;  a  man  of 
a  subtle  genius,  and  one  who  had  acquitted 
himself  with  reputation  as  professor  of  di- 
vinity at  Paris. t  In  1330,  pope  John  XXII., 
endeavoured  to  suppress  this  obstinate  sect  by 
a  new  and  severe  constitution,  in  which  the 
errors  of  the  sect  of  the  free  spirit  are  marked 
out  in  a  more  distinct  and  accurate  maimer 
than  in  the  Clementina. |  But  this  attempt 
was  fruitless;  the  disorder  continued,  and  was 
combated  both  by  the  inquisitors  and  bishops 
in  most  parts  of  Europe  to  the  end  of  tliis  cen- 
tury. 

VI.  The  Clementina,  or  constitution  of  the 
council  of  Vienne  against  the  Beguines,  or  the 
female  societies  that  lived  together  in  fixed  ha- 
bitations, under  a  common  rule  of  pious  dis- 
cipline and  virtuous  industry,  gave  rise  to  a 
persecution  of  these  people,  which  lasted  till 
the  reformation  by  Luther,  and  ruined  the 
cause  both  of  the  Beguines  and  Beghards  in 
many  places.  For  though  tlie  pope,  in  his  last 
constitution,  had  permitted  pious  women  to 
live  as  nuns  in  a  state  of  celibacy,  with  or 
without  taking  the  vow,  and  refused  a  tolera- 


*  Jo.  Trithemii  Annal.  Hirsaug.  torn.  ii.  p.  155.— 
Schateu,  Annal.  Paderborn.  torn.  ii.  p.  250.— This  is 
that  famous  Walter,  whom  so  many  ecclesiastical 
historians  have  represented  as  the  founder  of  the 
sect  of  the  Lollards,  and  as  an  eminent  martyr  to 
their  cause.  Learned  men  conclude  all  this,  and 
more,  from  the  following  words  of  Trithemius;  '  That 
same  Walter  Lohareus,  (so  it  stands  in  my  copy, 
though  I  fancy  it  ought  to  have  been  Lolhardus,  es- 
pecially as  Trithemius,  according  to  the  custom  of 
his  time,  frequently  uses  this  word  when  treating  of 
the  sects  that  dissented  from  the  church,)  a  native 
of  Holland,  was  not  well  versed  in  the  Latin  tongue.' 
I  say,  from  this  short  passage,  learned  men  have 
concluded  tliat  Walter's  surname  was  Lolhard; 
whence,  as  from  its  founder  and  master,  they  sup- 
posed his  sect  derived  the  name  of  Lollards.  But  it 
is  very  evident,  not  only  from  this,  but  from  other 
passages  of  Trithemius,  that  Lolhard  was  no  sur- 
name, but  merely  a  term  of  reproach  applied  to  all 
heretics  who  concealed  the  poison  of  error  under  the 
appearance  of  piety.  Trithemius,  speaking  of  the 
very  same  man,  in  a  preceding  passage,  calls  him. 
'  the  head  of  the  Fratrjcelli,  or  Minorites;'  but  these 
terms  were  very  e.\tensive,  including  people  of  vari- 
ous sects.  This  Walter  embraced  the  opinions  of 
the  Mytiljcs,  and  was  the  principal  doctor  among 
those  Brethren  of  the  free  spu-it,  who  lived  on  the 
banks  of  the  Rhine. 

t  See  Echardi  Scriptor.  Praedicator.  torn.  i.  p.507.— 
Odor.  Kaynaldus,  Annal,  torn.  xv.  ad  an.  1329.  sect. 
l.\x.  p.  389. 

X  This  new  constitution  was  never  published  en- 
tire. It  began  with  the  words,  '  in  agro  Dominico;* 
and  was  inscribed  thus,  contra  singnlaria,  dubia,sus- 
pecia,  et  temeraria,  qui?  Begkardi  et  Bcghin(ppriBdicant 
et  observant.'  We  are  favoured  with  a  summary  of  it 
by  Herm.  Cornerus  in  Eccardi  Corp.  Histor.  Medii 
iEvi,  torn.  ii.  p.  1035.  It  is  also  mentioned  by  Paul 
Languis,  in  Chronico  Citizens!,  apud  Jo.  Pistorii 
Scriptort's  rermn  German  torn.  i.  p  1200. 


Chap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


40& 


tion  only  to  such  of  tliem  as  were  corrupted 
with  the  opinions  of  the  Brethren  of  tiie  free 
spirit,  yet  the  vast  number  of  enemies  wliich 
the  Beguincs  and  Beghards  liad,  partly  among 
the  mechanics,  especially  the  weavers,  and  part- 
ly among  the  priests  and  monks,  took  a  handle 
from  the  Clementina  to  molest  them  in  their 
houses,  to  seize  and  destroy  their  goods,  and 
offer  them  many  otlier  insults.  John  XXII. 
afforded  some  relief  under  these  oppressions, 
in  l3iJ4,  by  means  of  a  special  constitution,  in 
which  he  gave  a  favourable  explication  of  the 
Clementina,  and  ordered  that  the  persons, 
goods,  and  habitations,  of  the  innocent  Be- 
guines,  should  be  preserved  from  every  kind 
of  violence  and  insult; — an  example  of  clemen- 
cy and  moderation  which"  was  aflerwards  fol- 
lowed by  other  popes.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Beguines,  in  hopes  of  disappointing  more  ef- 
fectually the  malicious  attempts  of  their  ene- 
mies, and  avoiding  their  snares,  embraced  in 
many  places  the  third  rule  of  St.  Francis,  and 
of  the  Augustines.  Yet  all  these  measures  in 
their  favour  could  not  prevent  the  loss  both  of 
their  reputation  and  substance;  for  from  this 
time  they  were  oppressed  in  several  provinces 
by  the  magistrates,  the  clergy,  and  the  monks, 
who  had  cast  a  greedy  eye  upon  their  trea- 
sures, and  were  extremely  eager  to  divide  the 
spoil.* 

VII.  Some  years  before  the  middle  of  this 
century,  while  Grermany  and  many  other  parts 
of  Europe  were  distressed  with  various  calami- 
ties, the  Flagellants,  a  sect  forgotten  almost 
every  where,  and  especially  in  Germany,  made 
their  appearance  anew,  and,  rambling  through 
many  provinces,  occasioned  great  disturbances. 
These  new  Flagellants,  whose  enthusiasm  in- 
fected every  rank,  sect,  and  age,  were  much 
worse  than  the  old  ones.  They  not  only  sup- 
posed that  God  might  be  prevailed  upon  to 
show  mercy  to  those  who  underwent  voluntary 
punishments,  but  propagated  other  tenets 
highly  injurious  to  religion.  They  held,  among 
other  things,  "That  Hagellation  was  of  equal 
virtue  with  baptism,  and  the  other  sacraments: 
tliat  it  would  procure  from  God  the  forgive- 
ness of  all  sins,  without  the  merits  of  Jesus 
Christ:  that  the  old  law  of  Christ  was  soon  to 
be  abolished,  and  that  a  new  law,  enjoining 
the  baptism  of  blood,  to  be  administered  by 
whipping,  was  to  be  substituted  in  its  place," 
with  other  tenets  more  or  less  enormous  than 
these;  whereupon  Clement  Vll.  thundered  out 
anathemas  against  these  sectaries,  many  of 
whom  were  committed  to  the  flames  by  the  in- 
human inquisitors.  It  was,  however,  found  as 
difficult  to  extirpate  them,  as  it  had  been  to 
suppress  the  other  sects  of  wandering  fanatics,  t 


*  I  have  collected  a  great  number  of  particulars 
relating  to  this  long  pt^rsecution  of  the  lioguincs. 
But  the  most  copious  of  all  the  writers  who  have 
publisheil  any  thing  upon  this  subject  (especially  if 
we  consider  his  account  of  the  persecution  at  Basil, 
and  of  Mulborgius,  the  most  inveterate  enemy  of 
the  Beguines,)  is  Christian  VVurstisen,  or  Urstisius, 
in  hisChronicon  Basiliense,  written  in  German,  lib. 
iv.  cap.  ix.  p.  201,  published  at  Basil,  l.'jSO.  There  are 
now  in  my  hands,  and  also  in  many  libraries,  manu- 
script tracts  of  this  ct^lebrated  Mulbergius,  written 
against  the  Beguines  in  the  following  century. 

t  See  KalU7.ii  Vit.  I'ontif.  Avenion.  torn.  i.  p.  IfiO, 
31C,  and  Miscellan.  tom.  i.  p.  5U  — Matth»i  Aualccta 


VIII.  Directly  the  reverse  of  this  melan- 
choly sect  was  the  merry  one  of  the  Dancers, 
which,  in  1373,  arose  at  Aix-la-Chapelle, 
whence  it  spread  through  the  district  of  Liege, 
Hainault,  and  other  parts  of  the  Netherlands. 
It  was  customary  among  these  fanatics,  for 
persons  of  both  sexes,  publicly  as  well  as  in 
private,  suddenly  to  begin  dancing,  and,  hold- 
ing each  other's  hands,  to  continue  their  mo- 
tions witli  extraordinary  violence,  till,  being 
almost  suffocated,  they  fell  down  breathless 
together;  and  they  affirmed,  that,  diuing  these 
intervals  of  vehement  agitation,  they  were  fa- 
voured with  wonderful  visions.  Like  the 
Flagellants,  they  wandered  about  from  place 
to  place,  had  recourse  to  begging  for  their  sub- 
sistence, treated  with  the  utmost  contempt 
both  the  priesthood  and  the  public  rites  and 
worship  of  the  church,  and  held  secret  assem- 
blies. Such  was  the  nature  of  tliis  new 
phrcnsy,  which  the  ignorant  clergy  of  this  age 
looked  upon  as  the  work  of  evil  demons,  who 
possessed,  as  they  thought,  this  dancing  tribe. 
Accordingly,  the  priests  of  Liege  endeavoured 
to  cast  out  the  devils  which  rendered  these 
fanatics  so  merry,  by  singing  hymns  and  ap- 
plying fumigations  of  incense;  and  they  grave- 
ly tell  us,  that  the  evil  spirit  was  entirely  van- 
quished by  these  powerful  charms.* 

IX.  The  most  heinous  and  abominable  tribe 
of  heretics  that  infected  tliis  century,  (if  tlie 
enormities  with  which  they  stand  charged  be 
true,)  were  the  Knights  Templars,  who  had 
been  established  in  Palestine  about  two  hun- 
dred years  before  this  period,  and  who  were 
represented  as  enemies  and  deriders  of  all  re- 
ligion. Their  principal  accuser  indeed  was  a 
person  whose  testimony  ought  not  to  be  ad- 
mitted without  caution.  This  was  Philip  the 
Fair,  an  avaricious,  vindictive,  and  turbulent 
prince,  who  loudly  complained  to  Clement  V. 
of  their  opinions  and  conduct.  The  pope, 
though  at  first  unwilling  to  proceed  against 
them,  was  under  a  necessity  of  complying  with 
the  king's  desire;  so  that,  in  1307,  on  an  ap- 
pointed day,  and  for  some  time  aflerwards,  all 
the  knights,  who  were  dispersed  throughout 
Europe,  and  not  in  the  least  apprehensive  of 
any  impending  evil,  were  seized  and  imprison- 
ed. Such  as  refused  to  confess  the  enormities 
of  which  they  were  accused,  were  put  to  death; 
and  those  who,  by  tortures  and  promises,  were 
induced  to  acknowledge  the  truth  of  what  was 
laid  to  their  charge,  obtained  their  liberty.  In 
1311,  the  whole  order  was  extinguished  by  the 
council  of  Vienne.  Of  the  rich  revenues  they 
possessed,  a  part  was  bestowed  upon  other  or- 
ders, especially  on  the  knights  of  St.  Jolm,  and 
the  rest  confiscated  to  the  respective  treasuries 
of  the  sovereign  princes  in  whose  dominions 
their  possessions  lay. 


vet.  jEvi,  tom.  i.  iii.  iv,— Herm.  Gygis  Flores  Tem- 
por.  p.  139. 

*  Ualuz.  tom.  i.  p.  485 — Matth.  Analecta,  tom.  i. 
p.  .51,  where  we  find  the  following  p.issage  in  the 
Belgic  Chronicle,  which  gives  hut  an  obscure  account 
of  the  sect  in  question:  A.  1374.  Ginpcn  de  Dancers, 
and  then  in  Latin,  Gens,  impacata  cnilit,rruciafa  sal- 
vat.  Tlie  French  conviil.';ioni!'ts.  (or  prophets,)  who, 
in  our  age,  were  remarkable  for  the  vehemence  and 
variety  of  their  agitations,  greatly  resembled  ihest 
brethren  and  iisler  dancers. 


406 


EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


PartL 


X.  The  Kniglits  Templars,  if  their  judges 
be  worthy  of  credit,  were  a  set  of  men  vvlio 
insulted  the  majesty  of  God,  turned  into  de- 
rision the  Gospel  of  Christ,  and  trampled  upon 
the  ohligation  of  all  laws,  human  and  divine. 
For  it  is  affirmed,  that  candidates,  upon  their 
admission  to  this  order,  were  commanded  to 
spit,  as  a  mark  of  contempt,  upon  an  image 
of  Christ;  and  that,  after  admission,  they  were 
bound  to  worship  either  a  cat,  or  a  wooden 
head  covered  with  gold.  It  is  farther  affirmed, 
that,  among  them,  the  odious  and  unnatural 
act  of  sodomy  was  a  matter  of  obligation;  that 
they  committed  to  the  flames  the  unhappy 
fruit  of  their  lawless  amours;  and  added,  to 
these,  other  crimes  too  horrible  to  be  mention- 
ed, or  even  imagined.  It  will,  indeed,  be 
readily  allowed,  that  in  this  order,  as  in  all 
the  other  religious  societies  of  this  age,  there 
were  shocking  examples  of  impiety  and  wick- 
edness; but  that  the  Templars  in  general  were 
thus  enormously  corrupt,  is  so  far  from  being 
proved,  that  the  contrary  may  be  concluded 
even  from  the  acts  and  records,  yet  e.xtant,  of 
the  tribunals  before  which  they  were  tried 
and  examined.     If  to  this  we  add,  that  some 


of  the  accusations  advanced  against  them, 
flatly  contradict  each  other,  and  that  many 
members  of  tliis  unfortunate  order  solemnly 
avowed  their  innocence,  while  languishing 
under  the  severest  tortures,  and  even  with  their 
dying  breath,  it  would  seem  probable,  that 
Philip  set  on  foot  this  bloody  tragedy,  with  a 
view  of  gratifying  his  avarice,  and  glutting  his 
resentment  against  the  Templars,*  and  espe- 
cially against  their  grand  master,  who  had 
liighly  offended  him. 


*  See  the  Acts  annexed  to  Putean's  Histoire  de  la 
Condemnation  des  Templiers,  and  other  writings  of 
his  relating  to  the  history  of  France,  published  at 
Paris,  in  1654.  The  most  valuable  edition  of  the 
history  appeared  at  Brussels,  in  1751,  enlarged  by  the 
addition  of  a  great  number  of  documents,  by  which 
every  diligent  and  impartial  reader  will  be  convinced 
that  the  Templars  were  greatly  injured.  See  also 
Nicolai  Gurtleri  Historia  Templarioruni.  If  the 
reader  has  an  opportunity,  he  would  do  well  to  con- 
sult Steph.  Baluzius,  Vit.  Pontif.  Avenion.  lorn.  i.  p. 
8,  11,  &c.  Ger.  du  Bois,  Hist.  Eccles.  Paris,  torn.  ii.  p. 
540.  The  principal  cause  of  Philip's  indelible  hatred 
against  the  Templars,  was,  that  in  his  quarrel  with 
Boniface  VIII.  the  knights  espoused  the  cause  of  the 
pope,  and  furnished  him  with  money  to  carry  on  the 
war;  an  offence  which  the  king  could  never  pardon, 


THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY. 


PART  I. 


THE  EXTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Conco-ning  the  prosperous  Events  that  happened 
to  the  Chiirch  during  this  Century. 
I.  The  new  subjects,  that  were  added  to  the 
kingdom  of  Christ  in  this  century,  were  alto- 
gether imworthy  of  that  sublime  title,  unless 
we  prostitute  it  by  applying  it  to  those  who 
made  an  external  and  insincere  profession  of 
Christianity.  Ferdinand,  surnamed  the  Catho- 
lic, by  the  conquest  of  Granada,  in  the  year 
1492,  entirely  overturned  the  dominion  of  the 
Moors  or  Saracens  in  Spain.  Some  time  after 
this  happy  revolution,  he  issued  a  sentence  of 
banishment  against  a  prodigious  multitude  of 
Jews,  who,  to  avoid  the  execution  of  this  se- 
vere decree,  dissembled  their  sentiments,  and 
feigned  an  assent  to  the  Gospel;*  and  it  is  well 
known  that,  to  this  very  day,  there  are  both  in 
Spain  and  Portugal  a  great  number  of  that 
dispersed  and  wretched  people,  who  wear  the 
outward  mask  of  Christianity,  to  secure  them 
against  the  rage  of  persecution,  and  to  advance 
their  worldly  interests.  The  myriads  of  Sa- 
racens that  remained  in  Spain  after  the  disso- 
lution of  their  government,  were  at  first  soli- 
cited by  e.xhortations  and  entreaties  to  embrace 
the  Gospel.  When  these  gentle  methods  prov- 
ed inefiectual  to  bring  about  their  conversion, 


*  J.  de  Ferreras,  Hist.  Gencrale  d'Espagne   tom- 
viii.  p.  123,  132,  &c 


the  famous  Ximenes,  archbishop  of  Toledo,  and 
prime  minister  of  the  kingdom,  judged  it  ex- 
pedient to  try  the  force  of  the  secular  arm,  in 
order  to  accomplish  that  salutary  purpose. 
But  even  this  rigorous  measure  was  without 
the  desired  effect:  the  greatest  part  of  the  Mo- 
hammedans persisted,  with  astonishing  obsti- 
nacy, in  their  fervent  attachment  to  their  vo- 
luptuous prophet.* 

II.  Tlie  light  of  the  Gospel  was  also  carried 
in  this  century  among  the  Samogetffi  [in  Po- 
land] and  the  neighbouring  nations,  but  with 
less  fruit  than  was  expected.f  Toward  the 
conclusion  of  this  age,  the  Portuguese,  who 
cultivated  with  ardoiK  and  success  the  art  of 
navigation,  had  penetrated  as  far  as  Ethiopia 
and  the  Indies.  In  1492,  Christopher  Colmn- 
bus,  by  discovering  the  islands  of  Hispaniola, 
Cuba,  and  Jamaica,  opened  a  passage  into 
America;};  and,  after  him,  Americus  Vespu- 
tius,  a  citizen  of  Florence,  landed  on  the  con- 
tinent of  that  vast  region.§  The  new  Argo- 
nauts, who  thus  discovered  nations  hitherto 


*  Esprit  Flechier,  Histoire  du  Cardinal  Ximenes, 
p.  89.— Geddes'  History  of  the  Expulsion  of  the  Mo- 
rescoes,  in  his  Miscellaneous  Tracts,  tom.  i. 

t  Jo.  Henry  Hettinger,  Hist.  Ecclesiast.  saec.  XV. 
p.  85G. 

t  See  Charlevoix,  Histoire  de  I'Isle  de  St.  Domin- 
gue,  tom.  i.  p.  64. 

§  See  the  Life  of  Americus  Vesputius,  written  in 
Italian  by  the  learned  Angelo  Maria  Bandini. 


Chap.  II. 


CALAMITOUS  EVENTS. 


407 


unknown  to  tlic  inhabitants  of  Europe,  deemed 
it  their  duty  to  cnhghten  tliem  witii  the  know- 
ledge of  the  truth.  The  first  attempt  of  this 
pious  nature  was  made  by  the  Portuguese 
among  those  Africans  who  inhabited  the  king- 
dom of  Cxjngo,  and  who,  with  their  uionarcli, 
were  suddenly  converted  to  tlic  Romisli  faitli, 
in  1491.'^  But  what  must  we  think  of  a  con- 
version eflfectcd  with  sucli  astonishing  rapidity, 
and  of  a  people  who  at  once,  without  hesita- 
tion, abandoned  their  inveterate  prejudices? 
Has  not  such  a  conversion,  a  ridiculous  or  ra- 
ther an  afHictive  aspect.'  After  this  religious 
revolution  in  Africa,  Alexander  VI.  gave  a  rare 
specimen  of  papal  presumption,  in  dividing 
America  between  the  Portuguese  and  Spaniards, 
but  showed  at  the  same  time  his  zeal  for  the 
propagation  of  the  Gospel,  by  the  ardour  with 
which  he  recommended,  to  these  two  nations, 
the  instruction  and  conversion  of  the  Ameri- 
cans, both  in  the  isles  and  on  the  continent  of 
that  immense  region. |  In  consequence  of 
this  e.xliortation  of  the  pontiff,  a  great  number 
of  FVanciscans  and  Dominicans  were  sent  into 
those  countries,  to  enlighten  the  darkness  of 
their  inhabitants;  and  the  success  of  the  mis- 
sion is  abundantly  known. | 

CHAPTER  II. 

Concerning  the  calamilous  Events  that  happetud 
to  the  Church  during  this  Century. 
I.  In  the  vast  regions  of  the  eastern  world 
Christianity  daily  lost  ground;  and  the  Mos- 
lems, whether  Turks  or  Tartars,  united  their 
barbarous  eflbrts  to  extinguish  its  bright  and 
salutary  lustre.  Asiatic  Tartary,  Mogolestan, 
Tangut,  and  the  adjacent  provinces,  where  the 
religion  of  Jesus  had  long  flourished,  were 
now  become  the  dismal  seats  of  superstition, 
which  reigned  among  the  people  midcr  the 
vilest  forms.  Nor  in  these  immense  tracts  of 
land  were  there  at  this  time  any  traces  of 
Christianity  visible,  except  in  China,  where 
the  Nestorians  still  preserved  some  scattered 
remains  of  their  former  glory,  and  appeared 
like  a  faint  and  dying  taper  in  the  midst  of  a 
dark  and  gloomy  firmament.  That  some  Ncs- 
torian  churches  were  still  subsisting  in  these 
regions  of  darkness,  is  undoubtedly  certain; 
for  in  this  century  the  Nestorian  pontiff,  in 


*  Labat,  Relation  do  I'Europc  Occidentalc,  torn.  ii. 
p.  36fi. — Jos.  Franc.  Lafitau,  llistoire  des  Decouver- 
tes  dcs  Fortugais  dans  Ic  liuuvcau  Monde,  torn.  i. 
p.  72. 

t  See  the  Bull  itself,  in  the  Bullarium  Romanuni, 
torn.  i.  p.  4C6. 

t  See  Thorn.  Maria  Mamachius,  Orig.  ct  Antiqui- 
tat.  Christian,  torn.  ii.  p.  32(),  whore  we  Ikivi;  an  ac- 
count of  the  gradual  introduction  of  the  Christian 
religion  into  America.— Sec  also  Wadding,  Anual. 
Minor,  torn.  xv.  p.  10. 


Chaldea,  sent  missionaries  into  Cathay  and 
China,  who  were  empowered  to  exercise  the 
autliority  of  bishops  over  the  Christian  asseni- 
bhes,  which  lay  concealed  in  the  remoter  pro- 
vinces of  those  great  empires.*  It  is,  at  tiie 
same  time,  almost  equally  certain,  that  even 
these  assemblies  did  not  survive  this  century. 

II.  The  ruin  of  the  Grecian  emp>re  was  a 
new  source  of  calamities  to  the  Christian 
church  in  a  considerable  part  of  Europe  and 
Asia.  When  the  Turks,  conducted  by  Mo- 
hammed II.,  an  able  prince  and  a  formidable 
warrior,  had  made  themselves  masters  of  Con- 
stantinople, in  1453,  the  cause  of  Christianity 
received  a  blow,  from  which  it  has  not  yet  re- 
covered. Its  adherents  in  these  parts  had  no 
resources  left,  which  could  enable  them  to 
maintain  it  against  the  perpetual  insults  of 
their  fierce  and  incensed  victors;  nor  could 
they  stem  that  torrent  of  barbarism  and  igno- 
rance which  rushed  in  with  the  triumphant 
arms  of  the  Moslem  prince,  and  overspread 
Greece  with  a  fatal  rapidity.  The  Turks  took 
one  part  of  Constantinople  by  force  of  arms; 
the  other  surrendered  upon  terms.f  Hence,  in 
the  former  division,  the  public  profession  of 
the  Gospel  was  prohibited,  and  every  vestige 
of  Christianity  eftaced;  while  the  inliabitants 
of  the  latter  were  permitted  to  retain  their 
churches  and  monasteries  during  tlie  whole 
course  of  this  century,  and  to  worship  God  ac- 
cording to  the  precepts  of  the  Gospel,  and  the 
dictates  of  their  consciences.  This  valuable 
liberty  was,  indeed,  considerably  diminished  in 
the  reign  of  Selim  I.,  and  the  Christian  wor- 
ship was  loaded  with  severe  and  despotic  re- 
strictions.J  The  outward  form  of  the  Chris- 
tian church  was  not,  indeed,  eitlier  changed  or 
destroyed  by  the  Turks;  but  its  lustre  was 
eclipsed,  its  strength  was  undermined,  and  it 
was  gradually  attenuated  to  a  mere  shadow 
mider  their  tyrannic  empire.  Pope  Pius  II. 
wrote  a  warm  and  urgent  letter  to  Mohammed 
II.  to  persuade  that  prince  to  profess  the  Gos- 
pel; but  this  letter  is  equally  destitute  of  piety 
and  prudence.  § 


*  Tliis  circumstance  was  communicated  to  tlie  au- 
thor in  a  letter  from  the  learned  Mr.  Tlieophiliis  Sigc- 
fred  liayer,  one  of  the  greatest  adci)ts  in  casJtern  his- 
tory and  antiquities,  that  this  or  any  other  age  has 
produced. 

5ri- 1  In  this  account  Dr.  Mosheim  has  followed 
the  Turkish  writers.  And  indeed  their  account  is 
much  more  probable  than  that  of  the  Latin  and 
Greek  historians,  who  suppose  that  the  whole  city 
was  taken  by  force,  and  not  by  capitulation.  The 
Turkish  relation  diminishes  the  glory  of  the  con- 
quest, and  therefore  probably  would  not  have  been 
adopted,  had  it  not  been  true. 

t  iJeniet.  Cantemir.HistoirederEmpirc Ottoman, 
t.  i.  11,  40,  54. 

§  Diclionnaire  Hist,  et  Critique  de  Bayle. 


PART  II. 


THE  INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Concerning  the  state  of  Letters  and  Philosophy 
during  this  Century. 

I.  The  Grecian  and  Oriental  Muses  lan- 
guished under  the  despotic  yoke  of  the  Mo- 
hammedans; their  voices  were  mute,  and  their 
harps  unstrung.  The  republic  of  letters  had 
a  quite  different  aspect  in  the  Latin  world, 
where  the  liberal  arts  and  sciences  were  culti- 
vated with  zeal  and  spirit,  under  the  most 
auspicious  encouragement,  and  recovered  their 
ancient  lustre  and  glory.  Several  of  the  popes 
became  their  zealous  patrons  and  protectors, 
among  whom  Nicolas  V.  deserves  an  eminent 
and  distinguished  rank;  the  munificence  and 
authority  of  kmgs  and  princes  were  also  no- 
bly exerted  in  this  excellent  cause,  and  ani- 
mated men  of  learning  and  genius  to  display 
their  talents.  The  illustrious  family  of  the 
Medici  in  Italy,*  Alphonso  VI.  king  of  Naples, 
and  the  other  Neapolitan  monaxchs  of  the 
house  of  Arragon,t  acquired  immortal  renown 
by  their  love  of  letters,  their  liberality  to  the 
learned,  and  their  ardent  zeal  for  the  advance- 
ment of  science.  Under  their  auspices,  or  in 
consequence  of  their  example,  many  acade- 
mies were  founded  in  Germany,  France,  and 
Italy,  libraries  were  collected  at  a  prodigious 
expense,  and  honours  and  rewards  were  lavish- 
ed on  the  studious  youth,  to  animate  their  in- 
dustry by  the  views  of  interest  and  the  desire 
of  glory.  To  all  these  happy  circumstances,  in 
favour  of  the  sciences,  was  now  added  an  ad- 
mirable discovery,  which  contributed,  as  much 
as  any  thing  else,  to  their  propagation,  I  mean 
the  art  of  Printing,  (first  with  wooden,  and 
afterwards  with  metal  types,)  which  was  in- 
vented about  the  year  1440,  at  Mentz,  by  John 
Guttemberg.  By  the  aid  of  this  incomparable 
art,  the  productions  of  the  most  eminent  Greek 
and  Latin  writers,  which  had  lain  concealed, 
before  this  interesting  period,  in  the  libraries 
of  the  monks,  were  now  spread  abroad  with 
facility,  and  perused  by  many,  who  could  never 
have  had  access  to  them  under  their  primitive 
form. J.    The  perusal  of  these  noble  composi- 


*  Wc  have  a  full  account  of  the  obligations  of  the 
republic  of  letters  to  the  family  of  Medici,  in  a  va- 
luable work  of  Joseph  Bianchini  de  Prato,  dei  pran 
Duchi  di  Toscana  delle  reale  Casa  de  Medici,  Pro- 
tettori  delle  Lettere  e  delle  Belle  Arti,  Ragiona- 
nienti  Historici,  published  at  Venice,  in  1741. 

t  See  Giannone,  Historiadi  Napoli,  torn.  iii. — An- 
ton. Panormitani  Dicta  et  Facta  memorabilia  Al- 
phonsi  I.  denuo  cdita  a  Jo.  Ger.  Meuschcnio,  in  Vit. 
Erad.  Viror.  torn.  ii. 

(!lj-  }  Dr.  Mosheim  decides  here,  that  Guttembero 
of  Mentz  was  the  inventor  of  the  art  of  printing 
but  this  notion  is  opposed  with  zeal  by  several  men 
of  learning.  Of  the  many  treatises  tliat  have  been 
published  on  this  subject,  nut  one  is  composed  with 
greater  erudition  and  judgment  than  that  uf  profes- 
sor Schoepflin,  of  Strasbourg,  in  which  the  learned 
author  undertakes  to  prove  that  the  art  of  printing, 
by  the  means  uf  letters  engraven  on  plate-s  of  wood, 
was  invented  at  Haerleiii,  by  Uoster;  that  the  method 
of  printing,  by  moveable  types,  was  the  discovery 
of  John  Guttemberg,  a  discovery  made  during  hij 
residence  at  Strasbourg;  and  that  the  still  more  per- 
fect manner  of  printing  with  types  of  metal  cast  in 


tions  purified  tlie  taste,  excited  the  emulation 
of  men  of  genius,  and  animated  them  with  a 
noble  ambition  of  excelling  in  the  same  way.* 

II.  The  ruin  of  the  Grecian  empire  contri- 
buted greatly  to  the  propagation  and  advance- 
ment of  learning  in  the  west.  For,  after  the 
reduction  of  Constantinople,  the  most  eminent 
of  the  Greek  literati  passed  into  Italy,  and 
were  thence  dispersed  into  the  other  coimtries 
of  Eiu-ope,  where,  to  gain  subsistence,  these 
venerable  exiles  instructed  the  youth  in  Grecian 
erudition,  and  propagated  tliroughout  the 
western  world  the  love  of  learning,  and  a  true 
and  elegant  taste  for  the  sciences.  Hence  it 
was,  that  every  distinguished  city  and  uni- 
versity possessed  one  or  more  of  these  learned 
Greeks,  who  formed  the  studious  youth  to 
literary  piu-suits.|  But  they  received  no  where 
such  encouraging  marks  of  protection  and 
esteem  as  in  Italy,  where  they  were  honoured 
in  a  singular  manner  in  various  cities,  and 
were  more  especially  distinguished  by  the  fa- 
mily of  Medici,  whose  liberality  to  the  learned 
seemed  to  have  no  bounds.  It  was  conse- 
quently in  Italy  that  these  ingenious  fugitives 
were  most  numerous;  and  hence  that  country 
became,  in  some  measure,  the  centre  of  the 
arts  and  sciences,  and  the  general  rendezvous 
of  all  who  were  ambitious  of  literary  glory.J 

III.  The  learned  men  who  adorned  at  this 
time  the  various  provinces  of  Italy,  were  prin- 
cipally employed  in  publishing  accurate  and 
elegant  editions  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  clas- 
sics, in  illustrating  these  authors  with  useful 


a  mould,  was  the  contrivance  of  John  Schoeffer,  and 
was  first  practised  at  Mentz.  This  learned  work,  in 
which  the  author  e.\amines  the  opinions  of  Mar- 
chand,  Fournier,  and  other  writers,  was  published 
n  1760,  under  the  following  title:  Jo.  Danielis 
Schuepflini  Consil.  Reg.  ac  Franciie  His.  Vindicise 
Typographicae,*  &c. 

*  Mich.  Maittaire,  AnnalesTypographici.— Prosp. 
Marchand,  Histoire  de  I'lmprimerie. 

t  Jo.  Henr.  Maii  Vita  Ueuchlini,  p.  11,  19,  28,  152, 
165.— Gasp.  Barlhius  ad  Statiuni,  torn.  ii.  p.  1008.— 
Boulay,  tom.  v.  p.  692. 

t  For  a  farther  account  of  this  interesting  period 
of  tlie  history  of  learning,  the  reader  may  consult 
the  learned  work  of  Humphry  Hody.  de  Grsecis  illus- 
tribus  Literarum  Graecarum  in  Italia  Instauratori- 
bus,  to  which  may  be  added.  Battler's  Oration  on 
the  same  subject,  published  in  the  Museum  Helveti- 
cum,  tom.  iv. 


Qlj'  *  So  this  note  stands  in  the  first  edition  of 
this  History,  in  4to.  Since  that  time,  the  learned 
and  ingenious  Mr.  Gerard  Meerman,  pensionary  of 
Rotterdam,  has  published  his  laborious  and  interest- 
ing account  of  the  origin  and  invention  of  the  art 
of  printing,  under  the  following  title,  "  Origines  Ty- 
pographici," — a  work  which  sets  this  matter  in  its 
true  light,  by  making  certain  distinctions  unknown 
to  the  writers  who  treated  this  subject  before  him. 
According  to  the  hypothesis  of  this  writer,  (an  hy 
pothesis  supported  by  irresistible  proofs,)  Laurence 
Cosier,  of  Haerlem,  invented  the  moveable  wooden 
types;— Genfleisch  and  Guttemberg  carved  metallic 
ty|)es  at  Mentz,  wltich,  though  superior  to  the  former, 
were  still  imperfect,  because  often  unequal;  Schoeffer 
perfected  the  invention  at  Strasbourg,  by  casting  the 
types  in  an  iren  mould,  or  matrix,  engraven  with  a 
puncheon.  Thus  the  question  is  decided.  Coster 
w^g  evidently  the  inventor  of  printing;  the  Others 
imi>rovcd  the  art,  or  rendered  it  more  perfect 


Chap.  I. 


LEARNING  AND  PHILOSOPHY. 


409 


commentaries,  in  studying  them  as  their  models, 
both  in  poetry  and  prose,  and  in  throwing  Hglit 
upon  the  precious  remains  of  antiquity,  tliat 
were  discovered  from  day  to  day.  In  all  these 
branches  of  literature,  many  arrived  at  sucii 
degrees  of  excellence,  as  it  is  almost  impossible 
to  surpass,  and  extremely  difficult  to  equal. 
Nor  were  the  other  languages  and  sciences  ne- 
glected. In  the  university  of  Paris  there  was 
now  a  public  professor,  n(5t  only  of  the  Greek, 
but  also  of  tlie  Hebrew  tongue;*  and  in  Spain 
and  Italy  tlic  study  of  that  language,  and  of 
Oriental  learning  and  antiquities  in  general, 
was  pursued  with  the  greatest  success.f  John 
Reuchlin,  otherwise  called  Capnion,  and  Trith- 
emius,  who  had  made  an  extraordinary  pro- 
gress, both  in  the  study  of  the  languages  and 
of  the  sciences,  were  the  restorers  of  solid 
learning  among  the  Germans.];  Latin  poetry 
was  revived  by  Antony  of  Palermo,  who  ex- 
cited a  spirit  of  emulation  among  the  favourites 
of  the  Muses,  and  had  many  followers  in  that 
sublime  art;§  while  Cyriac  of  Ancona,  by  his 
own  example,  introduced  a  taste  for  coins, 
medals,  inscriptions,  gems,  and  other  precious 
monuments  of  antiquity,  of  which  he  himself 
made  a  large  collection  in  Italy.  || 

IV.  It  is  not  necessary  to  give  here  a  pecu- 
liar and  minute  account  of  the  other  branches 
of  literature  that  flourislied  in  this  century; 
nevertheless,  the  state  of  philosophy  deserves 
a  moment's  attention.  Before  the  arrival  of 
the  Greeks  in  Italy,  Aristotle  reigned  there 
without  a  rival,  and  captivated,  as  it  were  by 
a  sort  of  enchantment,  all  without  exception, 
whose  genius  led  them  to  philosophical  inqui- 
ries. The  veneration  that  was  shown  him,  de- 
generated into  a  foolish  and  extravagant  en- 
thusiasm; the  encomiums  with  whicli  he  was 
loaded,  surpassed  the  bounds  of  decency;  and 
many  carried  matters  so  far  as  to  compare  him 
with  tiie  respectable  precursor  of  tlie  Messiah.H 
This  violent  passion  for  tlie  Stagirite  was  how- 
ever abated,  or  rather  was  rendered  less  gene- 
ral, by  the  influence  which  the  Grecian  sages, 
and  particularly  Gemistius  Pletho,  acquired 
among  the  Latins,  many  of  whom  they  per- 
suaded to  abandon  the  contentious  and  subtle 
doctrine  of  the  Peripatetics,  and  to  substitute 
in  its  place  the  mild  and  divine  wisdom  of 
Plato.  It  was  in  the  year  1439,  about  the 
time  of  the  famous  council  of  Florence,  that 
this  revolution  happened  in  the  empire  of 
philosophy.  Several  illustrious  personages 
among  the  Latins,  charmed  with  the  sublime 
sentiments  and  doctrines  of  Plato,  propagated 
thera  among  the  studious  youth,  and  particu- 


*  R.  Simon,  Critique  de  la  Bibl.  Eccles.  par  M. 
Du-Pin,  torn.  i.  p.  502.  Boulay,  Hislor.  Paris,  torn. 
V.  p.  Hi-i. 

t  Pauli  Colomcsii  Italia  Orientalis,  et  Uispania 
Orion  talis. 

I  R.  Simon,  Lettres  Choisies,  torn.  i.  p.  262;  torn. 

XV.  p.  i:n,  no 

§  Dictionnaire  Hist,  et  Critique  do  Baylc. 

II  See  the  Itinerarium  of  Cyriac,  published  at  Flo- 
runco  in  1742,  by  Meluis,  from  the  original  ui.inu- 
script,  together  with  a  preface,  annolation.s,  and 
several  letters  of  that  learned  man,  who  may  be 
considered  as  the  first  antiquary  that  app€ar(!d  in 
Europe. — See  also  the  Epistles  of  Leonardo  Aretino, 
torn.  ii.  lib.  ix.  p.  149. 

V  See  Christ.  A\igust.  Heumanni  Acta  Philosopho 
rum,  torn.  iii.  p-  345. 
Vol.  L— 52 


larly  among  those  of  a  certain  rank  and  figure. 
The  must  eminent  patron  of  this  divine  phi- 
losophy, as  it  was  termed  by  its  votaries,  was 
Cosmo  de'  Medici,  who  had  no  sooner  heard 
the  lectures  of  Pletho,  than  he  formed  the  de- 
sign of  founding  a  Platonic  aeademy  at  Flo- 
rence. For  this  purpose,  he  ordered  Marsilius 
Ficinus,  the  son  of  his  first  physician,  to  be 
carefully  instructed  in  the  doctrines  of  the 
Athenian  sage,  and,  in  general,  in  the  language 
and  philology  of  the  Greeks,  that  he  might 
translate  into  Latin  the  productions  of  the 
most  renowned  Platonists.  Ficinus  answered 
well  the  expectations,  and  executed  the  inten- 
tions of  his  illustrious  patron,  by  translating 
successively  into  the  Latin  language,  the  cele- 
brated works  of  Hermes  Trismegistus,  Ploti- 
nus,  and  Plato.  The  same  excellent  prince 
encouraged  by  his  mimificence,  and  animated 
by  his  protection,  many  learned  men,  such  an 
Ambrose  of  Cainaldoli,  Leonardo  Bruno, 
Poggio,  and  others,  to  undertake  works  of  a 
like  nature,  that  the  Latin  literature  might  be 
enriched  with  translations  of  the  best  Greek 
writers.  The  consequence  of  all  this  wa«, 
that  two  philosophical  sects  arose  in  Italy,  who 
debated  for  a  long  time  (with  the  warmes. 
animosity  in  a  multitude  of  learned  and  con- 
tentious productions)  this  important  question, 
which  was  the  greatest  philosopher,  Aristotle 
or  Plato.* 

V.  Between  these  opposite  factions,  some 
eminent  men,  among  both  Greeks  and  Latins, 
thought  proper  to  steer  a  middle  course.  To 
this  class  belonged  Johannes  Picus  de  Miran- 
dola,  Bessarion,  Hermolaus  Barbarus,  and 
others  of  less  renown,  who,  indeed,  considered 
Plato  as  the  supreme  oracle  of  philosophy,  but 
would  by  no  means  suifer  Aristotle  to  be  treated 
with  indiflerence  or  contempt,  and  who  pro- 
posed to  reconcile  the  jarring  doctrines  of  these 
two  famous  Grecian  sages,  and  to  combine 
them  into  one  system.  These  moderate  phi- 
losophers, both  in  their  manner  of  teaching, 
and  in  the  opinions  they  adopted,  followed 
the  modern  Platonic  school,  of  which  Ammo- 
nius  was  the  original  founder.!  This  sect  was, 
for  a  long  time,  regarded  with  the  utmost  vene- 
ration, particularly  among  the  Mystics;  while 
the  scholastic  doctors,  and  all  such  as  were  in- 
fected witli  the  itch  of  disputing,  favoured  the 
Peripatetics.  But,  after  all,  these  reconciling 
Platonists  were  chargeable  witli  many  errors 
and  follies;  they  fell  into  the  most  childish  su- 


*  Boivin,  dans  I'Histoire  de  I'Academie  des  In- 
scriptions et  des  Belles  Lettres,  torn.  iv.  p.  381. — 
Launoy,  de  varia  Fortuna  Aristoteli.o,  p.  225. 

Loo  Allalius,  de  Georgiis,  p.  3111. — l^a  Croze,  En- 
tretions  sur  divers  Sujets,  p.  3iS4. — Jo.eeph  Bianchini, 
doi  Gran  Duchi  di  Toscana. — Bruckeri  Historia 
Critica  PhilosophicB,  torn.  iv. 

Qt3~  It  was  not  only  the  respective  merit  of  these 
two  philosophers,  considered  in  th.Tt  point  of  light, 
that  wa.s  debated  in  this  controversy;  the  principal 
question  was,  which  system  was  most  conformable 
to  the  doctrines  of  Christianity?  And  here  the  Pla- 
tonic certainly  deserved  the  preference,  as  was  abun- 
dantly proved  by  Pletho  and  others.  It  is  well  known, 
that  many  of  the  opinions  of  Aristotle  lead  directly 
to  atheism. 

t  See  Bessarion'9  Letter  in  the  Histoire  de  I'Aca- 
demie  des  Inscriptions,  tom.  v.  p.  4.5(3. — Thomasius, 
de  Syncretismo  Peripatetico,  in  ejus  Orationibus,  p. 
340. 


410 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


perstitions,  and  followed,  vvithovit  eitlicr  re- 
flection or  restraint,  tho  extravagant  dictates 
of  their  wanton  imaginations. 

VI.  Tlieir  systoni  of  pliilosopliy  was,  how- 
ever, mueli  letJs  pernicious  than  that  of  the 
Aristotelians,  their  adversaries,  who  still  main- 
tained their  superiority  in  Italy,  and  instruetotl 
the  youth  in  all  the  public  schools  oflcaniinj!:. 
For  these  subtle  doctors,  and  more  especially 
the  followers  of  Averroes,  (who  maintained 
that  all  the  human  race  were  animated  by  one 
conmion  soul,)  impereei>libly  sapped  tlie  Ibun- 
dations  both  of  natural  and  revealed  religion, 
and  entertained  sciitintcnts  very  little,  if  at  all, 
ditfercnt  from  that  impious  pantheistical  sys- 
tem, which  confounds  the  Deity  with  the  uni- 
verse, and  merely  acknowledges  o)ie  sclf-ex- 
istent  being,  composed  of  iiifmite  matter  and 
mfinitc  intelligence.  Among  this  clabs  of  s<>- 
phists,  the  most  emiiu;nt  was  Peter  Pompo- 
nace,  a  native  of  Mantua,  a  man  of  a  crally 
turn,  and  an  arrogant,  enterprising'  spirit,  who, 
notwithstanding  tho  jnirnicious  tendency  of 
his  writings  (many  of  which  are  yet  extant)  to 
undcnninc  tho  principles,  and  corrupt  the  doc- 
trines of  religion,"  was  almost  universally  fol- 
lowed by  tho  professors  of  philosophy  in  the 
Italian  academics.  These  intricate  doctors 
did  not,  however,  escape  the  notice  of  the  in- 
quisitors, who,  alarmed  both  by  the  rapid  pro- 
gress and  dangerous  tendency  of  their  meta- 
physical notions,  took  cognizance  of  tlicm,and 
called  the  Aristotelians  to  give  an  account  of 
their  principles.  Tho  latter,  tempering  their 
courage  with  craft,  had  recourse  to  a  mean  and 
perfidious  stratagem  to  extricate  themselves 
from  this  embarrassing  trial.  They  pretended 
to  establish  a  wide  distinction  between  philo- 
sophical and  theological  truth;  and  maintain- 
ing that  their  sentiments  were  philosophically 
tnie,  and  conformable  to  right  reason,  they  al- 
lowed them  to  be  deemed  IhcoUigicutly  false, 
and  contrary  to  the  declarations  of  the  Gospel. 
This  miserable  and  impudent  subterfuge  was 
condemned  and  prohibited  in  tho  following 
century,  by  Leo  X.  in  a  council  winch  he  held 
at  the  Latoran. 

VII.  The  Realists  and  Nominalists  contin- 
ued their  disputes  in  Franco  and  Germany 
with  more  vigour  and  animosity  than  ever; 
and,  finding  that  reason  and  argument  were 
feeble  weajrons,  they  had  recourse  to  mutual 
invectives  and  accusati(jns,  penal  laws,  and 
even  to  the  force  of  arms;  a  strange  method, 
surely,  of  deciding  a  metaphysical  question! 
The  contest  was  not  only  warm,  but  was  very 
general  in  its  extent;  for  it  infected,  almost 
without  exception,  the  French  and  German 
colleges.  In  most  places,  however,  the  Real- 
ists maintained  a  manifest  superiority  over  the 
Nominalists,  to  whom  they  also  gave  the  ap- 
pellation of  Terminists.j  Wliile  the  iamous 
Gerson  and  the  most  eminent  of  his  disciples 
were  living,  tho  Nominalists  wore  in  high  es- 
teem and  credit  in  the  university  of  Paris. 


*  Sec  tho  very  learned  Brucker'a  Ilist.  Crit.  Pliilo- 
sopliicB,  t.  iv.  p.  15H. 

t  See  Bruckci's  tfistoiia  Critica  I'hilosnpliio;,  toiii. 
ill.  p.  004. — Jo.  Salabcrli  I'liildsophia  Noiiiiiiuliuin 
Vimlicata,  cap.  i. — Ualu/.ii  Mi8CeHaii.  t.  iv.  p.  ."i;)!, — 
Argentic,  Coll.  Uocum.  de  iiov.  Error,  t.  i.  p.  'tlti. 


But,  on  the  death  of  these  powerful  and  re- 
spectable patrons,  the  scene  was  changed  to 
tiicir  disadvantage.  In  1473,  Louis  XL,  by 
the  instigation  of  his  confessor  the  bishop  of 
Avranches,  issued  a  severe  edict  against  the 
doctrines  of  the  Nominalists,  and  ordered  all 
their  writings  to  be  seized,  and  seciued  in  a 
sort  of  imprisonmeid.,  that  they  might  not  be 
perused  by  the  people.*  But  the  same  mo- 
narch mitigated  this  edict  in  the  following 
year,  and  permitted  some  of  the  books  of  that 
sect  to  be  delivered  from  their  confinement.! 
In  1 ISI,  he  went  much  farther;  for  he  not  only 
granleil  a  lull  liberty  to  the  Nominalists  and 
their  writings,  but  also  restored  that  philo- 
sophical sect  to  its  former  authority  and  lustre 
in  the  university. J 

CHAPTER  II. 

Vuiicerniiig  the  Doctors  and  Minialers  of  the 
Church,  and  Us  Forms  of  Government,  during 
Urn  Century. 

I.  The  most  emmcnt  writers  of  this  century 
unanimously  lament  the  miserable  condition  to 
which  the  Christian  church  was  reduced  by 
the  rorru(>tion  of  its  ministers,  and  which 
seemed  to  jtortcnd  nothing  less  than  its  total 
luin,  if  Providence  should  not  interpose,  by 
extraortlinary  means,  for  its  deliverance  and 
preservation.  The  vices  that  reigned  among 
the  Roman  pontiffs,  and,  indeed,  among  all  the 
ecclesiastical  orders,  were  so  flagrant,  that  the 
complaints  of  these  good  men  did  not  appear 
at  all  exaggerated,  or  their  apprehensions  ill- 
founded;  nor  had  any  of  the  corrupt  advocates 
of  the  clergy  the  courage  to  call  them  to  an 
account  ibr  the  sharpness  of  their  censures  and 
of  their  complaints.  The  rulers  of  tho  church, 
who  lived  in  lu.xurious  indolence,  and  in  the 
infamous  practice  of  all  kinds  of  vice,  were 
even  obligeil  to  hear  with  a  jdacid  counte- 
nance, and  even  to  connnend,  these  bold  cen- 
sors, who  declaimed  against  the  degeneracy  of 
tho  chuicli,  declared  that  there  was  scarcely 
any  thing  sound  either  in  its  visible  head  or  in 
its  members,  and  demanded  the  aid  of  the  se- 
cidar  arm,  and  the  destroying  sword,  to  lop  off* 
the  parts  that  were  infected  with  this  grievous 
and  deplorable  contagion.  Atlairs,  in  short, 
were  brought  to  such  a  pass,  that  those  were 
deemed  the  best  Christians,  and  the  most  use- 
ful members  of  society,  who,  braving  the  ter- 
rors of  persecution,  and  triumphing  over  the 
fear  of  man,  inveighed  with  the  greatest  free- 
dom and  fervour  against  the  court  of  Rome, 
its  lordly  pontiff,  and  the  whole  tribe  of  his 
followers  and  votaries. 

II.  At  the  commencement  of  this  century, 
the  Latin  church  was  divided  into  two  great 
factions,  and  was  governed  by  two  contending 
pontifis,  Boniface  IX.  who  remained  at  Rome, 
and  Benedict  XIII.  who  resided  at  Avignon. 


*  Niiiide'n  AiUlitions  a  I'Histoire  de  Louis  XI.  p. 
l.'0:t.— l)u  lioulay,  Hist.  Acad.  Paris,  torn.  v.  p.  678, 
70.'). — L.iuiiny's  ilistur.  Gymnas.  Navar.  t.  iv.  op. 
part  i.  p.  'JOl,  378. 

t  Itniilay,  t.  v.  Ii.  710. 

t  Tlic  pioiils  cil  tills  wc  find  in  Salcbert's  Philo- 
sopluii  Nuiniual.  vnidicalu,  cap.  i.— See  also  Boulay, 
torn.  v. 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


411 


Upon  the  death  of  the  former,  the  oardinals  of 
ills  party  raisod  to  the  pontificate,  in  M04, 
Cosmo  de  Moliorati,  who  assumed  the  iiume 
of  lunorent  VII.,*  and  hold  that  high  dignity 
during   tiio  short  Bpaco   of  two  years   only. 
After  his  decease,  Angelo  Corrario,  a  Vene- 
tian cardinal,  was  chosen    in  liis  room,  and 
ruled  the  Roman  faction  inidcr  tlio  title  of 
Gregory  XII.     A  plan  of  reconciliation  was 
Jiowever  formed,  and  the  contending  pontitls 
bound  tliemselves,  each  by  an  oatli,  to  make  a 
voluntary  renunciation  of  the  papal  chair,  if 
that  step  should  be  deemed  necessary  to  pro- 
mote the  peace  and  welfare  of  the  church;  but 
both  of  them  sctindalously  violated  this  solemn 
obligation.     Benedict,   besieged    in    Avignon 
by  the  king  of  France,  in  1408,  saved  himself 
by  flight,  retiring  first  into  Catalonia,  his  na- 
tive country,  and  afterwards  to   Perpignan. 
Hence  eight  or  nine  of  the  cardinals,  who  ad- 
hered to  his  cause,  seeing  themselves  deserted 
by  their  pope,  went  over  to  the  other  side,  and, 
joining  publicly  with  the  cardinals  who  sup- 
ported  Gregory,   they  agreed  to  assemble  a 
council  at  Pisa  on  the  25tli  of  March,  1409,  in 
order  to  heal  the  divisions  and  factions  that 
had  so  long  rent  the  papal  empire.  Tiiis  coun- 
cil, however,  which  was  designed  to  close  the 
wounds  of  the  church,  had  an  clFoct  quite  con- 
trary to  that  which  was  generally  u-\poctcd, 
and  only  served  to  open  a  new  breach,  and  to 
excite  new  divisions.    Its  proceedings,  indeed, 
were  vigorous,  and  its  measures  were  accom- 
panied with  a  just  severity.    A  heavy  sentence 
of  condemnation  was  pronounced,  on  the  .'ith 
day  of  June,  against  the  contending  pontilfs, 
who  were  declared  guilty  of  heresy,  perjury, 
and  contumacy,  unworthy  of  the  smallest  to- 
kens of  honour  or  respect,  and  separated  ipso 
facto  from  the  communion  of  the  church.  This 
step  was  followed  by  the  election  of  o)ie  pontili' 
in  their  place.    Tlie  election  took  ])lace  on  tlic 
26th  of  June,  and  fell  u|)on  Peter  of  Candia, 
known  in  the  papal  list  by  the  name  of  Alex- 
ander V.,t  but  all  the  decrees  and  proceedings 
of  this  famous  council  were  treated  with  con- 
tempt by  the  condemned  pontilfs,  who  con- 
tinued to  enjoy  the  piivilogcs  and  to  perform 
the  functions  of  the  papacy,  as  if  no  atlompls 
had  been  made  to  remove  tlusm  from  that  dig- 
nity.    Renedict  lield  a  council  at  Perpignan; 
and    Gregory  assembled  one   near  A<iuil(!ia. 
The  latter,  however,  apprehending  the  resent- 
ment of  the  Venetians,!  mado  his  csca|ie  in  a 
clandestine  manner  from  the  territory  of  Aijui- 
leia,  arrived  at  Caicta,  where  he  threw  himself 
upon  the  protection  of  Ladislaus,  king  of  Na- 
ples, and,  in  1412,  fled  thence  to  Rimini. 
III.  Thus  was  the  Christian  church  divided 

*  Resiilo  till!  ordinary  writers,  who  have  pivcn  ns 
an  account  of  the  transactions  that  hapiiencil  midor 
tho  pontificate  of  Innocent  VII.,  sot;  Leon.  Arelin. 
EpiBtol.  til),  i.  I'p.  iv.  v.  et  Colinc.  Saliilnt.  Kpi.-itnl. 
lib.  ii. — Wc  have  also  an  account  of  the  (lontilicite 
of  Gregory,  in  the  Epistles  of  the  same  Aretin,  und 
in  Jo.  hanii,  Delic.  Erndilorum,  loin.  i. 

t  See  L'Enfant  Histoire,  du  Concilc  de  I'ise. — F. 
Pagi,  Breviar.  Pontif.  Uonianorum,  toin  iv. — iind 
Rossuet,  Uefensio  Decreli  Uiillicuni  de  Potislate 
Ecclpsiafltica,  torn.  ii. 

Og-  )  He  had  offi'nded  the  VenctianR  liy  deposing 
their  patriarch,  Aiilony  Piinciarini,  and  pullirij;  An 
tony  (iu  Pont  the  bishop  of  Concordia,  in  his  place. 


into  three  great  factions,  and  its  government 
violently  carried  on  by  three  contending  chiefe, 
who  loaded  each  other  with  reciprocal  male- 
dictions, calumnieH,  and  excommunications. 
Ale.wxnder  V.,  who  had  been  elected  pontiff  at 
the  council  of  Pisa,  died  at  Bologna  in  1410; 
and  the  fn.xloen  cardinals,  who  attended  him  in 
that  city,  immediately  filled  up  the  vacancy, 
by  clioosing,  a.s  his  successor,  Balthasar  Cossa, 
a  Neapolitan,  destitute  of  all  principles  both 
of  religion  and  probity,  who  assumed  the  title 
of  .lohn  XXIII.  The  duration  of  this  schism 
in  tiie  papacy  was  a  source  of  many  calami- 
tics,  and  became  daily  more  detrimental  both 
to  the  civil  and  religious  interests  of  those  na- 
tions among  whom  the  flame  raged.  Hence 
it  was  that  tho  emperor  Sigismund,  the  king 
of  France,  and  several  other  princes,  employ- 
ed all  tlicir  zeal  and  activity,  and  spared  nei- 
ther labour  nor  c.xjiense,  in  restoring  the  tran- 
quillity of  the  church,  and  uniting  it  again  un- 
der one  spiritual  head.  On  the  otlicr  hand,  tho 
pontiffs  could  not  be  persuaded  by  any  means 
to  prefer  the  peace  of  the  church  to  the  grati- 
fication of  their  ambition;  so  that  no  other 
method  of  accommodating  this  weighty  mat- 
ter remained,  than  the  assembling  of  a  general 
council,  in  which  the  controversy  might  be  ex- 
amined, and  terminated  "by  the  judgment  and 
decision  of  the  universal  church.  This  coun- 
cil was  accordingly  convoked  at  Constance,  in 
1414,  by  John  XXIII.  who  was  engaged  in 
this  measure  by  the  entreaties  of  Sigismund, 
and  also  from  an  expectation,  that  the  decrees 
of  this  grand  assembly  would  be  favourable  to 
his  interests.  He  appeared  with  a  great  num- 
ber of  cardinals  luid  bishops,  at  tliis  famous 
council,  which  was  also  honoured  with  the 
presence  of  the  emperor,  of  many  German 
jirinccs,  and  of  the  ambassadors  of  all  the  Eu- 
ropean states,  whose  monarchs  or  regents  could 
ntd.  be  personally  present  at  the  decision  of  this 
important  controvei-sy.* 

I  v.  The  great  object  of  tliig  assembly  was 
tlw!  hcalino-  of  the  pcliisin  that  had  so  long  rent 
the  papacy:  and  this  purpose  was  happily  ac- 
complished. It  was  solemnly  declared,  in  the 
tniirlh  Mild  fifth  ses-sions  of  this  council,  by  two 
decrees,  that  the  Roman  pontiff  was  iiiierior 
and  .subject  to  a  general  assembly  of  tho  uni- 
ver:;al  church;  and  the  same  decrees  vindicat- 
ed and  maintained,  in  the  most  elfectual  man- 
ner, the  authority  of  councils.!     This  vigor- 

♦  The  nets  of  thi.s  f  imous  council  were  published 
in  six-  vohnne.s  in  folio,  at  Frankfort,  in  1700,  by 
llennan  von  dor  llaidt.  Thi.s  colb^ction,  however, 
is  ini|ierfert,  notwilhstandine  the  pains  that  it  cost 
llie  LiliiiiiouH  editor.  Many  of  the  acts  ;iri'  <iinined, 
.ind  :i  fire.il  nuiiilicr  of  pieces  are  introduced  which 
by  no  nii'.in.s  denerve  ji  place.  Tho  history  of  the 
.'■aiMi'  rniincil  by  1,'Knfant,  is  composed  with  great 
ai(  ijr.icy  :oid  elegance;  but  tho  supplement  that  was 
HHi  II  to  it  by  l!our«eois  de  Chastenel,  a  French 
lawyer,  ifi  n  perforniaiicc!  of  little  merit;  it  is  cnti- 
ib.'d.  '  IVciuvelle  Hisloiie  dii  Conclle  de  Ooiiatance,  ou 
Ton  fait  voir  combieii  la  France  u  conlribue  a  I'e.i- 
tinclion  ilii  Hciii.snie.' 

t  For  an  account  of  these  two  famous  decrees, 
vvhirli  set  such  wise  limits  to  the  supremacy  of  the 
pniililfs,  R(!e  N.italis  Ali.'.vand.  Hist.  Eccl.  sajc.  XV. 
Diss,  iv.— Uossui't,  Defens.  Si!ntciitin>CI«<riGallican. 
di)  Potest.  Ecclesiast  torn.  ii. — L'Enfant,  Dissert, 
Historicpie  ot  Apologetiqiic  pour  Jean  Grrson  pt  le 
t%)ncile  de  CimBtance,  wliich  is  Biibjoined  to  his  his- 
tory of  that  council. 


412 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


OU9  proceeding  prepared  the  way  for  the  de- 
gradation of  John,  who,  during  the  twelfth 
session,  was  unanimously  deposed  from  the 
pontificate,*  on  account  of  several  flagitious 
crimes  that  were  laid  to  his  charge,  and  more 
especially  for  the  scandalous  violation  of  a  so- 
lemn engagement  which  he  had  taken  about 
the  beginning  of  the  council,  to  resign  the  pa- 
pal chair,  if  that  measure  should  appear  neces- 
sary to  the  peace  of  the  church;  which  engage- 
ment he  broke  some  weeks  after  by  a  clandes- 
tine flight.  In  the  same  year  (1415,)  Grego- 
ry sent  Charles  de  Malatesta  to  the  council  to 
make,  in  his  name,  a  solemn  and  voluntary  re- 
signation of  the  pontificate.  About  two  years 
after  this,  Benedict  was  deposed  by  a  solemn 
resolution  of  the  council,!  and  Otto  de  C'olon- 
na  raised,  by  the  unanimous  suifrages  of  tlie 
cardinals,  to  the  high  dignity  of  head  of  the 
church,  which  he  ruled  under  the  title  of  Mar- 
tin V.  Benedict,  who  still  resided  at  Perpig- 
nan,  was  far  from  being  disposed  to  submit 
either  to  the  decree  of  the  council  which  depos- 
ed him,  or  to  the  determination  of  the  cardi- 
nals with  respect  to  his  successor.  On  the 
contrary,  he  persisted  until  the  day  of  his 
death,  which  happened  in  the  year  1423,  in  as- 
suming the  title,  the  prerogatives,  and  the  au- 
thority of  the  papacy.  And  when  this  obsti- 
nate man  was  dead,  a  certain  Spaniard,  named 
Giles  Munoz,  was  chosen  pope  in  his  place  by 
two  cardinals,  under  the  patronage  of  Alphon- 
po,  king  of  Sicily,  and  adopted  the  title  of 
Clement  VIII.;  but  this  sorry  pontiff",  in  1429, 
was  persuaded  to  resign  his  pretensions,  and 
to  leave  the  government  of  the  church  to  Mar- 
tin V. 

V.  If,  from  the  measures  that  were  taken  in 
this  council  to  check  the  lordly  arrogance  of 
the  Roman  pontiffs,  we  turn  our  eyes  to  the 
proceedings  against  those  who  were  called  he- 
retics, we  shall  observe  in  this  new  scene  no- 
thing worthy  of  applause,  but  several  things, 
on  the  contrary,  that  can  only  excite  our  indig- 
nation, and  which  no  pretext,  no  consideration, 
can  render  excusable.  Before  the  meeting  of 
this  council,  great  commotions  had  been  excit- 
ed in  several  parts  of  Europe,  and  more  espe- 
cially in  Bohemia,  by  contests  on  religious  sub- 
jects. One  of  the  persons  that  gave  occasion 
to  these  disputes  was  John  IIuss,  who  lived  at 
Prague  in  the  highest  reputation,  both  on  ac- 
count of  the  sanctity  of  his  manners,  and  the 
purity  of  his  doctrine,  who  was  distinguished 
by  his  uncommon  erudition  and  eloquence,  and 
performed,  at  the  same  time,  the  functions  of 
professor  of  divinity  in  the  university,  and  of 
ordinary  pastor  in  the  church  of  that  famous 
city. I      This   eminent  ecclesiastic  declaimed 


»  On  the  21tth  of  May,  1415. 

t  On  ihe  idth  of  July,  1417. 

QlJ'  I  A  RnhciniHii  Jesuit,  wlin  was  f;ir  from  beinj; 
favourable  to  John  Huss,  and  who  had  the  best  op- 
portunity of  being  aojuainted  with  his  real  character, 
describi-s  him  thus:  "  He  was  more  subtle  than  elo- 
quent; but  the  gravity  and  austerity  of  his  manners, 
his  frugal  and  exemplary  life,  his  pale  and  meagre 
countenaneo,  his  sweetness  of  temper,  and  liis  un- 
common affability  toward  persons  of  all  ranks  and 
oonditions.  from  the  higliest  to  the  lowest,  were 
much  more  persuasive  than  any  eloquence  could  be." 
See  Bohuslaus  Palbinus,  Kpitom.  Hist.  Rer.  Bohem. 
lib.  iv  cap   v.  p.  431. 


with  vehemence  against  the  vices  that  had  cor- 
rupted the  clergy  of  all  denominations;  nor 
was  he  singular  in  this  respect;  for  such  re- 
monstrances had  become  very  common,  and 
were  generally  approved  by  the  wise  and  the 
good.  Huss,  however,  went  still  farther;  and, 
from  the  year  1408,  used  his  most  zealous  en- 
deavours to  withdraw  the  university  of  Prague 
from  the  jurisdiction  of  Gregory  XII.,  whom 
the  kingdom  of  Bohemia  had  hitherto  acknow- 
ledged as  the  true  and  lawful  head  of  the 
church.  The  archbisliop  of  Prague,  and  the 
clergy  in  general,  who  were  warmly  attached 
to  the  interests  of  Gregory,  were  greatly  exas- 
perated at  these  proceedings.  Hence  arose  a 
violent  quarrel  between  the  incensed  prelate 
and  the  zealous  reformer,  which  tlie  latter  in- 
flamed and  augmented,  from  day  to  day,  by 
his  warm  exclamations  against  the  conduct  of 
the  court  of  Rome,  and  the  corruptions  that 
prevailed  among  the  sacerdotal  order. 

VI.  Such  were  the  circumstances  that  first 
excited  the  resentment  of  the  clergy  against 
John  Huss.  This  resentment,  however,  might 
have  been  easily  calmed,  and  perhaps  totally 
extinguished,  if  new  incidents  of  a  more  im- 
portant kind  had  not  arisen  to  keep  up  the 
flame  and  increase  its  fury.  In  the  first  place, 
he  adopted  the  philosophical  opinions  of  the 
Realists,  and  showed  his  warm  attachment 
to  their  cause,  in  the  manner  that  was  usual  in 
this  barbarous  age,  even  by  persecuting,  to  the 
utmost  of  his  power,  their  adversaries,  the 
Nominalists,  whose  number  was  great,  and 
whose  influence  was  considerable  in  the  imi- 
versity  of  Prague.*  He  also  multiplied  the 
number  of  his  enemies,  in  1408,  by  procuring, 
through  his  great  credit,  a  sentence  in  favour 
of  the  Bohemians,  who  disputed  with  the  Ger- 
mans concerning  the  number  of  suffrages  to 
which  their  respective  nations  were  entitled  in 
all  points  that  were  carried  by  election  in  the 
universit}'.  That  the  nature  of  this  contest 
may  be  better  understood,  it  will  be  proper  to 
observe,  that  this  famous  university  was  divided, 
by  its  founder  Cliarles  IV.,  into  four  nations, 
namely,  the  Bohemians,  Bavarians,  Poles,  and 
Saxons;  of  which,  according  to  the  original 
laws  of  the  institutions,  the  first  had  three  suf- 
frages, and  the  otlier  three,  who  were  compre- 
hended under  the  title  of  the  German  nation, 
only  one.  This  arrangement,  however,  had 
not  only  been  altered  by  custom,  but  was  en- 
tirely inverted  in  favour  of  the  Germans,  who 
were  vastly  superior  to  the  Bohemians  in  num- 
ber, and  assumed  to  themselves  the  three  suf- 
frages which  originally  belonged  to  the  latter. 
Huss,  therefore,  whether  animated  by  a  prin- 
ciple of  patriotism,  or  by  an  aversion  to  the 
Nominalists,  who  were  peculiarly  favoured  by 
the  Germans,  raised  his  voice  against  this  abuse. 


*  See  the  LiteriE  Nominaliuni  ad  Regem  Francije 
Ludovicum  VI.,  in  Baluzii  Miscellan.  torn.  iv.  p.  534, 
where  we  read  the  following  passage:  "  Legimua 
Nominales  expulsos  de  Bohemia  eo  tempore,  quo 
hceretici  voluerunt  Bohemicum  regnum  suis  h^Eresi- 
bus  inficere. — Quum  dicti  haeretici  non  possent  dis- 
putando  superare,  impetraveruiit  ab  Abbisseslao 
( fVence.-'lao)  principe  Bohemia;,  ut  gubernarentur  sta- 
dia Pragensia  riiu  Parisiensium;  quo  edicto  coacti 
sunt  supradicli  Nominales  Pragam  civitatem  relin- 
quere,  et  se  transtulerunt  ad  Lipzicam  civitatem,  et 
ibidem  erexerunt  universitatsm  soleuinissimam." 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


413 


and  employed,  with  success,  the  extraordinary 
credit  he  had  obtained  al  court,  by  his  flowing 
and  masculine  eloquence,  in  depriving  the 
Germans  of  the  privilege  they  had  usurped, 
and  in  reducing  their  three  suffrages  to  one. 
The  issue  of  this  long  and  tedious  contest* 
was  so  offensive  to  the  Germans,  that  a  prodi- 
gious number  of  them,  with  John  Hoffman, 
the  rector  of  the  university,  at  their  liead,t  re- 
tired from  Prague,  and  repaired  to  Leipsic, 
where  Frederic  the  Wise,  elector  of  Saxony, 
erected  for  them,  in  1409,  that  academic  insti- 
tution which  still  subsists  in  a  flourishing  state. 
This  event  contributed  greatly  to  render  Huss 
odious  to  many,  and,  by  tlie  consequences  that 
followed  it,  was  certainly  instrumental  in  bring- 
ing on  his  ruin;  for  no  sooner  had  the  Germans 
retired  from  Prague,  than  he  began  not  only 
to  inveigh  with  greater  freedom  than  he  had 
formerly  done  against  the  vices  and  corruptions 
of  the  clergy,  but  even  went  so  far  as  to  re- 
commend, in  an  open  and  public  manner,  the 
writings  and  opinions  of  the  famous  Wickliffe, 
whose  new  doctrines  had  already  made  such  a 
noise  in  England.  Henee  an  accusation  was 
brought  against  him,  in  1410,  before  the  tribu- 
nal of  John  XXII.,  by  whom  he  was  solemnly 
expelled  from  the  communion  of  the  church. 
He  treated,  indeed,  this  excommunication  with 
the  utmost  contempt,  and,  both  in  his  conver- 
sation and  his  writings,  exposed  the  disor- 
ders that  preyed  upon  the  vitals  of  the  church, 
and  the  vices  that  dishonoured  the  conduct  of 
its  ministers;]:  and  the  fortitude  and  zeal  which 
he  discovered  on  this  occasion  were  almost 
universally  applauded. 

VII.  This  eminent  man,  whose  piety  was 
truly  fervent  and  sincere,  though  his  zeal,  per- 
haps, was  rather  too  violent,  and  his  prudence 
not  always  equally  circimispect,  was  summon- 
ed to  appear  before  the  council  of  Constance. 
Obedient  to  this  order,  and  thinking  liiinself 
secured  from  the  rage  of  his  enemies,  by  the 
safe  conduct  which  had  been  granted  to  him 
by  the  emperor  Sigismund,  both  for  his  journey 
to  Constance,  his  residence  in  that  city,  and 
his  return  to  his  own  country,  John  Huss  ap- 
peared before  the  assembled  churchmen,  to 
demonstrate  his  innocence,  and  to  i)rove  tliat 
the  charge  of  his  iiaving  deserted  tiie  church 
of  Rome  was  entirely  groundless.  And  it  may 
be  affirmed  with  truth,  that  his  religious  opin- 
ions, at  least  in  matters  of  importance,  were 
conformable  to  the  established  doctrine  of  the 
church  in  this  age.§     He  declaimed,  indeed. 


QlJ-  *  Wcnci'slaiis,  kins  nf  Bohemia,  who  was 
bribed  by  both  nf  the  ronlendiiig  partie.i,  protracted 
instead  of  abridL'ing  this  dispute,  and  used  to  sny 
with  a  smile,  that  he  liad  found  a  good  iroo.fe,  whicii 
laid  every  day  a  considerable  number  nf  gold  and  sil- 
ver e/rgs.  This  was  playiiij;  upon  the  word  Huss, 
which,  in  the  German  laiiKuage,  signifies  a  goose. 

Q(j-  t  Historians  differ  much  in  their  accounts  of 
the  number  of  Germans  that  retired  from  tlie  uni- 
versity of  I'raeiie  upon  lliis  occasion,  jl-'neas  Syl- 
vius reckons  .5000;  Trithemius  and  others '2000.  Dii- 
bravius '24,000;  liUpatius  44,000;  Lauda  (a  contempo- 
rary writer)  :it),0O0. 

I  See  Laur.  Byzinii  Diarium  n<'lli  Hussitiri,  in 
Ludewig's  Reliquis  Munusciptorum,  torn.  vi.  p.  Vi~. 

(tl^§  It  was  observed  in  the  preceding  section, 
that  John  Huss  adopted  with  ze.il,  and  oponly  re- 
commended the  writincs  and  opinions  of  Wickliffe; 
but  this  must  be  understood  of  the  writings  and 


with  extraordinary  veliemence  against  the  Ro- 
man pontifls,  the  bishops  and  monks:  but  this 
freedom  was  deemed  lawful  in  these  times, 
and  it  was  used  every  day  in  the  council  of 
Constance,  where  tlie  tyranny  of  the  court  of 
Rome,  and  the  corruption  of  the  sacerdotal 
and  monastic  orders,  were  censured  with  the 
utmost  severity.  The  enemies,  however,  of 
this  good  man,  who  were  very  numerous,  co- 
loured the  accusation  tliat  was  brought  against 
him  with  such  artifice  and  success,  that,  by  the 
most  scandalous  breach  of  public  faith,  he  was 
thrown  into  prison,  declared  a  heretic,  because 
he  refused  to  obey  the  order  of  the  council, 
which  commanded  him  to  plead  guilty  against 
the  dictates  of  his  conscience,  and  was  burned 
alive  on  the  6th  of  July,  1415;  which  dreadful 
punishment  he  endured  with  unparalleled  mag- 
nanimity and  resignation,  expressing  in  his 
last  moments  the  noblest  feelings  of  love  to 
God,  and  the  most  triumphant  hope  of  the 
accomplislmient  of  those  transporting  promises 
with  which  the  Gospel  fortifies  the  true  Chris- 
tian at  the  approach  of  eternity.  The  same 
unhappy  fate  was  borne  with  the  same  pious 
fortitude  and  constancy  of  mind  by  Jerome 
of  Prague,  the  intimate  companion  of  John 
Huss,  who  appeared  at  this  council  with  the 
generous  design  of  supporting  and  seconding 
his  persecuted  friend.  Terrified  by  the  pros- 
pect of  a  cruel  death,  Jerome  at  first  appeared 
willing  to  submit  to  the  orders  of  the  council, 
and  to  abandon  the  tenets  and  opinions  which 
it  had  condemned  in  his  writings.  This  sub- 
mission, however,  was  not  attended  with  the 
advantages  he  expected  from  it:  nor  did  it 
deliver  him  from  the  close  and  severe  con- 
finement in  wliicli  he  was  kept.  He  therefore 
resumed  his  fljrtilude;  professed  anew,  with  an 
heroic  constancy,  the  opinions  whicli  he  had 
deserted  for  a  while  from  a  principle  of  fear, 
and  maintained  them  in  the  flames,  in  which 
he  expired  on  the  30th  of  May,  1416.* 

Many  learned  men  liave  endeavoured  to  in- 
vestigate the  reasons  that  occasioned  the  pro- 
nouncing of  such  a  cruel  sentence  against 
Huss  and  his  associates;  and,  as  no  adequate 
reasons  for  such  a  severe  proceeding  can  be 
found,  either  in  the  life  or  opinions  of  that 
good  man,  they  conclude  that  lie  fell  a  victim 
to  the  rage  and  injustice  of  his  unrelenting 
enemies.  And  indeed  this  conclusion  is  botii 
natural  and  well-grounded;  nor  will  it  be  dif- 
ficult to  show  how  it  came  to  pass,  that  the 
reverend  fathers  of  tlie  council  were  so  eagerly 
bent  upon  burning,  as  a  heretic,  a  man  who 
neither  deserved  such  an  injurious  title,  nor 
such  a  dreadful  fate.  In  tlie  first  place,  John 
Huss  had  excited,  both  by  his  discourses  and 
by  his  writings,  great  commotions  in  Bohemia, 
and  had  rendered  the  clergy  of  all  ranks  and 


opinions  of  that  great  man  in  relation  to  the  papal 
hierarchy,  the  dcs|Kitisin  of  the  court  of  Rome,  and 
the  corruption  of  the  clergy;  for,  in  other  respects,  it 
is  certain  that  he  adhered  to  the  most  sui>erstitiou8 
doctrines  of  the  church,  as  appenrs  from  varioua 
passages  in  two  sermons  which  he  had  prepared  for 
the  council  of  Uonstance. 

(JlT-  *  The  translator  has  here  inserted  into  the 
text  the  long  note  (a)  of  Ihe  original,  which  relates  to 
the  circumstances  that  precipitated  the  ruin  of  these 
two  eminent  reformers;  and  he  has  thrown  the  cita- 
tions therein  contained  into  several  notes. 


414 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


orders  extremely  odious  in  tiio  eyes  of  the  peo- 
ple. Tlio  ijislio|)Fi,  tiierefore,  loirellior  with 
the  sacerdotal  and  monastic  orders,  wore  very 
sensible  that  their  honours  and  advantages, 
their  credit  and  authority,  were  in  tlic  greatest 
danger  of  ])eing  annihilated,  if  this  reformer 
should  return  to  his  country,  and  continue  to 
write  and  declaim  against  the  clergy  with  the 
same  freedom  which  he  had  formerly  exercis- 
ed. Hence  they  left  no  means  miemployed  to 
accomplish  his  ruin;  they  laboured  night  and 
day,  formed  plots,  bribed  men  in  power;  they 
used,  in  short,  every  method  that  could  have 
any  tendency  to  rid  thein  of  such  a  formidable 
adversary.*  It  may  be  observed,  secondly, 
that  in  the  council  there  were  many  men  of 
great  inlluence  and  weight,  who  looked  upon 
themselves  as  personally  offended  by  him,  and 
demanded  his  life  as  the  only  sacrifice  that 
could  satisfy  their  vengeance.  Huss,  as  has 
been  already  mentioned,  was  not  only  attach- 
ed to  the  party  of  the  Realists,  but  was  pecu- 
liarly severe  in  his  opposition  to  their  adversa- 
ries. And  now  he  was  so  unhapjjy,  as  to  be 
brought  before  a  tribunal  which  was  principal- 
ly composed  of  the  Nominalists,  with  tjie  fa- 
mous John  Gerson  at  their  head,  who  was  the 
zealous  patron  of  that  faction,  and  the  mortal 
enemy  of  Huss.  Nothing  could  equal  the  vin- 
dictive pleasure  tlie  Nominalists  felt  from  an 
event  that  put  this  unfortunate  prisoner  in 
their  power,  and  gave  them  an  opportunity  of 
satisfying  their  vengeance  to  the  full;  and  ac- 
cordingly, in  their  letter  to  Louis,  king  of 
France,!  they  do  not  pretend  to  deny  "that 
Huss  fell  a  victim  to  the  resentment  of  their 
sect,  which  is  also  confirmed  by  the  history  of 
the  council.  The  animosities  that  always 
reigned  between  the  Realists  and  Nominalists, 
were  at  this  time  carried  to  the  greatest  excess 
imaginable.  Uj)on  every  occasion  that  offer- 
ed, Ihey  accused  each  otiier  of  heresy  and  im- 
piety, and  constantly  had  recourse  to  corporal 
punishments  to  decitlo  the  dispute.  The  No- 
minalists procured  the  death  nl"  Huss,  who  was 
a  Realist;  and  the  Realists,  on  the  other  hand, 
obtained,  in  14T9,  the  condcnmation  of  Jolm 
of  VVcsel,  who  was  attaciied  to  the  opposite 
party. I  Tliese  contending  sects  carried  their 
blind  fury  so  far  as  to  charge  each  other  with 

*  Till'  liril)Hiy  anil  roiriiplidii  lh:il  wrrc  rinplnycd 
in  luinjjiii!.'  iilioiil  tlm  niiii  nf  .loliii  Muss,  arc  iiiniii 
fesl  from  tlir  I'ollnuiMu  roiiiarKaMi,'  pa:  s:ii,'.s  nf  tlic 
Diaiiinn  Iliissilicinii  uf  I,.iiir.  I'.y/.iimis:  "  t'lcnis 
pei'versiis,  pr.TripiU'  in  rfjjnn  niilninin'r'l  ninrrliiona- 
111  Miiiavia',  criiidcinTialioni'in  ipsiiis  (llnssi)  nmlri- 
butiono  pi'Cmiiaiuiii  rt  inodis  aliis  divcisia  procura- 
vit,  (;t  ad  ipsiiis  rdiiscnsil  mtci  iliini."  "Clcnis  per- 
versus  rcgni  liidicniiii'  el  iiiaiiiiKinatiis  Moraviie,  d 
priT!cipuo  ipisfO|ii,  alil)at(s,  raimniri,  plchani.ct  ndi 
piosi,  ipsiiis  tidoli-s  an  saliilili'ras  adiiioniliinifs,  nd- 
hi)rtatii>n<^s,  ipsdiiim  ]Kinipain,siiiinni.iiii,  nvaiiliajii, 
fornir.atii)n(^ni,  vilii'ipic  di'li'staiida'  alKJiiiiii.itinncni 
dote^fnlcs,  fcrri'  nmx  vnli'ndd,  pcniiiiririnii  rontiibii- 
tinnos  ad  ipsius  cxlinrtioncin  Caciiiido  pmcMiaiunt  " 

f  Sec  llalii/.ii  Misccll.  loin.  iv.  p.  5:i).  Ill  wliicl)  we 
fiinl  lllr  Inllinviii!;  passai";:  "  Siisrilavil  Dimih  dricto- 
res  ralli.dicds,  rclriiiii  dc  Alliaio,  .Ioliaiiiii;iii  do 
persiiuo,  ct  aii^s  ipiaiii  pliircs  dnciissiiiKis  hiiinincs 
Noiiiiiialcs,  f|iir,  rciMVorali  ad  (•iiiiciliiim  (Jiiiistanti- 
pnse,  ad  quod  lilati  fiiininl  liaiciici,  ct  iioiiiinatini 
HieroiiyniMS  ct  .lolianncs— diclos  luprciicos  per  qua 
dracinla  dies  dispulniido  su])(.'ravcnnn." 

(  ScHlhd  ExaiiicM  MaKistraleptTlicologipalo  Mag. 
Joli.  de  VVesalia,  in  Oitiiini  Oriilli  Fnsr.irulo  icniin 
expctend.  et  fugiendar  Colon.  VtXi. 


the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost,*  and  exhibited 
the  most  miserable  spectable  of  inhuman  bi- 
gotry to  the  Christian  world.  The  aversion 
which  John  Huss,  and  Jerome,  his  companion, 
had  against  the  Germans,  was  a  third  circum- 
stance that  contributed  to  determine  their  un- 
happy fate.  This  aversion  they  declared  pulj- 
licly  at  Prague,  on  all  occasions,  both  by  their 
words  and  actions;  nor  were  they  at  any  pains 
to  conceal  it  even  in  the  council  of  Constance, 
where  they  accused  them  of  presumption  and 
despotism  in  the  strongest  terms,  f  The  Ger- 
mans, on  the  other  hand,  remembering  the  af- 
front they  had  received  in  the  university  of 
Prague,  by  the  means  of  Jolm  Huss,  burned 
with  resentment  and  rage  both  against  him 
and  his  unfortunate  friend;  and,  as  their  influ- 
ence and  autliority  were  very  great  in  tho 
council,  there  is  no  doubt  that  they  employed 
them,  with  the  utmost  zeal,  against  these  two 
formidable  adversaries.  Besides,  John  Hoff- 
man, the  famous  rector  of  the  university, 
whom  Huss  had  been  the  occasion  of  expelling 
from  that  city,  together  with  the  Germans, 
and  who  in  consequence  thereof  became  his- 
most  virulent  enemy,  was  consecrated  bishop 
of  Misnia,  in  1413,  and  held  in  this  council 
the  most  illustrious  rank  among  the  delegates 
of  the  German  church.  This  circumstance 
was  also  most  unfavourable  to  Huss,  and  was, 
without  doubt,  ultimately  detrimental  to  his 
cause. 

The  circumstances  now  mentioned,  as  con- 
tributing to  the  unhappy  fate  of  this  good  man, 
are,  as  we  see,  all  drawn  from  the  resentment 
and  prejudices  of  his  enemies,  and  have  not  the 
least  colour  of  equity.  It  must,  however,  be 
confessed,  that  there  appeared  one  mark  qf  he- 
resy in  the  conduct  of  this  reformer,  which,  ac- 
cording to  the  notions  that  prevailed  in  this 
century,  might  expose  him  to  condemnation 
with  some  shadow  of  reason  and  justice;  I 
moan,  bin  inllcxible  obstinacy,  which  the  church 
of  Rome  always  considered  as  a  grievous 
heresy,  even  in  those  whose  errors  were  of  lit- 
tle moment.  We  must  consider  this  man,  as 
called  before  a  council,  which  was  supposed 
to  represent  the  universal  church,  to  confess 
his  faults  and  to  abjure  his  errors.     This  ho 


*  In  thi;  Kiamcn  incniionod  in  ihc  prccedine  note, 
wi;  liiiil  the  following  striking  passaj;e,  which  may 
show  us  the  exlravai;ant  length  to  which  the  (lis 
piili'9  between  the  Nominalists  and  Realists  were 
now  carried; — "  Qiiis  nisi  ipse  diabolus  seminavit 
illani  zizaniam  inter  philosophog  el  inter  theologns, 
lit  lania  sit  dissensio,  etiain  animoriim,  inter  diversa 
opinaiitcs?  Aileo  lit  si  iinivcrsalia  ipiisiiuani  realia 
iicgaverit,  exist iinctur  in  i^piritnni  Sanctum  pecca 
vissc;  imo  suinnio  ct  maximo  pcccalo  plenuscreditur 
contra  Deiim,  contra  C'hristianain  religionem,  contra 
iiisiiliam.  contra  oinnem  poliliam,  graviter  deli- 
<|iiiH:se.  Vndii  h:RC  cfccitas  mentis  nisi  a  diabolo,  fjui 
plianlasias  nostras  illndil?"  We  .see  by  this  pas- 
sage, that  the  Realists  charged  their  adversaries 
(whose  only  crime  was  the  absurdity  of  calling  uni- 
vrr^nl  iilnis  mere  dciwminatiov.i)  with  sin  against 
till'  Holy  <iliosl,  with  transgression  against  God,  and 
ai;aiMsl  the  Christian  religion,  and  with  a  violation 
of  all  the  laws  of  justice  and  civil  polity. 

t  Sei?  Tlieod.  do  Niem,  Invectiva  in  Joh.  XXIII., 
in  Hardtii  Actis  Concilii  Constant,  torn.  ii.  p.  450 
"  Iniproperabat  etiam  in  publico  AlamanniF,  dicen- 
do,  (pioil  essciit  pra'sumptuosi,  ot  vcllent  iibique  per 

orbeni  dominari Sicquo  factum  fiiisset  sspe  in 

Bohemia,  iibi   volentea  etiain  floniinari  Alamanni 
violcnter  exinde  repulni  et  male  trartati  fuiasent.' 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOV  ERNMENT,  &c. 


415 


obstinately  refused  to  do,  unless  he  was  pre- 
viously convicted  of  error;  liuro,  therefore,  he 
resisted  tiic  authority  of  the  catholie  church, 
demanded  a  rational  proof  of  tlie  jutfti(re  of  tlio 
sentence  it  had  pronoiniced  asjainst  him,  ami 
intimated,  with  suHicient  plainness,  tliat  he 
looked  upon  the  church  as  fuUible.  All  this 
certainly  was  mo.«!t  enormously  criminal  and 
intolerably  iieretical,  according  to  tlie  ireneral 
opinion  of  the  times;  for  it  became  a  dutiful 
son  of  the  church  to  renounce  his  eye-sight, 
and  to  submit  his  own  judgment  and  will,  with- 
out any  exception  or  reservation,  to  the  judg- 
ment and  will  of  that  holy  mother,  under  a 
firm  belief  and  entire  persuasion  of  the  iidalli- 
bility  of  all  her  decisions.  This  ghostly  mo- 
ther had,  for  many  ages  past,  followed,  when- 
ever her  unerring  perfection  and  authority  were 
called  in  question,  the  rule  which  Pliny  observ- 
ed in  his  conduct  toward  the  Christians: 
"  When  they  pereevered,  (says  he,  in  his  let- 
ter to  Trajan,)  1  put  my  threats  into  execution, 
from  a  persuasion  that,  whatever  their  con- 
fessions might  bo,  their  audacious  and  invinci- 
ble obstinacy  deserved  an  exemplary  punish- 
ment."* 

VIII.  Before  sentence  had  been  pronounced 
against  John  Huss  and  Jerome  of  Pr.ague,  the 
famous  Wicklilfe,  whoso  opinions  they  were 
supposed  to  adoi)t,  and  who  was  long  since 
dead,  was  called  from  his  rest  before  this  spirit- 
ual tribunal;  and  his  memory  was  solenndy 
branded  with  infamy  by  a  decree  of  the  coun- 
cil. On  the  4th  day  of  May,  in  1416,  many 
propositions,  invidiously  cnlleil  out  of  his  writ- 
ings, were  examined  and  condemned,  and  an 
order  was  issued  to  commit  all  his  works,  to- 
gether with  his  bones,  to  the  flaincs.  On  tlie 
14th  of  June  following,  the  a.sscmbled  fathers 
passed  the  famous  decree,  which  took  the  cup 
from  the  laity  in  the  celebration  of  the  eucha- 
rist;  ordered  "  that  the  Lord's  supper  should  be 
received  by  them  only  in  one  kind,  i.  c.  the 
bread,''''  and  rigorously  ])roliibitcd  the  commu- 
nion in  both  kinds.  This  decree  was  occa- 
sioned by  complaints  that  had  been  made  of 
the  conduct  of  Jacobellns  de  Misa,  curate  of 
the  parish  of  St.  Michael  at  Prague,  who, 
about  a  year  before,  had  been  persuaded  by 
Peter  of  Dresden,  to  administer  the  Lord's 
supper  in  both  kinds,  and  was  followed  in  this 
by  several  churches.f  The  council,  being  in- 
formed of  this  matter  by  a  Bohemian  bishop, 
thought  proper  to  oppose  with  vigour  the  pro- 
gress of  this  heresy;  and  therefore  they  enacted 
the  statute,  which  ordered  "  the  comnmnion 
to  bo  administered  to  the  laity  only  in  one 
kind,"  and  which  obtained  the  force  and  au- 
thority of  a  law  in  the  church  of  Rome. 

IX.  In  the  same  year,  the  opinion  of  John 
Petit,  a  doctor  of  divinity  at  Paris,J  who  main- 
tained, that  every  individual  had  ;ui  undoubted 
right  to  take  away  the  life  of  a  tyrant,  was 
brought  before  the  council,  and  was  condemned 


*  riin.  Epist.  lil).  X.  cp.  !I7.  "  P(;r.«t!Vt'raiites  duci 
jUSRi.  IVeqiio  onim  diiliitaliaiii,  (|iiakcuin>|iir  r'ssei 
quod  fatr'ninliir,  pnrvirariam  ccili;  tl  nUlcxiliilciii 
obstinntinncm  delii;rc  puiiiri." 

t  Byzinii  Diar.  Huss.  p.  12t. 

{)(7»  t  Some  histiiriaiis  havp  nrroneously  rrprn- 
sented  I'ctit  as  a  lawyer.  Sec  Dr.  SmoUet's  History 
of  England. 


as  an  odious  and  detestable  heresy;  but  both 
tlie  name  and  person  of  the  author  were 
s|>aied,  on  account  of  the  powerful  patrons, 
under  whoso  protection  he  had  defended  that 
pernicious  doctrine.  John,  duke  of  Burgundy, 
had,  in  1407,  employed  a  band  of  riilHans  lo 
assassinate  Imiuh  duke  of  Orleans,  only  brother 
of  (Jharles  VI.  king  of  P'rancc.  While  the 
wiiole  city  was  in  an  uproar,  in  consequence 
of  this  horrible  deed.  Petit  vindicated  it  in  a 
])ublic  oration,  in  presence  of  the  dauphin  and 
tile  other  princes  of  the  blood,  aflirining,  that 
the  duke  had  done  a  laudable  action,  aiitl  that 
it  was  lawlul  to  put  a  tyrant  to  death,  "  in 
any  way,  either  by  violence  or  fraud,  without 
any  fonn  of  law  or  justice,  and  even  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  most  solemn  contracts  and  oaths 
of  fidelity  and  alhigiance."  It  is,  however,  to 
be  observed,  that  by  tyrmils,  this  doctor  did  not 
mean  the  supreme  rulers  of  nations,  but  tiiose 
powerful  and  insolent  silbjects,  who  abused 
their  opulence  and  credit  to  bring  about  mea- 
sures that  tended  to  the  dishonour  of  their 
sovereign  and  the  ruin  of  their  country.''  The 
university  of  Paris  pronounced  a  .severe  and 
rigorous  sentence  ajfainst  the  author  of  this 
pernicious  opinion;  and  the  council  of  Con- 
stance, after  much  deliberation  and  debate, 
condemned  the  opinion  without  mcntionin"' 
the  author.  This  determination,  though  modi- 
fied with  the  utmost  clemency  and  mildness, 
wiianot  ratified  by  the  new  pontilf  Martin  V., 
who  dreaded  too  much  the  IbrmiJablc  power 
of  the  duke  of  Burgundy,  to  confirm  a  sentence 
which  he  knew  would  be  displeasing  to  that 
ambitious  prince.f 

X.  Atler  these  and  other  transactions  of  a 
like  nature,  it  was  now  time  to  take  into  con- 
sideration a  point  of  greater  importance  than 
had  yet  been  proposed,  even  the  reformation 
of  the  church  in  its  head  and  in  its  members, 
by  setting  bound  to  the  despotism  and  corrup- 
tion of  the  Roman  pontiffs,  and  to  the  luxury 
and  immorality  of  licentious  ecclesiastics.  It 
was  particularly  with  a  view  to  this  important 
object,  that  the  eyes  of  all  Europe  were  fixed 
upon  the  council,  from  a  general  persuasion 
of  the  necessity  of  this  rcform;ition,  and  an 
ardent  desire  of  seeing  it  happily  brought  into 
execution.  Nor  did  the  assembled  fathers 
deny,  that  this  nsfonnation  was  the  principal 
end  of  their  meeting.  Yet  this  salutary  work 
had  so  many  obstacles  in  the  passions  and  in- 
terests of  those  very  persons  by  whom  it  was 
to  be  ellected,  that  little  could  be  expected, 
and  still  less  was  done.  The  cardinals  and 
dignified  clergy,  whose  interest  it  was  that  the 
church  should  remain  in  its  corrupt  and  dis- 
ordered state,  employed  all  their  eloquence 
and  art  to  prevent  its  reformation;  and  observed, 
among  other  artful  pretexts,  that  a  work  of 

*  This  appears  iiianifnstly  from  tlw;  vory  discourse 
nf  I'etil,  wliicli  tliu  reader  may  see  in  I/Enfant's 
lli.flory  of  llio  Council  of  Pisa,  tom.  ii.  p.  303.*  See 
also  Au^jiist.  Lcyseri  Diss,  ipia  Meinoriam  J(di.  Bur- 
cuiidi  ot  Doctrinani  Joli.  Parvi  de  Ciede  per  Duel- 
liuni  viiidicat. 

t  Boulay,  tom.  v. — Arccntic,  Collectio  Jiidicior. 
do  iiovis  lirroribus,  tuin.  i.  part  ii. — Gersonis  Oi)cra, 
edited  by  M.  DuPiii,  torn,  v.— Uayle's  Diction,  torn. 


0(7"  *  '^co  also  the  same  autliur's  History  of  the 
Council  of  Constance,  book  iii.  sect  xix. 


416 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


such  high  moment  and  importance  could  not 
be  undertaken  with  any  prospect  of  success, 
until  a  new  pontilF  sliould  be  elected.  And, 
what  was  still  more  shocking,  Martin  V.  was 
no  sooner  raised  to  that  high  dignity,  than  he 
employed  Jiis  authority  to  elude  and  frustrate 
every  elfort  that  was  made  to  set  this  salutary 
work  on  foot,  and  made  it  appear  most  evi- 
dently, by  the  laws  he  enacted,  that  nothing 
was  more  foreign  from  his  intention  than  the 
reformation  of  the  clergy,  and  the  restoration 
of  the  church  to  its  primitive  purity.  Thus 
this  famous  council,  after  sitting  three  years 
and  six  months,  was  dissolved,  on  the  2  2d  day 
of  April,  1418,  without  having  effected  its  chief 
ostensible  object;  and  the  members  postponed 
to  a  future  assembly  of  the  same  kind,  which 
was  to  be  summoned  five  years  after  this  period, 
that  pious  design  of  purifying  a  corrupt  church, 
which  had  been  so  long  the  object  of  the  ex- 
pectations and  desirts  of  all  good  Christians. 

XI.  Not  merely  five  years,  but  almost  thir- 
teen, elapsed  without  the  promised  meeting. 
The  remonstrances,  however,  of  those  whose 
zeal  for  the  reformation  of  the  cliurch  interest- 
ed them  in  this  event,  prevailed  at  length  over 
the  pretexts  and  stratagems  whicli  were  em- 
ployed to  put  it  off  from  time  to  time;  and 
Martin  summoned  a  council  to  meet  at  Pavia, 
whence  it  was  removed  to  Sienna,  and  thence 
to  Basil.  The  pontiff  did  not  live  to  be  a  wit- 
ness of  the  proceedings  of  this  assembly,  being 
carried  off  by  a  sudden  death  on  the  21st  day 
of  February,  1431,  just  about  the  time  when 
the  council  was  to  meet.  He  was  immediate- 
ly succeeded  by  Gabriel  Condolmerio,  a  na- 
tive of  Venice,  and  bishop  of  Sienna,  who  is 
known  in  the  papal  list  by  the  title  of  Euge- 
nius  IV.  This  pontiff  approved  all  the  mea- 
sures of  his  predecessor,  in  relation  to  the  as- 
sembling of  the  council  of  Basil,  which  was 
accordingly  opened  on  tiie  23d  of  July,  1431, 
under  the  superintendence  of  Cardinal  Julian 
Cesarini,  who  performed  the  functions  of  pre- 
sident in  the  place  of  Eugenius. 

The  two  grand  points,  proposed  to  the  de- 
liberation of  this  famous  council,  were,  the 
union  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches,  and 
the  reformation  of  the  church  universal,  both 
in  its  head  and  in  its  members,  according  to 
the  resolution  that  had  been  taken  in  the  late 
council;  for  that  the  Roman  pontiff,  or  the 
head  of  the  church,  and  the  bishops,  priests, 
and  monks,  who  were  looked  upon  as  its  mem- 
bers, had  become  excessively  corrupt,  and  that, 
to  use  the  expression  of  the  prophet  in  a  simi- 
lar case,  the  '  whole  head  was  sick  and  the 
whole  heart  faint,'  were  matters  of  fact  too 
striking  to  escape  the  knowledge  of  the  obscur- 
est individual.  On  the  other  hand,  as  it  ap- 
peared by  the  very  form  of  the  council,*  by 
its  method  of  proceeding,  and  by  the  first  de- 

QtJ-*  Rythe  form  of  the  council,  Dr.  Mosheim  un- 
doubtedly means  the  division  of  the  cardinals,  arch- 
bishops, bishops,  abbots,  &c.  into  four  equal  classes, 
without  any  regard  to  the  nation  or  province  by 
which  they  were  sent.  This  prudent  arrangement 
prevented  the  cabals  and  intrigues  of  the  Italians, 
whose  bishops  were  much  more  numerous  than  those 
of  other  nations,  and  who,  by  their  number,  might 
have  had  it  in  their  power  to  retard  or  defeat  the 
iKudable  purpose  which  the  council  had  in  view,  had 
things  been  otherwise  ordered. 


crees  that  were  enacted  by  its  authority,  that 
the  assembled  fathers  were  in  earnest,  and 
firmly  resolved  to  answer  the  end  and  purpose 
of  their  meeting,  Eugenius  was  much  alarmed 
at  the  prospect  of  a  reformation,  which  he 
feared  above  all  things;  and  beholding  with 
terror  the  zeal  and  designs  of  these  spiritual 
physicians,  he  twice  attempted  tlie  dissolution 
of  the  council.  These  repeated  attempts  were 
vigorously  opposed  by  the  members,  who 
proved  by  the  decrees  of  the  late  assembly, 
and  by  other  arguments  equally  conclusive, 
that  the  council  was  superior  in  point  of  au- 
thority to  the  Roman  pontiff.  This  controver- 
sy was  terminated  in  November,  1433,  by  the 
silence  and  concessions  of  the  pope,  who,  in 
the  following  month,  wrote  a  letter  from  Rome, 
expressing  his  approbation  of  the  council,  and 
his  acknowledgiBent  of  its  authority.* 

XII.  These  preliminary  measures  being 
finished,  the  council  proceeded  with  zeal  and 
activity  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  impor- 
tant purposes  for  which  it  was  assembled. 
The  pope's  legates  were  admitted  as  members, 
but  not  before  they  had  declared,  upon  oath, 
that  they  would  submit  to  the  decrees  that 
should  be  enacted  in  it,  and  more  particularly 
that  they  would  adhere  to  the  laws  of  the 
council  of  Constance,  in  relation  to  the  supre- 
macy of  general  councils,  and  the  subordina- 
tion of  the  pontiffs  to  their  authority  and  juris- 
diction. These  very  laws,  which  the  popes 
beheld  with  such  aversion  and  horror,  were 
solemnly  renewed  by  the  assembly  in  1434; 
and  in  the  following  year,  the  Annates  (as  they 
were  called)  were  publicly  abolished,  notwith- 
standing the  opposition  that  was  made  to  this 
measure  by  the  legates  of  the  Roman  see. 
On  the  25th  of  March,  1436,  a  confession  of 
faith  was  read,  which  every  pontiff  was  to 
subscribe  on  the  day  of  his  election;  it  was  vot- 
ed tliat  the  number  of  cardinals  should  be  re- 
duced to  twenty-foiu-;  and  the  papal  imposi- 
tions, called  E.vpectatives,  Reservations,  and 
Provisions,  were  annulled.  These  measures, 
with  others  of  a  like  nature,  provoked  Eugenius 


*  The  history  of  this  grand  and  memorable  council 
is  yet  a  desideratum.  The  learned  Stephen  Baluze, 
(as  we  find  in  the  Histoirede  I'AcademJedes  Inscrip- 
tions et  des  Belles  Lettres,  toin.  vi.  p.  544,)  and  after 
him  M.  I/Enfant,  promised  the  world  a  history  of 
this  council;  but  neither  of  these  valuable  writers 
performed  that  promise.*  The  acts  of  this  famous 
assembly  were  collected  with  incredible  industry,  in 
a  great  number  of  volumes,  from  various  archives 
and  libraries,  at  the  e.vpense  of  Rodolphus  Augustus, 
duke  of  Brunswick,  by  the  very  learned  and  laborious 
Herman  von  der  Hardt.  They  are  preserved,  as  we 
are  informed,  in  the  library  of  Hanover;  and  they 
certainly  deserve  to  be  drawn  from  their  retreat,  and 
published  to  the  world.  In  the  mean  time,  the  curi- 
ous may  consult  the  abridgment  of  the  acts  of  this 
council,  published  at  Paris,  in  1512,  of  which  I  have 
made  use  in  this  history,  as  also  the  following  au- 
thors: jEneK  Sylvii  Lib.  duodeConcilioBasiliensi. — 
Edm.  Richerius,  Histor.  Concilior.  General,  lib.  iii. 
cap.  1. — Henr.  Canisii  Lectionea  Antique,  torn.  iv.  p. 
447. 


QQ'  *  Dr.  Moshcim  has  here  fallen  into  an  error; 
for  L'Enfa.nt  did  in  reality  perform  his  promise,  and 
composed  the  History  of  the  Council  of  Basil,  which 
he  blended  with  his  history  of  the  war  of  the  Hus- 
sites, on  account  of  the  connexion  between  the«« 
subjects,  and  also  because  his  advanced  age  prevent- 
ed his  indulging  himself  in  the  hope  of  being  able  to 
give,  separately,  a  complete  history  of  the  council  of 
Basil. 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


417 


in  tho  liigliest  degree,  and  induced  him  to  form 
the  intention,  either  of  removing  this  trouble- 
some and  enterprising  council  into  Italy,  or  of 
setting  up  a  new  assembly  in  opposition  to  it, 
whicii  might  fix  bounds  to  its  zeal  for  the  re- 
formation of  the  church.  Accordingly,  on  the 
■itii  of  May,  1437,  tlie  assembled  fathers  hav- 
innf,  on  account  of  tlie  Greeks,  come  to  a  reso- 
lution of  holding  the  new  council  at  Basil, 
Avignon,  or  some  city  in  the  duchy  of  Savoy, 
the  intractable  pontiff  opposed  this  motion, 
and  maintained  that  it  should  be  transferred 
into  Italy.  Each  of  tlie  contending  parties 
persevered,  with  the  utmost  obstinacy,  in  tiie 
resolution  they  had  taken;  and  this  occasioned 
a  warm  and  violent  contest  between  the  pope 
and  the  council.  The  latter  summoned  Eu- 
genius  to  appear  at  Basil,  in  order  to  give  an 
account  of  his  conduct;  but  the  pontiff,  instead 
of  complying  with  the  requisition,  issued  a  de- 
cree, by  which  he  pretended  to  dissolve  the 
council,  and  to  assemble  another  at  Ferrara. 
This  decree,  indeed,  was  treated  with  the  ut- 
most contempt  by  the  council,  which,  with  the 
consent  of  the  emperor,  the  king  of  France, 
and  several  other  princes,  continued  its  deli- 
berations, and  pronounced  a  sentence  of  con- 
tumacy against  the  rebellious  pontiff,  for  hav- 
ing refused  to  obey  its  order. 

XIII.  In  the  year  143S,  Eugenius  in  person 
opened  the  council,  which  he  had  summoned 
to  meet  at  Ferrara,  and  at  the  second  session 
tliundered  out  an  excomnuuiication  against 
the  fathers  assembled  at  Basil.  The  principal 
business  that  was  now  to  be  transacted,  was 
the  proposed  reconciliation  between  the  Greek 
and  Latin  churches;  and,  in  order  to  bring  this 
salutary  and  important  design  to  a  happy  issue, 
the  emperor  John  Palaiologus,  the  Grecian 
patriarch  Josephus,  with  the  most  eminent 
bishops  and  doctors  among  the  Greeks,  arrived 
in  Italy,  and  appeared  at  Ferrara.  The  ex- 
tremity to  whii'h  the  Greeks  were  reduced  by 
the  Turks,  and  the  pleasing  hope,  that  their 
reconciliation  with  the  Roman  pontiti'  would 
contribute  to  engage  the  Latins  in  their  cause, 
seem  to  have  animated,  in  a  particular  manner, 
their  zeal  in  this  negotiation.  Be  that  as  it 
may,  there  was  little  done  at  Ferrara,  where 
matters  were  carried  on  too  slowly,  to  aflbrd 
any  prospect  of  an  end  of  their  dissensions:  but 
the  negotiations  were  more  successful  at  Flo- 
rence, whither  Eugenius  removed  the  council 
about  the  beginning  of  the  year  1439,  on  ac- 
count of  the  plague  tiiat  broke  out  at  Ferrara. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  council  of  Basil,  exas- 
perated by  the  imperious  proceedings  of  Euge- 
nius, deposed  him  from  the  papacy  on  the  -5th 
of  June,  1439;  which  vigorous  measure  was 
not  approved  by  the  European  kings  and 
princes.  It  may  be  ciisily  conceived  what  an 
impression  this  step  made  upon  the  allronted 
pontirt';  he  lost  all  patience;  and  devoted,  for 
the  second  time,  to  hell  and  damnation,  the 
members  of  the  obnoxious  council  by  a  solemn 
and  most  severe  edict,  in  which  also  he  de- 
clared all  their  acts  null,  and  all  their  proceed- 
ings unlawful.  This  new  peal  of  papal  thun- 
der wns  held  in  derision  by  the  council  of  Ba- 
sil, whose  members,  persisting  in  their  purpose, 
elected  another  pontiff,  and  raised  to  that  high 
Vol.  I.— 53 


dignity  Amadous,  duke  of  Savoy,  who  then 
lived  in  the  most  profound  solitude  at  a  charm- 
ing retreat,  called  Ripaille,  upon  the  borders 
of  the  Leman  Lake,  and  who  is  known  in  the 
papal  list  by  the  name  of  Felix  V. 

XIV.  This  election  was  the  occasion  of  tho 
revival  of  that  deplorable  schism,  which  had 
formerly  rent  the  church,  and  which  had  been 
terminated  with  so  much  difficulty,  and  after 
so  many  vain  and  fruitless  efforts,  at  the  coun- 
cil of  Constance.  Tho  new  breach  was  even 
more  lamentable  than  the  former  one,  as  tho 
flame  was  kindled  not  only  between  rival  pon- 
tiffs, but  also  between  the  contending  councils 
of  Basil  and  Florence.  The  greatest  part  of 
the  church  submitted  to  the  jurisdiction,  and 
adopted  the  cause  of  Eugenius;  while  Felix 
was  acknowledged,  as  lawful  pontiff,  by  a 
great  number  of  universities,  and,  among 
others,  by  that  of  Paris,  as  also  in  several  king- 
doms and  provinces.  The  council  of  Basil 
continued  to  deliberate,  to  enact  laws,  and  pub- 
lish edicts,  until  the  year  1443,  notwithstand- 
ing the  efforts  of  Eugenius  and  his  adherents 
to  put  a  stop  to  their  j)roceedings.  And,  though 
in  that  year  the  members  of  the  council  re- 
tired to  their  respective  places  of  abode,  yet 
they  declared  publicly  that  the  council  was 
not  dissolved. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  council  of  Florence, 
with  Eugenius  at  its  head,  was  chiefly  em- 
ployed in  reconciling  the  ditferenres  between 
the  Greeks  an  I  Latins;  which  weighty  busi- 
ness was  committed  to  the  prudence,  zeal,  and 
piety,  of  a  select  number  of  eminent  men  on 
both  sides.  The  most  distinguished  among 
those  whom  the  Greeks  chose  for  tiiis  purpose 
was  the  learned  Bessarion,  who  was  after- 
wards raised  to  the  dignity  of  cardinal  in  the 
Romish  church.  This  great  man,  engaged 
and  seduced  by  the  splendid  presents  and  pro- 
mises of  the  Latin  pontiff,  employed  the  whole 
extent  of  his  authority,  and  the  power  of  his  elo- 
quence, and  even  had  recourse  to  promises  and 
tlireats,  to  persuade  the  Greeks  to  accept  tho 
conditions  of  peace  that  were  proposed  by  Euge- 
nius. These  conditions  required  their  consent  to 
the  following  points: — "  That  the  Holy  Spirit 
proceeded  from  the  Son,  as  well  as  from  the  Fa- 
ther; that  dcparlt'd  souls  were  purified  in  tho 
infernal  regions,  by  a  certain  kind  of  fire,  be- 
fore their  admission  to  the  presence  and  vision 
of  the  Deity; — that  unleavened  bread  might  be 
used  in  the  administration  of  tlio  Lord's  sup- 
per;"— and  lastly,  which  was  the  principal 
thing  insisted  upon  by  the  Latins,  that '  the 
Roman  pontiff  was  the  supreme  judge,  the 
true  head  of  the  universal  church.'  Such 
were  the  terms  of  peace  to  which  all  the 
Greeks  were  obliged  to  accede,  except  Mark 
of  Ephesus,  whom  neither  entieatics  nor  re- 
wards could  move  from  his  purjiosc,  or  engage 
to  submit  to  a  reconciliation  founded  upon  such 
conditions.  And  indeed  this  reconciliation, 
which  had  been  brought  about  by  various 
stratagems,  was  much  more  specious  than 
solid,  and  had  by  no  means  stability  sufficient 
to  insure  its  duration.  We  find,  accordingly, 
that  the  Grecian  deputies  had  no  sooner  re- 
turned to  Constantinople,  than  tlioy  declared 
publicly,  that  all  things  had  been  x:arned  on 


418 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CilURCH. 


Part  II. 


at  Floieuoe  by  artifice  and  fraud,  and  renewed 
the  schism,  wiiicli  luid  been  so  impert'eetly 
healed.  The  council  put  an  end  to  its  delibe- 
rations on  the  26tli  of  April,  144-,*  without 
having  executed  any  of  the  designs  that  were 
proposed  by  it,  in  a  satisfactory  manner;  for, 
beside  the  affair  of  the  Greeks,  they  pro])osed 
bringinjj  the  Armenians,  Jacobites,  and  more 
particularly  the  Abyssinians,  into  tlie  bosom 
of  the  Romish  church;  but  this  project  was  at- 
tended with  as  little  success  as  tiie  other. 

XV.  Eiigenius  IV.,  who  had  been  the  occa- 
sion of  the  new  schism  in  the  see  of  Rome, 
died  in  February,  1447,  and  was  succeeded, 
in  a  few  weeks,  by  Thomas  de  Sarzano,  bishop 
of  Bologna,  who  filled  the  pontificate  under 
the  denomination  of  Nsco-las  V.  This  eminent 
prelate  had,  in  point  of  merit,  the  best  preten- 
sions possible  to  the  papal  throne.  He  was 
distinguished  by  his  erudition  and  genius;  he 
was  a  zealous  patron  and  protector  of  learned 
men;  and,  what  was  still  more  laudable,  he 
was  remarkable  for  his  moderation,  and  for 
the  meek  and  pacific  s[)irit  that  discovered  it- 
self in  all  his  conduct  and  actions.  Under  tiiis 
pontificate,  the  European  princes,  and  more  es- 
pecially the  king  of  France,  e.xerted  their 
warmest  endeavours  to  restore  tranquillity  and 
union  to  the  Latin  church;  and  tlieir  efforts 
were  crowned  with  the  desired  success.  For, 
in  1449,  Felix  V.,  resigned  the  papal  chair, 
and  returned  to  his  delightful  luuiiiitage  at 
Ripaille,  while  tlie  fathers  of  tiie  Council  of 
Basil,  assembled  at  Lausanne,!  ratified  his 
voluntary  abdication,  and,  by  a  solemn  decree, 
ordered  the  universal  church  to  submit  to  the 
jurisdiction  of  Nicolas  as  their  lawful  pontiff. 
On  the  other  hand,  Nicolas  proclaimed  this 
treaty  of  peace  with  great  pomp  on  the  18th 
of  June,  in  the  same  year,  and  set  the  seal  of 
his  approbation  and  authority  to  the  acts  and 
decrees  of  the  council.  This  pontiff  distin- 
guished himself  in  a  very  extraordinary  man- 
ner, by  his  love  of  learning,  and  by  his  ardent 
zeal  for  the  propagation  of  the  liberal  arts  and 
sciences,  which  he  promoted,  with  great  suc- 
cess, by  the  encouragement  he  granted  to  the 
learned  Greeks,  who  emigrated  from  Constan- 
tinople into  Italy. I  The  principal  occasion  of 
his  death  was  the  fatal  i-evolution  that  tlirew 
this  capital  of  the  Grecian  empire  into  the 
hands  of  the  Turks;  tliis  melancholy  event 


preyed  upon  his  spirits,  and  hastened  his  death, 
which  happened  on  the  24th  of  March,  1465. 
XVI.  His  successor  Alplionso  Borgia,  who 
was  a  native  of  Spain,  and  is  known  in  the 
papal  list  by  the  denomination  of  Cali.xtus  III., 
was  remarkable  for  nothing  but  his  zeal  ui  ani- 
mating tiie  Christian  princes  to  make  war  upon 
the  Turks;  his  reign  also  was  short,  for  he  died 
in  145S.  iEiieas  Sylvius  Piccolomini,  who 
succeeded  him  in  the  pontificate  in  that  same 
year,  under  the  title  of  Pius  II.,  rendered  his 
name  much  more  illustrious,  not  only  by  his 
extensive  genius,  and  the  important  transac- 
tions tiiat  were  carried  on  during  his  adminis- 
tration, but  also  by  tlie  various  and  usefiil  pro- 
ductions with  which  he  enriched  the  republic 
of  letters.  The  lustre  of  his  fame  was,  indeed, 
tiiriiLslied  by  a  scandillous  proof  which  he  gave 
of  his  fickleness  and  inconstancy,  or  rather 
perhaps  of  his  bad  faith;  for,  after  having  vi- 
gorously defended,  against  the  pontiffs,  tlie 
dignity  and  prerogatives  of  general  councils, 
and  maintained,  with  peculiar  boldness  and 
obstinacy,  the  cause  of  the  cotmcil  of  Basil 
against  Eugenius  IV.,  he  ignomiiiiously  re- 
nounced these  principles  upon  his  accession  to 
the  pontificate,  and  acted  in  direct  opposition 
to  them  during  the  whole  course  of  his  admi- 
nistration. Thus,  in  1460,  he  denied  publicly 
that  the  pope  was  subordinate  to  a  general 
council,  and  even  prohibited  all  appeals  to  such 
a  council  under  the  severest  penalties.  In  the 
ibUowing  year  he  obtained  from  Louis  XI., 
king  of  France,  the  abrogation  of  the  Pragmatic 
Sancl'wn,  wliich  favoured,  in  a  particvilar  man- 
ner, tlie  pretensions  of  the  general  councils  to 
supremacy  in  the  church.*  But  the  most  egre- 


♦  The  history  of  this  council,  and  of  the  franils  and 
stratagems  that  were  practised  in  it.  was  composed 
by  that  learned  Grecian,  Sylvester  i^syropiilns, 
whose  work  was  published  at  the  Hafiue.  in  ililiO, 
with  a  Latin  translation,  a  preliminary  Discourse, 
and  ample  notes,  by  the  learned  Robert  Crci^'hton, 
a  native  of  Great  Uritain.  This  history  was  refuted 
by  Leo  Allatius,  in  a  work  entitled,  Exercitationes 
in  Creightoni  Apparatum,  Versionem,  et  Notas  ad 
Historiam  Concilii  Florentini  scriptam  a  Sgyropulo, 
Romas,  1074.  See  the  same  anthor'.s  Perpi'^tua  Con- 
sensio  Ecclesia"  Oriental,  et  Occident,  p.  875,  as  also 
Mabillon,  Museum  Italicum,  torn.  i.  p.  '2\'.i. — Span- 
heim,  de  perpetua  Dissensione  Eccles.  Orient,  et 
Occident,  tom.  ii.  op.  p.  491. — Hermann,  Ilistoria 
concertat.  de  Pane  azymo,  part  ii.  c.  v. 

t  This  abdication  was  made  on  the  9th  of  April, 
1449,  and  was  ratified  on  the  IGth. 

t  See  Dom.  Georgii  Vita  Nicolai  V.  ad  (idem  vete- 
mm  Monumentorum;  to  which  is  added  a  treatise, 
entitled,  Disquisitio  de  Nicolai  V  erga  Literag  et 
Literate*  Vitos  ratiociiiio,  published  at  Rome,  in 
742. 


r^y  *  There  was  a  famous  edict,  entitled,  The 
Prairniatic  Sanction,  issued  by  Louis  IX.,  who,  though 
he  is  honoured  with  a  place  in  the  Kalendar,  was  yet 
azealims  assertor  of  the  liberty  and  privileges  of  the 
(iailiran  church,  against  the  despotic  encroachments 
and  pretensions  of  the  Roman  pontiffs.  It  was 
against  their  tyrannical  proceedings,  and  intolera- 
ble extortioiiB,  that  this  edict  was  chiefly  levelled; 
and  though  sojne  creatures  of  the  court  of  Rome 
have  thrown  out  insinuations  of  it.s  being  a  spurious 
production,  yet  the  contrary  is  evident  from  its  hav. 
ing  been  registered,  as  the  authentic  edict  of  that  pi- 
ous monarch,  hy  the  parliament  of  Paris,  in  1461, 
by  the  states  of  the  kingdom  assembled  at  Tours  in 
MH:t,  and  by  the  university  of  Paris,  in  1491. — See, 
for  a  farther  account  of  this  edict,  the  excellent  His. 
tory  of  France,  (begun  by  the  Abbe  Velly,  and  con- 
tinned  by  IW.  Villaret,)  vol.  vi.  p.  57. 

The  edict  which  Dr.  Mosheim  has  in  view  here,  ia 
the  Prn/rtnatic  Snnctian  that  was  drawn  up  at  Bour. 
cps,  rri  ]4;t8,  by  Charles  VII.  king  of  France,  with 
the  consent  of  the  most  eminent  prelates  amd  gran- 
dees of  the  nation,  who  were  assembled  at  that  place. 
This  edict,  (which  was  absolutely  necessary  in  order 
to  dehver  the  French  clergy  from  the  vexations  they 
suffered  from  the  encroachments  of  the  popes,  ever 
since  the  latter  had  fixed  their  residence  at  Avignon) 
consisted  of  twenty-three  articles,  in  which,  among 
other  salutary  regiilatrons,  the  etections  to  vacant 
benefices  were  restored  to  their  ancieni  purity  and 
freedom,*  the  annates  and  other  pecuniary  preten- 


itF"  *  That  is  to  say,  these  elections  were  wrested 
out  of  the  hands  of  the  popes,  who  had  usurped  them; 
and,  by  the  new  edict,  every  church  had  the  privi- 
lege of  choosing  its  bishop,  and  every  monastery  its 
abbot  or  prior.  By  the  Concordat,  or  agreement,  be- 
tween Franci.^  I.  and  Leo  X.,  (which  was  substituted 
in  the  place  of  the  Pragmatic  Sanction.)  the  nomi- 
nation of  the  hiahoprics  in  France,  and  the  collation 
of  certain  benefices  of  (he  higher  class,  were  vested 
in  the  kings  of  France     An  ample  and  satisfactory 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT,  &c. 


419 


gious  instance  of  impudence  and  perfidy  that 
he  exhibited  to  the  world  was  in  1463,  when 
he  publicly  retracted  all  that  lie  had  written  in 
favour  of  the  council  of  Basil,  and  declared 
without  either  shame  or  hesitation,  that,  as 
jffineas  Sylvius,  he  was  a  damnable  heretic,  but 
that,  as  Pius  II.,  he  was  an  orthodo.x  pontiff. 
This  indecorous  declaration  was  the  last  cir- 
cumstance, worthy  of  notice,  that  happened 
during  his  pontificate;  for  he  died  in  July, 
1464.* 

XVII.  Paul  II.,  a  Venetian  by  birth,  whose 
name  was  Peter  Barbo,  was  raised  to  the  head 
of  the  church  in  1464,  and  died  in  1471.  His 
administration  was  distinguished  by  some  mea- 
sures, which,  if  we  consider  the  genius  of  tiie 
times,  were  worthy  of  praise;  though  it  must 
at  the  same  time  be  confessed,  that  he  did  ma- 
ny things  which  were  evidently  inexcusable, 
(not  to  mention  his  reducing  the  jubilee  circle 
to  twenty-five  years,  and  thus  accelerating  the 
return  of  that  most  absurd  and  superstitious 
ceremony;)  so  that  his  reputation  became  at 
least  dubious  in  aftertimes,  and  was  viewed  in 
different  lights  by  different  persons. f  The  fol- 
lowing popes,  Sixtus  IV.,  and  Innocent  VIII., 
whose  names  were  Francis  Albescola  and  Jolm 
Baptist  Cibo,  were  neither  remarkable  for  their 
virtues  nor  their  vices.  The  former  died  in 
1484,  and  the  latter  in  1492.  Filled  with  the 
most  terrible  apprehensions  of  the  danger  that 
threatened  Europe  in  general,  and  Italy  in  par- 
ticular, from  the  growing  power  of  the  Turks, 
l)oth  these  pontiffs  attempted  to  put  themselves 


Fions  and  encroachments  of  tlie  pontiffs  abolished, 
and  the  authority  of  a  general  council  declared  supe- 
rior to  that  of  the  pope.  This  eihct  was  drawn  up 
in  concert  with  the  fathers  of  the  council  of  Basil, 
and  the  articles  were  taken  from  the  decrees  of  that 
council,  though  they  were  admitted  by  the  Galilean 
church  with  certain  modifications,  which  the  nature 
of  the  times  and  the  manners  of  the  nation  rendered 
expedient.  Such  then  was  the  Prasmatic  Sanction, 
which  Pius  II.  engaaied  Louis  XI.  (who  received  upon 
that  occasion,  for  himself  and  his  successors,  the  ti- 
tle of  Most  Christian)  to  abolish  by  a  solemn  decla- 
ration; the  full  execution  of  which  was,  however, 
prevented  by  the  noble  stand  made  by  the  university 
of  Paris  in  favour  of  the  edict.  The  king  also,  per- 
ceiving that  he  had  been  deluded  into  this  declara- 
tion by  the  treacherous  insinuations  of  Geoffry,  bi- 
shop of  Arras,  (whom  the  po|)c  had  bribed  with  a 
cardinal's  cap,  and  large  promises  of  a  more  lucra- 
tive kind,)  took  no  sort  of  pains  to  have  it  executed, 
but  published,  on  the  contrary,  new  edicts  against  the 
pecuniary  pretensions  and  extortions  of  the  court 
of  Rome;  bo  that  in  reality  the  Pragmatic  Sanction 
was  not  abolished  before  the  adjustment  of  the  Con 
c.ordat  or  agreement,  which  was  transacted  between 
Francis  I.  and  Leo  X.  in  1.517,  and  was  forced  upon 
the  French  nation  in  opposition  to  the  united  offorls 
of  the  clergy,  the  university,  the  parliament,  and  the 
people.  See,  for  a  farther  account  of  this  matter, 
Du  Clos.  Histoire  de  Louis  XI.  vol.  i.  p.  115—132. 

*  Beside  the  writers  of  ecclesiastical  history,  see 
Nouveau  Diction.  Histor.  et  Critique,  toni.  ii.  at  the 
article  Enee  Sylvius. 

t  Paul  II.  has  had  the  good  fortune  to  find,  in  one 
of  the  most  eminent  and  learned  men  of  this  age, 
(the  famous  cardinal  CJuiriiii,)  a  zealous  apologist. 
See,  among  the  productions  of  that  illu.strious  pre- 
late, the  piece  entitled,  "  Pauli  II.  Vila,  ex  Codice 
AnglicsB  Bibliothecae  desuinpta,  precmissis  ipsius  Vin- 
diciis  adversus  Platinam  aliosque  obtrectatores,  Ro- 
mm,  1740." 


account  of  thisconvention  may  be  seen  in  bishop  Bur- 
net's excellent  History  of  the  Reformation,  vol.  iii. 
and  in  a  book  entitled,  Histoire  du  Droit  public  Eccle- 
Biaslique  Francois,  published  in  1737. 


in  a  posture  of  defence,  and  warmly  exhorted 
the  European  princes  to  check  the  progress  of 
that  warlike  people;  but  many  obstacles  arose, 
which  rendered  their  exhortations  ineffectual. 
The  other  undertakings  that  were  projected  or 
carried  on,  during  tlieir  continuance  at  the 
head  of  the  ciuirch,  are  not  of  sufficient  im- 
portance to  require  particular  notice. 

XVIII.  In  the  series  of  pontiffs  that  ruled 
the  church  during  this  century,  the  last,  in 
order  of  time,  was  Ale-xander  VI.,  a  Spaniard 
by  birtli,  whoso  name  w-as  Roderic  Borgia. 
The  111(3  and  actions  of  this  man  show,  that 
there  was  a  Nero  among  the  popes,  as  well  as 
among  the  emperors.  The  crimes  and  enor- 
mities, tliat  history  has  imputed  to  this  papal 
Nero,  evidently  prove  him  to  have  been  not 
only  destitute  of  all  religious  and  virtuoiia 
principles,  but  even  regardless  of  decency,  and 
hardened  against  the  very  feeling  of  shame; 
and,  though  Uie  malignity  of  his  enemies  may 
have  forged  false  accusations  against  him,  and, 
in  some  instances,  exaggerated  the  horror  of 
his  real  crimes,  yet  we  have  upon  record  an 
antlientic  list  of  undoubted  facts,  which,  both 
by  their  number  and  their  atrocity,  are  suffi- 
cient to  render  the  name  and  memory  of  Alex- 
ander VI.  odious  and  detestable,  in  the  opinion 
even  of  such  as  have  the  smallest  tincture  of 
virtuous  principles  and  feelings.  An  inordi- 
nate affection  for  his  children  was  the  principal 
source  from  which  proceeded  a  great  part 
of  the  crimes  he  committed.  He  had  four 
sons  by  a  concubine  with  whom  he  had  lived 
many  years;  among  wliom  was  the  infamous 
Cffisar  Borgia.  A  daughter,  named  Lucretia, 
was  likewise  among  the  fruits  of  this  unlawful 
commerce.  The  tenderness  of  the  pontiff  for 
his  spurious  offspring  was  e.TCessive  beyond  all 
expression;  his  only  aim  was  to  load  them 
with  riches  and  honours;  and,  in  the  execution 
of  this  j)uri)ose,  he  trampled  with  contempt 
upon  every  obstacle,  which  tlie  demands  of 
justice,  the  dictates  of  reason,  and  the  remon- 
strances of  religion,  threw  in  his  way.*  Thus 
he  persisted  in  his  profligate  career  until  tha 
year  1503,  when  the  poison,  which  he  and  his 
son  Ctesar  had  mingled  for  others  who  stood 
in  the  way  of  their  avarice  and  ambition,  cut 
short,  by  a  happy  mistake,  his  own  days.f 

XIX.  The  monastic  societies,  as  we  learn 
from  a  multitude  of  authentic  records,  and 
from  the  testimonies  of  the  best  writers,  were, 
at  this  time,  so  many  herds  of  lazy,  illiterate, 
profligate,  and  licentious  Epicureans,  whose 
views  in  life  were  confined  to  opulence,  idle- 
ness, and  pleasure.  The  rich  monks,  par- 
ticularly those  of  the  Benedictine  and  Augus- 
tine orders,  perverted  their  revenues  to  the 
gratification  of  their  lusts;  and  renouncing, 
in  their  conduct,  all  regard  to  their  respective 
rules  of  discipline,  drew  upon  themselves  great 


♦  The  life  of  this  execrable  tyrant  was  written  in 
English  by  Mr.  Alexander  Gordon;  but  the  same 
subject  has  been  treated  with  greater  moderation  by 
the  ingenious  and  learned  author  of  the  Histoire  du 
Droit  Publ.  Eccles.  Francois,  to  which  work  are  sub- 
joined the  lives  of  Alexander  VI.  and  Leo  X. 

t  Such  is  the  account  which  the  best  historians 
have  given  of  the  death  of  Alexander  VI.  Not- 
withstanding these  authorities,  Voltaire  has  pre- 
tended to  prove  that  this  pontifl'  died  a  natural 
death. 


420 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


popular  odium  by  their  sensuality  and  licen- 
tiousness.* This  was  matter  of  affliction  to 
many  wise  and  good  men,  especially  in  France 
and  Germany,  who  formed  the  pious  design  of 
stemming  the  torrent  of  monkish  luxury,  and 
excited  a  spirit  of  reformation  among  that  de- 
generate order,  f  Among  the  German  reform- 
ers, who  undertook  tlie  restoration  of  virtue 
and  temperance  in  the  monasteries,  Nicolas  de 
Mazen,  an  Austrian  abbot,  and  Nicolas  Dun- 
kelspuhl,  professor  at  Vienna,  held  the  first 
rank.  They  attempted,  with  unparalleled  zeal 
and  assiduity,  the  reformation  of  the  Benedic- 
tines throughout  Germany,  and  succeeded  so 
far  as  to  restore,  at  least,  a  certain  air  of  de- 
cency and  virtue  in  the  conventual  establish- 
ments of  Suabia,  Franconia,  and  Bavaria.t 
The  reformation  of  the  same  order  was  at- 
tempted in  France  by  many,  and  particularly 
by  Guy  Juvenal,  a  learned  man,  whose  wri- 
tings, upon  that  and  on  other  subjects,  were 
received  with  applause.  §  It  is,  however, 
certain,  that  the  majority  of  the  monks,  both 
in  France  and  elsewhere,  resisted,  with  obsti- 
nacy, the  salutary  attempts  of  tiiese  spiritual 
physicians,  and  returned  their  zeal  with  the 
worst  treatment  that  it  was  possible  to  show 
them. 

XX.  Wliile  the  opulent  monks  exhibited  to 
the  world  scandalous  examples  of  luxury,  ig- 
norance, indolence,  and  licentiousness,  accom- 
panied with  a  barbarous  aversion  to  every  thing 
that  carried  the  remotest  aspect  of  science,  tlie 
Mendicants,  and  more  especially  the  Domini- 
cans and  Franciscans,  were  chargeable  with 
irregularities  of  another  kind.  Beside  their 
arrogance,  which  was  excessive,  a  quarrelsome 
and  litigious  spirit,  an  ambitious  desire  of  en- 
croachiing  upon  the  rights  and  privileges  of 
others,  an  insatiable  zeal  for  the  propagation  of 
superstition,  and  the  itch  of  disputing  and  of 
starthig  absurd  and  intricate  questions  of  a  re- 
ligiotis  kind,  prevailed  among  them,  and  drew 
upon  them  justly  the  displeasure  and  indigna- 
tion of  many.  It  was  tliis  wrangling  spirit 
that  seriously  protracted  the  controveries  which 
had  subsisted  so  long  between  them  and  the 
bishops,  and,  indeed,  the  whole  sacerdotal  or- 
der; and  it  was  their  vain  curiosity,  and  their 
inordinate  passion  for  novelty,  tliat  made  tlie 
divines,  in  the  greatest  part  of  the  Eiu-opean 
colleges,  complain  of  the  dangerous  and  de- 
structive errors  which  they  had  introduced 
into  religion.  These  complaints  were  repeat- 
ed, without  interruption,  in  all  the  provinces 
where  the  Mendicants  had  any  credit;  and  the 
same  complaints  were  often  presented  to  the 
court  of  Rome,  where  they  exercised  sufficient- 
ly both  the  patience  and  subtlety  of  the  pope 
and  his  ministers.  The  different  pontiffs  who 
ruled  the  church  during  this  century,  were  dif- 
ferently affected  toward  the  Mendicants;  some 


*  See  Martin  Senging,  TiiiliouosOrdiiiis  S.  Bone 
dicti,  sen  Oratio  in  Concilio  Bab-iliensi,  an.  143^, 
contra  vitia  Benedict,  recitata,  in  Bern.  Pezii  Bib. 
Ascetica,  t.  viii, 

t  See  Leibnitii  Prsf.  ad  t.  ii.  Script.  Eruns. 

I  For  an  acr^innt  of  these  reformers,  see  Martin 
Kropf  Bibliotlioca  Mellirensis,  sen  de  Vitis  et  Scrip. 
Benedict.  Mellirens.  p.  143,  163,  203. 

J  See  Lirons  Sinijiilarites  Ilistoriqnes  et  Lite 
raires,  toni.  iii.  p.  4'.). 


patronised  them,  others  opposed  them:  and 
this  circumstance  frequently  changed  the  as- 
pect of  affairs,  and,  for  a  long  time,  rendered 
the  decision  of  the  contest  dubious.*  The 
persecution  that  was  carried  on  against  the 
Beguins  became  also  an  occasion  of  increasing 
the  odium  tliathad  been  cast  upon  the  begging 
monks,  and  was  extremely  prejudicial  to  their 
interests.  For  the  Beguins  and  Lollards,  to 
escape  the  fury  of  their  inverate  enemies,  the 
bishops  and  otliers,  frequently  took  refuge  in 
the  third  order  of  the  Franciscans,  Domini- 
cans, and  Augustinians,  hoping  that,  in  the 
patronage  and  protection  of  these  numerous 
and  powerful  societies,  they  might  find  a  se- 
cure retreat  from  the  calamities  that  oppressed 
them.  Nor  were  their  hopes  entirely  disap- 
pointed; but  the  storm  that  hitherto  pursued 
them,  fell  upon  their  new  patrons  and  protec- 
tors, the  Mendicants;  who,  by  affording  a  re- 
fuge to  a  sect  so  odious  to  the  clergy,  drew 
upon  themselves  tlie  indignation  of  that  sacred 
order,  and  were  thereby  involved  in  various 
difficulties  and  perplexities.! 

XXI.  The  more  austere  and  rebellious  Fran- 
ciscans, who,  separating  themselves  from  the 
church,  renounced  their  allegiance  to  the 
Roman  pontiff's,  and  were  distinguished  by  the 
appellation  of  Fratricelli  or  Minorites,  con- 
tinued, witli  their  Tertiaries,  the  Beghards,  to 
carry  on  an  open  war  against  the  court  of 
Rome.  Tlieir  head-quarters  were  in  Italy,  in 
tlie  marquisite  of  Ancona  and  the  neighbouring 
countries;  for  it  was  there  that  their  leader  and 
chief  ruler  resided.  They  were  persecuted, 
about  the  middle  of  this  century,  with  the 
greatest  severity,  by  pope  Nicolas  V.,  who 
employed  every  method  he  could  devise  to 
vanquish  their  obstinacy,  sending  for  that  pur- 
pose successively  against  them  the  Franciscan 
monks,  armed  hosts,  and  civil  magistrates,  and 
committing  to  the  flames  many  of  those  who 
remained  unmoved  by  all  these  means  of  con- 
version.+  This  heavy  persecution  was  carried 
on  by  tlie  succeeding  pontiffs,  and  by  none 
with  greater  bitterness  and  vehemence  than 
by  Paul  II.,  though  it  is  said,  that  this  pope 
choso  rather  to  conquer  the  headstrong  and 
stubborn  perseverance  of  this  sect  by  impri- 
sonment and  exile,  than  by  fire  and  sword. § 
The  Fratricelli,  on  the  other  hand,  animated 
by  the  protection  of  several  persons  of  great 
influence,  who  became  their  patrons  on  ac- 
count of  the  striking  appearance  of  .sanctity 
which  they  exhibited,  had  recourse  to  vio- 
lence, and  went  so  far  as  to  put  to  death  some 
of  the  inquisitors,  among  whom  Angelo  of 
Camaldoli  fell  a  victim  to  their  vengeance. || 


*  See  Launoy,  Lib.  de  Canoiie  Utrinsque  Sexu.s, 
op.  toni.  i.  part  i. — Boulay,  torn.  v. — Ant.  Wood, 
torn.  1. 

t  See  the  history  of  the  preceding  century. 

I  Mauritius  Sartius,  de  Antiqua  Picentum  civi- 
tate  Cupronioiitana,  in  Anjjeli  Calogerfe  RaccoUa  di 
Opusculi  Scientifici,  torn,  .x.xxi.x.  where  we  have 
several  extracts  from  tbe  manuscript  dialogue  of 
Jacobus  de  Marcbia  against  the  Fratricelli. 

§  Ang.  Mar.  Ouirini  Vita  Pauli  II.  p.  78.— Jo.  Tar- 
gionins^  Praif  ad  claror.  Venetor.  Epistolas  ad  Mag- 
liabechiiim,  torn.  i.  p.  43,  where  we  have  an  account 
of  the  books  that  were  written  against  the  Fratri- 
celli by  Nicolas  Palmerius  and  others  under  the  pon- 
tificate of  Paul  ir.  and  which  are  yet  in  manuscript. 

]|  See  the  Acta  Sanctor.  toin.  ii.  Maii,  p.  ^Hd- 


Chap.  II. 


DOCTORS,  CirURCH  GOVIHINMENT,  &c. 


421 


Nor  were  the  commotions  raised  by  tliis  trou- 
blesome sect  confined  to  Italy;  other  countries 
felt  the  effects  of  their  ptslulunt  zeal;  and  IJohc- 
irnia  and  Silesia  (where  they  preaclicd  witii 
warmth  their  favourite  doctrine,  "  that  tiie 
true  imitation  of  Cln-ist  consisted  in  beirifary 
and  extreme  poverty")  became  the  tiiealriisof 
the  spiritual  war.*  The  king  of  Hoheuiia  was 
well  affected  to  these  fanatics,  granted  them 
liis  protection,  and  was  on  that  account  ex- 
communicatiid  by  Panl  11-1  In  France,  their 
affairs  were  far  from  being'  prosperous;  such  of 
th^m  as  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  inquisitors, 
were  committed  to  tiie  flames,;]:  and  they  were 
eagerly  searclied  after  in  the  province  of  Tou- 
louse and  the  adjacent  countries,  where  great 
numbers  of  them  lay  concealed,  and  endea- 
voured to  escape  the  vigilance  of  their  enemies; 
while  several  of  their  scattered  parties  removed 
to  England  and  Ireland. §  Even  the  dreadful 
series  of  calamities  and  persecutions  that  ha- 
rassed this  miserable  sect  did  not  entirely  ex- 
tinguisli  it;  for  it  subsisted  to  the  time  of  the 
reformation  in  (Jermany,  when  its  remaining 
votaries  adopted  the  cause,  and  embraced  the 
doctrines  and  discipline  of  Lutlier. 

XXII.  Of  the  religious  fraternities  that  were 
founded  in  this  century,  not  one  deserves  a 
more  honourable  menti(jn  than  the  Brethren 
and  C'/lerks  of  the  common  life,  (as  they  called 
themselves,)  who  lived  under  the  rule  of  St. 
Augustine,  and  were  eminently  useful  in  pro- 
moting the  cau.se  of  religion,  learning,  and 
virtue.  This  .society  had  been  formed  in  the 
preceding  age  by  Gerard  Groote,  a  native  of 
De venter,  (I  remarkable  for  his  fervent  piety 
and  extensive  erudition;  it  was  not,  however, 
before  the  present  century,  that  it  received  a 
proper  degree  of  consistence,  and,  having  ob- 
tained the  approbation  of  the  council  of  Con- 
stance, flourished  in  Holland,  the  Lower  Ger- 
many, and  the  adjacent  provinces.  It  vv'as  di- 
vided into  two  classes,  tlie  Lettered  Bretliren 
or  Clerks,  and  the  Illiterate,  who,  though  tlicy 
occupied  separate  habitatioJis,  lived  in  tiie 
finnest  bonds  of  fraternal  union.  The  Clerks 
applied  themselves  with  exemplary  zeal  and 
assiduity  to  the  study  of  polite  literature,  and 
to  the  education  of  youth.  Tliey  composed 
learned  works  for  the  instruction  of  their  con- 
temporaries, and  erected  schools  and  semina- 
ries of  learning  wherever  they  went.  The  Il- 
literate Brethren,  on  tiie  other  hand,  were  em- 
ployed in  manual  labour,  and  exercised  with 
success  the  mechanic  arts.  No  religious  vows 
restrained  the  members  of  either  class;  yet 
they  had  all  things  in  common,  and  this  com- 
mmiity  was  the  great  bond  of  their  union. 
The  Sisters  of  this  virtuous  society  lived  much 
in  the  .same  manner,  and  employed  the  hours. 


*  Jo.  Georgii  SchLlliornii  Acta  Historica  Eccles. 
pRft  i. 

t  auirini  Vita  Pauli  It.  p.  7.T 

t  I  liave  ill  iiiaiMisrript  llio  acts  or  decrpos  nt  tlic 
iiKinisitiuii  agiiin.st  Jiiliii  Uiidiilchi  do  Custcdliiiiic 
and  Francis  d'Arcliata,  botliof  tlium  Fratricidli,  wlm 
were  burned  in  Franco,  in  14.'5I. 

§  Wood's  Anliq.  Dxonien.'!.  torn.  i.  p.  2>i. 

Il  The  lifo  oftliis  famous  Uutr,liinan,<;or:ird  firooto, 
was  vvritton  by  Thomas  n  Konipis,  and  i.-i  to  ho  found 
in  hifl  works.  It  stands  at  Iho  bond  of  the  lives  of 
eleven  of  bis  contemporaries,  composed  by  this  emi 
nent  writer. 


that  were  not  consecrated  to  prayer  and  read- 
ing, in  tlie  education  of  young  females,  and  in 
liniiiches  of  industry  suitable  to  their  sex.  The 
schools,  that  were  erected  by  the  clerks  of  this 
fraternity,  acfpiired  a  great  and  illustrious 
rejiutation  in  this  century.  From  thein  issued 
tliose  immortal  restorers  of  learning  and  taste 
which  gave  a  new  face  to  the  republic  of  let- 
ters in  Germany  and  Holland,  such  as  Eras- 
mus of  Rotterdam,  Alexander  Ilegius,  John 
Murmelius,  and  several  others.*  But  the  in- 
stitution of  the  order  of  Jesuits  seemed  to  di- 
minish the  credit  of  these  excellent  schools, 
which,  from  that  period,  began  to  decline.  It 
ought  to  be  added,  that  the  Brethren  of  the 
common  life,  however  encouraged  by  the  pub- 
lic, were  exposed  to  the  insults  and  opposition 
of  the  clergy  and  monks,  who  had  a  strong 
aversion  to  every  tiling  that  bore  the  remotest 
aspect  of  learning  or  taste,  j 

XXIII.  Of  the  Greeks,  who  acquired  fame 
by  their  learned  productions,  the  most  eminent 
were, 

Simeon  of  Thessalonica,  the  author  of  seve- 
ral treatises,  and,  among  others,  of  a  book 
against  tlie  heresies  that  had  troubled  the 
church;  to  whicli  we  may  add  his  writings 
against  the  Latins,  which  are  yet  cxtant;[ 

Josephus  Bryennius,  who  wrote  a  book  con- 
cerning the  Trinity,  and  another  .against  the 
Latins; 

Macarius  Macres,  whose  animosity  against 
the  Latins  was  carried  to  the  greatest  height; 

George  Phranza,  whose  historical  talent 
makes  a  figure  in  tiie  compilation  of  the  By- 
zantine historians; 

Marcus  Epliesius,  wlio  was  an  obstinate 
enemy  to  the  council  of  Florence;^ 

Cardinal  Bessarion,  the  illustrious  protector 
and  supporter  of  the  Platonic  scliool,  a  man 
of  unjiaralleled  genius  and  erudition;  but  much 
hated  by  the  Greelis,  because  he  seemed  to 
lean  to  tiie  party  of  the  Latins,  and  proposed 
an  union  of  the  two  nations  to  tlie  prejudice  of 
the  former;  II 

George  Sciiolarius,  otherwise  called  Genna 
dins,  who  wrote  against  the  Latins,  especially 


*  Accounts  of  this  order  have  been  niven  by  Auh 
MiiKiis,  in  his  Chronicoii,  ad  an.  i:i8-l,  and  by  Hclyot 
in  his  Ilistoire  d(!s  Ordres,  toni.  iii.  llut,  in  iha\ 
whicli  I  have  here  fjiven,  there  are  .-.onie  rirriinistaii 
cos  taken  from  ancient  records  not  yet  puhli.-;hed.  * 
have  in  my  possession  several  manuscripts,  wtiicl 
fiirnisli  materials  for  a  much  more  clear  ,iiid  circiini 
stantial  account  of  the  institiiliuii  and  progress  of 
this  order,  than  can  bo  derived  from  the  books  tha* 
have  hillierto  appean^d  on  that  siibjecl. 

t  We  ri>ad  frequently,  in  the  reronls  of  this  reii 
lory,  of  si:liools  crooted  by  the  I,ollaiils,  ami  soiiii! 
limes  by  the  lieubards,  at  Devenler,  lirunsvvick 
Kiinini;sber^,  and  Mtinster,  and  many  other  places 
Nciw  these  Lollards  were  the  clerks  of  Ilu;  cmnmon 
lifo,  who,  on  account  of  their  virtue,  industry,  anft 
b^arnin)!,  whicli  rendered  them  very  useful  in  tllf 
education  of  yoiitli,  vveri!  invited  by  the  magistrates 
of  several  cities  to  reside  ainontr  them. 

J  Jo.  Alb.  Fahricius,  liibl.  Oraic.  vol.  xiv.  p.  40.— 
Hich.  SiiiKUi,  Critique  do  la  liibliothequo  Eccles.  pal 
M.  Du  Tin,  torn.  i.  p.  100. 

S  Kich.  fJinion,  toni.  i.  p.  431. 

Il  For  an  account  of  lie.ssarion  and  the  other 
learned  iiieii  here  mentioned,  see  Bornerus  and  Hody, 
in  their  histori4's  of  the  restoration  of  lettersin  Italy, 
bv  the  Hreeks  who  took  refuge  there,  after  the  lakiiig 
oi"  ronslantinople;  add  to  these  the  Bibliolhera 
Orteca  nf  Fahricius. 


422 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


against  the  council  of  Florence,  with  greater 
learning,  candour,  and  perspicuity,  than  the 
rest  of  liis  countrymen  displayed;* 

George  Geinistius  Pletho,  a  man  of  eminent 
learning,  who  excited  many  of  the  Italians  to 
the  study,  not  only  of  the  Platonic  philosophy 
in  particular,  hut  of  Grecian  literature  in  ge- 
neral; 

George  of  Trapesond,  wlio  translated  seve- 
ral of  the  most  eminent  Grecian  authors  into 
Latin,  and  sujjported  the  cause  of  the  Latins 
against  the  Greeks  hy  his  dexterous  and  elo- 
quent pen; 

George  Codinus,  of  whom  we  have  yet  re- 
maining several  productions  relating  to  the 
Byzantine  history. 

XXIV.  The  tribe  of  Latin  writers  that 
adorned  or  dishonoured  this  century,  cannot 
easily  be  numbered.  We  shall  therefore  con- 
fine ourselves  to  the  enumeration  of  those  who 
wrote  upon  theological  points;  and  even  of 
these  we  shall  only  mention  the  most  eminent. 
At  their  head  we  may  justly  place  John  Ger- 
son,  chancellor  of  the  university  of  Paris,  the 
most  illustrious  ornament  that  this  age  could 
boast  of,  a  man  of  the  greatest  influence  and 
authority,  whom  the  council  of  Ck)nstance 
looked  upon  as  its  oracle,  the  lovers  of  liberty 
as  their  patron,  and  whose  memory  is  yet  pre- 
cious to  such  among  the  French,  as  are  zealous 
for  the  maintenance  of  their  privileges  against 
papal  despotism.!  This  excellent  man  pub- 
lished a  considerable  number  of  treatises  that 
were  admirably  adapted  to  reform  the  corrup- 
tions of  a  superstitious  worship,  to  excite  a 
spirit  of  genuine  piety,  and  to  heal  the  wounds 
of  a  divided  churcii;  tiiough,  in  some  respects, 
he  does  not  seem  to  have  thoroughly  under- 
stood the  demands  and  injunctions  of  the  Gos- 
pel. The  most  eminent  among  the  other  theo- 
logical writers  were, 

Nicolas  de  Clemangis,  a  man  of  uncommon 
candour  and  integrity,  who,  in  the  most  elo- 
quent and  affecting  strains,  lamented  the  ca- 
lamities of  the  times  and  the  unhappy  state  of 
the  Christian  church;}. 

Alphonsus  Tostatus,  bishop  of  Avila,  who 
loaded  the  Scriptures  with  unwieldy  and  vo- 
luminous commentaries,  and  also  composed 
other  works,  in  which  there  is  a  great  mixture 
of  good  and  bad; 

Ambrose  of  C!amaldoli,  who  acquired  a  high 
degree  of  reputation  by  his  profound  know- 
ledge of  the  Greek  language,  and  his  uncom- 
mon acquaintance  with  Grecian  literature,  as 
also  by  tiie  zeal  and  industry  he  discovered  in 
his  attempts  to  effectuate  a  reconciliation  be- 
tween the  Greeks  and  Latins; 

Nicolas  de  Cusa,  a  man  of  vast  erudition, 
and  no  mean  genius,  thougli  not  liinied  for  the 


*  Rirli.  Simon,  Croyance  de  I'Eglise  Orientale  sur 
la  TraiisMbslaiitiatioii,  p.  87. 

t  Si'c  DiiPin's  Gersimiaua,  prefixed  to  the  edition 
of  the  works  of  Gcr.son,  which  we  owe  to  that  labori- 
ous author,  and  which  appeared  at  Aiiiweip  in  tive 
vohuiies  folio,  in  ITOti.  See  also  Jo.  I.aunoii  His- 
toria  Gymnapii  Kegii  Navarreni,  part  iii.  lib.  ii.  cap. 
i.  p.  !>\i,  toni.  iv.  p  i.  op. — Herni.  von  der  Hardt, 
Acta  Concil.  Constant,  toni.  i.  part  iv. 

t  See  Launoii  Hist,  part  iii.  lib.  ii.  cap.  iii I.on 

gueval,  Hist,  de  I'Evtlise  Gallicane,  toni.  xiv.  p.  43(5.— 
The  works  of  rieinancis  were  pulili.>-hed  by  Lydius 
at  Leyden,  with  a  glossary,  in  KM 


solidity  of  his  judgment,  as  may  appear  from  a 
work  of  his,  entitled,  "  Conjectures  concerning 
the  last  Day;"* 

John  Nieder,  whose  writings  are  very  proper 
to  give  us  an  accurate  notion  of  the  manners 
and  spirit  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived,  and 
whose  journeys  and  transactions  have  rendered 
him  famous; 

John  Capistran,  who  was  in  high  esteem  at 
the  court  of  Rome  on  account  of  the  ardour 
and  vehemence  with  which  he  defended  the 
jurisdiction  and  majesty  of  the  pontiffs  against 
all  their  enemies  and  opposers;| 

Jolm  Wesselus  and  Jerome  Savanarola, 
who  may  justly  be  placed  among  the  wisest 
and  worthiest  men  of  this  age.  The  former, 
who  was  a  native  of  Groningen,  and  on  ac- 
count of  his  extraordinary  penetration  and  sa- 
gacity was  called  the  Light  of  the  World, 
propagated  several  of  those  doctrines,  which 
Luther  afterwards  inculcated  with  greater  evi- 
dence and  energy,  and  animadverted  with 
freedom  and  candour  upon  the  corruptions  of 
the  Romish  church.J  The  latter  was  a  Domi- 
nican and  a  native  of  Ferrara,  remarkable  for 
piety,  eloquence,  and  learning;  who  touched 
the  sores  of  the  church  with  a  heavier  hand, 
and  inveighed  against  the  pontiffs  with  greater 
severity.  For  this  freedom  he  severely  suffered. 
He  was  committed  to  the  flames  at  Florence 
in  1498,  and  bore  his  fate  with  the  most  trium- 
phant fortitude  and  serenity  of  mind;§ 

Alphonsus  Spina,  who  wrote  a  book  against 
the  Jews  and  Saracens,  which  he  called  For- 
talitium  Fidei. 

To  all  these  we  must  join  the  whole  tribe  of 
the  scholastic  writers,  whose  chief  ornaments 
were,  John  Capreolus,  John  de  Turrecremata, 
Antoninus  of  Florence,  Dionysius  a  Ryckel, 
Henry  Gorcomius,  Gabriel  Biel,  Stephen  Bru- 
lifer,  and  others.  The  most  remarkable  among 
the  Mystics  were,  Vincent  Ferrerius,  Henry 
Harphius,  Laurence  Justinianus,  Bemardine 
of  Sienna,  and  Thomas  a  Kempis,  who  shone 
among  these  with  a  superior  lustre,  and  to 
whom  the  famous  book,  concerning  the  imita- 
tion of  Christ,  is  commonly  attributed. || 

CHAPTER  III. 

Co7icerning  the  State  of  Religion,  and  the  Doc- 
trine  of  the  Church,  during  this  Century. 

I.  The  state  of  religion  had  become  so  cor- 
rupt among  the  Latins,  that  it  was  utterly  des- 


*  Bayle,  Reponse  aux  Questions  d'un  Provincial, 
torn.  ii.  rap.  f  xvii. 

t  I..'Eiifant's  Histoire  de  la  Guerre  des  Hussites, 
toni.  ii.  Wadding,  Annales  Minorum,  torn.  ix. 

t  Jo.  Ilenr.  Mali  Vita  Reuchlini,  p.  156. 

§  Jo  Franc.  Buddei  Parerga  Historico-Theologica. 
The  life  of  Savanarola  was  written  by  J.  Francis 
Picus,  and  published  at  Paris,  with  various  annota- 
tions, letters,  and  original  pieces,  by  Qiietif,  in  1674. 
The  same  editor  published  also  the  Spiritual  and 
Ascetic  Epistles  of  Savanarola,  translated  from  the 
Italian  into  Latin.  See  Echard,  Scriptor.  PriEdicator. 
toni.  i.  p.  884. 

II  The  late  abbe  Lenglet  du  Fresnoy  promised  the 
world  a  demonstration  thai  this  work,  whose  true 
author  has  been  so  much  disputed  among  the  learn- 
ed, was  originally  written  in  French  by  a  person 
named  Gersen,  or  Gerson,  and  only  translated  into 
Latin  by  Thomas  a  Kempis.  See  Granetus  in  Lau- 
noianis,  part  ii.  tom.iv.  part  ii.  op.  p.  414.  The  his 
tory  of  this  celebrated  production  is  given  by  Vin 


Chap.  III. 


THK  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


423 


fitute  of  any  thing  llial  could  altrutt  ftie 
esteem  of  the  truly  virtuous  and  jtidicioirs  p;irt 
of  mankind.  This  is  a  fact,  vvliicii  even  tliosc 
individuals  wliose  prejudices  render  thcni  un- 
willing to  acknowledge  it,  will  never  presume 
to  deny.  Among  the  Greeks  and  Orientals, 
religion  had  scarcely  a  better  aspect  than 
among  the  Latins;  at  least,  if  the  difFerence 
was  in  their  favour,  it  was  far  from  being  con- 
siderable. The  worship  of  the  Deity  consist- 
ed in  a  round  of  frivolous  and  insipid  cere- 
monies. The  discourses  of  those  who  instruct- 
ed the  people  in  public,  were  not  only  destitute 
of  sense,  judgment,  and  spirit,  but  even  of  pi- 
ety and  devotion,  and  were  in  reality  nothing 
more  than  a  motley  mixture  of  the  grossest 
fictions  and  the  most  extravagant  inventions. 
The  reputation  of  Christian  knowledge  and 
piety  was  easily  acquired;  it  was  lavished  upon 
those  who  professed  a  profound  veneration  fjr 
the  sacred  order,  and  their  spiritual  head  the 
Roman  pontiff,  who  studied  to  render  the 
.saints  (i.  e.  the  clergy,  their  ministers)  propi- 
tious by  frequent  and  rich  donations,  who  were 
exact  and  regular  in  the  ol>servance  of  the 
stated  ceremonies  of  the  church,  and  who  had 
wealth  enough  to  pay  the  fines  which  the  pa- 
pal quaestors  had  annexed  to  the  commission 
of  all  the  different  degrees  of  transgression;  or, 
m  other  words,  to  purchase  indulgences.  Such 
were  the  ingredients  of  ordinary  piety;  but  per- 
sons who  added  to  these  a  certain  degree  of 
austerity  and  bodily  mortification  were  placed 
in  the  highest  order  of  worthies,  and  consider- 
ed as  the  peculiar  favourites  of  Heaven.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  number  of  those  who  were 
studious  to  acquire  a  just,  notion  of  religion,  to 
investigate  the  true  sense  of  the  sacred  writ- 
ings, and  to  model  their  lives  and  manners 
after  the  precepts  and  example  of  the  divine 
Saviour,  was  extremely  small;  and  such  had 
much  difficulty  in  escaping  the  flames,  at  a 
time  when  virtue  and  sense  were  deemed  he- 
retical. 

H.  This  miserable  state  of  affairs,  this  enor- 
mous perversion  of  religion  and  morality, 
throughout  almost  all  the  western  provinces, 
were  observed  and  deplored  by  many  wise  and 
good  men,  who  all  endeavoured,  though  indif- 
ferent ways,  to  stem  the  torrent  of  superstition, 
and  to  reform  a  corrupt  church.  In  England 
and  Scotland,  the  disciples  of  Wicklifle,  whom 
the  multitude  had  stigmatized  witli  the  odious 
title  of  Lollards,  continued  to  inveigh  against 
the  despotic  laws  of  the  pontilTs,  and  the  licen- 
tious manners  of  the  clergy.*  The  Waldcnses, 
though  persecuted  and  opjircsscd  on  all  sides, 
raised  their  voices  even  in  the  remote  valleys 
and  lurking-places  whither  they  were  driven 
by  the  violence  of  their  enemies,  and  called 
aloud  for  succour  to  the  expiring  cause  of  re- 
ligion and  virtue.  Even  in  Italy,  many,  and 
among  others  the  famous  Savanarola,  had  the 
courage  to  declare,  that  Rome  was  become 
the  image  of  Babylon;  and  this  notion  was 
soon  adopted  by  multitudes  of  all  ranks  and 
conditions.     But  the  greatest  part  of  the  clergy 

centius  Thiiilluriiis,  in  the  Opera  Fosthuma  Mabil 
loni  et  Riiinarti.  toin.  in.  p  .54. 

*  See  Wilknis.  Concilia  Magna:  Britann  el  Hi 
bern.  torn,  iv.— Wood,  Aniiq.  Oxon.  lom  i. 


and  monks,  persuaded  that  their  honours,  in- 
fhicncc,  and  riches,  would  diminish  in  propor- 
tion to  the  increase  of  knowledge  among  the 
pcopte,  and  would  receive  inexpressible  detri- 
ment from  the  downfall  of  superstition,  vi- 
gorously opposed  every  thing  that  had  the  re- 
motest aspect  of  a  reformation,  and  imposed 
silence  upon  these  importunate  censors  by  the 
formidable  authority  of  fire  and  sword. 

HI.  The  religious  dissensions  tliat  had  been 
excited  in  Bohemia  by  tlie  ministry  of  John 
Hussand  his  disciple  .Tacobellus  de  Misa,  were 
doubly  inflamed  by  the  deplorable  fate  of  Hubs 
and  Jerome  of  Prague,  and  broke  out  into  an 
open  war,  which  was  carried  on  with  unparal- 
leled barbarity.  The  followers  of  Huss,  who 
pleaded  for  the  administration  of  tlie  cup  to 
the  laity  in  the  holy  sacrament,  being  perse- 
cuted and  oppressed  in  various  ways  by  the 
emissaries  and  ministers  of  the  court  of  Rome, 
retired  to  a  steep  and  high  mountain  in  the 
district  of  Becliin,  in  which  they  held  their  re- 
ligious meetings,  and  administered  the  sacra- 
ment of  the  Lord's  supper  under  both  kinds. 
This  mountain  tliey  called  Tabor,  from  the 
touts  which  they  at  JRrst  erected  there  for  their 
habitation;  and  in  process  of  time  they  rai.sed 
a  considerable  fortification  for  its  defence,  and 
adorned  it  with  a  well-built  and  regular  city. 
Forming  more  grand  and  important  projects, 
they  chose  for  their  chiefs  Nicoliis  of  Hussinetz, 
and  the  famous  John  Ziska,  a  Bohemian 
knight,  a  man  of  the  most  undaunted  courage 
and  resolution;  and  proposed,  under  the  stand- 
ards of  tjiesc  violent  leaders,  to  revenge  the 
deatii  of  Hu.ss  and  Jerome  upon  the  creatures 
of  the  Roman  pontiff,  and  obtain  a  liberty  of 
worshipping  God  in  a  mnre  rational  manner 
than  that  which  was  prescribed  by  the  church 
of  Rome.  After  the  death  of  Nicolas,  whiclr 
happened  in  1420,  Ziska  connnanded  alone 
this  warlike  body,  and  had  the  satisfaction  to 
see  his  army  daily  increase.  During  the  first 
tumults  of  this  war,  which  were  no  more  than 
a  prelude  to  calamities  of  a  nnich  more  dread- 
ful kind,  Wenceslaus,  king  of  Bohemia,  resign- 
ed his  breath  in  the  year  1419.*^ 

IV.  The  emperor  Sigismund,  who  succeeded 
him  on  the  throne  of  Bohemia,  employed  not 
only  edicts  and  remonstrances,  btit  also  the 
terror  of  penal  laws  and  the  force  of  arms,  to 
put  an  end  to  these  fain<mtable  divisions;  and 
great  numbers  of  the  Hiisisites  perished,  by  his 
orders,  in  the  maul  Ixirlwrous  manner.  The 
Bohemians,  irritated  by  these  inhuman  pro- 
ceedings, threw  otf  his  des{)f)tic  yoke  in  1420, 
and,  with  Ziska  at  their  iic;id,  made  war  against 
tiieir  sovereign.  This  famous  leader,  though 
deprived  of  his  .'<ight,  discovered,  in  every  step 
he  took,  such  an  admirable  mixture  of  pru- 
dence and  intrepidity,  tliat  his  name  became  a 
terror  to  his  enemies.  Upon  his  death,  which 
happened  in  1424,  the  majority  of  the  Hus- 

ftfr-*  Tins  prince  liad  no  sooner  begun  to  execute 
the  decrees  of  the  roiiiiril  ot'  Constance  against  the 
Hussites,  than  the  inhabitants  of  Prapne  took  fire 
at  the  proreedinj. raised  a  luniiill,  mnrdered  the  ma 
pii^trales  who  p^bll^hed  the  order,  and  rommitted 
other  oiitrage.s,  wliich  filled  the  court  of  Wenceslaus 
with  conste>naii(in.  anil  so  affi  rted  that  pusillani 
mou.^  monarch,  that  he  u  as  seized  with  an  apoplexy. 
of  which  he  died  in  a  few  days. 


424 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


sites  chose  for  tlieir  general  Procopius  Rasa,  a 
man  also  of  undaunted  courage  and  resolution, 
who  maintained  their  cause,  and  carried  on  the 
war  with  spirit  and  success.  The  acts  of  bar- 
barity, cgiminitted  on  both  sides,  were  sliocking- 
and  terrible  beyond  expression;  for,  notwitli- 
standing  the  irreconcilable  opposition  that  ex- 
isted between  the  religious  sentiments  of  the 
contending  parties,  both  agreed  in  this  one 
horrible  point,  that  it  was  innocent  and  lawful 
to  persecute  and  extirpate  witli  fire  and  sword 
the  enemies  of  the  true  religion;  and  such  they 
appeared  to  be  in  each  otlicr's  eyes.  Tlie  Bo- 
hemians maintained,  that  Huss  had  been  un- 
justly put  to  death  at  Constance,  and  conse- 
quently revenged,  with  the  utmost  fury,  tlie 
injury  which  he  had  suffered.  They  acknow- 
ledged it,  nevertheless,  as  an  incontestable 
principle,  that  heretics  deserved  capital  punish- 
ment; but  they  denied  obstinately  that  Huss 
was  a  heretic.  This  pernicious  maxim,  tlien, 
was  the  source  of  that  cruelty  which  disgraced 
both  parties  in  this  dreadful  war;  and  it  is,  per- 
haps, difficult  to  determine,  which  of  the  two 
carried  this  cruelty  to  the  greatest  height. 

V.  All  those  who  undertook  to  avenge  the 
death  of  the  Bohemian  martyr,  set  out  upon 
the  same  principles;  and,  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  war,  they  seemed  to  agree  both  in 
their  religious  sentiments,  and  in  their  demands 
upon  the  church  and  government  from  wliich 
they  had  withdrawn  tliemselves.  But,  as  their 
numbers  increased,  their  union  diminished;  and 
their  army  being  prodigiously  augmented  by  a 
confluence  of  strangers  from  all  quarters,  a 
groat  dissension  arose  among  tliem,  which,  in 
)420,  came  to  an  open  rupture,  and  divided 
this  multitude  into  two  great  factions,  which 
were  distinguislied  by  the  titles  of  Calixtines 
and  Taljorites.  The  former,  who  were  so  call- 
ed from  their  insisting  upon  the  use  of  the 
chalice,  or  cup,  in  the  celebration  of  the 
eucharist,  were  mild  in  their  proceedings,  and 
modest  in  their  demands,  and  showed  no  dis- 
position to  overturn  tlie  ancient  system  of 
church  government,  or  to  make  any  consider- 
able changes  in  tlie  religion  which  was  public- 
ly received.  All  that  they  required,  may  be 
comprehended  under  the  four  articles  wliich 
follow.  They  demanded,  first,  that  the  word 
of  God  should  be  explained  to  the  peo|)le  in  a 
plain  and  perspicuous  manner,  without  the 
mixture  of  superstitious  comments  or  inven- 
tions; secondly,  that  the  sacrament  of  the 
Lord's  supper  should  be  administered  in  both 
kinds;  thirdly,  that  the  clergy,  instead  of  em- 
ploying all  their  attention  and  zeal  in  the 
acquisition  of  riches  and  power,  should  turn 
their  thoughts  to  objects  more  suitable  to  their 
profession,  and  be  ambitious  of  hving  and  act- 
ing as  became  the  successors  of  the  holy  apos- 
tles; and,  fourthly,  tliat  transgriissions  of  a 
more  heinous  kind,  or  mortal  sins,  sliould  be 
punished  in  a  manner  suitable  to  their  enormi- 
ty. In  this  great  faction,  however,  there  were 
some  subordinate  sects,  who  were  divided  upon 
several  points.  The  administration  of  the 
Lord's  supper  was  one  occasion  of  dispute; 
.Tacobellus  de  Mica,  who  had  first  proposed  the 
celebration  of  that  ordinance  uhder  both  kinds, 
was  of  opimon,  that  mfants  had  a  right  to  par- 


take of  it,  and  this  opinion  waa  adopted  by 
many;  while  others  maintained  the  contrary 
doctrine,  and  confined  the  privilege  in  ques- 
tion to  persons  of  riper  years.* 

VI.  The  demands  of  the  Taborites,  who  de- 
rived their  name  from  a  mountain  well  known 
in  sacred  history,  were  much  more  ample. 
They  not  only  insisted  upon  reducing  the  reli- 
gion of  Jesus  to  its  primitive  simplicity,  but 
required  also,  that  the  system  of  ecclesiastical 
government  should  be  reformed  in  the  same 
manner,  the  authority  of  the  pope  destroyed, 
tlie  form  of  divine  worship  changed:  they  de- 
manded, in  a  word,  the  erection  of  a  new 
church,  a  new  hierarchy,  in  which  Christ  alone 
should  reign,  and  all  things  should  be  carried 
on  by  a  divine  impulse.  In  maintaining  these 
extravagant  demands,  the  principal  doctors  of 
this  sect,  (such  as  Martin  Loquis,  a  Moravian, 
and  his  followers)  went  so  far  as  to  flatter 
themselves  with  the  chimerical  notion,  that 
Christ  would  descend  upon  earth,  armed  with 
fire  and  sword,  to  extirpate  heresy,  and  purify 
the  church  from  its  multiplied  corruptions. 
These  fantastical  dreams  they  propagated  in 
different  countries,  and  taught  them  even  in  a 
public  manner  with  unparalleled  confidence 
and  presumption.  It  is  this  enthusiastic  class 
of  the  Hussites  alone,  that  we  are  to  look 
upon  as  accountable  for  all  those  abominable 
acts  of  violence,  rapine,  desolation,  and  mur- 
der, which  arc  too  indiscriminately  laid  to  the 
charge  of  the  Hussites  in  general,  and  of  their 
two  leaders  Ziska  and  Procopius  in  particular.! 
It  must  indeed  be  acknowledged,  that  a  great 
number  of  the  Hussites  had  imbibed  the  niOBt 
barbarous  sentiments  with  respect  to  the  obliga- 
tion of  executing  vengeance  upon  their  ene- 
mies, against  whom  they  breathed  nothing  but 
bloodshed  and  fury,  without  any  mixture  of 
humanity  or  compassion. 

VII.  In  the  year  1433,  the  council  of  Basil 
endeavoured  to  put  an  end  to  this  dreadful  war, 
and  for  that  purpose  invited  the  Bohemians  to 
the  assembly.     The  Bohemians,  accepting  this 


*  Byziiiii  Diarium  Hussiticiim,  p.  130. 

t  From  thti  following  opinions  and  maxims  of  the 
Taborites,  vvhicli  may  be  seen  in  the  Diarium  Hus- 
siticiim of  Byziniiis,  we  may  form  a  just  idea  of  their 
detestable  barbarity:  "  Omnes  legis  Christi  adver- 
sarii  dcbent  puniri  septem  plagis  novissimis,  ad  qua- 
rum  executionem  fideles  sunt  provocandi — In  isto 
tempore  ultionis  Christus  in  sua  humilitate  et  mi- 
seratione  non  est  imitandus  ad  ipsos  peccatores,  sed 
in  zclo  et  furore  et  justa  retributione. — In  hoc  tem- 
pore ultionis,  qihlibet  fidelis,  etiam  presbyter,  quan- 
iKVicunquc  spirilualis,  est  malcdictus ,  qui  gladium 
suum  corporalemproliibet  a  sanguine  adversarioruw 
legis  Christi,  sed  debet  manus  suas  lavare  in  eornm 
sanguine  et  sanctiticare."  From  men,  who  adopted 
such  liorrid  and  detestable  maxims,  what  could  be 
expected  but  the  most  abominable  acts  of  injustice 
and  cruelty?  For  an  account  of  this  dreadful  and 
calnniitous  war,  the  reader  may  consult  (beside  the 
ancient  writers,  such  as  Sylvius,  Theobaldus,  Coch 
liius,  and  others')  L'Enfant's  Histoire  de  la  Guerre 
des  Hussites,  published  at  Amsterdam  in  1731.  To 
this  history  it  will,  however,  be  advisable  to  add  the 
Diarium  Belli  Hussitici  of  Byzinius,  a  book  worthy 
of  the  hishest  esteem,  on  account  of  the  candour 
and  impartiality  with  which  it  is  composed,  and 
which  Mr.  IVEnfant  does  not  seem  to  have  consult 
ed.  This  valuable  production  was  published,  though 
incomplete,  in  the  sixth  volume  of  the  Reliquis 
Manuscriptorum  of  the  very  learned  John  Peter 
Ludwig,  See  also  Beausobre's  Supplement  to  the 
Histoire  de  la  Guerre  des  Hussitee,  Lausanne,  1745. 


Chap.  III. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


425 


invitation,  sent  ambassadors,  and  among  others 
Procopius  their  leader,  to  represent  them  in 
that  council.  But,  after  many  warm  debates, 
these  messeiiffcra  of  peace  returned  without 
having  affected  any  thing  that  might  even  pre- 
pare the  way  for  a  reconcihation  so  long  and 
so  ardently  desired.  The  Cali.\tines  were  not 
averse  to  peace;  but  no  methods  of  persuasion 
could  engage  the  Taborites  to  yield.  This 
matter,  however,  was  transacted  with  more 
success  by  iEneas  Sylvius  and  others,  whom 
the  council  sent  into  Bohemia  to  renew  the 
conferences;  for  these  new  legates,  by  allow- 
ing to  the  Calixtines  the  use  of  the  cup  in  the 
holy  sacrament,  satisfied  them  in  the  point 
which  they  had  chiefly  at  heart,  and  thus  re- 
conciled them  with  the  Roman  pontiff.  But 
the  Taborites  adhered  inflexibly  to  their  first 
principles;  and  neither  the  artifice  nor  the  elo- 
quence of  Sylvius,  nor  the  threats,  sufferings, 
and  persecutions  to  which  their  cause  exposed 
them,  could  vanquish  their  obstinate  perse- 
verance. From  this  period,  indeed,  they  began 
to  review  their  religious  tenets,  and  their  eccle- 
siastical discipline,  with  a  view  of  rendering 
them  more  perfect.  This  review,  as  it  was 
executed  with  great  prudence  and  impartiality, 
produced  a  very  good  effect,  and  gave  a  ra- 
tional aspect  to  the  religion  of  these  sectaries, 
who  withdrew  themselves  fi-om  the  war,  aban- 
doned the  doctrines,  which,  upon  serious  ex- 
amination, they  found  to  be  inconsistent  with 
the  spirit  and  genius  of  the  Gospel,  and  banish- 
ed from  tlieir  communion  all  persons  whose 
disordered  brains,  or  licentious  manners,  might 
expose  them  to  reproach.*  The  Taborites, 
thus  new-modelled,  were  the  same  with  those 
Bohemian  Brethren  (or  Picards,  i.  e.  Beghards, 
as  their  adversaries  called  them)  who  joined 
Luther  and  his  successors  at  the  reforma- 
tion, and  of  vi^hom  there  are  at  tliis  day  many 
of  the  descendants  and  followers  in  Poland 
and  other  countries. 

VIII.  Among  the  greatest  part  of  the  inter- 
preters of  Scripture  that  lived  in  this  century, 
we  fmd  nothing  worthy  of  applause,  if  we  ex- 
cept their  zeal  and  their  good  intentions.  Such 
of  them  as  aimed  at  something  higher  than 
the  character  of  mere  compilers,  and  ventured 
to  draw  their  explications  from  their  own  sense 
of  things,  did  little  more  than  amuse,  or  rather 
delude,  their  readers,  with  mystical  and  alle- 
gorical fancies.  At  the  head  of  this  class  we 
may  place  Alplionsus  Tostatus,  bishop  of  A  vila, 
whose  voluminous  commentaries  upon  the  sa- 
cred writings  exhibit  nothing  remarkable  but 
their  enormous  bulk.  Laurentius  Valla  is  en- 
titled to  a  more  favourable  judgment;  and  his 
small  collection  of  Critical  and  Grammatical 
Annotations  upon  the  New  Testament  is  far 
from  being  destitute  of  merit,  since  it  pointed 
out  to  succeeding  authors  the  true  method  of 
removing  the  difliculties  that  sometimes  pre- 
sent themselves  to  such  as  study  with  attention 
the  divine  oracles.     It   is   proper  to  observe 


*  See  Adriani  Regcnvolscii  Ilistoria  Eccles.  pro- 
vinciar.  Sclavonicar.  lib.  ii.  cap.  viii.  p.  105. — Joach. 
Camerarii  Historica  Narralio  dc  Fralrum  Ecclesiis 
in  Bohemia,  Moravia,  et  Polonia. — Jo.  Lasitii  Ilis- 
toria Fratrum  Boheniicoriim,  which  I  possess  in 
manuscript,  and  of  which  the  eighth  book  was  pub- 
lished At  Amsterdam,  in  1649. 
Vol.  I.— 54 


here,  that  these  sacred  books  were,  in  almost 
all  the  kingdoms  and  states  of  Europe,  trans- 
lated into  the  language  of  each  nation,  par- 
ticularly in  Germany,  Italy,  France,  and  Bri- 
tain. This  circumstance  naturally  e.xcited  the 
expectations  of  a  considerable  change  in  the 
state  of  religion,  and  mado  the  thinking  fev/ 
hope,  that  the  doctrine  of  the  church  would 
be  soon  reformed  by  the  light  that  could  not 
but  arise  from  consulting  the  genuine  sources 
of  divine  truth. 

IX.  The  schools  of  divinity  made  a  misera- 
ble figure  in  this  century.  They  were  filled 
with  teachers,  who  loaded  their  memory,  and 
that  of  their  disciples,  with  unintelligible  dis- 
tinctions and  unmeaning  sounds,  that  they 
might  thus  dispute  and  discourse,  with  an  ap- 
pearance of  method,  upon  matters  vi'hich  they 
did  not  understand.  There  were  rlow  few  re- 
maining, of  those  who  proved  and  illustrated 
the  doctrines  of  religion  by  the  positive  declara- 
tions of  the  holy  scriptures,  and  the  sentiments 
of  the  ancient  fathers,  and  who,  with  all  their 
defects,  were  much  superior  to  the  vain  and 
obscure  pedants  of  whom  we  have  been  speak- 
ing. The  senseless  jargon  of  the  latter  did 
not  escape  the  just  and  heavy  censure  of  some 
learned  and  judicious  persons,  who  considered 
their  methods  of  teaching  as  highly  detri- 
mental to  the  interests  of  true  religion,  and  to 
the  advancement  of  genuine  and  solid  piety. 
Accordingly,  various  plans  were  formed  by 
dirt'erent  individuals,  some  of  which  had  for 
their  object  the  abolition  of  this  method,  others 
its  reformation,  while,  in  the  mean  time,  the 
enemies  of  the  schoolmen  increased  from  day 
to  day.  The  Mystics,  of  whom  we  shall  have 
occasion  to  spea  k  more  largely  hereafter,  were 
ardently  bent  upon  banishing  entirely  this 
scholastic  theology  out  of  the  Christian  church. 
Others,  who  seemed  disposed  to  act  with 
greater  moderation,  did  not  insist  upon  its 
total  suppression,  but  were  of  opinion,  that  it 
was  necessary  to  reform  it,  by  abolishing  all 
vain  and  useless  subjects  of  debate,  by  re- 
straining the  rage  of  disputing  that  had  in- 
fected the  seminaries  of  theology,  and  by  sea- 
soning the  subtlety  of  the  schoolmen  with  a 
happy  temperature  of  mystic  sensibility  and 
simplicity.  This  opinion  was  adopted  by  the 
(iunous  Gcrson,  who  laboured  with  the  utmost 
zeal  and  assiduity  in  correcting  and  reformintr 
the  disorders  and  abuses  which  the  scholastic 
divines  had  introduced  into  the  seminaries,*  as 
also  by  Savanarola,  Petrus  dc  Alliaco,  and 
Nicolas  Cusanus,  whose  treatise  concerning 
Learned  Ignorance  is  stiU  extant. 

X.  The  litigious  herd  of  schoolmen  found 
a  new  class  of  enemies  equally  keen,  in  the 
restorers  of  eloquence  and  letters,  who  were 
not  all,  however,  of  the  same  oi>iiiion  with  re- 
spect to  the  manner  of  treating  these  solemn 
quibblers.  Some  of  them  covered  the  scho- 
lastic doctrine  witli  ridicule,  loaded  it  with 
invectives,  and  demanded  its  suppression,  as 


*  Rirli.  Simon,  liCttres  Choisies,  tom.  ii.  p.  269, 
and  Critique  dc  la  liibliolhpqiic  Ecclesia-stique  de  M. 
Du-Pin,  tom.  i.  p.  4!»1. — Thomasii  Orifjinea  HiBtor. 
Philos.  p.  56,  and  principally  Gersonis  Mctbodus 
Theologiam  studendi,  in  Launoii  Historia  Gymnat. 
Navarreni,  torn.  iv.  op.  part  i.  p.  330. 


426 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  II. 


a  moat  trifling  and  absurd  system,  that  was 
highly  detrimental  to  the  culture  and  im- 
provement of  the  mind,  and  could  only  pre- 
vent the  growth  of  genius  and  true  science. 
Others  looked  upon  tins  system  as  supportable, 
and  only  proposed  illustrating  and  pohshing 
it  by  the  powers  of  eloquence,  thus  to  render 
it  more  intelligible  and  elegant.  Of  this  class 
was  Paulus  Cortesius,  who  wrote,  with  this 
view,  a  commentary  on  the  Book  of  Proverbs, 
in  which,  as  we  team  from  himself,  he  forms 
a  happy  union  between  eloquence  and  theology, 
and  clothes  tlie  principal  intricacies  of  scholas- 
tic divinity  with  the  graces  of  an  agreeable 
and  perspicuous  stylo.*  After  all,  the  scholas- 
tic theology,  supported  by  tiie  extraordinary 
credit  and  authority  of  the  Dominicans  and 
Franciscans,  maintained  its  ground  against  its 
various  opposers;  nor  could  these  two  religious 
orders,  who  excelled  hi  that  litigious  kind  of 
learning,  bear  the  thought  of  losing  tlie  glory 
they  had  acquired  by  quibbling  and  disputiiig 
in  the  pompous  jargon  of  the  schools. 

XI.  This  vain  philosophy,  however,  grew 
daily  more  contemptible  in  the  esteem  of  the 
judicious  and  the  wise;  while  the  Mystics  ga- 
thered strength,  and  saw  their  friends  and  ad- 
vocates multiply  on  all  sides.  Among  these 
there  were  some  men  of  distinguished  merit, 
who  are  chargeable  with  few  of  the  errors  and 
extravagances  that  were  mingled  with  the  dis- 
cipline and  doctrine  of  that  fatuous  sect,  such 
as  Thomas  a  Kempis,  (the  author  of  the  Ger- 
manic theology,  so  highly  commended  by 
Luther,)  Laurentius  Justinianus,  Savanarola, 
and  others.  There  are,  on  the  other  hand, 
some  writers  of  this  sect,  such  as  Vincentius 
Ferrerius,  Henricus,  Ilarphius,  and  Bernaid 
of  Sienna,  in  whose  productions  we  nmst  care- 
fully separate  certain  notions  which  were  the 
effects  of  a  warm  and  irregular  fancy,  as  also 
the  visions  of  Dionysius,  whom  the  Mystics 
consider  as  their  chief,  from  the  noble  precepts 
of  divine  wisdom  with  which  they  are  mingled. 
The  Mystics  were  defended  against  their  ad- 
versaries, the  Dialecticians,  partly  by  the  Pla- 
tonists,  who  were  in  general  highly  esteemed, 
and  partly  by  some,  even  of  the  most  eujijicnt 
scholastic  doctors.  Tlie  former  considered  Dio- 
nysius as  a  person  whose  sentiments  had  been 
formed  and  nourished  by  the  study  of  Platon- 
ism,  and  wrote  commentaries  upon  his  writ- 
ings; of  which  we  have  an  eminent  example 
in  Marcilius  Ficinus,  whose  mime  adds  a  lus- 
tre to  the  Platonic  school.  The  latter  attempt- 
ed a  certain  sort  of  association  between  the 
scholastic  theology  and  that  of  the  Mystics; 
and  in  this  class  were  John  Gerson,  Nicolas 
Cusanus,  Dionysius  the  Carthusian,  and  others. 

XII.  The  controversy  with  the  enemies  of 
<  "luistianity  was  carried  on  with  much  more 
vigour  in  this  than  in  the  preceding  ages;  and 
several  learned  and  eminent  men  seemed  now 
to  e.xert  themselves  with  peculiar  industry  and 
zeal  in  demonstrating  the  truth  of  that  divine 
religion,  and  defending  it  against  the  various 
objections  of  its  adversaries.     This  appears 


*  This  work  was  pubhshed  at  Rome  in  1512,  and 
at  Basil  m  1513. 


from  the  learned  book  of  Marcilius  Ficinus 
concerning  the  Truth  of  Christianity,  Savana- 
rola's  Triiunph  of  the  Cross,  the  Natural  The- 
ology of  Raymond  de  Sabunde,  and  other  pro- 
ductions of  a  like  nature.  The  Jews  were  re- 
futed by  Perezius  and  Jerome  de  St.  Foi,  the 
Saracens  by  Johannes  de  Turrecreinata;  and 
both  these  classes  of  unbelievers  were  op- 
posed by  Alphonso  de  Spina,  in  the  Fortress 
of  Faith.  Nor  were  these  pious  labourers  in  the 
defence  of  the  Gospel  at  all  unseasonable  or 
superfluous:  on  the  contrary,  the  state  of 
things  at  this  time  rendered  them  necessary. 
For,  on  the  one  hand,  the  Aristotelian  philo- 
sophers in  Italy  seemed,  in  their  public  instruc- 
tions, to  strike  at  the  foimdations  of  all  reli- 
gion; and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  senseless 
subtleties  and  quarrels  of  the  schoolmen,  who 
modelled  religion  according  to  their  extrava- 
gant fancies,  tended  to  bring  it  into  contempt. 
Add  to  all  this,  that  the  Jews  and  Saracens 
lived  in  many  places  promiscuously  with  the 
Christians,  who  were  therefore  obliged,  by  the 
proximity  of  the  enemy,  to  defend  themselves 
with  the  utmost  assiduity  and  zeal. 

XIII.  We  have  already  taken  notice  of  the 
fruitless  attempts  which  were  made  to  heal  the 
unhappy  divisions  of  the  Greek  and  Latin 
churches.  After  the  comicil  of  Florence,  and 
tlio  violation  of  the  treaty  of  pacification  by 
the  Greeks,  Nicolas  V.  exhorted  and  entreated 
them  again  to  turn  their  thoughts  towards  the 
restoration  of  peace  and  concord.  But  his  ex- 
hortations were  without  effect;  and  in  about 
the  space  of  tiiree  ycare  after  the  writing  of 
this  last  letter,  Constantinople  was  besieged 
and  taken  by  the  Turks.  And  from  that  fatal 
period  to  the  present  time,  the  Roman  pontiffs, 
in  all  their  attempts  to  bring  about  a  reconci- 
liation, have  always  found  the  Grecian  patri-? 
archs  more  obstinate  and  intractable  than  they 
were  when  their  empire  was  in  a  flourishing 
state.  Nor  is  this  circumstance  so  diSicult  to 
be  accounted  for,  when  all  things  are  properly 
considered.  This  obstinacy  was  the  efffect  of  a 
rooted  aversion  to  the  Latins  and  their  pontiffs, 
that  acquired,  from  day  to  day,  new  degrees  of 
strength  and  bitterness  in  the  hearts  of  the 
Greeks;  an  aversion,  produced  and  nourished 
by  a  persuasion,  that  the  calamities  which 
they  sulfered  under  the  Turkish  yoke  might 
have  been  easily  removed,  if  the  western  prin- 
ces and  the  Roman  pontiffs  had  not  refused  to 
succour  them  against  their  haughty  tyrants. 
And  accordingly,  when  the  Greek  writers  de- 
plore the  calamities  that  fell  upon  their  devot- 
ed country,  their  complaints  are  always  min- 
gled with  heavy  accusations  against  the  Latins, 
whose  cruel  insensibility  to  their  unhappy  situ- 
ation they  paint  in  the  strongest  and  most 
odious  colours. 

XIV.  We  pass  over  in  silence  many  trifling 
controversies  among  the  Latins,  which  have 
no  claim  to  the  attention  of  our  readers.  But 
we  must  not  omit  mentioning  the  revival  of 
that  famous  dispute  concerning  the  kind  of 
worship  that  was  to  be  paid  to  the  blood  of 
Chiist,  which  was  fiist  kindled  at  Barcelona, 
in  1351,  between  the  Franciscans  and  Domi- 
mcans,  and  had  been  left  undecided  by  Cla  ■ 


Chip.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


427 


ment  VI.*  This  controversy  was  renewed  at 
Brixen,  in  1462,  by  James  a  Marchia,  a  ce- 
lebrated Franciscan,  wlio  maintained  publicly, 
in  one  of  his  sermons,  that  tiie  blood  which 
Christ  shed  upon  the  cross,  did  not  belong  to 
the  divine  nature,  and  of  consequence  was  not 
to  be  considered  as  an  object  of  divine  and 
immediate  worship.  The  Dominicans  rejected 
this  doctrine,  and  adopted  witli  such  zeal  the 
opposite  side  of  the  question,  that  James  of 
Brixen,  who  performed  the  office  of  inquisitor, 
called  the  Franciscan  before  his  tribunal,  and 
accused  him  of  heresy.  Pope  Pius  II.,  having 
made  several  inettectual  attempts  to  suppress 
this  controversy,  was  at  last  persuaded  to  sub- 
mit the  affair  to  tiie  examination  and  judgment 
of  a  select  number  of  able  divines.  But  many 
obstacles  arose  to  prevent  a  final  decision, 
among  which  we  may  reckon,  as  the  principal, 
the  influence  and  authority  of  the  contending 
orders,  each  of  which  had  emljarked  with  zeal 
in  the  cause  of  their  respective  champions. 
Hence,  after  much  altercation  and  cliicane, 
the  pontiff  thought  proper  to  impose  silence  on 
both  the  parties  in  this  miserable  dispute,  in 
1464;  declaring,  at  the  same  time,  that  "  both 
sides  of  the  question  might  be  lawfully  main- 
tained until  Christ's  vicar  upon  earth  should 
find  leisure  and  opportunity  for  examining  the 
matter,  and  determining  on  which  side  the 
truth  lay."  This  Irisure  and  ojipmimnty  Iiave 
not  yet  been  offered  to  the  pontiffs. f 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Concerning  the  Ritex  and  Ceremonies  thai  were 
used  in  the  Church  during  this  Century. 
I.  The  state  of  religious  ceremonies  among 
the  Greeks  may  be  learned  from  the  book  of 
Simeon  of  Thcssalonica,  concerning  Rites  and 
Heresies,!;  from  which  it  appears,  that  the  sub- 
stance of  religion  was  lost  among  that  people; 
that  a  splendid  shadow  of  pomp  and  vanity 
was  substituted  in  its  place  by  the  rulers  of 
the  church;  and  th.-it  all  the  branches  of  divine 
worship  were  ordered  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
strike  the  imaginations,  and  captivate  the 
senses  of  the  multitude.  They  pretended,  in- 
deed, to  allege  seveml  reasons  for  multiplying, 
as  they  did,  the  external  rites  and  institutions 
of  religion,  and  throwing  over  the  whole  of 
divine  worship  siicli  a  pompous  garb  of  world- 
ly splendour.  But  in  these  reasons,  and  in  all 
their  explications  of  this  gaudy  ritual,  subtlety 
and  invention  are  more  apparent  than  truth 
or  good  sense.  The  origin  of  these  multiplied 
rites,  that  cast  a  cloud  over  the  native  beauty 
and  lustre  of  religion,  is  often  obscure,  and 
frequently  dishonourable;  and  such  as,  by  force 
of  ill-applied  genius  and  invention,  have  en- 
deavoured to  derive  honour  to  tliesc  ceremo- 
nies from  the  circumbtances  that  gave  occasion 
to  them,  have  failed  egrcgiously  in  this  despe- 
rate attempt.  The  deceit  is  too  palpable  to 
seduce  any  mind  that  is  void  of  prejudice,  and 
capable  of  attention. 


*  Luc.  Wadding,  Amial.  Rliiior.  torn,  viii  p  .'iy.— 
Jac.  Echardi  Scriptor.  PrjEdicitor.  torn.  i.  p.  r,.'in. 

t  Waddinp,  Annal.  Minor,  torn.  xiii.  p.  2()i;. — Nat. 
Alexander.  Hist.  Ercles.  Sapc.  XV. 

J  .1.  A.  F'abriciiis  has  given  an  arroinit  of  the  con- 
tents of  tliis  book  in  liis  Bibliolli  Gra'ca,  vol.  xiv. 


II.  Though  the  more  rational  and  judicious 
of  the  Roman  pontiffs  complained  of  the  mul- 
tiplicity of  ceremonies,  festivals,  temples,  and 
the  like,  and  did  not  seem  unwilling  to  have  this 
enormous  mass  diminished,  they  nevertheless 
distinguished,  every  one  his  own  pontificate, 
by  some  new  institution,  and  thought  it  their 
duly  to  perpetuate  their  fame  by  some  new 
edict  of  this  nature.  Thus  Calixtus  III.,  to 
immortnlize  the  remembrance  of  the  delive- 
rance of  Belgrade  from  the  powerful  arms  of 
Mohammed  II.,  wlio  had  been  obliged  to  raise 
the  siege  of  that  city,  ordered,  in  1456,  the 
festival  in  honour  of  the  transfiguration  of 
Christ  (which  had  been  celebrated  in  some 
places  by  private  authority  before  this  period) 
to  be  religiously  observed  throughout  the 
western  world.  And  Sixtns  IV.,  in  1476, 
granted  indulgences,  by  a  particular  edict,  to 
all  those  who  should  devoutly  celebrate  an  an- 
nual festival  in  honour  of  the  immaculate  con- 
ception of  the  blessed  Virgin,  with  respect  to 
which  none  of  the  Roman  pontiffs  before  him 
had  thought  proper  to  make  any  express  de- 
claration, or  any  positive  appointment.*  The 
other  additions  that  were  made  to  the  Roman 
ritual,  relating  to  the  worship  of  the  Virgin 
Mar}',  public  and  private  prayers,  the  traffic 
of  indulgences,  and  other  things  of  that  nature, 
are  of  too  little  importance  to  deserve  an  exact 
and  circumstantial  enumeration.  We  need 
not  such  a  particular  detail  to  convince  us, 
that  in  this  century  religion  was  reduced  to 
mere  sliow,  to  a  show  composed  of  pompous 
absurdities  and  splendid  trifles. 

CHAPTER  V. 

Concerning  the  Heresies,  Sects,  and  Divisions, 
thai  troubled  the  Church  during  this  Century. 
I.  Neither  the  severe  edicts  of  pontiffs  and 
emperors,  nor  the  barbarity  and  vigilance  of 
unrelenting  inquisitors,  could  extirpate  the  re- 
mains of  the  ancient  heresies,  or  prevent  the 
rise  of  new  sects.  We  have  already  seen  the 
Franciscan  order  at  open  war  with  the  cliirrch 
of  Rome.  In  Bosnia,  and  the  adjacent  coun- 
tries, the  Manichffians  or  Paulicians,  who  were 
the  same  with  the  sect  named  Catharists  in 
Italy,  propagated  their  doctrines  with  confi- 
dence, and  held  their  religious  assemblies  with 
impunity.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  the  great 
protector  of  the  Manichieans,  Stephen  Tho- 
mascns,  king  of  Bosnia,  abjured  their  errors, 
received  baptism  by  the  ministry  of  John  Car- 
vaial,  a  Roman  cardinal,  and,  in  consequence 
thereof,  expelled  those  hci-ctics  from  his  do- 
minions. IJut  it  is  also  certain,  that  he  after- 
wards cliangcd  his  mind;  and  it  is  well  known, 
that,  toward  the  conclusion  of  this  centurj-, 
the  Manioha^ans  inhabited  Bosnia,  Servia,  and 
the  neighbouring  provinces.  The  Waldenses 
also  still  subsisted  m  several  European  pro- 
vinces, more  especially  in  Pomerania,  Bran- 
denburg, the  district  of  Magdeburgh,  and 
Thuringia,  where  they  had  a  considerable 
number  of  friends  and  followers.  It  appears, 
however,  from  authentic  records  not  yet  pub- 


*  See  Volalerrani  Comment.  Urbani,  lib.  viii.  p. 
2S9. — Apneas  Sylvinsde  Statu  Europ.T  sub  Frederico 
III.  cap.  X.  in  Frelieri  Scriptor.  Rerum  Germanicar 
torn.  ii.  p  10). 


428 


INTERNAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Part  IL 


lished,  that  a  great  part  of  the  adherents  of 
this  unfortunate  sect,  in  the  countries  now 
mentioned,  were  discovered  by  the  inquisitors, 
and  delivered  over  by  them  to  the  civil  magis- 
trates, who  committed  them  to  the  flames. 

11.  The  Brethren  and  Sisters  of  the  free 
spirit  (who  were  called  in  Germany  Beghards 
or  Schicestriones,  and  in  France  Turhipivs, 
and  whose  distinctive  character  was  a  species 
of  mysticism  that  bordered  upon  phrenzy) 
wandered  about  in  a  secret  and  disguised  man- 
ner in  various  parts  of  Frjince,  Germany,  and 
Flanders,  and  particularly  in  Suabia  and 
Switzerland,  where  they  spread  the  contagion 
of  their  enthusiasm,  and  caught  the  unwary  in 
their  snares.  The  search,  however,  that  was 
made  after  them,  was  so  strict  and  well  con- 
ducted, that  few  of  the  teacliers  and  chiefs  of 
this  fanatical  sect  escaped  the  hands  of  the  in- 
quisitors.* When  the  war  between  the  Hus- 
sites and  the  votaries  of  Rome  broke  out  in 
Bohemia,  in  1418,  a  troop  of  these  fanatics, 
headed  by  a. person  whose  name  was  .John,  re- 
paired thither  and  held  secret  assemblies,  first 
at  Prague,  and  afterwards  in  different  places, 
whence  they  at  length  retired  to  a  certain 
island,  where  they  were  less  exposed  to  the 
notice  of  their  enemies.  It  was,  as  we  have 
already  had  occasion  to  observe,  one  of  the 
leading  principles  of  this  sect,  that  the  tender 
instincts  of  nature,  with  that  bashfulness  and 
modesty  which  generally  accompany  them, 
were  evident  marks  of  inherent  corruption,  and 
showed,  that  the  mind  was  not  sufficiently 
purified  or  rendered  conformable  to  the  divine 
nature,  whence  it  derived  its  origin.  And 
they  alone  were  deemed  perfect  by  tliese  fana- 
tics, and  supposed  to  be  united  to  the  Supreme 
Being,  who  could  behold  without  any  emotion, 
the  naked  bodies  of  the  sex  to  which  they  did 
not  belong,  and  who,  in  imitation  of  what  was 
practised  before  the  fall  by  our  first  parents, 
went  entirely  naked,  and  conversed  familiarly 
in  this  manner  with  males  and  females,  with- 
out feehng  any  of  the  tender  propensities  of 
nature.  Hence  it  was  that  the  Beghards  (whom 
the  Bohemians,  by  a  change  in  the  pronuncia- 
tion of  that  word,  called  Picards,)  when  they 
came  into  their  religious  assemblies,  and  were 
present  at  the  celebration  of  divine  worship, 
appeared  without  any  veil  or  covering  what- 
ever. They  had  also  constantly  in  their 
mouths  a  maxim,  which,  indeed,  was  very 
suitable  to  the  genius  of  the  religion  they  pro- 
fessed; namely,  '  that  they  were  not  free  (i.  c. 
sufficiently  extricated  from  the  shackles  of  the 
body)  who  made  use  of  garments,  particularly 
such  garments  as  covered  the  thighs  and  the 


*  Felix  MnllCDlus  (whose  German  name  is //um- 
wcrlehi)  in  liis  account  of  the  Lollards,  snbjoinerl  to 
his  book  contra  ralidos  Mendiravtes,  i.  e.  asrainst  the 
sturdy  Beggars,  has  given  ns  a  list,  thongh  a  very 
imperfect  One,  of  the  lieoharils  who  were;  committed 
to  the  flames  in  Switzerland  and  the  adjacent 
countries,  riiirins;  this  century.  This  author,  in  his 
books  against  the  Beghards  and  Lollards,  has  (either 
through  desijzn,  or  by  a  mistake  founded  on  the  am- 
biguity of  the  ternss)  confounded  three  dillereut 
classes  of  persons,  who  were  usually  known  by  the 
appellations  of  Beghards  and  Lollards;  as,  1st,  the 
Tertiaries,  or  third  order  of  the  more  austere  Fran- 
ciscans; 2dly,  the  Brethren  of  the  free  spirit;  and, 
3dly,  the  Cellite  or  Alexian  friars.  Many  writers 
have  fallen  into  the  same  error. 


parts  adjacent.'  These  tenets  could  not  but 
cast  a  deserved  reproach  upon  this  absurd  sect; 
and  tliough  in  their  religious  assemblies  nothing 
passed  that  was  contrary  to  the  rules  of  vir- 
tue, yet  they  were  universally  suspected  of 
the  most  scandalous  incontinence,  and  of  the 
most  lascivious  practices.  Ziska,  the  austere 
general  of  the  Hussites,  gave  credit  to  these 
suspicions,  and  to  the  rtiinours  they  occasioned; 
and,  falling  upon  this  miserable  sect  in  1421, 
he  put  some  to  the  sword,  and  condemned  the 
rest  to  the  flames,  which  dreadful  punishment 
they  sustained  with  the  most  cheerful  fortitude, 
and  also  with  a  contempt  of  death  that  was 
peculiar  to  their  sect,  and  which  they  possessed 
in  a  degree  that  seems  to  surpass  credibility.* 
Among  the  various  titles  by  which  these  ex- 
travagant enthusiasts  were  distinguished,  that 
of  Mainite  was  one;  and  it  was  given  them  on 
account  of  their  being  so  studious  to  imitate 
the  state  of  innocence  in  which  the  first  man 
was  created.  The  ignominious  term  of  Beg- 
liards,  or  Picards,  at  first  peculiar  to  the  small 
sect  of  which  we  now  treat,  was  afterwards 
applied  to  the  IhissiUs,  and  to  all  the  Bohemi- 
ans who  opposed  tiie  tyranny  of  the  Romish 
church.  All  these  were  called  by  their  ene- 
mies, and  indeed  by  the  multitude  in  general, 
Picard  friars. 

III.  A  new  sect,  which  made  a  great  noise, 
and  infected  the  multitude  with  the  contagion 
of  its  enthusiasm,  arose  about  the  beginning 
of  this  century.  A  priest  whose  name  is  not 
known,  descended  from  the  Alps,t  arrayed  in 
a  wliite  garment,  and  accompanied  with  a  pro- 


*  See  the  Historia  Fratrum  Bohemorum.  MS.  lib. 
ii.  sect,  l.xxvi.  by  Lasitins,  who  proves,  in  a  satisfac- 
tory and  circumstantial  manner,  that  the  Hussites 
ami  the  Bohemian  Brethren  were  entirely  distinct 
from  these  Picards,  and  had  nothing  in  common  with 
them.  The  other  authors  who  liave  written  upon 
this  subject  are  honourably  mentioned  by  Isaac  de 
Beausobre  in  liis  Dissertation  sur  les  Adamites  de 
Boheme,  subjoined  to  L'Enfant's  Histoire  de  la  Ou- 
erre  dcs  Hussites.  This  learned  author  has  taken 
groat  pains  to  justify  the  Picards,  or  Bohemian 
.■Adamites,  whom  he  supposes  to  have  been  the  sama 
with  the  Waldenses,  and  a  set  of  men  eminent  foi 
their  piety,  whom  their  enemies  loaded  with  tha 
most  groundless  accusations.  But  this  is  manifestly 
endeavouring  to  wash  the  .(Ethiopian  white;  for  it 
may  be  demonstrated,  by  the  most  unexceptionable 
ami  authentic  records,  that  the  accoinit  I  have  given 
of  the  matter  is  true.  The  researclies  I  have  made, 
and  the  knowledge  they  have  procured  me  of  the 
civil  and  religious  history  of  these  times,  entitle  nic 
perhajis  to  more  credit  in  such  a  point  as  this, 
than  the  laborious  author  from  whom  I  difTer,  who 
was  not  profoundly  acquainted  with  the  history  of 
the  middle  ages,  and  was  by  no  means  exempt  from 
prejudice  and  partiality. 

f^J-  t  Theodoric  de  Niem  tells  ns,  that  the  sect 
came  from  Scotland,  and  that  its  leader  pave  himself 
out  for  the  prophet  Elias.  Sigonius  and  Platinain- 
form  us,  that  this  enthusiast  came  from  France;  that 
he  had  white  apparel,  carried  in  his  aspect  the  great- 
est modesty,  ami  seduced  prodigious  numbers  of  peo- 
ple of  both  se.\es,  and  of  all  ages;  that  his  followers, 
(called  ^(CHiiyfrt/s,)  among  whom  were  several  cardi- 
nals and  priests,  were  clothed  in  white  linen  down 
to  their  heels,  with  caps,  which  covered  their  whole 
faces,  except  their  eyes;  that  they  went  in  troops  of 
ten,  twenty,  and  forty  thousand  persons,  from  one 
city  to  another,  calling  out  for  mercy,  and  singing 
hymns;  that  wherever  they  came  they  were  received 
with  great  hospitality,  and  madeinnuinerable  prose- 
lytes; that  they  fasted,  or  lived  upon  bread  and  water, 
during  the  tiine  of  their  pilgrimage,  which  continued 
generally  nine  or  ten  days.  See  Annal.  Mediol.  ap. 
Muratori.— Niem,  lib.  ii.  cap.  xvi 


Chap.  V. 


DIVISIONS  AND  HERESIES. 


429 


digious  number  of  persons  of  both  sexes,  who 
after  the  example  of  their  chief,  were  also 
clothed  in  white  linen,  whence  they  were  dis- 
tinguished by  the  name  of  Frab-es  Jllbati,  i.  e. 
White  Brethren.  This  enthusiastic  multitude 
went  in  a  kind  of  procession  through  several 
provinces,  following  a  cross,  which  their  leader 
held  erected  like  a  standard,  and,  by  the  strik- 
ing appearance  of  their  sanctity  and  devotion, 
captivated  to  such  a  degree  the  minds  of  the 
people  wherever  they  went,  that  persons  of  all 
ranks  and  orders  flocked  in  crowds  to  augment 
their  number.  Tiie  new  chief  exhorted  his 
followers  to  appease  the  anger  of  an  incensed 
Deity,  emaciated  his  body  by  voluntary  acts 
of  mortification  and  penance,  endeavoured  to 
persuade  the  Christian  nations  to  renew  the 
war  against  the  infidels  in  Palestine,  and  pre- 
tended, that  he  was  favoured  with  divine  vis- 
ions, which  instructed  him  in  the  will  and  in 
the  secrets  of  Heaven.  Boniface  IX.  appre- 
hending that  this  enthusiast  or  impostor  con- 
cealed insidious  and  ambitious  views,*  ordered 
him  to  be  seized  and  committed  to  the  flames; 
upon  which  his  followers  were  dispersed,  and 
his  sect  entirely  extinguished.  Whether  a 
punishment  so  severe  was  inflicted  with  reason 
and  justice,  is  a  point  that  has  been  debated, 
and  yet  remains  uncertain;  for  several  writers 
of  great  credit  and  authority  maintain  the  in- 
nocence of  the  sectary,  while  others  assert  that 
he  was  convicted  of  the  most  enormous  crimes. f 
IV.  In  the  year  1411,  a  sect  was  discovered 
in  the  Netherlands,  and  more  especially  at 
Brussels,  which  owed  its  origin  to  an  illiterate 
man,  whose  name  was  ^iigidius  Cantor,  and  to 
William  of  Hildenissen,  a  Carmelite  monlc; 
and  whose  members  were  distinguished  by  the 
title  of  J\Ien  of  Understanding.  There  were 
many  things  reprehensible  in  tiie  doctrine  of  this 
sect,  whicii  seemed  to  be  chiefly  derived  from 
the  theology  of  the  Mystics.  For  they  pretend- 
ed to  be  honoured  with  celestial  visions;  de- 
nied that  any  could  arrive  at  a  perfect  know- 
ledge of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  without  the  ex- 
traordinary succours  of  a  divine  illumination; 
declared  the  approach  of  a  new  revelation 
from  heaven,  more  complete  and  perfect  than 
the  Gospel  of  Christ;  maintained,  that  the  re- 
surrection was  already  accomplished  in  the 
person  of  .Jesus,  and  that  no  other  resurrection 
was  to  be  expected;  aflirmed,  that  the  inward 
man  was  not  defiled  by  the  outward  actions, 
whatever  they  were;  that  the  pains  of  hell 
were  to  have  an  end,  and  that  not  only  all 
mankind,  but  even  tiio  devils  themselves,  were 
to  return  to  God,  and  be  made  partakers  of 
eternal  felicity.  'J'his  sect  seems  to  have  been 
a  branch  of  that  of  the  Brethren  and  Sisters  of 
the  free  spirit;  since  they  declared,  that  a  new 


tCj-  *  VVliat  Dr.  Mu.sln-im  liiiits  but  (jl)scuroly  hore. 
is  explained  by  Sii;ciiiiiisaii(l  Pliitiiui.  \\  hotel!  us,  that 
the  |)ilgrinis,iiiciilioii('(l  iiithc  priTcilin^'  ii(ite,stiipp''(l 
atViterbo,  ami  that  Hmiiface,  I'larin;.'  that  the  priest 
who  headed  them  mi<;ht  iMiilcavoiir  by  their  assiK- 
tance  to  seize  the  poiititicate,  sent  a  body  of  troops 
thither,  who  apprehended  the  false  prophet,  and 
carried  him  to  Rome,  where  he  was  bnrned. 

t  See  L'Kntaul,  Hist,  dn  Concile  de  Pise,  torn.  i.  p. 
102.— PoKci,  Hist.  Florentina.  lib.  iii.  p.  1-22.— Marc. 
Anton.  Sahellicns  in  Enneadibns  Rhapsodijp  His. 
Ennegid.  ix.  lib.  ix.  I.  ii.  op  p.  83'.i,  pub  at  Dasil  in 
1560. 


dispensation  of  grace  and  of  spiritual  liberty 
was  to  be  pronmlgated  to  mortals  by  the  Holy 
Ghost.  It  must  however  be  acknowledged,  on 
the  other  hand,  that  their  absurdities  were 
mingled  with  several  opinions,  which  showed, 
that  they  were  not  totally  void  of  understand- 
ing; for  they  maintained,  among  other  things, 
"  1st,  That  Christ  alone  had  merited  eternal 
life  and  felicity  for  the  Imnian  race,  and  that 
therefore  men  could  not  acquire  this  inestima- 
ble privilege  by  their  own  actions  alone;  2dly, 
That  the  priests,  to  whom  the  people  confessed 
their  transgressions,  had  not  tlie  power  of  ab- 
solving them,  but  that  it  was  Christ  alone  in 
whom  this  authority  was  vested;  and  3dly, 
That  voluntary  penance  and  mortification  were 
not  necessary  to  salvation."  Tliese  proposi- 
tions, however,  and  some  others,  were  declared 
heretical  by  Peter  d'Ailiy,  bishop  of  Cambray, 
wlio  obliged  William  of  Hildenissen  to  abjure 
them,*  and  opposed  with  the  greatest  vehe- 
mence and  success  the  progress  of  this  sect. 

V.  The  sect  of  the  Flagellantes,  or  Whip- 
pers,  continued  to  excite  commotions  in  Ger- 
many, more  especially  in  Thuringia  and  the 
Lower  Saxony;  but  tliese  fanatics  were  very 
different  from  the  ancient  heretics  of  the  same 
name,  who  ran  wildly  in  troops  through  va- 
rious provinces.  The  new  Whippers  rejected 
not  only  the  sacraments,  but  also  every  branch 
of  external  worship,  and  placed  their  onl}' 
hopes  of  salvation  in  faith  and  flagellation;  to 
which  they  added  some  strange  doctrines  con- 
cerning tiie  evil  spirit,  and  other  matters,  which 
are  not  explained  in  history  with  sufficient  per- 
spicuity. The  person  that  appeared  at  the 
head  of  this  sect  in  Thiuingia  was  Conrad 
Schmidt;  and  lie  was  committed  to  the  flames, 
witli  many  of  his  followers,!  in  1414,  by 
Schonefeld,  who  was,  at  tliat  time,  inquisitor 
in  Germany,  and  rendered  his  name  famous 
by  his  industry  and  zeal  in  the  extirpation  of 
heresy.  Nicolas  Schaden  sufl'ered  at  Qued- 
linburgh  for  his  attachment  to  this  sect;  and, 
tiiough  Berthold  Scliade,  who  was  seized  at 
Halberstadt  in  1481,  escaped  death,  as  appears 
most  probable,  by  abjuring  their  doctrine, J;  we 
find  in  the  records  of  these  unhappy  times  a 
numerous  list  of  the  I'lagellantes,  whom  the 
German  inquisitors  devoted  to  the  flames. 


*  See  the  records  of  this  iraiisaclion  in  Steph. 
BaluK.  Mi.-!collan.  toin.  ii.  p.  277. 

t  Excerpta  Monachi  Pernensis,  in  Jo.  Rurch.  Men- 
kenii  Scriptor.  Kenim  Gerinanicar.  torn.  ii.  p.  1521. — 
Chroii.  Monaster,  in  Anton.  Matthiei  Aiialect.  vet, 
yi'^.vi,  toni.  V.  p.  71. — Chron.  Magdeb.  in  Meiboniii 
Pcriptor.  Kernm  (Jernian.  torn.  ii.  p.  362.— From  six- 
teen artiili'S  of  t'uith  adopted  by  this  sect,  which 
were  committed  to  writini;  by  a  certain  inquisitor 
of  iirandeiiberg  in  the  year  1411,  and  which  Conrad 
t'rlimidt  is  said  to  have  taken  from  the  papers  of 
VValkenried,  we  may  derive  a  tolerable  idea  of  their 
ddclrine,  of  which  the  substance  is  as  fidlows: — 
"  'I'hat  the  opinions  adopted  by  the  llonian  church, 
with  respect  to  the  efficacy  of  the  sacraments,  the 
llariies  of  piireatory,  praying  for  the  dead,  and  seve- 
ral oilier  points,  are  entirely  false  and  groundless; 
anil  that  the  person  who  believes  what  is  contained 
in  the  Apostles'  Creed,  repeats  frequently  the  Lord's 
prayer  and  the  Ave  Maria,  and  at  certain  times 
lashes  his  body  severely,  as  a  voluntary  punishment 
t'or  the  transgressions  he  has  committed,  shall  obtain 
eternal  .salvation." 

I  See  the  account  of  this  matter,  which  is  given  by 
the  learned  Jo.  Ernest  Kappius,  in  his  Relat.  dc  re- 
bus Theologicis  Antiquis  cl  Novis,  an.  1747,  p.  475. 


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